Monday 24 October 2011

An evening with the ladies of Gees Bend!

Our hostess Maureen with China Pettway, Revil Mosely and Louisiana Bendolph in The Creative Edge after an enjoyable evening of stories and show and tell.
 The ladies sharing a smile as Matt Arnett tells how he and his father "discovered" the community of Gees Bend and the wonderful quilts the ladies made to keep their families warm.
 Louisiana sharing stories of learning how to quilt after playing under quilts her mother and grandmother used to quilt and threading needles for them.  Revil reading an article for the Canadian Quilters' Association of their trip to Halifax some years earlier.  Matt listening along intently.
 Revil nodding and agreeing with the ladies.
 China interacting with one of the ladies as we broke for coffee and desserts.
 Louisiana chatting with some other ladies.
 Back to the business of quilting, show and tell by those of us who came to hear them speak.
 Ethel's crazy quilt patch of pumpkins from upholstery velvets, recycled scarves and wool
 Admiring another audience's 9 patch pizazz, a combination of both machine and hand quilting.
 Another lovely show and tell from the group with admiring glances from the ladies.

They kindly signed Maureen's book, the Quilts of Gees Bend.
 Closing out the evening with Revil and China leading us in a rendition of Amazing Grace.  It truly was, I had the opportunity to see their first exhibit in Houston in November 2002.  Now an evening with them, how amazing.
 China and Revil admiring the fabrics in Maureen's shop.
The ladies are here until their flight leaves early on Wednesday morning, what a joy to have spent time with them and hear their stories.  Thanks to Maureen and the American Consulate for organizing this so quickly [they found out the ladies were here in Vancouver on Friday!]

2 comments:

Catskill Quilter said...

How wonderful that you took the time to document your evening with photos! I so enjoyed reading this post!

The little book of Nessie said...

That was a great opportunity for you Sandi! What an interesting evening you had. Great that you could share it with your photos. Regards, Nessie