Radical Acceptance Quilt, Dove Bar Edition

April 09, 2022 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

This quilt started life one day several years ago, when I got a haircut, came home, and spent the rest of the afternoon constructing a suit of armor out of Dove bar boxes I had been saving for the purpose, giving myself paper cuts under my armpits, suffering for my art. I took these self portraits on my phone and then used them to make repeat pattern designs which I had printed onto fabric. When the quilt was in progress, I used parts of it for a drawing class assignment where I layered paper of varying transparencies over the patchwork (read more about that here). But I always knew it would eventually become a full quilt. And now it finally has. I’m making peace with myself, with my suboptimal coping mechanisms, with my body’s size and shape. And this busy quilt has been one step in that process.

The patchwork text says, “The last box” and “for real this time”, a sort of joke in our house after how many times I have said it about these treats that I tend to binge one after another when I’m sad or stressed. The text around the border says, “If you never kick this habit I love you No matter what I love you I love you you’re okay”. I wanted to use sort of circular phrases so it would make sense no matter where the viewer’s eyes started.

Radical Acceptance Quilt, Dove Bar Edition. 2021. 55”x75”. Photos by Mitch Hopper.

Radical Acceptance Quilt, Dove Bar Edition. 2021. Measures 55”x75”

Radical Acceptance Quilt, Dove Bar Edition, detail

Radical Acceptance Quilt, Dove Bar Edition, back

Radical Acceptance Quilt, Dove Bar Edition, label

2020 Radical Acceptance Quilt

April 06, 2022 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

My Radical Acceptance Quilt for 2020 continued the theme of acceptance that I worked with in 2019. Highlights: a block for each month of 2020, a “log” for each day, an embroidered statement about what I was working to accept that day. Improv sashing with lots of tiny bits of goodness. Hand quilting. Pages from my sketchbook detailing why I chose the words I did, scanned and sewn into the back.

Of course I didn’t know when I started it in January that this quilt would become a record of such a unique and historic year. So I guess this is my Covid quilt in its own way.

This is one of my favorite quilts I’ve made in a long time and I’m pleased that it hung at QuiltCon 2022 in Phoenix because I feel like it needs to be seen in person to truly be appreciated! Radical Acceptance Quilt for 2020, 32”x43”, final pictures taken by Mitch Hopper.

Radical Acceptance Quilt for 2020, 32”x43”

Radical Acceptance Quilt for 2020, detail

Radical Acceptance Quilt for 2020, detail of back

Radical Acceptance Quilt for 2020, label

Radical Acceptance Quilt for 2020, hanging at QuiltCon 2022 in Phoenix, AZ

2019 Radical Acceptance Quilt

March 26, 2022 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

After 5 years of making quilts that track my self-improvement-oriented goals and habits, I decided to switch gears and focus on self acceptance instead. I want to see how it feels to live each day as it comes, without tracking my progress or giving myself a grade. I wanted to see if some of these habits I’ve been trying to adopt can come from a place of intrinsic motivation instead of relying on an extrinsic motivator like a hash in a notebook or a block in a quilt.

Radical Acceptance Quilt for 2019, 76” square

Radical Acceptance Quilt for 2019, detail

It’s still a sticky idea for me... wanting to accept myself but also wanting to change (aka working toward goals). How to reconcile those? My friend Jenni helped me understand it more. Tara Brach’s book Radical Acceptance helped too. My 2019 year didn’t look that different from previous years. I still tried to practice all sorts of habits like exercising, meditating, watching less tv, and I still worked toward goals like finishing quilts, books, and classes. The difference was I didn’t quantify or keep track of any of it, and I have to admit that felt good. I’m not saying bullet journals or any kind of habit tracking or goal setting is bad. I needed a break, though. And focusing on acceptance gave that to me.

So this is the quilt I made for 2019, a continuation of the series but taken in a different direction. For each day in 2019 I added a strip to this log cabin. (The coral colors are randomly placed. The gold strips represent the 23rd of each month, a way of marking time across the quilt.) For each day I wrote a statement of acceptance on the batting (muslin, in this case) and lined it up with the pieced strips. I backed it in a pale pink shot cotton that allows you to see all the writing if you get up close. This quilt was a big undertaking and so many of you followed its progress and cheered me on. Thank you for that. Measures roughly 76”x76”. Final photos by Mitch Hopper.

Radical Acceptance Quilt for 2019, label

Radical Acceptance Quilt for 2019, in progress

It’s always exciting when quilts get to be exhibited. I was pleased when this one was accepted as part of the MQG Retrospective show at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky in summer 2021. We made a little weekend trip to see it.

It also hung in the QuiltCon 2022 exhibit in Phoenix, Arizona. It was so fun to show off the hidden handwriting on the batting to folks attending the show.