2021

On the free table at my local quilt guild, I’d found a plastic bag filled with 300+ cotton squares in many prints including 22 half square triangles; all perfectly cut 2.5 inches. I had these for a couple of years, unsure what to do. Perhaps it’s the turbulent politics, amid the second year of the pandemic, that I turned my attention to something simpler.

I’m inspired by the American history of quilting. So as not to waste a single fabric scrap, women stitched remnant pieces together in thoughtful designs – utilitarian yet imaginative and deeply personal. I challenged myself to use all the found squares and create new work while honoring this tradition of patchwork and hand quilting. The square is the most elemental patchwork form and the “One Patch” is a quilt pattern archetype embodying American resilience and resourcefulness.

The border and backing fabrics were also found.

50” x 40”

Machine pieced, hand quilted; found fabric, embroidery thread, machine thread, batting