Josh, 24, and the youngest child of our good neighbors, saw my work a few months back and told me that he wanted to commission something from me.  I was chuffed!  Requirements:  must be yellow and to follow along the same themes as my other work.  Yellow because he had lost his favorite yellow baby blanket when he was 8 and to him that color meant happiness, warmth, and love.

I could not refuse!

His parents gave me access to photos of the passports and immigration papers of Josh’s great grandparents when they came to the States from Sicily in the 1920’s.  I was even able to find a copy of the great grandmother and grand uncle’s ticket!  I also added photos of the SS President Wilson, the ship that brought his great grandmother to the States.  AND, as I needed a bit of grayness in the piece, I added a table of Italian Immigration from 1830 to 1969.

I dyed the yellow fabric; all different values to make the quilt interesting (Gracias, Lucía Stacchetti) I have been sewing very thin lines, taught to me by Cecilia Koppmann when I was with her in Uruguay, and I love how the little bit of color changes everything.  The dark grey-black was also dyed by me.

I wanted to do something modern yet old fashioned, so I hand quilted straight lines to give the work some texture.

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