Elizabeth's Maze: A Journey Begins

Elizabeth Edens, VBS 2013:
"Queen of Kingdom Rock"

A few months ago, my dear friend Elizabeth Edens turned 60. She also had recently retired from her long-time position as parish ministry coordinator at the parish we both called home for many years.

Elizabeth is one of the most vibrant, vivacious, and stylish women I know. She used to run a modeling school, and has a megawatt smile and a shoe collection to die for. Then there's her collection of teapots - whimsical, unexpected, ingenious. So Elizabeth's birthday called for something bright and fabulous. It also had to be something I could knock out in a fairly small window of time.

The idea I had was a rainbow maze, a sort of labyrinth that would symbolize a spiritual journey that was only just beginning. I searched online for modern designs that would fit the bill, and found this beautiful quilt, below, by modern quilter Marsha Bray, enitled Rainbow Trail (40" x 40", 2011).

Marsha Bray, Rainbow Trail, 2011

Marsha Bray's innovative design forms a geometric grid of color. It creates an illusion of depth and three dimensionality. In my haste, however, I did not notice this when I first studied her design. In my own adaptation, I wanted the colors to repeat as the maze spiraled outward, so I worked with smaller swaths of each color. I also chose to work with prints and batiks instead of solids, because Elizabeth is definitely a prints kinda gal. Understated ain't her thing. Not really mine, either. So, polka-dots. Here is the mini-quilt I made for Elizabeth:

Elizabeth's Maze: a Journey Begins, 2015

The spiral quilting made me think of the labyrinth from Chartres, emphasizing the unexpected turns of our spiritual journeys and softening the edges of still painful experiences that have taken us by surprise. I chose blue for the center, a primordial color, a color of calm and rest and possibility - a sabbath beginning for this next phase in life's fabulous and endlessly colorful journey.

The quilt now has a home with Elizabeth's teapots.
Perfect!