by Quilt Alliance | Feb 18, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1931 Nobel prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison was born Chloe Anthony Wofford in Lorain, Ohio, the second of four children in a working-class African-American family. Her 1987 novel “Beloved” set in post-Civil War Ohio includes this vivid reference to quilts: Kneeling in the keeping room where she usually went to talk-think it was clear why Baby Suggs was so starved for color. There wasn’t any except for two orange squares in a quilt that made the absence shout. The walls of the room were slate-colored, the floor earth-brown, the wooden dresser the color of itself, curtains white, and the dominating feature, the quilt over an iron cot, was made up of scraps of blue serge, black, brown and gray wool–the full range of the dark and the muted that thrift and modesty allowed. In that sober field, two patches of orange looked wild–like life in the raw. This Nine Patch quilt was made by Catherine Miller Gingerich around 1880 in Iowa. The 68” x 79” quilt is hand and machine pieced and hand quilted and tufted. Old repairs are visible on the quilt with dark grey patches appliqued over worn areas of the top that have been quilted over in a teacup pattern. The quilt is part of the Illinois State Museum collection. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to read more about it’s history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view. Sources: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/toni-morrisons-birthday http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/736076-beloved http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beloved_%28novel%29 Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Feb 17, 2013 | Uncategorized
If you are attending QuiltCon consider bringing a quilt with you to share with the world! Our new project, “Go Tell It at the Quilt Show!” is designed to capture the stories of quilts where quiltmakers gather. The formula for Go Tell It! is simple: one person talking about one quilt in front of one video camera for three minutes. Unlike our Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories project where the interviewee must be a quiltmaker, the Go Tell It! interviewee profile is much broader. Go Tell It! interviewees can be the maker of the quilt they bring to talk about, they can be the owner of the quilt, or they can tell the story on behalf of the quilt’s owner or maker. Maybe you’d like to tell the story of your first quilt, the history of a special family quilt, or one with a funny story. Whatever your motivation, every quilt has a story and we are eager to document, preserve and share that story for the education and inspiration of today’s quilt lovers and tomorrow’s historians and genealogists. To reserve a time slot for your Go Tell It! interview, just sign up on this online schedule. On the sign up sheet, please add your full name and select up to 3 time slots that you would be available during the show to show & tell the story of your quilt. Then email us (qsos@quiltalliance.org) with your name and cell phone number so that we can notify you of any schedule changes during the show. We will then reply with day/time confirmation, information on what to bring with you to your Go Tell It! interview (your quilt!) and what you can expect. There is no charge to participate, but we hope that once you see this project, and all the work we’re doing to save quilt history, you’ll want to become a Quilt Alliance member. During the show you can sign up for a Go Tell It! interview time slot by coming to the Quilt Alliance booth (#107). We have a limited schedule (Thursday-Saturday), so sign up today! The Quilt Alliance launched the Go Tell It at the Quilt Show! project last year at the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo in Raleigh, North Carolina, . We were excited to partner with OS&QE along with Quilters’ Newsletter TV to pilot this video oral history project. Interviewees featured on this gorgeous video are Frieda Anderson, Sherri Driver, Tula Pink and Diana Bell-Kite. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nTdFAk2mXs?rel=0] The amazing creative team at Original Sewing & Quilt Expo have also conducted Go Tell It! interviews (watch the one below with quilter Dorenda Hubbard), and we also documented some wonderful interview sessions at other Alliance events in 2012 (those coming soon to the Quilt Alliance Youtube channel). [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qml3sqjVj4I?rel=0] We envision this project as a grassroots oral history collection. In the next phase of development, quilt lovers everywhere will be invited to document the stories of quilts with equipment as simple as a cell phone and upload them to the Go Tell It! archives for all to see and remember. Hope to see you at…
by Quilt Alliance | Feb 16, 2013 | QuiltCon
If you’re headed to Austin for QuiltCon next week (Feb. 21-24), come see us in the Quilt Alliance booth (#107). We’ve created a special Scavenger Hunt to introduce you to projects like Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories and The Quilt Index. And everyone who plays will receive one of our brand new Quilt Alliance quilt labels (below) and a chance to win an even bigger prize. Just download the Scavenger Hunt form before you leave home or come by our booth (#107) to pick one up. Then use the Quilt Alliance and Quilt Index websites to find the answers. Answer the questions and bring your form, including your contact information, to our booth at QuiltCon during show hours. All those who submit a completed form will receive a special quilt label in our booth and be entered to win one of six copies of Why Quilts Matter: History, Art and Politics, a landmark nine-part documentary series. This two-DVD set includes 9 episodes and 7 bonus features. Generously donated by Shelly Zegart, executive producer and host for the series and co-founder of The Kentucky Quilt Project and the Quilt Alliance. All winners will be announced the week of February 25 here and on the Quilt Alliance Facebook page. Prizes will be mailed to winners the same week. Here are a few shortcuts to give you a head start, the search pages for The Quilt Index (www.quiltindex.org/search.php) and the Q.S.O.S. search page (www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/qsos/advanced.php). Happy…
by Quilt Alliance | Feb 14, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
Red’s favorite month is February. On this day in 278AD a priest named Valentine was brutally executed for defying Emperor “Claudius the Cruel’s” ban on marriages and engagements. Claudius was convinced that his waning military enrollment was due to the Roman mens’ allegiances to their wives. According to one legend, Valentine left a note for his friend, the jailer’s daughter, and signed it “From Your Valentine.” This is just one version of how Valentine, sainted after his death, became associated with this lover’s holiday. Quilting legend Yvonne Porcella of Modesto, California made this 16” x 16” quilt for the 2011 Quilt Alliance contest, “Alliances: People, Patterns, Passion.” Yvonne said this about her quilt, titled Hi 5: “In pursuit of Visual Alliance I chose to use compatible colors. Red is a favorite from pink to burgundy. Sometimes Red asks for its friend Teal from the other side of the color wheel. Red’s favorite month is February. Thinking of Valentine hearts or all the Red hearts shuffling around in a deck of cards, I have to tell you, when I see the 5 of Hearts, I say “Hi 5”. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to read more about it’s history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view. Sources: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/st-valentine-beheaded Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Feb 13, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
Bold in Burgundy On this day in 1457 Mary, the Duchess of Burgundy was born (an only child) to Charles the Bold and Isabella of Bourbon. After her father’s death in 1477 she took over the rule of the Netherlands, Franche-Comte, Artois and Picardy. She successfully resisted Louis XI of France’s efforts to force her to marry his son, the Dauphin Charles, in order to stake claim of these lands for France. Instead Mary chose Maximilian, archduke of Austria and they had three children. She died at the age of 25 in a horseback riding accident. This burgundy and white wholecloth beauty was made by Beatrice Wong in the 1940’s in Honolulu on Oahu Island, Hawaii. The top is hand appliqued and not quilted. It was documented by the owner during the Hawaiian Quilt Research Project in 1997. I found this quilt by using the Search Quilts page and choosing Burgundy under the Predominate Colors drop-down menu (see below). View this quilt on The Quilt Index to read more about it’s history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view. Sources: http://womenshistory.about.com/od/medrenqueens/p/mary_burgundy.htm Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
