Welcome 2018! - Anahata quilt

The heart chakra, or Anahata in its original Sanskrit name, colors our life with compassion, love, and beauty.

Anahata is unifying chakra. It is the healing center.

It means living your life with loving kindness and compassion towards others. It means that your heart is open to others and you inspire kindness and compassion in others. It is associated with balance, calmness, and serenity.

Anahata moves love through our life.

Its color is green, higher energy frequencies can turn to pink.

We are used that an effect is produced by the confrontation of two opposite forces.

At the level of Anahata chakra appears the possibility to integrate the two opposite forces without the two forces to be confronted. The energy is specific to cooperation and integration, which brings peace and a new perspective in a world which, up to this level was made only of a more or less conscious confrontation between opposing forces. 

So, these being said, I hope you understand why I considered a challenging task to make a quilt illustrating the symbol of Anahata. The friend who asked me to do it is a lovely person and I could not refuse. 

The quilt should have been ready before the winter holidays, but I could not decide which quilting technique would be more appropriate.

One big question was also: To use a single fabric or more?

Using more fabrics, the quilt would definitely come out, more appealing, more vibrant. Paper piecing or applique would probably have been the most suitable sewing technique. 

But reading, again and again, the meaning of the Anahata symbol, I realized that, this way it would be more difficult to express its essential traits: balance, calmness, and serenity.

Finally, I came to the conclusion that a wholecloth quilt is the most appropriate form of expression: I will use a single fabric, in the defining color of the symbol, green, and a single thread color with which I will draw/stitch/quilt the contours of the elements. And as I had to suggest the invisible energy flows and one of the seven main wheels of energy (chakras), I used a color of thread having a low degree of visibility as against the background. 

For background, I chose to use quilting with straight lines, in various orientations, in order to express the confrontation between opposing forces of the life. Their density is similar with the density of the rounded lines inside the symbol, in order to require more time for the eye to separate the details of the Anahata symbol from those of the background, just as the knowledge of one's own self is a process that requires time, willpower, patience, and depth in thinking and senses.

In choosing the green shade I had a practical reason: it is a friendly shade with a wide range of colors, so it can help to create a welcoming interior.

One more thing about the thread:  I used Mako NE 50/2 from Aurifil, which was a real performer of this quilt.

There was no need to change any settings on the sewing machine. The thread never broke. It worked wonderfully.

Aurifil thread has a soft shining and blends so well with the fabric.

It is indeed a quality thread. Free motion quilting with it was a real pleasure.

All in all, Anahata is a special quilt, as the meaning of its elements guides the aesthetic expression and precedes it in terms of importance. That's why at first glance it may go unnoticed. 

But for the future owner of this pillow - because this way it will be used - I'm sure it will become one of the most loved pieces of decoration in her new home.

Have a beautiful year, my dears!