Most Noble Sorceress

January 10, 2024

I had been really hard on myself for not updating the blog much in 2023, and then somewhere in the course of the year I learned that being hard on myself is really exhausting. This was an unsustainable circle, to try to bully myself into doing something, because by the time I had the motivation, I rarely had the energy. So I let go of any self-inflicted pressure to be outward-facing as a creative. I posted cropped progress shots on Instagram and wrote without the intention of ever publishing the words.

I signed up for an interactive course in writing personal history with Janelle Hardy, who uses her training in somatic healing to help students use their bodies’ wisdom to both open up new creative spaces and to calm themselves after accessing them. I let writing inform my quilting and vice versa. I finished several handwork mini quilts and one large quilt.

The result was a truly transformational year. Without much external validation I learned how to listen to myself and be so proud of my work that it didn’t matter if anyone else liked it. And if they did, it became a moment of mutual connection, not a one-way transaction.

All of this preamble to introduce you to Most Noble Sorceress, the 57” x 66” quilt that is an artifact of my entire 2023. I first made the central blocks in late 2022, and they stayed on my walls for months until a very slow improv process developed around it. Writing helped me identify the Wizard of Oz as a “fairy tale” whose themes and symbolism have been powerful for me for as long as I can remember. Those starter blocks became symbols of Dorothy at the beginning of her story, looking to the yellow brick road for direction.

When Glinda first meets Dorothy in the original L. Frank Baum book, the good witch addresses the girl as “Most noble sorceress,” asking what kind of witch she may be. Dorothy denies her power. Ultimately, she does possess the power to find home on a few different levels, proving that Glinda’s assessment was correct all along.

Once I identified the blocks as representing Dorothy as a noble (inert?) sorceress, I knew the quilt needed red. Red is power and feeling and it needed to envelop but also integrate. As I pieced the rest of the top I added small pieces of fabric that represent the witches of Oz and their allies, creating a kind of coven.

Then I hand quilted the center in a spiral inspired by storms, struggle and change. The rest is tied with knots representing strength and work thoughtfully done. I like that the result is a kind of quilt portal, a soft method of travel to a magical land. The back is one massive log cabin block, which shows that home comes with you wherever you go.