Living My Best Life at College

The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) commissioned me to make a quilt for the incomparable Oprah Winfrey. Oprah had agreed to be the Keynote Speaker at the 17th Annual Maya Angelou Women Who Lead Luncheon. When the host committee struggled with the question of what to give a woman who has everything, my friend Justine Boyd suggested an “O.V. Brantley quilt!”

The committee wanted the quilt to be a memory quilt with all 37 affiliated Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) represented in the quilt. They also wanted the UNCF and Oprah represented in the quilt.

I immediately decided a star quilt on a black background was the most appropriate metaphor for the occasion. HBCU’s are known for not only turning out graduates, but graduates who go on to become stars in their chosen professions and communities. So each of the 37 schools and the UNCF have their names embroidered on a star. My friend Jackie Jackson-Harvey did the embroidery. Many of the remaining star blocks reflect some aspect of college life like books, beer, coffee, sports, etc.

Once the stars were made, I then gave the quilt my personal touch of inspiration. I appliquéd inspirational words and words that reflect college life. That’s when I knew the quilt had to be named Living My Best Life at College.

The back of the quilt is dedicated to Oprah. Since Oprah is the biggest star of all, I made a really big star for the back of the quilt and appliquéd her name in the center. I used angels on the sides of the big star because Oprah always seems to have angels around her. I finished the back with a blue and yellow African print to capture the colors of the UNCF and documented it with a label.

The quilt turned out quite large measuring 78×90 inches. My friend Maxine Moore quilted the quilt on her long arm machine. We chose a star pattern to carry out the theme of the quilt named Stars in Swirl and used variegated thread.

Oprah received the quilt 9/28/19 at the Maya Angelou Women Who Lead Luncheon in Charlotte, NC.