Quilt Puzzle: Grandma’s House
Your Quilt Jigsaw Puzzle Tip: for best results, solve puzzle on this page on a desktop computer or laptop. If you are solving on a mobile device, click on the puzzle piece icon in the lower righthand corner to solve on the Jigsaw Planet website. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. Grandma’s House by Peggy Schroder This month’s puzzle spotlights a quilt titled Grandma’s House made by Peggy Schroder of Sweet Home, Oregon for the 2012 Quilt Alliance contest and auction, Home Is Where the Quilt Is. Materials include: commercial and hand-painted fabrics and computer printing on fabric, buttons, embroidery thread and toy car. Techniques – fused, machine applique, french knots (hand embroidery), hand stitching, couching. Toy car is easily removable! Artist’s Statement Many quilters learned to take their first stitches at grandma’s knee while others may have received their very first quilt from grandma. How fortunate for us! Now many of us are grandmas and we continue to pass along this legacy … nothing could be more comforting. Remember, it’s the heart that makes a home … blessed are we. About Quilt Alliance We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt Alliance. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt…
read moreQuilt Jigsaw Puzzle Archive
Welcome to the quilt jigsaw puzzle archive! The beautiful quilts in these puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. Support our work by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt Alliance. Tip: for best results, solve puzzles on a desktop computer or laptop. If you are solving on a mobile device, click on the puzzle piece icon in the lower righthand corner to solve on the Jigsaw Planet…
read moreQuilt Puzzle: Quilted Mary Watches Over Those Who Quilt
Your Quilt Jigsaw Puzzle Tip: for best results, solve puzzle on this page on a desktop computer or laptop. If you are solving on a mobile device, click on the puzzle piece icon in the lower righthand corner to solve on the Jigsaw Planet website. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. Quilted Mary: Watches Over Those Who Quilt by Victoria Findlay Wolfe This month’s puzzle spotlights a quilt titled Quilted Mary: Watches Over Those Who Quilt made by Victoria Findlay Wolfe of New York, NY for the 2012 Quilt Alliance contest and auction, Home Is Where the Quilt Is. The quilt is machine and hand pieced, machine and hand quilted, embroidered, all cotton fabrics and batting Artist’s Statement My grandmother, a quilter, always had a statue of Mary in her garden surrounded by a bathtub as her shrine. Grandma was serious about her religion, but never took herself too seriously and had a great sense of humor. So I associate the image of MARY with very fond memories of her. To capture that, I figured, one must have a “Quilted Mary.” Why not! Wink! About Quilt Alliance We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt Alliance. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt…
read moreThe Gift of Quilt Stories
The holiday season is in full swing, with all the twinkling lights, shopping bags, baked goods, and travel plans that come with it. To celebrate the season, we thought we’d take a look back at our QSOS interviews and feature some stories of holiday quiltmaking, family, and giving. Do you give quilts as holiday gifts? Or make quilts to accompany your holiday traditions? We’d love to hear more about how your holidays intersect with quilts–leave us a comment! We’ll start out with an excerpt from this interview with Kay Butler, about a Christmas Mystery Quilt. My favorite part of this story is that their mystery quilt group included a journal for each quiltmaker to write “the story of their lives.” What a lovely gift to include with a holiday quilt–a little note or journal that tells that quilt’s story (and of course, a cute label to go along with it!) Heather Gibson: Okay, tell me about the quilt you brought today. Kay Butler: Okay, this is a Christmas Mystery Quilt. We had a Mystery Quilt planned to do in our guild. There were four girls in the group. We were to select the fabric that we wanted, place it in a brown bag, and then pass it on to the next person in the group. And the next person would do a little bit more work, and it’s sort of like a “round robin” idea. And so I started this endeavor with a visit to a quilt shop here in Dover called Rose Valley Quilt Shop. I bought all of my fabrics there, in the Amish Shop, from a very dear friend, Rachel Hershberger. And I had in my head that I wanted a Christmas design. Normally I’m a real purple-lover, a real purple fan. But I thought, ‘I’m going to break from tradition here. I’m going to force myself to think in a different color realm here.’ And I chose what you see here on the end is called the “zinger” fabric. A lot of the quilters will buy a zinger fabric, and they will pull from that zinger fabric the various colors that are in there, like the reds and the greens and the golds that you see. So I bought the fabric. And in the brown bag we also include a journal. Each lady includes a journal, and they write the story of their lives in the journal. And what’s taking place in their lives, if they’re having difficulty with that step of the project that they’ve been doing. And that also documents the quilt and tells a little bit more about the quilt. Judy Whitson of Tuscaloosa, Alabama talked about gifting quilts, both during the holidays, and year round. I love the idea of every gifted quilt being a memory quilt that remembers both the maker and the recipient (and all the more reason to label those quilts!). “I love to give. It is a sign that you really care for somebody when you give them a handmade item like a little baby quilt or a quilt for