Laura Hartrich 4/9/22 Laura Hartrich 4/9/22

Radical Acceptance Quilt, Dove Bar Edition

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

Laura Hartrich 4/8/22 Laura Hartrich 4/8/22

Going Away Quilt for S

In the eleventh hour, I decided to make a small quilt for my son, to mark the passage of him moving out after graduating high school.

Because of the tight timeline, the design needed to be simple, so I decided on some disappearing 9-patch blocks, and some random/improv patchwork. I used some of the same fabrics that I used in the quilt for Michael Brown. I also used some ice dyed fabrics from in a shop in Paducah, KY, from when we went down to see my quilt in the National Quilt Museum. I usually don’t like ice dyed fabric but I fell in love with these.

I put each of our initials on it (N, L, S, P) to symbolize us going with him, supporting him. I don’t think he noticed but it’s okay. I didn’t want it to be obvious.

Going away quilt for S, 49”x52”, completed August 2021. Final pictures by Mitch Hopper.

Laura Hartrich 4/8/22 Laura Hartrich 4/8/22

Michael Brown Remembrance Quilt

In August 9, 2014, Michael Brown was eighteen years old, black, and unarmed. He was shot by a Ferguson Missouri police officer in broad daylight, his body left in the street for hours. Many weeks of protests followed. The event sparked conversations about police violence, militarization, and impunity. The protests received international attention and galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement.

I volunteered through Social Justice Sewing Academy to make a quilt for a family that has lost a loved one to violence. They have a long list of names they are working through. I was surprised when I was assigned a name that I recognized… at first I felt intimidated. It felt like a lot of pressure to make a quilt connected to such a well known incident. After sitting with this feeling for a while, I made a decision to set the wider significance of this event aside, and focus on Michael the individual, Michael the family member, Michael the young man with big dreams and a bright smile.

SJSA works with families to collect information that can help each volunteer quilter better honor the person they are memorializing. I was told that Michael’s favorite colors were black and red, that he loved his family, animals, art, taking things apart to figure out how they work, and making music. I did my best to incorporate all of these traits and interests through my fabric choices.

This project weighed heavily on me as I worked on it most of the summer. Michael was killed the summer after he graduated high school, the same age as my son when I made the quilt. This coincidence was not lost on me. It’s not right that this young man is gone. He should still be here. That’s all I have to say. Smarter people than me have said much on the subject. Read up. I recommend Caste by Isabel Wilkerson as a starting point.

This quilt now lives with Michael’s mother, activist and author Lesley McSpadden. I received an email from her stating that the quilt was remarkable and that she would cherish it along with the memories of her son. Hearing back from her was an unexpected gift and meant a lot to me.

It was a privilege and an honor to use my time and skills in this way. There are many ways to contribute to the mission of SJSA. You don’t have to make a whole quilt like I did. Contact them if you’d like to get involved.

Daisy Aschehoug of Warmfolk generously donated a set of acrylic templates for large curves and sent them all the way from Norway! Her templates brought my vision to life and made my work easier.
Audrey Esarey of Cotton and Bourbon volunteered to quilt this for me and I was very happy to take her up on that offer. I really appreciate both of these quilters! Their contributions helped me finish this project and I’m grateful.

Laura Hartrich 4/2/22 Laura Hartrich 4/2/22

Star Quilt for Jim and Deb

I’m not sure what prompted me to get started so early, but I began this quilt in January 2021, finished it in May, and finally gave it to my in-laws for Christmas. It’s double sided because I couldn’t decide between a solid version and a print version so I did both. The color palette came from a bundle of solids that I’ve had on my shelf for years (it’s Pond by Elizabeth Hartman). I tried to match the colors of the prints to the colors from the bundle. On the print side, I used a paint by number print and as many florals as I could cram in, both nods to my mother in law’s hobbies. I went with a simple sawtooth star pattern because I think it’s so classic and I wanted to make something that would look good in my in-laws’ beautiful house. I quilted it by hand, using a Baptist fan motif and some perle cotton thread. Jim and Deb have always been so good to me, and they’re the last members of my family who didn’t have a quilt from me. It felt good to finally give them one! Measures 48”x58”. Pictures by Mitch Hopper.

Laura Hartrich 3/26/22 Laura Hartrich 3/26/22

2019 Radical Acceptance Quilt

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.