by Amy Milne | May 9, 2020 | Alliance Membership
The Quilt Alliance membership includes some of the most interesting people in the quilt world! This series introduces and documents the rich stories and talents of our members. In this episode, meet Connie Kincius Griner, a quiltmaker and retired OB/GYN living in Burlington, North Carolina. We first documented Connie’s work at the International Quilt Festival in 2016. She recorded a Go Tell It at the Quilt Show! video with her quilt “View from the Microscope: Pickled Paramecium.” And at the 2017 QuiltCon in Savannah, Georgia, Connie recorded a second Go Tell It! in our booth about her quilt “Wrinkly, Irony.” . Connie is busy caring for her grandchildren at home these days with not much time for quilting, so she decided to draw from her collection (she’s quite prolific) for an outdoor quilt show. Since March 27 Connie has displayed a quilt (or two) outside her home each non-rainy day for neighbors and passersby to enjoy. She shared #35 on May 7. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram to see updates to the outdoor show and more of her work. We hope you enjoy this virtual visit with Connie! Begin or renew your Quilt Alliance membership today. …
by Amy Milne | Mar 14, 2020 | Alliance Membership
The Quilt Alliance membership includes some of the most interesting people in the quilt world! This series will introduce and document the rich stories and talents of our members. In this episode, meet Vicki Harrell, a quilt restorer and retired Home Economics teacher from Ayden, North Carolina. Vicki is not only a member of the Quilt Alliance, but is also a member of the Greenvile Quilters Guild, the American Quilt Study Group and the Carolina Textile Study Group. I met Vicki through Lynn Lancaster Gorges, a conservator based in New Bern, North Carolina who restores and studies textiles. I was meeting with Lynn about a quilt history matter, and I told her about a friend looking for the services of a quilt restorer. I confessed that after seeing the beautiful well-loved quilt made by my friend’s grandmother, I was tempted to try to repair it myself. Lynn was kindly encouraging, but also recommended fellow conservator Vicki Harrell, also located in Eastern N.C. I contacted Vicki and she was glad to work with my friend to restore his quilt. After the work was completed, my friend emailed me to say he was so pleased with the work Vicki had done, and he attached the restoration report she provided. Vicki’s careful restoration and thorough documentation show a real love of quilts and their makers, and I am eager to share her story with you. I hope you story-loving, quilt-loving folks enjoy my virtual visit with Vicki Harrell in our very first episode of our series, Meet a QA Member! Begin or renew your Quilt Alliance membership today. …
by Amy Milne | May 13, 2018 | Alliance Membership
Happy Mother’s Day! We are so proud to conclude our week-long Mother’s Day StoryShare with these special messages today, including a beautiful tribute from two of our founders. May all who mother, know they are appreciated, and all who miss their mothers, take comfort in memories. We’re planning to repeat this special project next year, so start scanning those photos! Join the Quilt Alliance today to ensure that stories like these will be preserved for future generations to come! Karey Patterson Bresenhan and Nancy O’Bryant Puentes Nancy and I are two of the founders of the Alliance, but we probably would never have gotten involved with quilts or helped to build the quilting industry or helped to found any non-profit quilt organization—much less four!—if it were not for the two ladies pictured here with us. Our mothers were sisters and wonderful quilters in their own right. My mama, Jewel Pearce Patterson, is on Nancy’s left and Nancy’s mother, Helen Pearce O’Bryant, is on Jewel’s left. Together the four of us founded the International Quilt Association (IQA). The mothers were there at the family quilting bee when we learned to quilt from their mother, our Granny, Ella Glaeser Pearce. The quilt was my wedding quilt, the top of which was pieced by Granny’s mother, our Great Grandmother Karoline Uttech Glaeser, and four of her daughters came together that weekend. It was a wonderful introduction to quilting. The mothers (and much of the time that, collectively, was exactly the way we thought of them) taught us that when “the ox was in the ditch,” everybody in the family was expected to pitch in and get him out! So we learned to pitch in, and pitch in we did, every time it seemed that quilts and