The Butterfly Upon the Sky: For the AAQI

 

 
When I created this little art quilt, I used a lovely piece of vintage fabric that I had discovered among my mother's sewing scraps. I cut through the fabric to release a wing as I loved the idea of a butterfly breaking loose from the fabric of its life....and flying out and freely through an opening window in time.


I never dreamed that the butterfly imagery would not only represent freedom from the absolute chaos, despair and grief that arises in family members and survivors of Alzheimer's Disease, but the huge grief that overwhelmed me when I received the news that my father had just died.

When I realized that this little art quilt had been officially registered by the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative on August 18th...the very day that my father had passed away, and that I would in my overwhelming grief and disbelief that followed, actually think to pack it, and another small quilt in my luggage, as I raced to Alaska within a 24 hour period to be with my mother.

I'd made the quilt in love and memory of my mother's battle with advanced Alzheimer's but found myself amazed at how both of the art quilts I'd just made, so thematically synchronized with my father's passing.

"The Butterfly Upon the Sky" was inspired by poet Emily Dickinson as she calls upon us to emulate the beauty and the grace of the butterfly and to "soar away and never sigh, And that's the way to grieve." I had thought it meant all of our losses from Alzheimer's Disease, the 'great thief' that robs its victims of their very selves, and us of our loved ones. But instead, it also represented this sharp, additional pain...this grief in the loss of my beloved father.

As I had created this art quilt, I had allowed its calming gentleness to enter and to soften my heart, and as I mailed it from my island home in Alaska, on the very day that my father's ashes came home to rest, I sought to create and manifest a moment of that same peace, knowing that my 93 year old father had, indeed, broken free and was now allowed to soar forth and manifest into creation...a new form in spirit in eternal space and time.

So, today, as we take a moment of silence to honor and respect all those who lost their lives today, nine years ago on September 11th, I also take a moment to feel honor and respect for all those lives once led in one form and now... like my little butterfly upon the sky.... to soar in hearts and memory once more....for those who grieve, those who care, and all those who now fly freely.

links:My other little Alaskan 'healing' quilt:
The Paraasol is the Umbrella's Daughter
Why I support AAQI, only up the number of family members to 15:
From the Heart of a Quilter
And of course, where you can donate money, donate a quilt, or buy quilts of your own:
Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative
Join us by making small 9"x 12"quilts or 4" x6"postcards:
Liberated Quilting Challenge
Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope
My dad: In Loving Memory
What else can you do?
May Loss Lead to Gain