Description:
This quilt is a beautiful rainbow bookcase, packed with books made of fabrics as diverse as the queer community itself. Book club members had a great time picking out fun fabrics and patterns, building a bookcase that represents the range of worlds and experiences found in books as well. And it's not just books! There are also a cat, vases of flowers, and a treasure box mixed in with the books.
Dimensions:
64" x 72"
Artist Statement:
The Queer Joy Book Club was formed in the summer of 2022, by three readers who had only met a few months before. Initially meeting in restaurants, the group now meets at the Goodman South Library on the third Tuesday of each month. What began as a book group has grown into a community, with various members meeting for book events, thrifting, seasonal potlucks, movies, weekly exercise classes, crafting, and more. --> The 2023 GSAFE quilt auction was a subject of intense discussion in the group's Discord. When the 2024 auction's theme of "Together" was announced, one member offered up her fabric stash, and another offered their organizational skills, and a group project was born. Plans to poll the group to choose a pattern were immediately discarded upon finding photos of bookcase quilts online. --> Six different sewing days were planned, attended by a dozen different volunteers, most of whom had little to no quilting experience, and some who had never sewn before! Some group members even participated simply by providing snacks for the sewists on crafting days. --> The project organizers were delighted to learn that one member had access to a long-arm quilting machine, who donated her tie to do the quilting. Many members assisted in hand-stitching the binding the group's Book Camp Weekend in September. --> Creating this quilt has been a labor of love for the group, and has been a source of personal growth and self-discovery for several members as well. At least 20 people have worked "Together" to create this quilt, and we're so excited to be donating it to support GSAFE. This was a fantastic way for a book club focused on queer joy and community to give back to our community and support queer joy in the next generation.
