Alternating strips and pieced blocks

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    Photo: Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio
c. 1950
Cotton
72 x 78 inches
Collection of
Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Description

Two of Malissia's quilts show a pronounced variation on the strip technique. In this one, dating from about 1950, the strips form an animated pattern of alternating columns of solids and irregular stripes. In the older and more intricate of the two, a quilt dating from the 1940s, the strips are made into small squares that are then assembled in blocks to form a "Basket Weave" variation of the "Nine Patch" pattern. The blocks are set with sashing and cornerstones. These quilting patterns have become pervasive in Gee's Bend culture: a boarded-up window at Tinnie Dell's store was for a time decorated in a "Nine Patch" pattern.