Jordan Year (Quilt of Golden Delights)

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Jordan Year (Quilt of Golden Delights)

approximately 76x76, finished 2024

I started 2023 asking, “what would make a golden year?” I wrote a list of words that I wanted to focus on:

  • delight

  • savoring 

  • awareness

  • grace

  • celebration

  • gentleness

  • strength

  • patience

  • generosity

  • connecting

  • lingering

  • playing

  • moving

  • resting 

The idea being that by focusing on these themes I could manifest a fantastic year. For the year’s quilt, I planned to write something that happened related to one of the words each day, and embroider it on the quilt. (In hindsight this list is comically long and all-encompassing).  

Soon enough I found myself reading The Book of Delights by Ross Gay. I loved it so much, and decided to shift away from my list of words and focus only on recording one delight from each day. 

I loved collecting delights. It was –forgive me – delightful. On hard days, it could be a challenge to notice one, but I did it without fail. Many days, it was hard to limit myself to only one (sometimes I didn’t. See 2/16, 4/12, 7/28.) 

Ironically 2023 brought me some of the very lowest lows I had ever experienced… mental health crises for my kids, treasured 20-year marriage in a rough spot, fieldwork that had me questioning whether I was cut out for the new career I had just spent two grueling years studying for… I may have cried more in 2023 than in my previous 41 years combined. 

Did it turn out to be a golden year? I can’t answer that. I am glad I have a record of the delights instead of a record of the low points. Let those heartbreaks grow fuzzy. I survived them all. Let the delights stay present and clear in my mind, sharp as the needle that stitched them into this quilt for hours upon hours. 

A word on colors and title:

This is the fourth quilt I’ve made using strips of log cabins to represent the days of the year. The other versions used various colors and a gold colored strip for the 23rd of each month. 23 is my favorite number ( my birthday falls on the 23rd of the best month of the year, September!) so I highlighted it in this series of quilts. For 2023, I decided to make gold my main color, and brought back colors from the series to mark the 23rd of each month. 

 

“Jordan year” was an internet nickname for 2023 that emerged early on, an homage to Michael Jordan, #23, of course. For me it held a double meaning, as Jordan was also the name of my supervising OT for the first 3 months of the year (source of many tears and many learnings). 

Daily Practice Quilt for 2021: Taking Each Day As It Comes

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This is another in my series of yearly quilts, where since 2014 I have tracked goals, habits, and personal practices, representing them through patchwork, stitching, and handwriting.

For 2021 I decided to simply “track” the days in my patchwork, nothing more. So each of these log cabins documents three months, moving through the year clockwise around the quilt. Again, I used a strip of goldenrod yellow on the 23rd day of each month, a way of marking time. I pick the 23rd day because of my birthday, September 23, which I love!

I was thinking about counting things in my life, perhaps because I had a goal that year to put on my roller skates 365 times. This got me considering other things I could count in my life that year… number of times I finished a quilt, number of times I yelled at the kids, number of lectures I gave. And things I did during the year countless times… walks, covid calculations, study hours, naps…

I wrote some words about things counted and not counted throughout 2021. Notable events from the year, big and small. I copied a few entries from my daily line-a-day journal. I embroidered all these words around the border of my quilt. That took a long time! The result is a new sort of a record of my year, similar to other quilts in this series but different too.

Daily Practice Quilt for 2021: Taking Each Day As It Comes

Daily Practice Quilt for 2021: Taking Each Day As It Comes, detail

Daily Practice Quilt for 2021: Taking Each Day As It Comes, detail

Daily Practice Quilt for 2021: Taking Each Day As It Comes, detail

Daily Practice Quilt for 2021: Taking Each Day As It Comes, detail

Daily Practice Quilt for 2021: Taking Each Day As It Comes, back

Label, Daily Practice Quilt for 2021: Taking Each Day As It Comes

The text on this quilt is intentionally hard to read. I wanted it to fade into the border of the quilt, and for the viewer to have to come in close to read it. That said, I may have taken this concept a bit too far as it’s actually pretty hard to read, even in person (and harder through a screen). I will document the text here, for anyone who wants to know what it says. Big thanks to my photographer Mitch Hopper for taking all these extra photos for me so I could have images of all the words I stitched.

L-R:

I shaved my head for the first time

2021: Take each day as it comes

February 21 Journal: Spent another day watching QC lectures and sewing. Getting stuff done in the studio is good. Did a little studying. We are worried about our roof and gutters with all the ice and snow. S is always at Krys’ and P always on calls.

