mama's place

I live fairly close to Gees Bend in Alabama. Those ladies just used what fabric they had from work clothes, etc. and pieced them in large pieces on the floor and sewed large pieces together to make strips or big blocks of fabric. The one I have a pattern for is Lazy Gal. It has brighter colors than some. Also the instruction suggest that the maker not worry about being precisely a copy of the original. The Montgomery Museum of Art has several of the quilts in their collection and we also visited the exhibit when it was on tour at Auburn University. Unique quilt exhibit!

brushandthimble

I sew them in Boston a few years ago. You could pay a few $$ more and a get headphones and a recording, which I am very glad I did. They just took my breath away, and the stories about each quilt brought me to tears. i was sorry I waited until the end to go, otherwise I would have gone back at least a second time. I did buy the big book at one time; it is in my studio. I may now go pull it out:)

Miss Purple Shoes

Thank you. I will go and do some research on the net now to have a look at some pictures to give me a start. I like the idea of sewing strips together and then making a block. I guess I am thinking too hard about this?

Holice

Here is an interesting site about the African American Quilt Tradition.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/quilt/atrads.html