by Quilt Alliance | Sep 8, 2013 | QSOS Spotlight, Uncategorized
I love the feeling of starting a new quilt–deciding on a design, choosing the fabrics, sewing together the first few pieces. Unfortunately, this means that I don’t always end up finishing my quilts–I’m usually looking forward to the next project long before it’s time to sew on the binding. I’ve come to learn that my favorite quilts are quick quilts–quilts that can be finished in just a few cutting and sewing sessions. However, the Q.S.O.S. archives are full of stories of quilts that took months or even years to complete! In today’s Q.S.O.S. Spotlight, 3 quiltmakers share stories of that quilts that took their time. It took 5 years of planning before Ellen Danforth began her quilt, “You Can’t Wear That”: “The idea for this quilt came to me as I was nearing my 40th birthday. I didn’t start its construction, however, until nearly five years later. I finished it just before my 46th birthday. It took me a little more than a year to make, although I was designing it in my head for those almost five years. During that time I was thinking about four things: I wanted to celebrate my “coming of age”–at age 40 instead of 18. I chose to work in the technique and style of a Victorian crazy quilt because I wanted to express a sense of myself that I had repressed. The slow process of making the quilt by hand was not unlike the process of self-discovery. The butterflies in the chemise represent my transformation and my ability to grow after a period of inertness and effort. This quilt is also a “visual conversation” that I had with my husband of twenty years. It was the best way I could find to express myself to him on a subject that I found difficult to speak about.” Mary Andrews’ first quilt took so long that she thought she’d never make another quilt… but she couldn’t stop and has been quilting ever since! What got me started in quilting was finding some Sun Bonnet Sue quilt squares in her atticafter she died. The fabric on them was from the 1930’s and even her sisters didn’t know where they came from. It looked like her work. I decided that I would put them together and make a quilt out of them. I was working as a dental hygienist at the time, so I got one of my patients that I knew was a quilter to show me how to put them together. Someone else showed me how to quilt them. I did a terrible job quilting them, [laughs.] because I had never hand quilted before. It took me five years to make that quilt and I thought I would never make another one since it took so long. I went to buy one and saw how expensive they were and thought to myself, I can make this. I made some for my children and then started taking some quilting classes. I joined a quilt guild and got hooked. Karen Musgrave shares a collaborative quilt (made for a Quilt Alliance fundraiser in 2004!) that took an entire lifetime to create: “I worked on [this quilt] very intensely for four months… There was a lot of activity. There were days that I worked 14 hours on it. There were other days that I only worked 1 ½ to 2 hours on it. When people ask me how it took me to make the quilt, I tell them almost 48 years. Why do you say that? Because it is life experience that took me to be able to make this quilt. I’m not afraid of color. I like color. I like texture. This is a very colorful quilt. It has a lot of texture. It has a lot of symbolism and I love symbolism. I’m really happy about the label that I made because it is three women with hands connected which represents the three people involved in the quilt.” Interested in reading more? You can find more quilt stories at the Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories page on the Alliance’s site! Posted by Emma Parker Project Manager, Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories…
by Quilt Alliance | Sep 5, 2013 | Uncategorized
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by Quilt Alliance | Sep 5, 2013 | Uncategorized
Pellentesque tristique, elit sit amet tristique consequat, risus nunc suscipit lectus, vitae hendrerit lacus nulla eu erat. In ac lorem vitae magna convallis porta sit amet nec augue. Nam dictum orci eu sem vulputate eget placerat libero porta. Proin tristique, nisi ultrices ornare porttitor, est augue scelerisque metus, at tristique dolor tellus et nulla. Cras volutpat, dolor eu viverra elementum, mi enim bibendum arcu, quis imperdiet nisl leo eget leo. Integer tincidunt, elit quis ultricies fringilla, sem nulla viverra eros, vel adipiscing risus purus quis massa. Curabitur id lorem quam. Sed sodales, velit et consectetur euismod, elit felis ultricies odio, vel bibendum nulla magna sed leo. Aenean sit amet metus vel risus molestie fermentum venenatis ut nisl. Ut dolor est, lacinia ac dapibus vel, facilisis ac mi. Fusce nunc eros, adipiscing nec semper at, consectetur tincidunt leo. [quotes]Pellentesque tristique, elit sit amet tristique consequat, risus nunc suscipit lectus, vitae hendrerit lacus nulla eu erat. In ac lorem vitae magna convallis porta sit amet nec augue. Nam dictum orci eu sem [/quotes] Pellentesque tristique, elit