September ABS Challenge Entry - Corn Maiden II Necklace and Earrings

The inspiration for the challenge at Art Bead Scene this month is this quilt created in 1965 by Lillie Mae Pettway (1927-1990), one of a group of women who live/lived in the isolated African-American hamlet of Gee's Bend, Alabama.  This one is titled "Housetop", a 12 block half Log Cabin variation.  The quilt is part of an exhibition organized by the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. 

This is one instance where the polymer artist in me ran smack dab into the needle artst in me. I learned how to quilt at a young age from my mother, who learned it from her grandmothers. When she was growing up in the great depression, "repurposing" was done out of necessity. Her family comes from the mountains of SC and NC where quilting wasn't considered an art so much as it was a means keeping warm and passing the time, just as I'm sure it was for the women of Gee's Bend.

The color palette for the challenge contained three colors that my eye naturally gravitated to, red, brown and rusty orange.  I decided to concentrate on those and see what I could come up with for my own Log Cabin variation.

 I distressed the polymer with a dry, stubby-bristled paintbrush and acrylic paint before curing.  I decided to use copper findings and added these gorgeous, black, terra cotta 18 mm beads created for me by Rare Earth Beads at Etsy;  some oval carved horn beads with stripes to compliment the pendant and earrings, black and tan carved horn rondelles, and small, carved Brecciated Jasper fluted beads. 

I hope I've done the many quilters in my family, past and present, proud.   It makes the polymer artist in me happy, and makes me want to get out the fabric scraps and quilting needle, too.