Every artist has an unmistakable style. I am not sure when and how I got one but people tell me all the time that when they saw that one-they knew instantly that it was me. All I can say is that it has been developing over time. When I started on this journey my variety of fabrics were limited. Two things effected it: 1) was our income status and 2) was the kind of fabric I could afford to buy. Ooops that is the same thing. 🙂
My first quilt project was made from scraps that my father salvaged from his job. I don’t think anyone that I knew made quilts from brand new fabric. Perish the thought. Everyone scrapped and saved to have enough dribbles to make a quilt. So I followed suit. I had a small bundle because I didn’t know how much fabric it would take to make a quilt. My ambition was to make a full bed quilt but with my skill level and know how I should have went for something a lot smaller. So when my father brought in scraps from the making of hospital scrubs and nurses smocks, I picked a lovely pattern that I had seen other women make. My father called it “the Fly in the Buttermilk” pattern. I had seen it in a book and they called it “the Jack in the Box”. My dad never played with a jack in the box when he was growing up but I am certain he drank a lot of buttermilk. As a matter of fact, he liked buttermilk until his death, especially with cornbread in it. So I suspect he knew more about a fly in the buttermilk than a jack in a box. Needless to say, I was not prepared for the undertaking I had embarked on but my father was so proud that I thought I could do it. It would be about twenty years later when I finished it. That is my regret and that was in the 70’s.
Quilt World magazine became popular in the 80’s just in time for the reawakening of my latent quilt talent. I decided to try my hand at a quilt that I saw in a book. I loved making blocks and stacking them up. It became a meditation before I knew what meditation was all about. I tried almost every kind of block imaginable. I liked the Star pattern the best. I made a lot of stars. Simply loved them.
My next leap didn’t happen until the end of the 90’s into 2000. I saw a picture of a landscape quilt and a picture of a person on a quilt. I am not sure which one I saw first but decided that I could do that. I tried my hand at the landscape first. I was so pleased with it I figured I would do a lot more of them. It didn’t quite happen like that. I tried my hand at a person next. The first one was alright and the second one got better. Next thing I knew I was about twenty portrait quilts in, doing an exhibit and publishing a gallery book about the exhibit. The book is called Gifted: Art Quilts Featuring African American History Makers.
Which brings me to 2016, and the project that is taking my breath away. I said I would make 20 quilts for the National African American Quilt Convention. The Convention is 2017 in Lawrence, Kansas. It is the first ever of it’s kind. I guess you can hear my excitement. Check it out at www.naaqc.org This morning I woke up realizing that 20 quilts is a lot of quilts. I have been working and designing away. And still need two more. They will come. I just need to step back and wait on more inspiration. This project has moved me to yet another level. I want this exhibit to be outstanding, fabulous, noteworthy….
We’ll all see.
