"Lucille Ball": Quilt Art by Rebekka Seigel

"The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly and lie about your age."

The seventh quilt in my paper doll series evokes the most nostalgia for my childhood. The Lucille Ball tribute is a collage of things that represent the Fifties for me and images that describe Lucy’s life on screen and off. The center piece of an apron evokes my childhood when women off and on the television wore them when they went to their kitchens.

Three of Lucy’s outfits represent my favorite adventures from a TV show that I still stop to watch whenever I come across it on my TV. The maternity outfit makes note of the fact that she was the first woman to be allowed to be “with child” (the word, “pregnant”, was not allowed by the censors.) on a television show. This wonderful clown was also the first female head of a television studio when she got control of DesiLu in her divorce from Desi Arnez and that accomplishment is acknowledged with an outfit as well.

I signed this quilt on a replica of a membership card from the I Love Lucy Fan Club and I hope my membership never expires.