One of the reasons I haven't been blogging lately is that I have a theory that every minute I spend blogging I'm not quilting. But the other reason is that I had a secret I couldn't share yet -- and that was that I had been asked to make a quilt for First Lady Michelle Obama! Yes, you read that right. Here's the story:
It all started in 1891, with the birth here in my town of Columbus, Georgia, of one Alma Thomas. If you read that link you'll learn that Alma grew up to become a well-known artist -- so well-known, in fact, that -- fast forward many years -- she came to be a favorite of First Lady Michelle Obama, who has added three Alma Thomas paintings to the White House collection. One hangs in the White House dining room. Here's a photo of it here. I so love it!
Fast forward another little while and I come into the picture when I was asked, by Vivian Creighton Bishop, the wife of our U.S. Representative Sanford Bishop, to make an Alma Thomas-inspired quilt to be presented to the First Lady at the 2016 Congressional Club First Lady's Luncheon, of which Mrs. Bishop was chair.
So I did. The event took place on May 12, 2016.
To say I was honored to be able to do this is an understatement of enormous proportion. I only hope that the First Lady likes the quilt, and that I have done honor to Alma Thomas and to our town of Columbus, Georgia.
Here's a photo of the finished quilt, before it got shipped off to Washington:
Specifically inspired by Alma Thomas's painting titled "Apollo Splashdown 1970," I named this quilt "Apollo Revisited: Homage to Alma Woodsey Thomas."
I owe tremendous thanks to my friend Florene Dawkins, who knew my quilting and who knew of my long-time interest in the work of Alma Thomas, and who suggested to Mrs. Bishop that I be asked to make the quilt.
In a later post I'll write about my process and about the decisions that went into designing and making the quilt.
Oh, and when the official photos of me with the First Lady arrive, I'll post those, too.