2024, 12” square, I made the small sweater in the mid 1970s with a full size vintage pattern from the 1940s using size 1 needles and vintage cotton crochet string… hence the stains. I had it hanging alone and thought it suited for a Rock Square. It is one of the few that has a meaning… it is an homage to Virginia Woolf. She walked into a river near her home with rocks in her pockets. The red behind the sweater is symbolic of a setting sun or halo.

2020, 12” square, the lace like ring is a failed crocheted necklace… it hung like a damp washrag. I used fake flowers and plants that had fallen apart… I fully enjoy using things that might otherwise be tossed out.

2023, 12” square, this was made shortly after a trip to Ireland with rocks I had collected in Kinsale on the Scilly Walk. I was told the arrangement was reminiscent of St. Brigid’s Cross, so it is, but totally not conscious of it in the making.

2024, 12” square, this is another with a meaning. My late husband, Monty, loved doing the NYT crossword puzzles. I made beads of the puzzles, others have his handwriting in the squares (those I made into necklaces). I made many beads and it is happenstance that I found the two beads at the top that butted together to read New York Times.

The very first in the series. Originally, I thought I’d make soothing lines, kind of zen garden-like. Well, not long into it I realized it had too much going on to be calming, then I realized I like more action in my work, so I went with what I do. I let the material and colors go where they will… at least in this one.

For over 30 years I restored antique quilts and hooked rugs. As I was clearing out my supplies I came across a boodle of 1930s fabrics and partially assembled quilt blocks that I would no longer need. This reminds me of all the quilts I worked on. To remember all the hours that were put into assembling pieces of fabric that would never be made into a quilt… oh, the amount of time spent on making elements that would never be finished.

This is mostly made of unsharpened tally pencils. They were in a box at the auction of a good friend who had died. Odd what one takes to remember someone by. The rock was painted by my Mom after she had returned from a trip to Australia. At the first stop she saw all these wonderful painted rocks, but the idea of lugging them for the entire trip didn’t make sense, so she decided to wait and buy them later. Unfortunately, she never saw them again, so she painted her own.

The pieced Ohio star center is from c. 1840 fabrics. I found it already pieced and bound it with glazed brown cotton. Such a perfect center for a Rock Square. The first half of the 19th century is my favorite time for fabrics, there was so much going on then in styles and fashions. I was glad to use it rather than just add it to a stash of fabrics I like, but didn’t know what to do with them.

All those small rings wrapped with yarns were made from the rings cut from pull tabs inside of milk cartons. Over months when I just wanted to keep my hands busy I wrapped a bunch of them with no particular idea of what I was going to use them for … ah, Rock Square! Why not make small coils to insert in each of them? I found a bag of small plastic flower beads I was going to dispose of… nope, stitch them on the coils. I’m glad I had so many rings already wrapped. They take a long time. I have many more wrapped rings and they are now strung as a necklace.