by Quilt Alliance | May 25, 2014 | Uncategorized
In 1967, the United States Congress officially named Memorial Day as a day to celebrate and remember men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Services. For many years, quiltmakers have been making quilts to honor those service members or comfort the loved ones they left behind. This week’s Q.S.O.S. Spotlight features a quilted tribute to a member of the armed service, a stunning and symbolic quilt Suzanne Botts of Missouri made for her oldest son. “I wanted to tell about the one I’m currently working on, which is for my oldest son who retired from a twenty-year career in the Army last fall. The main body of the quilt is a tan fabric that has a pattern in it that looks sort of like a cracked glaze on pottery. The cracks are an indeterminate color – gray, navy, olive. In the center of that top I appliquéd the head of an eagle from the 101st Airborne’s patch. I didn’t want to put a stark white head on the eagle because I wanted the colors to be somewhat muted in this quilt. And I was lucky enough to find a soft gray fabric that sort of looks like a batik and the pattern in it resembled the grain of feathers so I used that for the eagle’s head. And then his beak of course is a dark gold and his tongue is red as in the patch, the army patch. And I enlarged this and put it in the center of the quilt on an olive-green shield. The top part of the 101st patch that says Airborne, I did the letters for the Airborne out of felted wool. I felted the wool myself and appliquéd those letters on. Down in the center of the eagle’s neck, I put in, in reverse appliqué, a cross-stitched Army emblem. I set this 101st Airborne patch in the center of an oval, which is meant to represent a tree. The tree stands in my front yard and has born any number of yellow ribbons for my sons who were in Desert Storm and then Chris in Iraq. I couldn’t afford $75 a yard brown linen, so I used a linen tablecloth and cut an oval to surround the eagle. And on the top of that oval, around the top third of that oval, in felted wool letters it reads, ‘We are a band of brothers.’ Around the lower third of that brown oval the letters read, “A rendezvous with destiny,” which is a famous statement made about the destiny of the 101st Airborne. Up the sides of the oval I am in the process of appliquéing leaves, the pattern for which came from that same tree that carried the yellow ribbon. And segments of the yellow ribbon that was on that tree for the year while my son was in Iraq are being woven into those leaves and will be tied at the bottom of the oval right over a cross-stitch replica of the bronze star that he earned, was awarded for his service in Iraq. It will have his name and service dates. Then I have a collection of patches from all the units in which he served – about twelve of those. And I am cross-stitching labels to identify those patches with the location, for instance Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, the dates he served there, the name of the unit that he was in, and the motto of the unit – Screaming Eagles or whatever. The cracked glaze fabric that makes up the center of the quilt is bordered with a two-inch wide navy blue band. Three eight-inch borders outside of that are striped with muslin alternated with red and blue striped fabric that has stars in it, representative of the flag. The top right and the lower left corners of the quilt borders are fabric that has the Pledge of Allegiance printed on it. The top left square of the border has a photo of my son, his flag picture, from basic training when he first went in the Army. The lower right hand square of the border has a photo transfer of my son in desert camouflage being greeted by his two daughters at the airport when he came home from Iraq. The caption under that picture will read, ‘Home is the warrior, Home from the fields.’ […] On a back corner of the quilt near where I will sign my name and date as the maker of the quilt, I plan to put in some form this quote from a WestPoint manual: ‘It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gives us freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag who allows the protestor to burn the flag.'[…] The top was presented to him at Christmas. I had not had time since his retirement to complete the whole quilt. I’m still working on it, but the top was intact and we presented it to him at Christmas when the entire family could be present.” You can read more quilt stories 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 …
by Quilt Alliance | May 21, 2014 | Uncategorized
