Fertility Dolls

My first memories of quilt making is of my grandmother's so called 'Ugly Quilts.'  As a child, I could not understand why in the world she would use old men's trousers, army blankets, and discarded clothing to patchwork together a quilt of ugly squares and mismatched colors.  As I got older, I realized that my grandmother was poor and that she used whatever was available to her to make her quilts.  I can remember the days when my grandmother would visit my family in Seattle.  We would drag out her quilts and crawl under them while she told us stories until we fell asleep bathed in her love.  I don't know where those 'Ugly Quilts' went, but I wish I still had them.
 
When creating my own quilts I feel an ancestral kinship with my grandmother and her quilt making.  I have replaced her ugly squares and mismatched colors with designer and hand-dyed fabrics to create wild and wonderful quilts. . . This piece was inspired by the wooden Akuaba dolls carried by West African women as a charm to bring them beautiful babies. –Artist statement