Eight thousand years ago an artist in Catal Hoyuk created a little 6” clay sculpture of a magnificent goddess seated on her lion throne with lion guardians perched on her shoulders, and 80 years ago archaeologists dug it out from under tons of sand to reveal it to the modern world. For millennia, civilizations around the world have worshipped the Goddess of the Lions, from Egypt to Babylon, Greece, and modern. I try to imagine the immense power of the lioness embodied in a woman – protective, fierce, sleek, glorious. This feeling is what I was trying to depict in this quilt, envisioned in a vast ancient landscape, emblazoned by the sun. The lion goddess figure in my quilt is that ancient little clay figurine from Catal Hoyuk, Turkey.