their bed or something, and it is more or less a memory quilt. I always put a signature block on there saying who it is for, the date, and who designed it and who made it, quilted.” I also loved this interview with Resna Ximines Hammer in Washington, D.C. about the ways she uses her quilts in her family’s holiday traditions. I can’t help but laugh at interviewer Evelyn Salinger’s question “do you actually use this on Friday nights yourself?” because I know I have a few quilted objects I’m a little hesitant to use. But Resna’s notion that a table should be beautiful, and that handmade objects can enhance a family ceremony, is a lovely sentiment for the holidays. Evelyn Salinger (ES): Good. Nice of you to come today with your things to show. Let’s start out first with your telling me what you have made here. Resna Hammer (RH): These are two–One of the things that I am actually very passionate about is Jewish ceremonial kinds of cloths. And this is called a Challah cover and it’s used to cover bread on the Friday night dinner. This particular one also I tried to incorporate all of the holidays that would come in the certain period of time. Here this is Hanukkah, this is the symbol for Hanukkah, this is Purim, which is another one, and the pomegranates are for the High Holy Days. ES: Do you actually use this on Friday nights yourself? RH: We actually use it on Friday nights. ES: Every Friday night or just on the holiday time? RH: Just on the holiday. I have another one for Friday. I believe that the table should be beautiful. And normally what your traditional Challah covers are usually silk and they are painted on and I thought what I wanted to do and what I’ve been doing, a wonderful quilted ones that I just think enhance the day and the ceremony. This also has incorporated in it the seven species, which is in the Bible and that are things that are all incorporated with Shabbes or to do with the Sabbath. What I’ve written here in Hebrew is, it’s like, ‘For all the Miracles that You Perform for Us,’ and ‘We Thank You.’ I wanted it every Friday night to be able to see that. We’ll end with some sweet words from Sue Stiner of Newark, Delaware. We all love to spend time with our fabric stash, but during the holidays, what could be better than spending time with our ‘stash’ of family and friends? “Most of the quilts I’ve made though, I’ve given away. But know that I’m building up a stash of grandkids along with a stash of fabric; I’ll probably be making more for family than I will for friends.” Happy holidays to all of you from all of us at the Quilt Alliance! Thank you for another year of sharing your quilts, your stories, and your gifts with us! -Emma Parker, Project…
read moreQuilt Puzzle: Color Our World
Your Quilt Jigsaw Puzzle Tip: for best results, solve puzzle on this page on a desktop computer or laptop. If you are solving on a mobile device, click on the puzzle piece icon in the lower righthand corner to solve on the Jigsaw Planet website. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. Color Our World by Nanette Fleischman This month’s puzzle spotlights a quilt titled Color Our World made by Nanette Fleischman of Burnsville, NC (now in Murfreesboro, TN) for the 2011 Quilt Alliance contest and auction, Alliances: People, Patterns, Passion. The quilt is machine paper pieced, with commercial fabrics and machine quilted. Artist’s Statement Every color is a world of its own, complete in itself. I try to show the power and beauty of the combination of colors. Color is my passion. About Quilt Alliance We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt Alliance. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt…
read moreGiving Voice to Quilt Stories
In October of 1999, a handful of quilters and quilt scholars gathered at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas, to try something completely new: an oral history project focused on quilters’ stories, with members of the quilting community interviewing each other about their quiltmaking history, their proud moments, favorite techniques, their inspirations, frustrations, families, technologies, and communities. Little did these volunteer interviewers and first interviewees know that the project–Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories (QSOS)–would continue for another two decades, documenting the stories of over 1,100 quilters from around the world. It would include interviewees who’ve won some of the quilt world’s biggest prizes, to a six-year-old who recently finished her first quilt. Since those first interviews, QSOS has ensured that the diverse history of two decades of quiltmaking, in sewing rooms, international quilt shows, quilt shops, and community centers, has been captured. At first, these stories were captured with cutting edge technology: the cassette tape! In 1999, the first interviews were recorded on tape, and laboriously transcribed by volunteer transcribers who’d write out every word and [laugh] and [pause for crying] in each transcript. Eventually, those transcripts would be posted online for anyone to read. Twenty years ago, that’s most of what you could do on the internet: read and look at pictures. Technologies for streaming audio and video were clunky and expensive at best. But fast-forward to 2019, and it seems practically quaint to encounter a web-page that’s just words. It’s not enough to bring you a transcript on a web page; we want you to be in the room where the stories are unfolding, to be transported to the living room or quilt show where these stories were captured, and to hear quilters tell their stories in their own voices. You may have heard about our new initiative–to make the voices of the 1,100+ quilt stories we’ve recorded since the QSOS project began 20 years