Art Bead Scene September Challenge- Gees Bend

If you are here for the Bead Soup Blog Hop click HERE

I was so excited to see that this month's challenge involved a quilt as inspiration. 

This is the quilt:  

"Housetop"--twelve-block "Half-Logcabin" variation, ca. 1965

Cotton, Wool Corduroy, 77"x 65"

Lillie Mae Pettway, 1927-1990

Gee Bend's Quilter

I am familiar with the Gees Bend quilts and their history.  

These women used every scrap of old clothing, flour sacks ect to create their colorful quilts.  

They are all hand stitched, they could not afford sewing machines.  

Their wonky lines and unusual color combinations 

are what make them true examples of folk art and american ingenuity.  

I wanted to capture that in my entry so I started with old thread spools. 

I decoupaged tiny fabric scraps onto the spools 

and then colored the portions I could with permanent felt tipped pens.  

I created tassels with cotton crochet thread in black and white 

and pulled them through the spools so that they could dangle.  

When I saw the fabric with words on it in deep beige and black I immediately thought of scrabble tiles so I raided our old game and drilled holes in the letters B, D, E, E, E, G, N, S... 

if you unscramble them you can spell "GEE'S BEND"!!

Then I had the pleasure of creating the tiny little quilted bib portion 

complete with batting and free motion stitching 

in purposely imperfect lines to mimic the wonkyness of the inspiration piece. 

There are four layers; the pieced fabric top layer, the wool batting, some stabilizer 

and then fabric lining to cover all my threads from attaching the spools and the scrabble tiles. 

This was a really fun challenge for me because I am also an art quilter, 

belong to my local guild Desert Quilters of Nevada and enjoy all the very talented ladies in my  monthly "Art Quilts Ect" Circle where we share all our work. 

I loved combining that passion with another jewelry piece.  

Thanks ABS!!