September 2002 ~ September has always been a time of beginnings for me: school starts, sports season, new routines and schedules. This month marked the beginning of my daughter Sara’s 2 year journey in the Peace Corps ~ the beginning of a new way of life for her, the ending of the way of life as she has known. This journal quilt was a new beginning for me as I begin to marry all the techniques I have been working with this year – painting, transfers, and collage – to fiber and quilting. The thought of creating more work like this excites me. It is the beginning again. The image is from a Civil War era tintype that I found this summer in a treasure of an antique shop in Delaware. I am mesmerized by her direct gaze. "Promise," she says, "promise you will not forget me." I promised to write my daughter faithfully, to keep the connection with home and family alive for her – to be a touchstone, a thread in the fabric of our lives. I will write. I promise.