Una's Quilt

A sampler quilt inspired by the book Ahab's Wife or the Stargazer, by Sena Jeter Naslund. Each of the nine blocks represents an image or event from the book. The blocks/events are not in chronological order.

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The Crossed Canoes block (#1): Two months at sea in an open boat, the burning sun by day, the starry sky by night, the blood, the survival.

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Storm at Sea (#2): Not the traditional Storm at Sea pattern but similar, this block shows the storms of confusion and guilt in the minds of the three major characters, more than the real weather.

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Schoolhouse Block (#3): This represents the Kentucky cabin where Una's baby was born and died, where Susan hid from the bounty hunters, where Una first encountered David the dwarf.

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The Snail's Trail pattern (#4): I thought this was an ideal Piscean pattern to portray Giles and Kit, the two men whose first glimpse of Una was of her fighting off an eagle on the balcony of the lighthouse. The white represents Giles, and the red block is the blood that caused him to commit suicide. The blue represents Kit whose life was controlled and directed by his haunting conscience, his obsession with atonement and forgiveness, and his basic psychosis. The dark yellow recalls the vile and childish acts of his mother and of Kit himself. Overall, the block shows the results of the boys' contradictory natures: Giles, the brilliant, scientific objectivist committed suicide because he couldn't live with his guilt. Kit, the religious fanatic, is still alive at the end of the book, insanely searching outside himself for expiation.

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The central block, the Mariner's Compass (#5) is only a symbol of the sea, and of Ahab, the center of Una's heart.

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The Milky Way block (#6) is symbolic of Una's stargazing.

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The Log Cabin block (#7) is the Log Cabin quilt that Una's mother made for her.

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The Pinwheels (#8) represent the four winds and the four seasons.

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Block #9 doesn't have a pattern name, as far as I know. Maybe Palm Leaf. I used it to represent Haley's comet, which Una watched with Maria Mitchell.

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The star borders (Lemoyne Star) illustrate Una's title role as the Stargazer.

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The quilt is to be a wall-hanging, the size is approximately 36 by 48 inches. The top was made by both hand-stitching and machine, finished July 30, 2009. I plan to quilt it in August, 2009.