Lucille Ball Part of Quilt Exhibit

From the Dodge City Daily Globe, Rebekka Seigel creates a tribute quilt as part of an exhibition that tells the lives of 13 influential women. The exhibit is currently on display at the Stauth Memorial Museum in Montezuma, Kansas.

"The seventh quilt in my paper doll series evokes the most nostalgia from my childhood," said Seigel in a press release. "The Lucille Ball tribute is a collage of things that represent images that describe Lucy's life on screen and off."

The quilts are "paper doll quilts," complete with tiny, quilted outfits that symbolize the defining moments in each of the women's lives. The clothes are attached to the main quilt, but can be maneuvered to dress the doll.

"Three of Lucy's outfits represent my favorite adventures from (I Love Lucy)," said Seigel. "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 (Productions) in her divorce from Desi Arnaz, and that accomplishment is acknowledged with an outfit as well."

Each quilt in the "Women's Work" series is different and each is dedicated to a different woman. Maya Angelou, Lucille Ball, Pearl S. Buck, Rachel Carson, Babe Didrikson, Ella Fitzgerald, Martha Graham, Barbara Jordan, Lucy Martin Lewis, Margaret Mead, Louis Nevelson, Jean Ritchie and Eleanor Roosevelt are each represented in the series.

Joining the "Women's Work" exhibit will be a display of 40 quilts created in all parts of the state of Kansas. The quilts were stitched in a wide variety of patterns and materials, including cross-stitch, scrap and Stack 'n' Wack, Christmas and samplers. Some of the quilts were made as long ago as the mid-1800s, while others were finished just this year.

The exhibit is open from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Sundays. The exhibit is closed on Mondays and all major holidays. "Women's Work" will be on display through Jan. 6, 2008.