Gayle Maisel
Lady Liberty: Mother of Exiles
My goal was to create a hopeful, positive quilt. I embroidered three iconic lines from the Emma Lazarus poem, The Colossus, that is engraved in bronze on the statue’s base. They represent our country’s path to a brighter future. Lady Liberty’s torch is unseen but not gone.
The squares were individually quilted with red, white and blue thread before being sewn together and further quilted. Lady Liberty herself is from a fabric panel.
An enduring strength of the USA is that we have always been a nation of immigrants. As a multi-cultural patchwork country of many different nationalities and races, the best and worst of human behavior has been on display throughout our history.
The four years from Nov. 2016 to Jan. 2021, as represented by the 45thpresident of the United States, seemed particularly fraught with division, dissension, upheaval, hate and fear.
Enough negativity. My quilt says to stay hopeful, that better times will come.
I was born and raised in New York City, moved Upstate after marrying and then relocated to Reston, VA in 1996 with my husband, 2 daughters and dog.
After my family was settled in, my personal goal was to learn to quilt. That education began at a newcomers quilt group and then Quilters Unlimited in 2003. After retirement from a career in real estate brokerage and residential property management, it was time to also join Modern Quilt Guild. Now I get to spend my days making quilts as well as exploring new-to-me modern quilt techniques, classes, bees, retreats, quilt shows and quilters yard sales. Life is good!