The winner of our Match the Quilt to the Alliance Board Member contest is….Jessica Salter of Crafty Cat Studio!! Thanks to everyone who played! Here are the quilts with artists revealed. A. Medallion Quilt. c.1830. Quilts of TennesseeAllie AllerB. Feathered Star by Mariette Pierce, 1800-1849, DAR Museum.Victoria Findlay WolfeC. “Aletsch” by MIchael James, 1990, National Quilt Museum.Luke HaynesD. Split Rail Fence. 1901-1929. Michigan Quilt Project.Michele MuskaE. “Scrap Bag Bouquet” by Tom Russell. 2011 Q.S.O.S. interview.Lisa Ellis Full details on the Inspired By contest, including a downloadable entry form, can be found on our website and blog. Thank you to these generous Quilt Alliance Business Members sponsoring “Inspired By”: http://www.handiquilter.com/http://www.equilter.com/http://www.modafabrics.com/http://www.aurifil.com/http://electricquilt.com/http://www.ezquilt.com/http://www.simplicity.com/http://www.sewingexpo.com/http://stkr.it/http://www.threadsmagazine.com/ Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | May 18, 2014 | Uncategorized
Today’s Q.S.O.S. Spotlight is on Charles Wunderlich, a retired member of the US Air Force who began quilting after leaving the service. Charles shared with Kay Jones how he began quilting in his interview conducted 13 years ago today. “Kay Jones: Now, how did you become interested in quilting? Charles Wunderlich: Well, my mother brought a top with her on a visit one time, here in Fort Worth. And I said, ‘What are you doing with that, are you going to quilt it?’ [CW is referring to his mother.] ‘No, we are going to quilt it.’ [CW is referring to himself.] ‘I have never quilted, I know what a needle is and a thread is, and that’s the extent of it.’ [CW referring to mother.] ‘Well, we’ll make it.’ So, we started each one of those deals, put the needle through and pull it back up. So, after an hour, I worked a little ways across, stitches about three to an inch, and anyway, that was a start. And, I guess I got hooked. KJ: And when was that Charlie, about how old were you then?CW: Oh gosh, I don’t know, I was 50-something, in my fifties.KJ: And so, you’ve been quilting ever since?CW: Well, off and on and some more than others, but I have never made it a chore. I sat down at quilt-frame quilt and after a few stitches I decided, ‘Ah, this is not for me morning,’ and I get up and move the quilt and take off. Or I might quilt through lunch, all day long and get up to go to the doctor and come back and quilt some more.KJ: Quilt some more.CW: So, it’s according to how I feel, but I’ve never made it a chore. It remains an enjoyable hobby, if that’s what you call it. And I’ve been with it now for twenty-six, almost thirty years. […]I’m retired. I spent thirty years in the U.S. Air Force. KJ: In the Air Force? That take you to different parts of the world?CW: Oh, took me to different parts, yes. Europe, Asia, Southeast Asia, spent two short tours in Vietnam. Spent four years at then Carswell Air force Base, built a house, married, left the house, kept it rented, moved back to it when I got out of the service. But, while I was in the service there were too many other things that had to be done, so this came after I retired. KJ: The quilting came after retirement. You weren’t quilting when you were traveling around the world, but were you interested at all in quilts and quilting?CW: Never crossed my mind.KJ: Not till your mother said you’re going to learn to quilt?CW: That tripped the trigger.KJ: Why do you think she decided then was the time Charlie?CW: I don’t know, there was never any comments. I never asked the question, ‘Hey why did you do that? Why did you bring that quilt?’ But, that started it. And it’s all, I don’t even know what crossed her mind, she never said why she brought that. But, she did tell me who was going to quilt it.”KJ: And you did.” You can read more quilt stories 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 …
by Quilt Alliance | May 11, 2014 | Uncategorized
Today is Mother’s Day throughout most of the northern hemisphere, so it seemed fitting to feature moms for today’s Q.S.O.S. Spotlight post. There are plenty of mentions of mothers throughout the Q.S.O.S interviews, but I noticed that many of them were about mamas, mothers and moms teaching their sons and daughters about sewing, quilting, crafting and creating. Today, we’ve compiled a few quotes from Q.S.O.S. interviews about what our mothers taught us: “My mother taught me many things about sewing, quilting and she made most of my clothing and I did as I grew up, made my own clothing. So I’ve always been sewing in one respect and I miss her dearly for not being able to share with her what I am doing now because when she was alive whenever we made anything regardless of what it was it was never done until we shared it with each other and had show and tell.” – Shirley Fuller “My mother taught me to sew, embroider and knit. She made shoes, clothing, household linens, drapes and bedding. She was a plumber, carpenter, furniture maker, upholsterer, interior decorator, jeweler, gourmet cook and Girl Scout troop leader. If something needed to be made or fixed, she learned how to do it. Mom passed away in 2005. She was and continues to be a role model for me. She taught me that all things are possible.” -Marjorie Lee Jin En DeQuincy “My mother started me when I was just a little girl. She had this old pedal sewing machine and she would take