Today was Maria’s first day back in her studio since her trip to Gee’s Bend, Alabama last week to work with the famous quilters of the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective. She stayed with Mary Ann Pettaway and they worked together, they inspired one another. Maria said she calls these the “Freedom Potholders” because she had no plan for them, she gathered the fabric and a scissors and put the potholders together as she went along, a first for her. Mary Ann, after talking with Maria, just grabbed a pile of scraps and made some beautiful small square quilts. She said she had never done that before.

These potholders are very different, bold, strong, original. They are very much in the striking, even modernist tradition of the Gee’s Bend quilters, now famous all over the world.  They are, in fact very free. Maria is just now making them, she has not put any up for sale yet. You can follow the progress of the Freedom potholders on her blog. She went into her studio with a mission this morning, I just got out of the way.