Wordless Wednesday - Mosaic

1. rainbow geese quilt, 2. Rainbow quilt - WIP, 3. [3x6] Bee Beehive 15 Q3, 4. Color-work Quilt, 5. values quilt top, 6. Joseph's Coat Quilt Along , 7. Weekly check in on charm quilt, 8. What's Your Favourite Colour?, 9. Rainbow Quilt completed

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

Meet Mary Lucy

This is my grandmother's family. She was the youngest child of a proud West Virginia family. Her mother, my great-grand Mary Lucy (seated on the right), in addition to being the matriarch of a large brood kept house for a prominent family in the area. By all accounts she was a woman who understood homestead living. And was master at her craft.

I never met her. I only know her through stories that my mother and grand mother have told me through the years. I feel a kindred with her, although the times in which we live are so different.

I also know her best through her life's work. I own her (now 100+ year old) Singer sewing machine which I hope to fully restore. I own her Household Searchlight Magazine Cookbook (1938) with all of her notes and recipes glued into the covers.

This is one of my favorite recipes of hers. I love that it is tattered and stained and absolutely delish. I substitute the canned pumpkin for 3 cups of fresh pumpkin puree whenever I can. I also sometimes add 1/2 tsp of cloves...just for kicks.

The proof is in the tasting. ~ksp