tucking you in, 2019-ongoing, hand-pieced quilt, upcycled and thrifted fabrics, photographed on Signal Hill, June 2022

In 2019 I moved to Windsor Ontario. It was my first time living off the island of Newfoundland, and my first time away from the Atlantic Ocean. I felt homesick and unsure of myself. I was on new anxiety medication and my body didn’t feel like my own. My whole life I had never lived more than a five minute walk from the ocean. I defined myself in contrast to its magnitude. Now I had the Detroit River, nausea, and greasy hair. I sat in my new bedroom and tattooed “TAKE ME TO THE ATLANTIC” on my leg. I started carrying scraps of fabric in my pockets. Using the same sewing needle as I had used for the tattoo, I began hand-piecing a quilt. Colorful fabric scraps from the mission thrift store grew into more and more quilted segments. I made them in small sections, sitting along the river, and brought the sections back to my studio to attach to the larger and growing quilt. I worked through the Fall. In the Winter I made the decision to move home, unable to continue at school due to the ongoing pandemic. The quilt came with me and continued to grow. I would work on it in-between other projects, in moments when I felt untethered. I spent time with the ocean. I came off my medication. This is a lot of writing to say that I am making a comfort object. Still making it, when I have time and when I want to. This is all an act of self soothing.