When I made this quilt it didn’t have any special meaning. I was having fun playing with colors, remembering the color theory and technique I had learned in a workshop with Tara Faughnan. I crowd sourced for title ideas because nothing immediately came to mind. A friend said it reminded her of photos she had seen of Cinque Terra Italy at sunset. After looking at the images myself, I had to agree.

The idea of the world’s most beautiful places is tinged with sadness for me at the moment. I used to think I’d reach the age of retirement and then happily go traveling the globe with Nate. Now that we know more about how severely climate change will affect our lives in the next decades, I’m realizing that will probably always remain a dream. Not only will flying become an extravagance beyond the reach (and outside the moral code) of most people, but many beautiful coasts and places around the world will simply be gone. I think it’s important to put people first and I am hoping (and voting) that our leaders will make choices that minimize the damage already done and prioritize human survival. I know it’s a selfish impulse to grieve my lost leisure travel, but I’m taking a minute to be sad about all the places I’ll never get to see with my own eyes.

A Beautiful Faraway Place I’ll Never Go, back

This quilt is good for a twin size bed, measuring 65” x 80”. I quilted it on my domestic Juki. Mitch Hopper took final pictures for me.