by Quilt Alliance | Oct 17, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1989, San Francisco suffered the deadliest earthquake since 1906. The quake struck at 5:04 pm, lasted 15 seconds and registered a 7.1 on the Richter scale. The quake was witnessed on live television by fans watching the World Series baseball game at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Mike McNamara of San Francisco made this quilt titled, “Invite Us to Your Next Blowout!” in 2012 for the Quilt Alliance’s “Home Is Where the Quilt Is” contest. McNamara writes in this artist’s statement: “My dad had a tire company and he and my mom created a very fun home and lively life. To this day I love the smell of new tires.” View this quilt on The Quilt Index to find out! Read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view or click the “See full record” link to see a larger image and all the data entered about that quilt. Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/earthquake-rocks-san-francisco Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Oct 16, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1984, Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work as a civil rights activist. The Nobel Committee cited his “role as a unifying leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa.” This quilt, titled “Mandela Long Walk to Freedom” was made by Melzina Mazibuko of Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa in 2010. The quilt was documented for the South Africa Quilt History Project and is now in the Michigan State University Museum collection. From this Quilt Index record: “Signed on the bottom front by the artist : “Melzina M.” Memory cloth made by Melzina M. in South Africa. Small colorful wallhanging on black cotton ground. Embroidery and applique on the cloth depict a scene in the Robben Island Prison of Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Tutu and Tamba breaking rocks, doing manual labor. There are prison buildings in the background. The cloth is embellished with beads.” View this quilt on The Quilt Index to find out! Read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view or click the “See full record” link to see a larger image and all the data entered about that quilt. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Tutu Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Oct 15, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1954, Hurricane Hazel hit southern Ontario, Canada, killing 81 people. Hazel, the fourth major hurricane of that year, began on October 12 when it made landfall in Jamaica with winds reaching over 140 miles an hour. The storm moved northward and coastal towns in North Carolina and Virginia suffered severe damage. Four days later the storm caught the residents of Toronto relatively unaware when the Humbar River flooded and entire neighborhoods were washed away. The storm finally dissipated on October 16, leaving more than 400 people dead and damages in excess of $1 billion. Hazel Reece hand pieced and hand quilted (10 stitches/inch) this Star and Crescent quilt for her daughter, who had left home for school. The quiltmaker wrote, “[She] left a lonely spot in my home during the day; I filled that time making her a quilt. The first quilt I ever made with curved seams.” Reece’s daughter documented the quilt during the North Carolina Quilt Project and the quilt is featured in the book, North Carolina Quilts (plate 7-13). View this quilt on The Quilt Index to find out! Read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view or click the “See full record” link to see a larger image and all the data entered about that quilt. Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hurricane-hazel-hits-the-carolinas-and-ontario Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Oct 14, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1863, Winifred Sweet Black Bonfils, an American journalist and reporter, was born in Chilton, Wisconsin. She famously staged a fainting on the street in San Francisco to test the city’s emergency response. Ambulance services proved to be wanting and this caused a major scandal. She dressed as a boy and was the first reporter on the line to cover the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, and in 1906, she covered the San Francisco earthquake. At her death in 1936, her body lay in state at the San Francisco city hall. Violet Christopherson of Marinette, Wisconsin, made this String quilt using parts of her mother’s and father’s wedding clothes as well as other family members’ garments. The owner inherited the quilt from his mother, Violet’s sister, and documented the quilt during the Wisconsin Quilt History Project. Violet’s family was one of the few who survived the Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin in 1871. Her grandmother, the family matriarch, knew a great fire was coming and she had the children go through a firedrill every day. Read how they were able to survive this historic fire, which killed between 1,500-2,500 people, in this Quilt Index record. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to find out! Read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view or click the “See full record” link to see a larger image and all the data entered about that quilt. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winifred_Bonfils http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshtigo_Fire Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Oct 13, 2013 | QSOS Spotlight, Uncategorized
Many of you might know that that the Quilt Alliance was named The Alliance for American Quilts until 2012, when the board of directors voted to become the Quilt Alliance to reflect the popularity of making and studying quilts around the world, as well as the Quilt Alliance’s broadened global focus on projects both at home and abroad. Since the Quilt Alliance isn’t just interested in American quilts, today’s Q.S.O.S. Spotlight features an international interview with Peruvian quiltmaker Mary Flor Garcia. Mary Flor supports her family by making arpilleras, small three-dimensional appliquéd pieces. Though she’s thousands of miles away from the United States, her interview has many of the same themes as an interview with a quilter from Lima, Ohio might: satisfaction in a finished project, a hope for the future of needlecraft, and a love of chatting while sewing! Mary Flor shared a bit about the joy of seeing her completed work: I get excited about the appliqué of my landscapes. The appliqué is when once I have the background ready, I fill it with all the details. You imagine how it is going to turn out, and that is what I like the most… I feel good because I like making it. It is something that now comes to me naturally. I never imagined working on this, but now I like it. I tell my older sister, how it is that before she dared to do anything and now it is me, the younger one who dares to do even more. And she tells me, it’s because I am young, her ideas and mind are not in this anymore. She also shared a bit about the place where she sews: “My place is a small room where I have my bed and my small kitchen. I sit in my little table, in my bench and with my bag of fabrics. I feel good when my sister who stitches for me, and my brothers chat with me. Then, I stitch and stitch while chatting but when I am alone, I can’t stitch! I need someone talking to me.” Often, Q.S.O.S. interviewees talk about teaching and encouraging a younger generation. Mary Flor is hopeful that arpilleras will continue to be made in Peru: [T]he girls in the future, yes they are going to like it, they are going to continue doing it. And if they have a feel for the creativity that we all have, they are going to improve it even more from what we are doing now. I see the future as more beautiful, more vibrant. AB: Do you think that we are, or you are encouraging the new generation to continue? Are there young artists making arpilleras? LFG: Yes, there are girls that are just starting, and most of the learning comes from the stitching. And when you already know how to stitch, then if you have the desire to try more and if you have talent and good skills then they start asking to make a full landscape on their own. And that is how we give them the opportunity by encouraging and helping them trust they can do it. I have a small niece that likes to stitch. AB: How old is she? LFG: She is 12 years old and likes to stitch and my brother, who is a man, from little when we needed it, he also helped out stitching. Whoever dares to do it, can do it. AB: That’s good, it is good to know as one may think, look perhaps this kind of artwork, in 20 years from now, may not exist anymore as it is quite rare for it to be all handmade and with so much detail. LFG: There are people who get bored. They may do a little and say, ‘I can’t.’ This work is not for everyone, because you do need to have lots of patience. You can read more stories about quilts from around the world at the Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories page on the Quilt Alliance’s site. Posted by Emma Parker Project Manager, Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories…