L-R:

March 1 Journal: Everyday feels the same. Study a lot, sew a little.

And then it is another day and another day and another, but I will not go on about this because no doubt you too have experienced time. (quote by Jenny Offill)

being alive matters quite a bit even when you feel like shit being alive (lyric by Frankie Cosmos)

I fretted about the kids’ grades a lot.

L-R:

I practiced my roller skating 365 times.

I skated in the house, in the garage, on the tennis courts, at the skate park, at Lombard Roller Rink (Monday night lessons). I skated with the kids sometimes, by myself usually.

I relished having a new patio and yard furniture.

I got vaccinated and boosted (all four of us did).

L-R (starting two in):

I started OT school and I have never worked so hard. I felt inadequate, I wanted to quit, I cried, I procrastinated, and stressed. Then I finished the semester with all A’s and felt so relieved and proud. I love my cohort. They helped me through. I hosted them 3 times this semester (Weenie roast, soup night, Friendsgiving).

I finished 8 quilts.

June 1 Journal: Meant to fast all day but ate a bunch of cookies instead. Nothing changes lol

I had a period that lasted 10 long days so my doctor sent me to the ER. I have a small fibroid. Apparently they are pretty common.

Top to bottom, starting 1 down:

I drove P to camp then had a solo retreat for 4 days. I sewed and wrote. I logged in to P’s summer school class so she could get the credit.

June 30 Journal: My first painful/traumatic experience at the dentist. They used a waterpik thing that really hurt. The whole thing was exhausting. Didn’t do much the rest of the day. Tomorrow marks my starting over/clean slate just like last year haha

I tried hypnosis for the first time, an effort to curb my junk food binges. It helped for a while.

525, 600 minutes, moments so dear, how do you measure a year? (lyric from Rent)

Top to bottom:

I swooned over fluffy clouds, sunrises, sunsets, and rainbows.

I worked, I laughed, I had sex, I took baths, I scrolled for too long, I worked hard. I was here, I was here. Still alive, still alive.

October 12 Journal: Nate and P went to breakfast with Jim and Deb, I stayed home to “study” aka eat a bunch of junk and watch tv. Went on IG live with Heidi P then gave the lecture for my guild. Practicing QuiltCon lecture went okay. Nap, popcorn and tv with Nate. Succession is back.

I gave four zoom lectures to quilt groups.

I lost weight, I gained weight, I ended up about the same.

R-L:

I relied on Nate to make dinner every night and help with laundry so I could focus on school. I was so grateful for all the ways he supported me and the kids all year.

I went back to therapy.

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it as serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. (quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson)

L-R:

I clashed with S at least 33 times that I mentioned in my journal, about school, Krys, money, vaping, ghosting, motivation, and who knows what else.

I butted heads with P at least 8 times (according to my journal), probably all about school (maybe some about screens but mostly about school).

I got a treadmill in my studio and I’m definitely more active, especially in the colder months.

L-R:

I found a basal cell carcinoma on my forearm and had it removed. The Dr was impressed that I spotted it.

I took countless walks and later in the year got a bit obsessed with hitting 10.000 steps a day (new Fitbit).

Top to bottom:

I decorated the yard with birdhouses and other trinkets and successfully grew sunflowers and wild flowers and not much else. I love our little yard for the first time.

I turned 40.

I joined RC Fitness again and love working hard at the gym.

I had two quilts hang in exhibits, one at the National Quilt Museum, one at Woman Made Gallery.

Top to bottom:

August 10 Journal: Worked hard on my to do list. Finished things up for school, quilting, felt productive though still so much to do. Big storm rolled through. Made a healthy dinner. I’m trying.

To everything, turn turn turn, there is a season. (Lyrics by The Byrds)

Top to bottom:

January 13 Journal: Went to the tennis courts right after sunrise and skated with music for 20 minutes and it was the best! I’m trying to work up my endurance. Tried to do schoolwork the rest of the day. Motivation is running low.

I did countless COVID calculations (with help from Nate and the internet) about where we should go or not go, who we should see or not see, where we should eat or not eat. Pandemic risk assessment is part of life now.

I took the kids’ phones during remote school days and gave them back after homework and chores. For a while I made them give me a hug when I handed it to them. It was nice but we didn’t keep it up.

And we’re back to the beginning :)