the freedom quilting bee...

i talked to my mom today and she had quilting at her house...wish i could've been there eating that pumpkin strudel with the girls and looking to see what everybody is making....it made me think of one of my favorite things - gee's bend - the quilters and the quilts...so today as i was surfing 'gee's bend, i fell upon this quilting bee and thought that you might find it as fascinating as i - and there is a connection to the gee's bend quilters...

The Freedom Quilting Bee, an outgrowth of the civil rights movement, was established in 1966, as local people were losing their income and sometimes their homes on local farms after registering to vote. Father Francis X Walter, an Episcopal priest and civil rights worker, saw the potential economic value of quilts he saw hanging on a clothesline and helped the group get started.

This was a women’s quilting collective in Alberta, Alabama, near to Boykin or Gee's Bend. Some of the women whose quilts are represented in the Quilts of Gee's Bend exhibit once made quilts for this economic collective. Others did not. Nevertheless, it is through this earlier collective that Gee's Bend came first to be known for its quilts, for the strength of its community and the resourcefulness and artistry of it's quilters..

In 1968, the Bee purchased 23 acres of land where they built the present production site. Eight lots were sold to families that had been evicted from their homes. 1970-1996, the bee leased part of the building for a day care center. This is a photo of the groundbreaking... i also found it interesting how a day care center had been leased - women always looking for ways to provide for the children, no matter at what age is just an instinct that seams together so perfectly...

In later days they began making smaller items; potholders, bags, napkins and aprons to sell at stores.

if you are in a quilting group - let me know about it! i can blog about each of you and what you are making - and a photo would be great too... last time i sent a photo of my quilting group - "stitch n' _itch... i had sent it to oprah telling her we all needed a makeover and to please help...well i did get a call...it was from the show...and they wanted to know if we would all be interested in joining a getting fit program, right there in dallas....well, i told THEM that i could never take that back to my group - it would be horrifying!, and that we just were not interested in THAT!!! well, later is when dr. phil became well known, ala dallas link - so my guess it was working with him to get all fit and trim....but no thanks - we just wanted to look beautiful for a day...