Friday, January 11, 2008

Fast Friday Challenges - Kano Isa

For the past year (almost and a half), I've been involved with an online challenge group called the Fast Friday Challenge. On the last Friday of the month, we get information about the month's challenge (theme, technique, whatever the hostess decided) and have one week and a day to get a piece done and posted on a Yahoo group. We also have a blog at http://fastfridayquilts.blogspot.com/ for public viewing. It's been a great exercise in stretching talents and imaginations!
This month, the challenge was FIRE or ICE... to interpret the emotions and sensations of those two words..... and this month's submissions were especially wonderful!
I decided to do some improv piecing and came up with Kano Isa, which is named for the Runes for Fire and Ice. The characters also mean "forward movement" and "standstill" which I find interesting! I thought of the glaciers we saw in Alaska, how the ice appears to be still but there is underlying movement, which is not always visible from the surface. I placed the fire under the ice for this quilt, knowing that sometimes we need a fire lit beneath us to create that forward movement. The layers of meaning are still being revealed.
At any rate, I'm pleased with the results and have entered the quilt in the state show for March. Fingers crossed!