sit amet tristique consequat, risus nunc suscipit lectus, vitae hendrerit lacus nulla eu erat. In ac lorem vitae magna convallis porta sit amet nec augue. Nam dictum orci eu sem vulputate eget placerat libero porta. Proin tristique, nisi ultrices ornare porttitor, est augue scelerisque metus, at tristique dolor tellus et nulla. Cras volutpat, dolor eu viverra elementum, mi enim bibendum arcu, quis imperdiet nisl leo eget leo. Integer tincidunt, elit quis ultricies fringilla, sem nulla viverra eros, vel adipiscing risus purus quis massa. Curabitur id lorem quam. Sed sodales, velit et consectetur euismod, elit felis ultricies odio, vel bibendum nulla magna sed leo. Aenean sit amet metus vel risus molestie fermentum venenatis ut nisl. Ut dolor est, lacinia ac dapibus vel, facilisis ac mi. Fusce nunc eros, adipiscing nec semper at, consectetur tincidunt leo. [quotes align=”right”]Pellentesque tristique, elit sit amet tristique consequat, risus nunc elit sit amet tristique consequat[/quotes] Pellentesque tristique, elit sit amet tristique consequat, risus nunc suscipit lectus, vitae hendrerit lacus nulla eu erat. In ac lorem vitae magna convallis porta sit amet nec augue. Nam dictum orci eu sem vulputate eget placerat libero porta. Proin tristique, nisi ultrices ornare porttitor, est augue scelerisque metus, at tristique dolor tellus et nulla. Cras volutpat, dolor eu viverra elementum, mi enim bibendum arcu, quis imperdiet nisl leo eget leo. Integer tincidunt, elit quis ultricies fringilla, sem nulla viverra eros, vel adipiscing risus purus quis massa. Curabitur id lorem quam. Sed sodales, velit et consectetur euismod, elit felis ultricies odio, vel bibendum nulla magna sed leo. Aenean sit amet metus vel risus molestie fermentum venenatis ut nisl. Ut dolor est, lacinia ac dapibus vel, facilisis ac mi. Fusce nunc eros, adipiscing nec semper at, consectetur tincidunt leo….
by Quilt Alliance | Sep 1, 2013 | QSOS Spotlight, Uncategorized
One of my favorite questions that’s often asked in Q.S.O.S. interviews is “have advances in technology influenced your work?” Almost always the answer is yes–from new sewing machines to embroidery machines and even the rotary cutter, now tools and technology have certainly changed quilt making. One tool that’s mentioned over and over again isn’t available in a quilt shop, but many quilters use it every day: the internet! In today’s Q.S.O.S. Spotlight, three quilters share the way the internet has affected the ways they learn, create, and collaborate in the quilting world. Patricia Wright tells how she uses the internet to learn new techniques and tricks: “Now of course the internet, online, there’s so much information that you can grab just like that. If I have an idea, for instance recently I was thinking about, I don’t do machine embroidery, I don’t do that, but I saw some bobbin work embroidery that I thought was really fascinating and it would be something that I would enjoy doing. So, I just went to my computer, typed it in, and there it was, any kind of information you need. Of course, I think originally I got that idea for the bobbin work was maybe a TV show, or a magazine, I’m not sure there’s just a lot of information out there. We’re really lucky.” Mary Kay Davis talked in her interview about how sharing a quilt with her mother-in-law was made even sweeter by developments in technology: “I recently made a quilt for my mother-in-law–she just turned 90–and I had made one for her when she turned 80. I didn’t know I’d be making one for her when she turned 90. And, it was so much fun because of the Internet age, so here I sent her this quilt which was fun, but then her granddaughter took pictures of her opening up the box and showing the quilt and then she put that out on Facebook so that I got to see the pictures so the whole family was involved in seeing this quilt and learning about the quilt, and I think that was a lot of fun.” Collaborative quilts and block exchanges are nothing new, but Jill Herndon used the internet to make quiltmaking bee an international experience: “[In] about 1990, I was already online, and I belonged to a group called The Meta Network, which is a transformational community. It’s the longest-existing online community. And we met–this was before the days of the Web as we know it now–it got me online and I learned about lists servs and news groups, and I joined a list serv group that was a Nine Patch block exchange. And so I would make up eighteen blocks, somebody was organizing this, I’d get the addresses, send them all over the world, and get eighteen blocks back. And so I would get them from like inside the Arctic Circle. I had to write and ask some people where they were. And they were in remote places. So the Internet itself has made the quilting community closer. Just picturing that Nine Patch block coming from inside the Arctic Circle, and she couldn’t get the variety of fabrics that she wanted. This was wonderful to be able to use what she had and share and trade.” Interested in reading more about how technology has changed quilting? You can find more quilt stories (online!) at the Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories page on the Alliance’s site! Posted by Emma Parker Project Manager, Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories…
