Oh my lord. This is it. This is what I've been looking for. After some random googling in a quiet moment I found the Gee's Bend quilts. They are a-mazing and just the sort of inspiration I've been after without knowing it. And I thought, "Oooh they're so modern and fresh." And it turns out they originated in Alabama around the ending of the slave trade - jaw drops to the ground - and it made me so much more respectful of why quilting exists. Born out of need and necessity, using only the materials available and not out of a "desire to be crafty" with access to a million types of cotton. I feel released from the pressures of perfection - straightness of lines, rightness of material choices. And I am going to use only what I have I. And so I am going to remember why I am so lucky to be able to make the choice to quilt, or not to quilt. And of course, I was wondering a bit why these quilts resonate with me so strongly and I remembered what I was up to at the beginning of the year when I was just playing around with fabric:
So there we are - I was Gee's Bend-ing without even knowing it :-)
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