My former girlfriend (reluctantly) agreed to make a Collaboration Quilt, the idea being to take a photograph of mine (shadows and light) and make a quilt based on the colors and composition. We have different ideas about collaboration, of course. I thought we would work together on the quilt, as in collaborate (I knew better, really. My former girlfriend does not “collaborate” on her art with anybody, let alone me).  Don’t even try it.

But I had fun throwing the idea out and watching her squirm. She mentioned the idea on her website, along with some chatter about dealing with the “Patriarchal System” – that would be me.

In keeping with her notions of collaboration, that discussion was the last I saw of the quilt until I went into the Studio Barn to start up the wood stove this cold morning and saw it hanging there. “Hey,” I said, “I thought we were going to collaborate.” Oh, she said, we did. I looked at the photograph.

It’s pretty neat, I have to say. A Collaboration Quilt. Sort of. She looked at my photo, and then made the quilt she wanted to make.

Like Mary Kellogg told me when I said Maria and I were dating, “oh, that’s wonderful. She can handle you. She will keep you in line.”