My grandmother used to make rag rugs out of pantyhose. They coiled around, textured and tan, with an occasional scrap of hot pink sprinkled throughout. I used to wonder if she put the pink in on purpose or if she just couldn’t bear to waste them. When did she wear hot pink tights anyway?

She and her friends made quilts, too, a patchwork of our outfits over the decades. We could spend hours tracing the events of our lives through those squares. Snuggling up with them was just a little bit cozier, knowing that they held so much of us in their very threads.

So when Hartford Prints featured an artisan quilt maker, Denyse Schmidt, in a fantastic panel of women designers talking Color last November, I paid extra attention. The whole evening was fantastic — hearing Vanessa German, an artist, talk about color and her choices; sharing with a group of creative women struggling to make art and a living; coming together around art.

It’s quilt season now, and so I recently went back for a visit around Denyse’s website. This particular couture quilt was a favorite. Aptly called “Drunk Love in a Log Cabin,” I love the color, geometry and layering of this art.

Drunk Love in a Log Cabin, by Denyse Schmidt

It’s definitely not my grandmother’s quilt. But it still reminds me of her.

And isn’t that what art is all about?