“Gathering” suggested several ideas to me (gathering leaves, people gathering for a common cause …) but I came back to my first idea : swallows gathering in the sky for migration.

As I wanted a cloudy sky I used a blue and grey hand dyed fabric, and some scraps of batiks for the birds.  Paint was added to the birds to make them more real.

On the quilting lines extracts from a poem we used to learn at school are embroidered, explaining how birds are gathering before their departure, flying into circles,  beating their wings and crying.