by Quilt Alliance | Aug 25, 2013 | Uncategorized
Here at the Quilt Alliance, we’re counting down the days to next month’s Quilters Take Manhattan event. Our featured speaker this year is quilter, designer, and teacher Hollis Chatelain. I noticed that Hollis has not one but two fantastic Q.S.O.S. interviews on our site, so I thought I’d share a few excerpts from her interviews about her influences and thoughts on quilting. In Hollis’ first interview, from 1999, she described the roots of her passion for quilting and the important role her time in Africa plays in her art. I graduated from Drexel University in 1979 with a degree in design. Then I worked in photography and drawing for a number of years. I went to the Peace Corps in 1980 in Africa where I met my husband. We decided to stay. I was very interested in photography when I went over, so I took thousands of photographs. Then we moved to a country where it was very difficult to take photographs, so I did more drawing. From there I kind of combined the two; I started teaching drawing later on. I taught drawing to many different people from all nationalities, all ages. I’ve taught drawing from age seven to age eighty-five. And I was lucky enough to teach people who always wanted to draw, but had always kind of been afraid to. And I just love it. But then if you would have told me three years ago that I would be doing this, I would never have believed you. I never thought I would do imagery. But in moving back to the states, I missed Africa so much. I returned with teenagers. I’d been gone sixteen years, and my heart was in Africa. So the way to go back for me, was to draw and paint the people–I what I loved most about Africa. It was an honor to live among people that I admired every single day. I wanted to be back there. So I taught myself to paint. I had never painted before, or painted imagery. I had used paintbrushes in my work, but I’d never painted imagery. Somehow I think that something was given to me to be able to transfer that love for the people into creating them. I don’t know how, because I never could have done this before. I don’t know, I just kind of did it… Maybe it is because I choose to paint what is the most important thing to me. And that is the joy, the spirit, the pride of the people. Where I lived in Africa, about ninety percent of the people are just farmers. It’s not all turmoil and suffering. That exists, of course that exists. But it exists in America, too. It exists everywhere. But that’s what we hear about, we only hear about the bad parts. And I would like Africans, in my work, to be more than silhouettes. They’re not just the background silhouettes; they’re real people. I would like people to say, ‘I remember the beauty of the people from her work. I remember the spirit.’ Somehow I feel a gift was given to me to be able to bring that message across. It’s not about me; it’s about the artwork… A lot of people say, ‘well, why don’t you just paint?’ I say, ‘Well, that’s not three dimensional’. What I like most about this is the fact that there’s some texture to it, and it’s three-dimensional. Some people may say that my work is just painted, but if you look at it quilted and unquilted, it’s two totally different things. The quilting is really at least half of it.In her second interview, from 2001, Hollis shared a little bit about the personal experience of quiltmaking:I do art for my own selfish reasons, to learn more, to be challenged; I’m obviously a challenge type of person because of the lifestyle that I have lead. I like to be put into new things. I like to try new things. I don’t like to do the same thing again and again and again. That’s why I don’t do two of the same quilt. Once I’ve done it, I lived it and I move on. That’s how I approach my artwork. I enjoy learning, so I set up my own challenges through my artwork. I will do a blue piece because blue is appropriate for this piece, but I wouldn’t do another monochromatic piece in blue just because I like the color blue. There has to be a reason for it. These are called the “Blue Men”, that is their nickname, that’s what they’re called throughout West Africa. So, “Resident Alien” was made in green because aliens are green, because resident aliens are given a green card. I really enjoy the challenge of it. But I also do the realistic ones, purely realistic, and I am continuing to do them, because it allows me to live with those people for that much longer. Since they are sold and they do go out to their new homes, like children leaving your house, I can’t live with them very long and I miss them so I need to do more just to be back where I want to be, to be back with those people who brought me so much. I do them. I do the purely realistic ones, to be with them. But I do these to challenge myself.You can read more about Hollis Chatelain and the techniques she uses in her interviews here and here. And you can always find more quilt stories at the Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories page on the Alliance’s site!Posted by Emma ParkerProject Manager, Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our…