ago available online. It’s a big task, taking those Radio Shack cassette tapes and making them available for anyone in the world to hear. The tapes, despite their world-class storage conditions at the Library of Congress’ Audio-Visual Conservation Center, are aging fast. Each cassette needs to be digitized in real time, meaning that a 45 minute interview will take at least 45 minutes to play through and be recorded. Each recording is reviewed for quality and completeness, labeled correctly, added to a web server so we can beam it to your computer… and that’s all just to get it online! We’re grateful to have support from our partners at the University of Kentucky’s Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, who are working to digitize and prepare these interviews. Despite the time and care it takes to make these recordings available online, it’s entirely worth it. The addition of audio transforms the experience of a QSOS interview. It offers nuance and emotion, textures and context that were entirely missing from the written transcript. Here’s just one example, from a 2011 interview with Venetta Morger. At the end of her interview, interviewer Sandi Goldman asked if she had anything to add. Venetta says: “I just know that four years ago when I started quilting full-time, having the time to quilt, my kids were all gone and off to school. I really dreamt that one day my quilt would hang in Houston. My quilt hung in Houston two years later in the special exhibits, with the Texas Guild exhibit that they do. I never would have imagined that it would have been picked as one of the best 200 quilts made in Texas in the last 25 years. But I hope that by having a dream, by encouraging others to have a dream, and making it big, that there’s nothing dreaming big. It’s absolutely the way that we can head towards a goal, and my next dream is to have a quilt in the winners circle here in Houston one of these days.” You can tell from the excerpt that she’s excited to be included in the exhibit. But when you listen to the recording, you can hear the pride in her voice. It’s a difference experience, hearing Venetta tell her own story, rather than reading it in your own voice, in your own head! Take a listen to this excerpt from an interview with Hollis Chatelain, talking about the influence of her time in Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer. There’s so much that doesn’t come through in the transcript: you can hear the loudspeaker announcements that are still ubiquitous at the International Quilt Festival, you can hear the ease and familiarity with which she switches from English to French to provide a pronunciation of ‘palétuvier’, the French word for a mangrove tree. There’s a rhythm to her recollections of the African landscapes she’s drawing from that’s not represented by the flat words on a page. Even that loudspeaker announcement that interrupts Hollis’ interview is part of that interview’s story! It sets the scene for her interview at the International Quilt Festival and it’s not too far-fetched to think that future quilt researchers may find in that short announcement a little bit of context to better understand the quilt show landscape of 1999! In the same way, I love hearing this recording of Denyse Schmidt’s QSOS interview recorded at the 2012 Quilters Take Manhattan event. You can hear the hum of the audience and their laughter at times: this is an interview recorded in front of a large audience and though it’s hard to tell just from the transcript, it has a slightly different flow than an interview conducted between two women in a living room or quilt shop. We’re so excited about all of the possibilities this newly-available audio affords us as a quilting community. Whether you’re a quilter who loves hearing others talk about their quilting journey, a women’s history researcher interested in crafting communities, a documentary maker, a family member eager to hear the voice of a loved one who’s passed away, we hope you’ll find something to treasure in these interviews. We’re thrilled to bring these quilters stories to you, in their own voices. We’ll be working on adding new interviews as the audio is digitized, so keep your eyes on the project! If you’re interested in learning more about supporting the transition of QSOS interviews to their new platform, please check out our QSOS 20th Anniversary Fund…
read moreQuilt Puzzle: Color Play
Your Quilt Jigsaw Puzzle Tip: for best results, solve puzzle on this page on a desktop computer or laptop. If you are solving on a mobile device, click on the puzzle piece icon in the lower righthand corner to solve on the Jigsaw Planet website. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. Color Play by Lisa Ellis This month’s puzzle spotlights a quilt titled Color Play made by Lisa Ellis of Fairfax, Virginia for the 2016 Quilt Alliance contest and auction, Playing Favorites. Lisa serves as treasurer of the Quilt Alliance board and is director of Sacred Threads, a nonprofit organization that presents a biennial quilt exhibition held in Herndon, Virginia. Artist’s Statement My obsession with the cathedral window block started with a quilt my grandmother made in the 1970’s using a variety of bright, cheerful, and colorful fabrics. She made the block the traditional way by folding squares of muslin, adding the colorful windows, and hand stitching back the flaps. I developed a new method to make a mock cathedral window entirely by machine and to incorporate more fabrics into the block. Color Play honors the tradition of my grandmother with an exploration of color. About Quilt Alliance We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt Alliance. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt…
read moreLabel it Already!
