Finished Confession Quilt: Finally Blogged

This quilt has been finished for a couple of months and only recently did I realize that I'd never done a final blog post about it.  I checked in a few months back on a WIP: Wednesday to get opinions about the binding, but never followed up!

This piece is part of my ongoing series depicting parts of the Episcopal liturgy.  In this case, the prayer is our confession of sin, the text of which reads (1982 Book of Common Prayer, p. 360)

Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. 
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. 
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.

In common with many of our prayers, it is said aloud and in unison every Sunday, giving a very communal feeling to a very personal consideration of what each of our failings are.  The really personal nature of this particular prayer is what prompted me to take a slightly different approach to the quilt.  Many of my illuminated quilts have a medieval-inspired feel, and the letters are often done using silk screens and "fancy" fonts.  In this case, I wanted to incorporate that personal element and decided to use my own handwriting.  The letters were printed from a handwritten transparency using sun-printing, more of which can be found in the previous blog post.

Confession. c. 2017, Shannon Conley

The center medallion is floating, connected only to the outer ring by thread, and is a slightly different approach to openwork compared to some of my other pieces.  I love the openness and lightness.  It means the quilt takes some of its personality from what it's hanging on, another way of being even more personal.  In my studio, it's currently hanging on my bright yellow wall which really brings out the warm colors.  Before adding the stick quilting which holds the medallion in and which grounds the corners, I quilted the blue background in repeating circling layers of text reading "what I have left undone, what I have left undone, what I have left undone...."  The things that are left undone are the things that constantly bother me, I never know if I've done enough or could do more, or missed my chance to do something important or kind or right.

Overall I'm pleased with the way this turned out.  I wish it was easier to read the text of the prayer, but I think it's ok that for this piece it's more subtle.  I'm working on projects for a whole bunch of different things right now, but hopefully will get back to this series towards the end of the year.

Linking up with Nina-Marie!