The Eye Patch Quilt: Lasting Impressions

Eye Patch Quilt (note: text on fabric circled in yellow).

The quilt contains more than patches and lenses.  Marcia used photo-sensitive inks to transfer words written on transparencies to the fabric.  Some of a saying came from background material we gave her: mom's book, favorite passages, newspaper articles.  Just when I think I've found them all, sometimes I spot another one, like an ethereal I Spy.

Poem by Laura Bernstein, also see Celebrate Weirdness post.

Somewhere between a diamond and a coal smudge.

Pain is the crackling of the shell that encloses our understanding.

I am still here.

I glow in the dark, a reminder of the days of radiation.

There's one more, "Best I ever tasted."  Do you see it?

The Eye Patch Quilt, Part 1



The Eye Patch Quilt, In memory of Janet E. Trever 1943-1999 by Marcia Karlin

You may have noticed from time to time pictures of mom's patches.  She made thousands throughout her life that matched her outfits.  People always ask where she got the material from--well kids, in the 80s there was a huge fad called "shoulder pads."  Should this dreadful fad be repeated call your one-eyed friends as they made perfect fodder for matching fabric.  She also turned to pockets or hems.  These strategies rendered a perfect match, but of course she shopped at fabric stores to fill in the rest of her collection.

Celebrate weirdness!

Laura blowing bubbles at my wedding in Alaska.

From my surrogate mom, Laura Bernstein:

I add my enthusiastic voice to this blog, saluting Janet on what would have been her 67th earthly birthday. She was an inspiring friend and a beautiful human being. Our relationship enriched my life in more ways than I can enumerate. One huge way is the presence of her daughter Sarah in my life as a "surrogate daughter" after Janet's passing. Thank you, Janet, for all your gifts! Now I would like to share a poem I wrote years ago (part of the original book) that Janet enjoyed so much, entitled "To My Children":

TO MY CHILDREN

Celebrate weirdness!
Wine it and dine it.
Design it to fit the occasion.
Rise to it.
Deny those who try to decry it with scornful remarks and limited vision.

Elevate eccentricity!
Beware the constricting, confining, conventional congress of head shakers, heart breakers, nay sayers, soul slayers.
Dare to be different.
Delight in it.
Heighten it.
Make it your home.

Applaud anomalies!
Anchor your ship in the singular sea of uncertainty.
Savor the strangeness.
Arrange bliss in whimsical patterns-- Irregular, quirky, quite murky to those who are closed to outlandish enchantments.

Cultivate non-conformity!
Be weirdly-wise with each enterprise.
Shrink from stale definitions and pale reflections and pallid convictions.
Relish exotic delicacies of expanded views.
Tempt your palate with spicy spaciousness.

Celebrate weirdness!
Walk the wide path of surprises.
Hope rises above the horizon of those who despise it; who narrowly cut down to size every dream-seeking, scheme-speaking lover of mystery.

--Laura Bernstein