O! beware…

“O! beware, my lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey’d monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.” –
Othello, Act III, scene 3, William Shakespeare

This 36″ x 36″ quilt was created as part of the “Going Green” Presidents’ Challenge for the 2023 Brooklyn Quilts! show. The only parameters of the challenge were that each quilt measure 36″ x 36″ and feature the color green. I decided to take my inspiration from Iago’s quote about jealousy being a green-eyed monster.

In this era of social media, I am constantly struggling with the balance of finding inspiration from my fellow creators with being insanely jealous of their various successes. I wanted my embodiment of envy to be both beautiful and slightly scary. We’re often drawn by others’ charisma, but our attraction can go to a dark place so easily.

I used a single piece of Cherrywood fabric and a high loft batting that were quilted together with various colors of polyester threads. I used the thread painting technique to create the monster’s eyeball and then free-motion quilted the rest.