perfect patchwork

{blanket by tracey emin, hate and power can be a terrible thing,2004}

i've just finished reading an article in vogue about tracey emin and her collection of patchwork blankets - she never calls them quilts, as they were, in the beginning, made with the intention of going on a bed. the first one she sold, she sold after being in bed with it at the gramercy park hotel in 1994 and she cried when she had to let it go.

not only does love, work, blood sweat and tears go into these blankets but also memories. she collects and hoards fabrics like i frame meaningful photographs. she has a general box of fabric scraps and, if the pieces are especially sentimental, special or rare, then they get promoted to a box referred to as the "high alter memorabilia fabrics". "these fabrics are worth more than gold to me. but when i use them only i know."

i think that's lovely, small pieces of your heart being incorporated into something you can hold without ever knowing what they might have meant to the person that held it before you. even though her pieces are provocative, there is no doubting they are beautiful.