by Quilt Alliance | Aug 18, 2013 | Uncategorized
While browsing the Q.S.O.S. archive recently, I noticed that many quilters’ earliest memories of quilts and quilt making were of time spent playing or hiding under a quilt frame while it was being quilted. I found almost 30 interviews that recalled long afternoons under the “tent” of a quilt-in-progress (and almost as many that recalled the delicious snacks that would come with these quilting bees!). Here are a few of those early memories of playing under a quilt frame: Virginia White Quinn: Oh, my earliest memories are of my mother’s quilting bee. And they used to quilt in the winter. I would come home from school, I cannot remember earlier than that, but I would come home from school and my sister and I would play under the quilting frame. In the morning before we went to school, my dad would set up the quilting frame on stanchions with clamps and he would help Mother set that up in our small, little house. And then all the women would come, I guess, after I’d gone to school. And then when we came home, we’d play under there. And my mother always made Jell-o, fruit Jell-o, and donuts for the dessert for the women and so that was just fabulous. Betty Black: Well, I remember my mother didn’t quilt, but she belonged to a women’s sewing circle and every once in awhile they’d get together and do a quilt; and I can remember as a very small child, when you have a quilt frame it’s just like a tent, and I can remember being underneath that quilt and having two or three of us underneath that quilt. Did you ever get hit on the head with a thimble? And have somebody gong you when you weren’t behaving? [laughs.] But I remember that it was such a neat place to play under there. Rachel Clark (right): My earliest quilt memory is actually my grandmother quilting. Mygrandmother had a quilt frame set up in the living room at Big Mama’s house and she would quilt–smoke her pipe–and we would play under the quilt frame and that’s probably my earliest quilt memory. Virginia Angers Kuglar: My interest in quiltmaking began when I was just a small child and my mother quilted and at that time there were friends in the community that got together and quilted. And, I can remember that the children would always play under the quilt frames, or the quilt, because the quilt then hung from the ceiling. And, as they would roll the quilt and roll the quilt, then when it got down so far to completion, they would run the kids out from under there and we would have to go play someplace else. That was my first memories of quiltmaking. Nadj Pankey: [M]y father raised me and my aunts that helped take care of me during the daytime, well, my father was a farmer and they took care of me during the daytime and they always had quilts hanging from the ceiling and you’d be surprised how many times I’ve heard that story in my shop, you know, I grew up with a quilt hanging from the ceiling. But I did the same thing, they would put the quilt down in the daytime and they would work on it and they’d raise it back to the ceiling at night for people to sleep in the bed that was in that room and that’s kind of how I got introduced to quilts, and of course, I slept on a quilt always. Even quilters who didn’t grow up playing under a quilt-in-process mention it in their interviews, such as Sherry Boram: I don’t know that there were really any other quiltmakers in my family that I was exposed to. I was never able to sit under a quilting frame as a child like a lot of quilters were able to. I never had that experience, but I just like fabric. I can’t keep my hands off of it. Carlie Nichols, who makes quilts for the Quilts of Valor program, says that many of the veterans she gives quilts to have shared their “playing under the quilt frame” stories: Well, it’s been really interesting, especially with these older veterans–well, not even the older ones, the younger ones have told me these stories too. When we go out and display our quilts and tell them what we’re doing, most of them will say, “oh, my mother had a quilt and the ladies all came over at least once a week and they all worked on it and in between they rolled it up and it hung up on the ceiling and it just was up there and they told us and they’d bring it down when the ladies would come–we just loved it when all the ladies would come and work on the quilts because we got cookies and snacks and we could play under those quilts and we could pretend they were a tent and everything”… Interested in reading more stories about growing up under a quilt frame? Check out Q.S.O.S. interviews with Ona Porterfield, Nadine Kennedy and Betty Boehm–and many others! You can always find more quilt stories at the Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories page on the Alliance’s site. Posted by Emma Parker Project Manager, Quilters’ S.O.S.- Save Our Stories…
