Bird Bee and Bloom

Several years ago I had the pleasure of seeing the exhibit of Gee's Bend Quilts during it's visit to the Chrysler Museum. Bold colors and geometric patterns,quilts made from the clothing and other cloth available to the quilters of Gee's Bend through the years tells the story of a group of women who have been piecing and sewing quilts since since the beginning of the 20th century. Today, the women are still quilting and passing this time honored art on to the next generation.

Yesterday, while doing the volunteer thing at the library, I came across a children's book titled Stitchin' and Pullin' - A Gee's Bend Quilt by Patricia C. McKissack, illustrated by Cozbi A. Cabrera. Written in free style prose, the author tells the story of the history of the Gee's Bend community and their quilts. The illustrations are just dead-on for the actual quilts. One page in particular, of a little girl looking at a red/black/white quilt mounted on a museum wall is a favorite of mine - I was quite taken with the actual quilt and the illustration made remember my reaction the first time I saw the original. That quilt, in my opinion, could hold it's own with any piece of modern art exhibited in a museum. The only draw back to a book or the computer images is that you don't quite get the experience of the textures of the various cloth used, byt all in all it is simply a lovely little book.

If you would like to learn more about Gee's Bend quilts there are many wonderful sites online that can provide you with the opportunity to see more of the quilts. There was also a wonderful program on PBS about them. And, of course, you could check out this precious book to enjoy.

Here is a link to one http://www.auburn.edu/academic/other/geesbend/explore/catalog/index.htm

click on the link to the Quilt's of Gee's Bend catalogue. There you will find some of the quilts with the name of the maker, the type of fabrics used, etc.