In the glory days of agricultural fairs, our own here in Vancouver (the Pacific National Exhibition) used to feature a craft competition among many other features, and one year I was absolutely blown away by one competitor’s entry: the entry was a large petit pointe of several small squares—each one a miniature quilt. What the entrant has done was to re-create classic Amish quilt designs on a black background. Each of sixteen quilt designs was reproduced in the tiny stitches of petit point. It was a beautiful creation and it won. But the reason I have never forgotten it was its unexpected source: it was done by a male inmate of the BC Penitentiary, and it deserved to win in its class. I think of petit point and quilting, of course, as a female activity, so the fact that it was done by a man surprised me.
Today, on the Neatorama site, I saw a posting about Jimmy McBride’s quilts (that are for sale) and was reminded of the Amish quilts. Mr. McBride makes quilts inspired by astronomical photographs. Here’s Jimmy in his own words:
they say in space, “no one can hear you scream.” well, they can’t hear the low drone of the internal power generators kick on again when you’re half way to nowhere. i can. i work for a shipping company called “intergalactic transport.” i travel back and forth from rock to rock carrying those two all important gems- salt and vinegar. there’s a lot of time to kill up here so i downloaded a grandma program and she’s been teaching me how to quilt. there’s no “log cabins” or “poinsettias” around so i just stare out the window until something catches my eye. it’s nice every once in a while to shoot the shit with a fellow traveler, or get caught up in the new dawn celebrations in the outer rim, but mostly it’s just me; with a lot of time on my hands.
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