Friendship: SIT DOWN

SIT DOWN is a tribute to Carlon (a close friend for over 30 years) and an uneducated African American folk artist named L.V. Hull.  Carlon and I worked together and spent many hours drinking lattes and tea at Starbucks.  On one of her trips, Carlon visited L.V. Hull at her home in Kosiusko, Mississippi.  Hull was famous for creating art out of discarded "junk" - shoes, TVs, hubcaps, wood, bottles, tires, toys, etc.  Hull considered herself an artist and a person who gives good advice.  So, she combined her talents by decorating her creations with brightly colored dots and “sayings” – some familiar and others original. “Face powder may get a man, baking powder will keep him. The three R of life- at 25 romance, at 45 rent, at 65 rheumatism.  Take a smile from someone else and pass it on.”  Her words were crudely written and usually misspelled.  She was proud to say that no two pieces were alike.  While at Hull's home, Carlon purchased a wooden plaque for me with this piece of L.V. advice -“Friend are hard to find; sit down.” It proudly hangs in my sewing studio and is one of my most prized possessions.

For this quilt, I looked at old, humorous cards that I had received, and then tried my hand at creating a caricature of Carlon and me sitting in a Starbucks window. My drawing was traced onto a cream fabric and tinted with colored pencils.  The plaque sits at the bottom of the window.  In true L.V. Hull tradition, I used a variety of dots and unusual colors.  The fabric is Kaffe Fassett cottons and a few leftover hand dyed fabrics.  It is quilted using a walking foot and free motion.  On the back is an enlarged version of my plaque along with the back featuring Hull’s signature, date and expression of faith.  I made two versions of the quilt - one for Carlon; one for me.  L.V. Hull died in 2008 at age 66.