This is a love letter to a baby to come (see the love letter on the typewriter?)

The bunnies from this fantastic Japanese furoshiki reminds me of stories and fables and that rich life of sitting around a fire and listening to endless tales, of reading and being read stories, of imagination, passing down the knowledge from the elders to the new ones.

Strawberry lines all around because she’s going to be as sweet as strawberries, French boule in the top is history of us all, the bookstore and gallery days, of the beginnings of La Brea bakery and bread and wheat represents bounty and health –

Above that is a little Japanese fabric from a map and part of the map is France and for some reason, there’s a lot of French influence here.

The Merci Cherie is from Mali wax print that I have had for a long time, honoring Mme Keïta, the widow of former Mali president President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta. She is also known for her work w healthcare, public health, and is a children's advocate, she served as the First Lady of Mali from 4 September 2013 until 19 August 2020. During her tenure as first lady, Keïta Aminata Maiga has promoted improvements in healthcare, education, the welfare of mothers and children, the environment and athletics. She was an opponent of child marriage, launched a national campaign in October 2015 to end the practice in Mali.

There is a boombox in a tiny little block hidden because you all come from boombox era and underneath it there are beautiful violas representing the very deep musical history that’s connected to this baby in so many different ways (I can name countless times I learned from you, sweet honey on the rock, you telling me how Ravi Shankar was hanging out with your brother, the many klezmer tapes, music music for everyone….)

The block with some very funny dog newspaper stories, homage to Peppermint Patti Smith simply hilarious nonsense (‘cause that’s how I roll), also because the deep love the family has for her and thankful for her wonderful work that she takes so seriously and diligently, and if you look on the back you’ll see I quilted a dog house on this one, and there’s a beautiful unicorn running free under a pink moon and it’s magical, the unicorn has an explosion of flowers on the belly and she’s just going to have the most dreamy beautiful free upbringing, I know this and flying free like those gorgeous herons and then there is Peppermint Patti Smith, her picture framed by vintage velvet deep deep velvet staring straight at you, protecting her new family member.

Underneath is flowers with cameras from my shine shine fabric from the BoKaap in Cape Town, hip, young, fresh and funky.

And on the side of that there’s a little ribbon that’s yellow and blue and it’s just happens to be the Ukraine colors because that’s the current events that’s going on but also I did a quilt workshop with a few of the women from Gees Bend (Alabama), their quilts are in the Smithsonian and they exploded modern art like no one else, I am sure you know who they are, and this little piece came from that workshop and it’s a lovely connection to some very deep history in our country, and speaking of connection, on the one side of that there is a light bulb and if you look at the light, it’s held up by two skinny little arms and between the hands the filament says “love” and I find this hilarious pop culture, and so iconic-- love light, get it? Love light! It’s a love light and Bobbie Blue Bland’s famous song, covered by the Dead and Van Morrison – Turn on your Love Light…

The watchful eye warding off evil, with quilted eyelashes underneath, then there’s a piece of vintage fabric that I found that is hilarious because it’s a piece of fabric that’s connected to the $64,000 question that game show (!) and it’s just adorable then there is obviously the cassette tapes at the bottom that I embroidered with hearts and music notes also that symbolizes Sadie’s DJing and there is a camping picture with a little fire and tent and camper and that is the many adventures the family will go on and underneath it is fantastic wax print that I bought from a sweet woman in Nigeria and I quilted it as citrus fruit, you can see it on the back, so fun and also there is a very very beautiful piece of vintage silk, stunning lichen green and on this I quilted ‘welcome baby’ if you run your hands on that you can feel it

The back is very simple free flowing colorful blocks. You can see the quilting on the back, the playfulness of the narrative of this child that’s coming, she’s going to be absolutely surrounded with so much joy, blessings and I love that on the front of the quilt the doggie watches over her and on the back of the quilt it’s mama and papa bear who will also always be there for her and watch over her and it’s sort of symbolic for all the mama papa bears in her life, you and Alan and Ben, so anyway that’s kind of the story in a nutshell – mazeltov!