Oh, the animals

Before I tell you about the my next quilt project, I think I'll tell you a bit about myself. This project is quite a bit more personal in nature than my two previous attempts at quilting. I am much more interested in the process of this one (and it will be a long one!), and in creating something that reflects the maker and those who will use it/keep it. I want to make something that acts as a teleport to us at this time. Holding memories.

The biggest influence in this project is my relationship with animals. Those who know me probably aren't surprised by this. I think I drive my friends and family a little crazy, actually, with my love of other creatures. I talk about animals a lot, worry about them, and basically I'm a pain in the ass any time we go out to eat, being somewhat of a strict vegetarian.

Most people like animals. It's not often you hear someone say they don't like animals. But I *love* them. Seriously, I could watch a seagull in a parking lot for half an hour. The thought of an animal suffering will linger in my mind all day, and knowing that they are suffering is without a doubt the thing that bothers me the most in this world. It's that they're completely innocent, and they lack the capacity to be cruel, or to understand the cruelty being done to them.

I know it started with my mum. My earliest memories of feeling empathy involve animals. My mum would always call out to me when there was something on tv about an animal being hurt, her teary eyes glued to the tv. Usually I couldn't watch or I'd have the image haunting me the rest of the day. Now it seems I'm the one with my teary eyes glued to the screen. In recent years the topic of animal abuse has become more prominent in my life, as I've come to read about factory farming and so on, deciding to face it, acknowledge it, and do what I can about it. Interestingly, when I think back I see that most of my nightmares involve animals, and I think they've come to represent guilt in my dreams. The guilt I carry from whatever is going on in life, tied into the guilt I carry on behalf of humans, responsible for their suffering.

I don't go looking for articles about what happens in factory farms anymore. I think I've learned enough to make an educated decision, and any more information would only serve to torture me, really. But this feeling I have toward animals affects my life in ways I'm only now coming to realize. I think in a way, animals have come to symbolize something for me. Dignity, simplicity, humility. I take from them qualities I want to develop in myself.

Here is a sneak peak of what I have so far, and some thrifted pillow cases that will used.