quilting needed help. With the mothers’ encouragement, we even took quilts to Congress and testified when American-made quilts seemed in danger. When we did the Texas Quilt Search, the mothers often flew with us to the next city where we were holding a Quilt Day and were wonderful help. The mothers were often surprised at the projects we undertook, but they never once failed to support us with unfailing love and appreciation. We were lucky girls who knew the joy of growing into friends with their mothers. Bradley Mitchell, QA Board Member My mother, Irene Elizabeth Mitchell… first of her name and fierce mother of 4 dragons 🐉 . Irene resides in Yorkshire, England… approximately 3270 miles from my current home in Chicago, IL. I have learnt so much from this strong lady, but the jewel of her imparted wisdom is empathy and unconditional love. This photograph was captured in 2016, on a trip to Milano, Italy 🇮🇹. Happy Mother’s day to you boo, and to all mothers out there raising and supporting children to be the change they want to see in the world. QA Board Member and Treasurer, Lisa Brehm Ellis My mom has a generous heart, is always upbeat, and never has a negative thing to say about another person. She taught me to always see the positive, dream big, and make the world a better place by building others up….
by Amy Milne | May 10, 2018 | Alliance Membership
This week, we are proud to celebrate our Mothers, including any woman who has taught, inspired and supported us. If you are a QA member, it’s not too late to send your images and text. Nonmembers can join or make a $30+ donation to participate. More info here. Mary Evelynn Sorrell, QA board alumnus My mother was not a quilter-artist, she was a painter-artist. She taught me to recognize skill in composition, color, dimensionality, and how to pull the viewer into the frame. All of these qualities I can see in my favorite quilts. I am grateful she taught me to appreciate art and recognize the makers for the talented people they are. She led me unknowingly into the most favorite part of my career creating art exhibits. Visit Mary Evelynn on Facebook. Earamichia Brown, QA board member She has instilled in me the knowledge that love is greater than blood and any other element or force on earth. And with that love you can survive and thrive provided you keep that love in your heart and soul. Because of her I continue to shine bright and strive to live my greatest life. Visit Earamichia’s website. Victoria Findlay Wolfe, QA board member alumnus I wish I could find the photo of my Mother and I in our matching double knit polyester crazy 60’s multi color print, that she made for us. My mother was a great seamstress and worked for a while at FingerHut. When I would ask her to make my dolls clothes, she would say, “You can do that!” And that is pretty much how I learned to sew garments, by watching my mother and making stuff up as I went a long. Thanks for allowing me to play, Mom! Visit Victoria’s website. To participate in the Mother’s Day StoryShare Week: First: Join or renew your QA membership, or Purchase a gift membership for your mom, or Make at least a $30 donation on our website or via our FB page. Second: Follow this link to submit your story and photo. We will notify you when your Mother’s Day StoryShare message is…
by Amy Milne | May 9, 2018 | Alliance Membership
Join us this week to celebrate your Mother, including any woman who has taught, inspired and supported you. We will be sharing photos and stories all week from our members and supporters. Amy Henderson, QA board alumnus My mom, Mary, cannot sew. Indeed, I secretly believe she takes a perverse pleasure in being the kind of woman who puts her considerable talents and energies into non-domestic, non-artistic pursuits; in being the antithesis of her mother who made everything for her home. So I did not learn to sew, quilt, embroider, knit, weave (or bake) from my mother. Luckily, I also have a father who is an avid needle-worker and he happily stepped in to pass such time-honored traditions from his generation to mine. Yet there is no doubt that I learned a life-affirming lesson from my mother that strengthens and feeds my creative soul daily, and that is how to be simply me. I do not need to be exactly like my mother, or my grandmother, or any of the other wonderful women in my life. I just need to be me. No mother could have more fully embraced her opposite—in temperament or crafty interest—than mine or been a better role model for how to embrace her child’s stark differences. I have a need to make things, and she in turn