The Incomparable Nina Simone

The incomparable...

When my parents married, and before they ever had kids, they picked out two first names: Corey for a boy and Kelli for a girl. Middle names were up for grabs. For me, my father chose Simone.

Simone in French means (s)he who hears in Hebrew it means loud.  Ironically for me, both are true.  I am simultaneously capable of being loud and rambunctious and a good listener...go figure.

I was not given this name for any of these attributes; instead I was named after one of my father's favorite singers at the time, Nina Simone...and today was her birthday.

Who knew, that as my personality developed, she and I would have so much in common. I've always felt a strong kindred for her music and her political positions.  Nina was a proud woman of African American descent who was not afraid to discuss unpopular topics.  These attributes are also true of me.

Second, she had a STRONG personality.  She is believed to have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder which, in part could explain her aggressive mood swings some of which were evident while performing.  My father often recounts that if you went to one of her concerts, it was wise to expect her to walk off stage in the middle of a set.  She was largely known as "moody"...

Yeah, I can be moody...so what?

She was sand loud and hard.  Check out these tunes:

• The Other Woman - the mistress anthem...so soulful.
  
  Young Gifted and Black...this song is self-explanatory...skip to 2:40 to skip the intro
   
• Feeling Good - Jennifer Hudson recently did a cover of this song for Weight Watchers...Nina's version is SO much better.  It's hard to touch the original.

So, in honor of Nina and her vast repertoire of jazz infused melodies, I want to make a quilt that heavily uses the color black.  I found this fabric on the sale rack at Olde City Quilts.  It is from the Arabella line by Pat Sloan (manufactured by P&B Textiles).

On sale here.

Like Nina's music, this fabric spoke to me (and the price couldn't be beat).  I plan to use it (with some blacks and reds from the stash) as the basis for a quilt.  I envision this as a long-term project so I don't have a clue about the pattern or layout. ~ksp