Gallery Sampler Quilt with Black Quilt Clips

In Kenya, there are 47 different peoples with their own language, culture, and myth of origin. Among them is the Agikuyu community which are the people my father descended from. The Kikuyu myth of origin begins with Gikuyu and Mumbi. It was once a matriarchal society as Gikuyu and Mumbi had nine daughters who ‘married’ nine men. In actuality, there were 10 daughters, but even today when the story is narrated, the 10th daughter is never mentioned. She is never mentioned because she was crippled, her legs too weak to function properly, and that she ran away from home and gave birth to a child while unmarried. Ngugi wa Thiong’o retold and reinterpreted this lore into his book The Perfect Nine. The book focuses on the invisibility of the 10th daughter, named Warigia, while she is unnamed when the lore is told the story repeatedly emphasizes that it is her strength and wisdom that make her sisters into the perfect nine. This is illustrated through the 9 square blocks with different colors representing the nine daughters. The 10th daughter is represented by the small corner triangles that make up each of the nine square blocks. When the triangles are detached and put together, they make up a perfect 10th square block.

You stroll through the island as your feet sink into the warm, pale grains of the sand. The rhythmic percussion of the waves, the swaying of the palm trees, the smell of the ocean air, and the cool breeze emanating from the crystal blue sea that creates an amalgam of sensory heaven would strike your body all at once, producing a calming, refreshing, and comforting sensation. For some, this would be like any other vacation; but for me, this is living the dream. My family and I lived in poverty, which made it difficult to obtain our basic needs and desires. We strived to become more successful in life, to reach comfort by working hard and prioritizing our education. While doing so we would see our friends and other relatives “living the dream.” It would often be in pictures or videos, with joyous smiles on their faces and excited screams as they enjoy their leisurely activities away from home. One of my earliest remembered dreams was to take my family to Boracay – a small island in the central Philippines known for its resorts and beaches. Due to our financial situation, I viewed this as unattainable, but I still held on to the hope that I could one day take my family there. When that day comes, it will mean that we’ve finally reached the level of comfort and security we’ve dreamt of. I created the Boracay quilt block with this in mind. When times get tough I gaze at it with longing eyes, reminding myself just how far I’ve come, and this helps me motivate myself to continue working toward my goals.

The Path to Growth quilt block describes my journey as a college student. The base of the block contains the same characteristics as that of a specific flower called the ‘Ring of Fire Sunflower.’ The sunflower describes my journey because it symbolizes resiliency and hope. I always think of the quote by author J.R. Rim that says, ‘Sunflowers end up facing the sun, but they go through a lot of dirt to find their way there.’ College has challenged me, but the goal has always been to navigate through those obstacles and still find the light. The combination of red and yellow in my block create arrows coming from four different directions and still meet at the center. The sunflower’s center grows the seeds and this reminds me that I will continue to grow stronger giving me hope that regardless of the path I take, I will always end up where I am meant to be.

I designed this quilt block to capture a pivotal moment in my life: the time I got stranded in an airport in Paris during my study abroad trip. It was a stressful and chaotic experience, but one that I wanted to commemorate through my quilting. The swirling pattern in the block represents the whirlwind of emotions I felt during those hours spent at the airport. I carefully selected colors that reflected the things I saw and the feelings I experienced during that time. The shades of orange and green represent the bright and chaotic surroundings of the airport, while the black conveys the sense of stress and frustration I felt. But the yellow…the yellow is the most important part of this block. It represents the moment when I finally figured out how to get where I was headed on my own. That feeling of confidence and accomplishment was one of the most empowering moments of my life, and I wanted to capture it in my quilting. Looking back, that experience in Paris was a turning point for me. It showed me that I could handle challenging situations on my own, and that I could overcome adversity with determination and resilience. And now, with this quilt block as a reminder, I carry that lesson with me always.