learned to cherish each and every crafty endeavor I pursued even as it took time away from the things she wanted to see me do instead. Here we are together around 1982 with my first loom when I developed a taste for crafting independence. As my daughter nears this same age, I see even more clearly how hard—and essential—it is to let her be her and not expect her to be just like me. Mary Kay Davis, QA board member I was selected to give a speech at my 8th grade graduation. It was a special occasion so my Mom made my dress. (Can you guess the year?) While she was an amazing seamstress, sewing was really not her thing. I think it might have had to do with “having” to make her own clothes during the Depression. I was pretty excited about the whole thing. She let me help pick the pattern and fabric. It was around this time that she let me take sewing lessons and I haven’t stopped since. Visit Mary Kay online. To participate in the Mother’s Day StoryShare Week: First: Join or renew your QA membership, or Purchase a gift membership for your mom, or Make at least a $30 donation on our website or via our FB page. Second: Follow this link to submit your story and photo. We will notify you when your Mother’s Day StoryShare message is…
by Amy Milne | Feb 14, 2018 | Alliance Membership
The nonprofit Quilt Alliance launched StoryBee, a new interview show created for its members. The twenty-minute web-based program will profile notable people who make, collect, sell, study, exhibit and/or preserve quilts. In keeping with the Quilt Alliance mission to document, preserve and share the history of quilts, StoryBee will record conversations with interesting people from all corners of the quilt world and bring these stories to our members. The Quilt Alliance is proud to feature Victoria Findlay Wolfe in the debut episode of StoryBee. Victoria is a NYC based International Award Winning Quilter and teacher. She was raised on a farm in central Minnesota, and learned to sew and quilt when she was just four years old. Victoria graduated from the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Art in 1993, and a year later moved to New York City. Victoria has an upcoming exhibit at the Iowa Quilt Museum opening April 17th (through July 29): Playing with Purpose: Victoria Findlay Wolfe Retrospective. Victoria Findlay Wolfe Frances O’Roark Dowell, the host of StoryBee, is an author and quiltmaker and is best known for her “beloved books for tweens and teenagers” (New York Times Sunday Book Review). Since 2010 she has also hosted a popular podcast about her life as a quilter, The Off-Kilter Quilt, and in 2016 established a small publishing company to bring out a line of stories and novels especially for quiltmakers and quilt lovers. The quilting novel Birds in the Air was followed by the short story collection Margaret Goes Modern in 2017. Stars Upon Stars – a sequel to Birds in the Air – will be published in 2018. She lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her husband, two sons, and a dog named Travis. Frances O’Roark Dowell StoryBee, Episode 1 will be available to the public through the end of February, after which a member’s login will be required to access StoryBee videos. Upcoming guests include: Alex Anderson, Carolyn Crump, Marin Hanson, Roderick Kiracofe, Carolyn Mazloomi, Luana Rubin, Denyse Schmidt, Julie Silber, Ricky Tims, and Nichole Wilde. Quilt Alliance members pick the membership fee that suits their budget, starting as low as $25, with the option to receive thank you gifts at each level. New and current Quilt Alliance members are encouraged to begin or renew their memberships by February 28, after which fees will go up 20% (the first increase since 2004, when the QA membership program began). One lucky QA member will win a special Valentine’s Bundle, sponsored by Victoria Findlay Wolfe Quilts, to be drawn on March 1. All current members as of February 28 will be eligible to win. Valentines Bundle Giveaway for QA Members Member support enables the small nonprofit, with one full time and two part-time staff members, to maintain and grow several important grassroots oral history projects. Projects include Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories (QSOS), archived in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, Go Tell It at the Quilt Show! a short-format video project presented on YouTube, and the Quilt Story Road Show education and outreach program. For more information visit our membership page. The Quilt Alliance is proud to be sponsored by these generous companies. View our full sponsor list…
