" Girl Crazy"

Rough scan of the mock up for the" Girl Crazy" print

I guess what has been uppermost in my mind lately has been the ongoing interest and success of " Girl Crazy", a crazy quilted corset donated by " The Hartley Girls" to " The Quilt" a breast cancer support project, based in Stratford, Ontario. The Hartley Girls are comprised of myself, who does all the physical stitching and design layout and my darling Mum Joan, who is my #1 design consultant. She is also a twelve year breast cancer survivor.

Joan - my Design Consultant at the Artists' Preview - May/07

" Girl Crazy" seems to have taken on a life of it's own with The Quilt issuing a signed numbered limited edition print, beautiful totes and shoe /wine bags, and it's image is displayed on all the marketing materials for The Quilt including corporate invitations, auction tickets and programmes. Whew! Who knew that a piece of vintage lingerie would inspire us so and our creation would become such an ambassador for the cause?

The DA checking out the merchandise at" The Quilt" gift shop

The actual crazy quilted corset has travelled across Canada and has been exhibited at auction sites throughout the year. This Thursday it travels to Halifax, Nova Scotia, the heart of the Maritimes provinces, to be on show during the auction there. It then returns home to the Stratford exhibit until mid September and then it will begin it's final journey. The corset will spend four weeks at the luxurious Casa Loma venue, a majestic " medieval" castle in the heart of Toronto and then will move to The Distillery District , a national historic site and an extraordinary artistic community. On October 23rd, it will go on the auction block with several other beautiful donated quilts. We couldn't be more delighted with it's success but ultimately, we are thrilled with the funds it has raised for this most worthwhile effort.

Joan and I would especially like to thank and acknowledge the wonderfully creative minds at Red Rhino for their innovative ideas and the tasteful way in which they've handled our work. Thanks folks!

I'll be posting more info and pics closer to the auction date.