Quilt Design

TRANSFORMING
THE ENERGY OF REVENGE
by Shaffia Laue and Linda Frost
1997

This quilt was designed to be the backdrop for the podium for a conference entitled "The Bio-Psycho-Sacred Aspects of Transforming the Energy of Revenge" which took place March 30-April 4, 1997. Shaffia Laue was one of the co-chairs of the conference and she recruited Linda Frost to be her partner in developing the design. The block pattern is "Informal Diamonds", from Speed-Cut Quilts by Donna Poster. By turning the block it was possible to create a seemingly random placement of the diamonds in the total design.
Shaffia wanted to have a visual representation of the concepts that the conference was addressing. We all have darkness in our lives and it represents our fears, anger, pain, and our desire to take back control of these dark feelings by "paying back" or getting even with what we consider to be the source of our pain and frustration. When we foster those vengeful feelings we keep ourselves in the dark. However when we choose to turn towards the light in our lives representing the spiritual source of unconditional love, the pain and fear we have suffered can be transformed into feelings of compassion, understanding and love, even for those who have injured us.

Even in the darkest moments of our lives the light is there, sometimes hidden or small, but still present in the lower left corner where the darkness is most intense. The rays of golden light streaming from the upper right penetrate into the darkness and stimulate those small pockets of light to grow and expand, as a child that experiences love grows into a loving adult. Even a hurt and fearful adult can become compassionate when he or she has experienced the energy of love and compassion.

Energy cannot be created or destroyed so it must be transformed. This is further symbolized in some of the lighter colors at the top of the quilt that are actually the reverse side of darker fabrics that are first seen lower in the quilt. The rolling waves of the golden light of love are further symbolized in the rolling pattern framing the quilt, for even when we believe ourselves to be totally in the dark, the light is surrounding us outside, waiting to be discovered.
Together Linda and Shaffia created the blocks, developed a plan for the border and back and Linda did all the sewing (no small task!)