I am working on ideas in order to make, and that’s the key word here, a contribution (7 x 7 inches) to The Femedtech Quilt of Care and Justice in Open Education. Read all about what this is and more here. Read it, share it, get involved. This is important.
I have never made anything for a quilt. I can hardly sew a button back on so that it stays on. I tried to learn how to knit, but although the women in my family are super craft capable as a whole, I am NOT. So despite my keen interest in the project and the warm invitation, support and encouragement I have had along the way (THANK YOU to you, you know who you are) I am feeling thoroughly intimidated.
I have made and shared some drawings of early ideas:
Working on ideas for my square for the #femedtechquilt… #femedtech #OER20 pic.twitter.com/jAIjR8qVnX
— Dr Maren Deepwell (@MarenDeepwell) January 8, 2020
And now I am thinking about how I can actually make something. Something that would capture how much I care about the cause that this project is all about.
Quilts are very special. I don’t know much about the history, but I am lucky enough to own some. And they are very precious to me. They make my daily life a warmer, safer, more caring place. And that I value very much. For naps, for early mornings, for sleeping in winter, for bad days, for dark days. The quilts I own have been in my family for nearly forty years and recently one of them had to have emergency repairs. I brought it to my mother and hoped that she could help. It was late autumn and felt reminiscent of taking teddy bears that had lost eyes or ears or even a leg to be cared for and put back together… only to magically reappear under the Christmas tree – whole again. It always disturbed me that in Star Trek even Captain Picard never had a proper duvet or quilt for sleeping under. Only strangely metallic fabric blankets that seemed at least to me never really comforting. A proper quilt is a source of great strength and comfort and not something I’d like to be without in the future.
And a future without care would be very bleak indeed, and not just in Open Education.
I can’t wait to see this quilt come into being come April. And carry all of our hopes for change and resistance with it from OER20. I am deeply grateful to all those who make it happen and most of all thanks to Frances Bell.