Quilt Puzzle: Foursquare
Your Quilt Jigsaw Puzzle Tip: for best results, solve puzzle on this page on a desktop computer or laptop. If you are solving on a mobile device, click on the puzzle piece icon in the lower righthand corner to solve on the Jigsaw Planet website. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. Foursquare by Amy Munson This month’s puzzle spotlights a quilt titled Foursquare made by Amy Munson of Bismarck, North Dakota for the 2016 Quilt Alliance contest and auction, Playing Favorites. It was chosen for a Judge’s Choice Award by Marianne Fons. Artist’s Statement What do I love most about quilting? I love creating my own patterns and unique designs that mix traditional and contemporary techniques. I love raw edges and ripped fabric, embellished with embroidery and beads. I love playing with color and texture. Judge Marianne Fons’ comments: What impressed me most about this entry—and the reason I chose it as my personal favorite—is how well it reads graphically. The work’s solidity of design comes through clearly, even when viewed as a tiny thumbnail photo on my computer screen. I love how the house is “boxed” with lighter and then darker blue. I love how the artist “built” the house using non-architectural print fabrics. The colors used for the house make it appear cozy and inviting, a place anyone would love to live. Raw edges, ripped fabric, and bead embellishment are not techniques I use in my own work, but my hat is off to the maker of this clever piece, who beautifully and skillfully captured an iconic American architectural style. About Quilt Alliance We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt Alliance. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt…
read moreRemembering Quilting Friends
Go Tell It at the Quilt Show! interviews recorded at the 10th biennial Sacred Threads Exhibition in Herndon, Virginia, are now being posted to the Quilt Alliance’s YouTube channel. The Go Tell It! project was created to capture the stories of quilts where quiltmakers and quilt lovers gather. Exhibition curators, museum staff, quilt show and guild program chairs from all over the United States are recording these 3-minute videos to document quilts being shared in their communities. The videos often reveal personal stories about the people, events, places, or ideas that inspired the featured quilt. Sacred Threads artist Christina Blais shared the story of her quilt in a Go Tell It! video recorded by QA staff member Emma Parker. “Lachrymose” mourns the loss of friend and fellow quiltmaker, Karen Loprete. Karen was a member of the Quilt Alliance and made quilts for three of our annual contests (shared below). Christina also recorded a Go Tell It! interview at the 2015 Sacred Threads exhibition–watch it here.
Have you made quilts inspired or influenced by a fellow artist? Has the work of another quiltmaker touched you or taught you in a unique way? We encourage you to record your story. Preserve this memory for yourself, for the friends and family of your inspiration, and for the sake of history. The Go Tell It! project was designed to be a public project and do-it-yourself instructions are available on the Quilt Alliance website. Sharing your quilt story is as easy as:Quilt Puzzle: Celebrate
Your Quilt Jigsaw Puzzle Tip: for best results, solve puzzle on this page on a desktop computer or laptop. If you are solving on a mobile device, click on the puzzle piece icon in the lower righthand corner to solve on the Jigsaw Planet website. Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. Celebrate by Terri Stegmiller This month’s puzzle spotlights a quilt titled Celebrate made by Terri Stegmiller of Mandan, North Dakota for the 2013 Quilt Alliance contest and auction, “TWENTY” (celebrating the Quilt Alliance’s 20th anniversary). Artist’s Statement Twenty balloons for a TWENTY celebration. A celebration calls for color, whimsy, and joy. A celebration includes family and friends. My quilt could be a symbol of any type of celebration—any occasion- big or small. It could even be a symbol of something very simple, such as a celebration of life in general, of a beautiful world we live in, or maybe even just waking up every day. Let’s all celebrate! About Quilt Alliance We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt Alliance.&view=iframe” width=”300″ height=”150″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=”allowfullscreen” data-mce-fragment=”1″> Welcome to another quilt jigsaw puzzle from Quilt Alliance! The beautiful quilts in the puzzles have all been entries in past Quilt Alliance quilt contests. Be sure to sign up for our blog notifications, so that you don’t miss any of the upcoming puzzles. We rely on the generous support of donors and members like you to sustain our projects. If you support our mission of documenting, preserving, and sharing the stories of quilts and quiltmakers, join us by becoming a member or renewing your membership, making a donation, or learning how your business or corporation can become a supporter of the Quilt…
read morePeace by Piece: Connecting the Community with Quilts
