Up for Bids

I just sent this very small quilt, entitled “Ginger”, off in the mail. It is my contribution to the SAQA Spotlight auction. The quilt is 6″ x 8″, mounted in an 8″ x 10″ mat with a 4.5″ x 6.5” opening and placed in a clear cellophane sleeve. It will be up for bids online at between April 15 and April 25, 2021. Information about the auction is on the website: saqa.com

I was tidying up after a fabric dyeing day, using a bit of old bedsheet as a clean-up cloth to wipe down the counter and table. When I laid the cloth out to dry, I could visualize a face in the smudges of color on the cloth…just like one can imagine shapes in clouds. My Inktense colored pencils were handy, so I began drawing, coaxing detail from what was already on the cloth. The small drawing bumped around my studio for months, until I identified it as just the right size for an auction quilt. I added a few bits to make the work rectangular and quilted it onto a piece of felt.

The girl in the drawing had developed personality, but the work was nameless. I asked my husband to help. He suggested the very literal “Red-headed Girl in Bowler Hat”. I wanted something, but his idea nudged me toward the title: Ginger! It conveyed red-headed, could be a girl’s name, and reinforced the idea of a feisty, spicy personality. I could finish the work with a backing that is also the label.