Okay, I went to Gees Bend expecting what I had seen on TV, had read in the book, then researched online. At the Alabama State welcome centre there was a brochure telling about the Gees Bend quilters. I paid $55.00 US for this 12 x 12" square.
For those of you who hand quilt, particularly, Quilts etc's Karen, you will see that the hand work is in very simple form. I thought that it would be so different than what I normally see. My friend Helen, makes very intricate patterns in her hand quilting, as does Karen and many of you who read this blog.
This lady who is part of the co operative was sitting on quilt tops, just place hap hazardously on an old sofa. All the blocks were fairly large, not any different than what a 5" patch work would be. But nice bright colours.
Now this quilt above, was really neat. Used up lots of fabric and the colours were really out there, so I loved it. I thought that this was really individual works.
You can see that this wood panel need refurbishing, so many of the other panels that we were told would be there were probably being repainted.
I loved these works. More like what one would expect from the ladies of Gees Bend. All works were in cotton, and very individual thinking in these quilts. Again, simple stitches which here, were really effective.
So, here I am in the store at Gees Bend, showing my flip flop quilt which they thought was wonderful...so polite and gracious. So there ends my trip to Gees Bend. I think, personally that their pricing is too expensive, too ordinary in the sense that they are producing what we are lead to believe is so creative. I don't know about that and history will judge if these ladies can produce what their mothers and grandmothers did. Personally, I don't think so. I think that someone is influencing or managing them saying that they must mass produce rather than create...the end of Gees Bend visit.
We have settled into our little winter paradise. So far the temperature is just like summer days. The pool here is warm, the seas too as many people have come for the weekend to enjoy the sunshine and the gulf breezes.
The bottom photo is what greeted us as we arrived here in Laguna Beach Florida. Flowers are still in bloom, very very inviting.
We called Canada this morning only to be told that the first sprinkling of snow has happened. The only white stuff we have seen is white sand. How lucky are we?
