Yemaya’s Quilt 1998

Making Art for the Spirit

Yemaya’s Quilt

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Front view, above; Back view, below
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Mixed Media: paper, cloth, thread, acrylic paint, pastel, pen, quilt batting; 8 1/2″ X 10″, © 1998
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Yemaya’s Quilt for the protection of children

I made this quilt design to fulfill an “ebo” prescribed by Ifa divination. The ebo called for a gift and prayer for the protection of children to be offered to Yemaya, Mother Goddess of the Ocean. I wrote my prayer on pieces of paper that were enfolded in the quilt when I made the offering.
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The quilt top is decorated with a blue and white turtle swimming in waves of red, gold and green. A layer of quilt batting and the quilt back—a piece of muslin, are secured with red stitches. As I was sewing, these words came through:
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Home made
Hand made
Baby quilt
soft flannel
satin and fabric paint
warm cozy
protection
deep sleep
safe
snug
peaceful
for the child
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Sewing love and sweetness
into every patch, every piece
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Children’s Bill of Rights quilt
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Warm heart, home heart
painting love and protection
snuggly safety
into every section

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The Children’s Bill of Rights

is a related work from The Tap Roots Visions Box series. The piece includes the text of The Children’s Bill of Rights for an Ecological Age, written by Pat Monahan (based on Thomas Berry’s Our Children, Our Future).
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Mixed Media: photocopies, satin and collage on Arches Cover, 12 inches square, © 1997
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Making Art for the Spirit, The Intersections of Feminist Sacred & Creative Practice, Part V—1998 Down the Waterfall, Through the Fire; fire of the hearth—heart and womb heart (August 1998), p. 268-269, © 2001, 2016