The Root Connection: My first quilt. Kavita's Garden

Monday, June 28, 2010

Amish Impressions

Perfect Storm (Zigzag/Lightening)

My fascination with Amish life had started way before I began quilting. Back in the spring of 1986, when I moved to the United States, I arrived in a little town called New Holland in Lancaster county, PA. I spent my first few days in the U.S. with my brother-in-law and his family. They were very gracious to introduce my husband and I to the famous points of interest in and around the state of Pennsylvania. The tours included visits to the New York, Washington D.C.and the Niagara Falls. I was in another word! Literally!

We did not go to a single quilt museum nor did I know the connection between the Amish community and quilting. At the time I had just graduated as a graphic designer from an art school and had no interest in sewing. But, I had spent many summers in country sides of India as a child and needless to say that I fell in love with the corn fields, the horse drawn carriages and beautiful barns in Pennsylvania.

My husband and I stayed in Ithaca, New York while he continued his education at Cornell university. During our time there, we visited Lancaster many times before moving to the west coast. The Amish country had a very special place in my heart. Simple life and beautiful scenery was quite an attraction to visit Lancaster over and over.

In 1996, a dear friend introduced me to this extraordinary style of quilting. It did not take long for me to recognize the gift I had just received. I have always been drawn to culturally expressive forms of art. I like to create with my bare hands and have great respect and appreciation for artists who create with the perfect marriage of their emotions, talents and raw materials combined with their heritage.

The Amish are blessed with simplicity of life. While we go out of our ways to buy that perfect shade of red or the last fat quarter 'needed' to finish a quilt, they made quilts with the most minimalistic approach and only with what they had. Scraps from the cloths they sewed and the good fabric saved from the worn out wool coat were their primary materials for making a quilt.

Through out my years of quilting, like many of you, I have accumulated a lot of fabric.. I love fabric! These days, I am intuitively restricting myself and making more quilts out of the used shirts and solids and loving the creativity that pours when I see scraps.

I must thank Tonya R. and her liberated quilt along to provide yet another playground. I had absolute fun creating this quilt. I am not sure if I will make words for this quilt. It speaks a whole lot to me than any words can describe!

The process had started way back when I made my first quilt.