Q.S.O.S. Spotlight
Today’s Q.S.O.S. Spotlight features two quiltmakers, Sharon K. Naegle Eshlaman and Theresa Boock, answering the same question: In what ways do you think your quilts reflect your community or your region? Though these women live over 2,280 miles away from each other, they each feel their quilts say something about themselves, and where they live. Read on as they share more about their quilts and their communities. First, Sharon K. Naegle Eshlaman, of Michigan: It’s a quilt I made some years ago, probably around the year 2000. I was always interested in stars. It came out of a magazine, which I’ve since discarded, can’t tell you what year, what designer, really anything about it. I love plaids and stars, so I chose that pattern. JR: What do you think someone viewing your quilt might conclude about you? SE: It’s Americana. I love my country. I love simplicity and it speaks country to me, country life. JR: In what ways do you think your quilts reflect your community or your region? SE: Well, as far as the Americana that I really enjoy, the stars, with the wars in the world now and our people coming back from overseas, I think it relates to that. I like appliqué floral quilts, thinking of my garden, that I occasionally tear myself away from quilting to work on. I work with a lot of homespuns and basically I’m just a down-to-earth girl. I’ve got my chickens and my garden and I think my quilts kind of show that’s the type of person I am. Next, Theresa Boock of Eugene, Oregon: I can tell you this quilt is a king size quilt. It’s 103″ square. It’s a very traditional style quilt, although I designed it. So it is a traditional style pattern with more modern fabrics. A combination of old and new. It’s got roses on it, and leaves, traditional rose wreath patterns and blue ribbons. Green leaves and burgundy roses, and pink. LP: Who made it? TB: Well it is a friendship quilt. I belong to an organization called the Pioneer Quilters, and we had a friendship block exchange. There were twenty-four of us involved and every month we distributed our patterns and whatever fabric we wanted people to use and they had a month to make our block and return it, and it took two years altogether from start to finish, the friendship exchange. And then, I pieced the blocks, and added a little bit more to the boarder, and then the group Pioneer Quilters quilted it. And it took eight months. We quilted on it about four hours a day, for eight months. I mean, once a week for eight months. LP: In what ways do your quilts reflect your community or region? TB: Pacific Northwest is sort of cutting edge for quilting. It’s really fascinating to have watched it evolve over the last thirty years. I sometimes feel like I’m a step behind because I’m not into the bright colors a lot of the quilters around here are in the Pacific Northwest… Being a fourth generation Oregonian, what you see in my quilts is a reflection of my region. And anything else I’ve brought into it by traveling, but truly, I’m about as dyed-in-the-wool Oregonian as you can get… LP: In what ways would we see that in your quilts? TB: A lot of the folks that came to Oregon in the 1800’s, some of them came from New England, and there is a lot of traditional New England beliefs hidden in design. Some of the folks came from Northern Europe, and you see a lot of, for instance, my father’s family is Dutch, German and Belgique and they were very fine craftsmen. And I see that eye for detail. How do your quilts reflect your region? You can read more quilt stories–from all over!–on the Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories page on the Quilt Alliance website. Posted by Emma Parker Project Manager, Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories qsos@quiltalliance.org …
read moreTwo Alicia’s: Wealthy and Windy.
On this day in 1983, Hurricane Alicia formed south of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. Twenty-one deaths and billions of dollars of damage were caused by the storm. Louisiana quiltmaker Wealthy Alicia Logan Long made this Crazy quilt 100 years earlier (1883). From this Quilt Index record: “Maker had 9 children. The quilt was found between a feather bed and plain mattress on an old brass and iron bed… This is the makers only known quilt.” The quilt is owned by the Parkdotan Plantation and owners documented it as part of the Louisiana Quilt Documentation Project in 1987. 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/Hurricane_Alicia Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
read moreA Quilt Lights the Way.
On this day in 1950, Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise, Princess Royal of England, was born to then Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Anne had an interest in pharology, the study of lighthouses, and as a patron of the Northern Lighthouse Board, visited each of Scotland’s 215 lighthouses. This Lighthouse sampler titled “Beacons of Home” was created by Carol A. Hare of Saginaw, Michigan in 1999. The hand appliqued, embroidered and quilted piece was a gift for Hare’s brother. “The lighthouses represent places in which my brother has lived or worked around the U.S. and Canada and come to from his travels.” The quilt’s label includes a pocket with an insert listing each lighthouse and its location. The owner of the quilt received it as a gift and documented it as part of the Michigan Quilt Project.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/Anne,_Princess_Royal Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
read moreMade in Maryland.
On this day in 1892, the “Baltimore Afro-American” newspaper was founded by former slave John H. Murphy, Jr. Two editions of the paper are still in circulation—one in Baltimore, and the other in Washington D.C. Elizabeth Perry of Bethesda, Maryland machine pieced this sunny yellow and gold Pineapple Log Cabin quilt in 1932. Perry did not use a frame, but hand quilted it (12 stitches per inch) while sitting on the floor. The quilt was documented in 1985 during the North Carolina Quilt Project by the niece of the quiltmaker. 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.pbs.org/blackpress/news_bios/afroamerican.html Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
read moreBones and Blue Ribbons: Treasures from Faith (South Dakota).
On this day in 1990, self-taught fossil hunter Susan Hendrickson discovered three large bones jutting out of a click near Faith, South Dakota. The bones turned out to be the largest Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton ever discovered. The nearly 90 percent complete 65 million-year-old remains were later dubbed Sue. Carrie Elizabeth McLane Flannery of Faith, South Dakota, won a Blue Ribbon for this Crazy Quilt in the South Dakota State Fair. Flannery made the quilt between 1901-1926, and the current owner documented the quilt during the Minnesota Quilt Project in the 1990’s. 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/skeleton-of-tyrannosaurus-rex-discovered http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/meet-dinosaur-expert-sue-hendrickson Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance amy.milne@quiltalliance.org 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://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/4500/Walton-Lester-A-1882-1965.html Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
read moreStitches and Songs Born in Wisconsin.
On this day in 1861, American composer Carrie Jacobs-Bond was born in Janesville, Wisconsin. Her most popular songs were “I Love You Truly (1901) and “A Perfect Day” (1910). Norwegian-born mother of eight Grunhild Loftus Anderson hand appliqued and hand quilted this cream and yellow feedsack Hour Glass Variation quilt in the early 1900’s. At the time Anderson lived in Sand Creek, Wisconsin (about 244 miles northwest of Janesville). A blood relative of the quiltmaker documented the quilt in 2003 as part of the Wisconsin Quilt History Project. 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.pdmusic.org/bond.html Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
read moreQ.S.O.S. Spotlight
What’s the most important part of a quilt? Perfect piecing? Even stitches? The ideal binding? Here at the Quilt Alliance, we think there’s one part of a quilt that’s always worth adding: a label. Today, we’re kicking off a mini-series here on the Q.S.O.S. Spotlight. We’ll be sharing excerpts about labels collected from Q.S.O.S. labels–why we label, why we don’t, how we do it, and what we love about it. Today, 3 quilt makers share the reasons they label their quilts. We’ll feature another installment soon with more labeling stories and ideas!Looking for an easy way to label your quilts? Check out our Quilt Alliance Labeling kit. It has everything you need–labels, a great fabric pen, instructions and ideas, and a sample of StoryPatches iron-on labels provided by stkr.it–to get started labeling your quilts and saving its story.Alyce Foster: “I have a little photo album that I’m taking pictures of the quilts that I have made. I’m also now signing my quilts. One time I was just doing them and not putting a label on them. Now I’m putting labels on them and the one on “The Real Eve,” we had to put a label on it. And also it’s an art quilt. I sign my name on the front of it now. Because when people go to a museum in 4010, I don’t want them to say, ‘Unknown Quilter.’ […] It’s good because when we went to the Renwick [Museum.] and saw the beautiful quilts there and so many of them had ‘Unknown Quilter.’ And I said to myself, ‘You want to be know when we’re looking down from heaven, that someone is admiring our work and know our name.”Janet Miller: People will, you know–acquaintances–we’ll meet someone, “Oh, you’re a quilter,” “Oh I got grandma’s quilt or so-and-so,” and “Is there a label on it? What’s the history of it?” “Well no.” So I’ll talk about you’ve got to, if you know the history and your kids aren’t going to, you’ve got to put a label on it so that there’s knowledge.Jean Wells Keenan: I have two sisters and we all have some of the quilts [from the family.] and I know that I have already decided who is getting which quilt in my family. I have two children. They are putting dibs on things too, but making sure that the quilts do stay in the family and putting labels on the back is important. You want to be able to document when they made and who made them. I try to really push that sort of idea when I teach classes, too and you know, I just love quilting so much and what it has been able to do and you know through teaching you get to–you have a voice that is differently sometimes than just a local person and so I really try to push those, you know, concepts and ideas. You can read more quilt stories on the Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories page on the Quilt Alliance website.Posted by Emma ParkerProject Manager, Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our…
read moreSwim Trunks and Summer Quilts.
On this day in 1950, American Florence Chadwick swam the English Channel from France to England in 13 hours and 20 minutes, breaking the record of Gertrude Ederle. In 1951 she became the first woman to swim from England to France, making her the first woman to swim the channel in both directions. And unnamed quilter from Alva, Wyoming made this Crazy Quilt between 1950-75. The quilt is a “summer quilt,” no batting, but backed and bound. Scrap fabrics including old garments were used to make the quilt. The record notes: “Some fabrics indicate a post-war Asian connection; a windsurfer in 1940s’ swim trunks with “Samoa” and “Phillippines” printed on it; another has oriental figures with Japanese? Calligraphy; a Balinese dancer with multi-tiered pagoda– may be from a tie…” The quiltmaker’s paternal granddaughter inherited the quilt and documented it during the Wyoming Quilt Project in 2003. 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/Florence_May_Chadwick Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
read morePurple Hearts (and Gizzards).
On this day in 1782, General George Washington created the “Badge for Military Merit,” a purple heart-shaped piece of silk, edged with silver with the word “Merit” stitched across the face in silver. Only three known soldiers were awarded the “Purple Heart” during the Revolutionary War. An unnamed Green County, Pennsylvania quiltmaker created this machine and hand pieced and hand quilted purple and white Hearts and Gizzards quilt in 1925. The family member who inherited the quilt documented it during the West Virginia Heritage Quilt Search in 1992. 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/washington-creates-the-purple-heart Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
read moreThe ART in Artichoke.
On this day in 1928, Pop art superstar and cultural icon Andy Warhol was born Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to immigrant parents from Czechoslovakia. Warhol studied pictorial design (illustration) at Carnegie Institute of Technology and began painting in the 1950’s. Following the advice of his art school teacher who told Warhol to paint what he liked, he painted ordinary things, including soup cans, comic strips and soap boxes. Bridget Wideman of Seaside, Oregon made this quilt titled “The ART in Artichoke” in 2011 for the Quilt Alliance contest, “Alliances: People, Patterns, Passion. Wideman wrote in her artist’s statement: “I chose a subject, in this case my favorite vegetable, the artichoke. I couldn’t figure out what could go with my artichoke, so I ended up making several in various colors and concentrating on the word itself. The word “art” was obvious. And when I think of art, I think of Andy Warhol. That’s where I got my idea for this quilt: a Warhol inspired artichoke.” 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/andy-warhol-is-born Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
read moreIron and Cotton Treasures from the Outer Banks.
On this day in 2002, the turret of the ironclad Union warship, the U.S.S. Monitor, was raised from the spot on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean where it sat since the ship sank in 1862. Divers worked for six weeks to bring the ship to the surface, finding the remains of two of the 16 Monitor crew members who died when the ship sank off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Mary Gibbs, of coastal Beaufort, North Carolina, hand pieced and hand quilted this Nine Patch between 1850-75. Gibbs’ great-great granddaughter received the quilt as gift and commented that it “did not look like it had ever been used.” The quilt was documented in 1986 during the North Carolina Quilt Project. 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/divers-recover-uss-monitor-turret Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
read moreLover’s Links and Louis: Thank You, Louisiana.
On this day in 1901, jazz legend Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. Nicknamed “Satchmo” and “Pops,” Armstrong’s style of playing trumpet and unique gravelly voice made a profound influence on popular music. He was one of the few African-Americans who managed to cross over to mainstream entertainment venues and audiences in the 1960’s when America was still racially divided. View quilt on the Quilt Index. Mae Arnold, born in 1911 and died in 1987 in Winnsboro, Louisiana, made this Lover’s Links quilt in 1950 completely by hand for her family’s use. A seamstress by trade, Arnold walked with crutches and had to have her husband’s help to lay the cotton batting in her quilts. One of Arnold’s children inherited the quilt and documented it in 2002 as part of the Louisiana Quilt Documentation Project. 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.biography.com/people/louis-armstrong-9188912#younger-years Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
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