Lizzy Rockwell from Bridgeport, Connecticut grew up in an art family. Both of her parents worked from home, illustrating and writing children’s books during the 1960’s through the 1980’s. She and her siblings were surrounded by the process and culture of art making as children, and she remembers drawing and writing stories at an early age. Another happy memory is learning to quilt with her mom and sister at a quilt frame set up in the living room, chatting and listening to television shows in the background. Lizzy went on to study art and art history in college, then drawing and illustration in art school, and then began her own career as a magazine and book jacket illustrator. The first children’s book she illustrated was “Apples and Pumpkins,” written by her mother, Anne Rockwell. After starting her own family, Lizzy began teaching art to children in the Norwalk community, offering her skills and passion in hopes of encouraging creativity as a means to self-confidence and social connection. In her teaching work, Lizzy noticed that when the kids were engaged in drawing or painting, they were more likely to chat with each other or with her. Just as she noticed her teenagers were more likely to open up to her during a car ride, she noticed the young art makers were more open to making social connections when their eyes and hands were busy. She realized quilting had that same way of engaging adults. Lizzy developed the idea for an intergenerational community quilt project and proposed it to Rev. Jim Carter, a leader at the Norwalk Children’s Foundation. Carter loved the idea and helped her secure grant funding to launch Peace by Piece: The Norwalk Community Quilt Project in 2008. Many hands come together to work on quilts at Peace by Piece. Participants in the program range in age from 8 to 90 and come to the Senior Court Housing Complex in Norwalk on weekday afternoons to work together. Adult volunteers with quilting skills serve as mentors for youth in the program. Local quilt shop owner Christie Ruiz of Christie’s Quilting Boutique have been instrumental in supporting Peace by Piece through fabric donations and loan of their classroom space and sewing machines. The quilts made by the youth with the help of their adult mentors are given as gifts, designed for personal use, or used for fundraising for the program. The group has also completed seven collaborative quilts for public installation. These large, colorful and dynamic quilts, often with text and illustrations, are now in the permanent collection at of Norwalk Community College, Stepping Stones Museum for Children, Norwalk Public Library, South Norwalk Branch Library and Newfield Library in Bridgeport, CT. Rockwell designs the installation quilts and uses fabric painted by youth and adults from the team. She says, “A collaborative quilt is a metaphor for the community that created it, showing that good things happen when many come together as one.” [huge_it_gallery id=”25″] The group also holds public quilting bees to invite more people in the community to experience the making of a communal artwork. Denyse Schmidt, well-known quilt designer from neighboring Bridgeport, CT has been an avid supporter of Peace by Piece since 2009. Every year since 2012 she has invited members of the group to her studio to be part of a quilting demonstration and bee during the annual Bridgeport’s city-wide Open Studios. Having Peace by Piece come to my studio during our annual Open Studios is not only the highlight of the weekend for me, it’s some of the most inspiring hours of the year! The group is a delightful mix of ages, and they radiate a beautiful spark of creative energy and joy, drawing even the shiest beginner to the quilt frame. It’s such a gift to witness and to be a part of their loving circle. I’m always blown away with all that Lizzy accomplishes, her commitment and selflessness are an aspiration! –Denyse Schmidt Peace by Piece recently celebrated their 11th anniversary. In 2011 they were a recipient of a Community Block Foundation Grant from the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency, and in 2015 they were awarded a grant from the National Quilting Association. They are sponsored by the Norwalk Housing Authority and in the last six years have relied most heavily on volunteerism, and donations from individuals. Lizzy created a webinar in 2017 for the Modern Quilt Guild titled “How to Build a Community Quilt.” Modern Quilt Guild members can access it here. What’s next for Lizzy? “I am currently working on a picture book based on Peace by Piece, which will be published by Random House in 2020,” she says. “So now I am spending time with my friends around the clock, in and out of the quilt house! As I try to capture their likenesses, personalities, and relationships on paper, I am struck anew by just how special these people are to me and to each other. This started as a social experiment of sorts, and has turned into an ever expanding family. Quilting is a unique art form, fueled by generosity, spontaneity and collaboration.” Find out more about this inspirational project by following them on Facebook. If you would like to volunteer or make a donation, contact Lizzy via her website.. Additional Links: https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/fabric-of-community-a-generational-thread-ties-4973847.php https://www.thehour.com/opinion/article/Peace-by-Piece-dedicates-third-quilt-Norwalk-Has-8133312.php https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5Aq7oK2djU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S5xdi2uUTo https://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/afterschool/index.html Contributed by Amy Milne, Quilt Alliance Executive Director…
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