• BONE ANATOMY QUILT: "TIME HEALS ALL BONES"

"Time Heals All Bones" was inspired by my ankle break in February 2010. I had a lot of time on my hands (and feet) for the month I was couchbound.

I began this project by reading about bone anatomy and fracture healing. Then I sketched individual patchwork pieces, and then panels, and then the whole. I kept changing the design until the quilt was almost done because I've never done a research-based quilt before and didn't know whether to make the information linear, or shape it according to the demands of the patchwork. I wound up following the latter path.

My fabric, thread, and tool selection were limited to the first floor of my house since I could only go up and down stairs once a day. I couldn't stand up for long, so I didn't use rulers or rotary cutters. I roughly cut and roughly stitched the panels while my bone fibers stitched back together.

I’d like to donate this quilt to a children's hospital or rehab facility. It looks like a kid’s science fair project, if the kid quilted his or her science fair project. Please let me know if you have ideas for where it could be displayed.

 

Quilting, writing, and healing are similar activities, and I liked exploring their connections in "Time Heals All Bones."




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The lower part of the quilt represents a three-stage version of the healing process:

1. Fracture and bruising
2. Protective hematoma/callus formation
3. Disappearance of fracture line (represented by a "clean bill of health" x-ray)

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This upper-left panel shows cross sections of bones, and clocks to represent that bone healing takes time.

The central panel of the quilt has most of the captions.

MARROW:




I used mesh bags from tomatoes and lemons to represent red and yellow marrow in the cross section above, and red and yellow embroidery floss in the hip joint below. 




BONE CELLS:






Bone cells work cyclically together, reminding me of myths I've read about the Hindu deity Shiva. So Shiva and his symbols show up in this quilt.

• Symbols of Shiva's Resilience
  

SHIVA LINGA:



THE TRIDENT: