"Founding Mothers": A new look at an old quilt

 WARNING: THE CONSERVATIVES AMONG YOU MAY WANT TO SKIP THIS POST.

"Founding Mothers" is a quilt I made in Indiana many years ago.  (And yes, before Cokie Roberts wrote her book of the same title!) It grew out of a school project that Anna was doing when she was in fifth grade.  It was called the Living Museum.  The students had to choose a person from American history, write a speech about that person, dress like them, and then when the parents visited, they stood up gave their speech.  When Anna came home after the parts had been chosen, I asked her who she was going to be and she said Martin Van Buren.  I asked why she wasn't portraying a famous woman and she said, "Because, Mom.  There was only Betsey Ross and Pocahontas on the list and somebody already got them."  I suggested that we call her teacher and ask if we could research another famous American woman.  Naturally, he agreed and we set to work going to the library to do some research.  She ended up portraying Deborah Sampson, a woman who had dressed as a man to fight in the American Revolution.  That research was the beginning of this quilt.

 Naturally, the American flag color scheme was sort of a no-brainer given the Betsey Ross beginnings of the research.  The little quilt in the center has blocks that commemorate special women or things that affect women. Anna has a little block all her own!  The center is a cross-stitch of Abigail Adams famous quote exhorting her husband to "remember the ladies." If you click on the photo above to enlarge it, you can see that the quilting lines are actually names of American women I wanted to commemorate.  My mother, and both of my grandmothers are included.  The photos above were only on slides until we recently had our slide collections digitized.  I'm glad to get to share some of my older work.

This is also one of the little center blocks.  The quote is from Florynce Kennedy, an American lawyer, feminist, and civil rights activist: "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament."  I made a tiny hanger out of wire and the little banner says, "Remember Roe vs. Wade."  This quilt was displayed at the Indiana State Fair  around 1982.  It won a ribbon, but the quilt was draped to hide this block.  Another time, it was on display at a museum and one of the docents found a man trying to remove the little hanger from the block.

This post today was prompted by something one of my friends. a young educator and feminist, posted on Facebook.

from the Americans Against the Republican Party Facebook page

I know this is a volatile issue, but whatever your belief, the way to end abortion is not to outlaw it.  It is to end the need for abortion and that can only be done through education and access to birth control.  Quilted Librarian stepping off the soap box and back into the studio.

November 4, 2012 update:

This is why I love my family so much: