Women "Voted" with Their Needles

Not until the November election of 1920 were American women allowed to vote in a federal election. The story of the Suffragettes is well-known. They gave their time and efforts so that all women could experience the same freedom as men by casting their ballots, thereby letting their voices be heard. During the previous centuries, women often relied on their needles to silently express their political preferences. I decided to re-enact that process.

"It Takes a Village" quilt made by Patricia L. Cummings, August 2015
photo by James Cummings

Like those women, I am casting my vote silently by creating a quilt that shows my candidate of preference for the 2016 presidential election. The large field of Republican candidates is slowly being whittled down. The Democratic side now offers but three candidates, one of them an avowed Socialist and one a "lesser known" politician. It is exciting to watch debates from both sides of the fence. The one candidate that I can believe in to move this country forward is the woman portrayed on my quilt:  Hillary Clinton. She has the foreign affairs experience needed and also the wisdom of an older woman, a grandmother!

The quilt is machine-pieced, hand-quilted, and features an artist's rendering (by an anonymous source) provided by the last Hillary Clinton campaign.