Making some pretty good progress with my 100 days of quilt WIPs. On day 46 I finished sewing together the letters that make up the last line of “On death, without exaggeration,” a poem by Wisława Szymborska.

Wisława Szymborska poem quilt

The poem is about death – its power but also its impotence in the face of us, and the world, and our insistence on going on. I’ve always found it really comforting, but even moreso now in what feels like an era of relentless loss. It’s a poem that also captures the idea that we should consider arriving at any given moment in life an immense victory. How you got to where you are was probably hard won, and no one can take it away from you.

And yes, it is no coincidence that I chose Ruby Star Society fabric for this project (“Add it up” for the background, and “Alma,” designed by Alexia Marcelle Abegg, for the letters) after they gave us such an inspiring example of what it means to gather all your creative resources and keep going.

Here’s a close up of the fabric I’m using for sashing:

Cotton and Steel fabric for sashing

And some fun with letters before they were arranged in order:

quilt block FUN