feed sacks and our old clothes we wore out and she would make strips and blocks and stuff and she would sew them together and she would sit me on her lap and let me put the material under the sewing machine while she was pedaling it because I couldn’t reach the pedals and she taught me the love of quiltmaking. We had to do it for warmth, which they didn’t have much money to buy materials and stuff at that time to make these beautiful quilts like now but they were beautiful then but I guess back then they, people cherished them more because they had to make them for warmth for their beds for their children. And my mother taught me how to sew and I’ve never forgotten that and I appreciate everything she did. She always let me help do anything I wanted to do, cook or whatever. She would sit me up in a chair and let me make biscuits and what I do today, I learned from my mother.” – Roberta Bartley “…I like to do fine detail work. That I think I inherited from my mother, who taught me how to sew and she taught me step by step, very carefully and she loved to do finish work. She did all kinds of little handwork and detail work. I think somehow that rubbed off on me. So when I do all this fine-hand quilting, I think of my mother. I’m very grateful she taught me how to sew.” -Khristine LaChance You can read more quilt stories 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…
by Quilt Alliance | Apr 27, 2014 | Uncategorized
We’re doing something different today for this Sunday’s Q.S.O.S. Spotlight . April is National Poetry month, and the Q.S.O.S. archives are full of quilts inspired by poems. Today we’re featuring 3 quilts alongside the poems that inspired them. Click on the interviewee’s name and the quilts to read more about how these poems inspired them! Diane Horbort, interviewed in Houston, Texas in November of 2000 From From my Arm-Chair Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The heart hath its own memory, like the mind, And in it are enshrined The precious keepsakes, into which is wrought The giver’s loving thought. Donnette Cooper, interviewed in Washington, DC, in March of 2003 We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes, This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, And mouth with myriad subtleties. Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs? Nay, let them only see us, while We wear the mask. We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries To thee from tortured souls arise. We sing, but oh the clay is vile Beneath our feet, and long the mile; But let the world dream otherwise, We wear the mask! Mary Diamond, interviewed in Houston, Texas, in November of 2002 From Inversnaid by Gerard Manly Hopkins This darksome burn, horseback brown, His rollrock highroad roaring down, In coop and in comb the fleece of his foam Flutes and low to the lake falls home. A windpuff-bonnet of fawn-froth Turns and twindles over the broth Of a pool so pitchblack, fell-frowning, It rounds and rounds Despair to drowning. Degged with dew, dappled with dew Are the groins of the braes that the brook treads through, Wiry heathpacks, flitches of fern, And the beadbonny ash that sits over the burn. What would the world be, once bereft Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left, O let them be left, wildness and wet; Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet. You can read more quilt stories 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…
by Quilt Alliance | Apr 20, 2014 | Uncategorized
Today, in honor of springtime finally arriving and the Easter and Passover holidays, we’re shining our Q.S.O.S. Spotlight on a story about the healing and comforting power of quilts from Millie Wark of Massachusetts. In her Q.S.O.S. interview, Millie shared a story about a quilt she made and the warmth it brought: “Well, the story begins at our Baptist church. For quite a few years, in March before Easter, we always had one weekend called, “Give God the Glory.” We would all try to make a new quilt every year, because we brought those all in. They were draped all over the church, all over the balcony, all over the church not only our quilting but the men with their woodworking and things that people did because we wanted to give God the glory and show what He had done through us. Well this was about the third year that we had participated in this. For some reason, I had decided, I had seen these puffs quilts. I made this huge puffy, puffy quilt and brought it in. As it happened, I put it over like a Queen Anne chair. Well in our midst, one of our families had a 16-year old daughter that we’d all loved dearly, but she had become very anorexic. She had been to many counselors. They had worked and worked with her. Well when she saw that quilt, she walked in the first time, she just landed on that quilt and cuddled up almost in a fetal position. She just, almost like she wanted to get right inside of that quilt. For the three days that we had it there, whenever they came, she didn’t come into the sanctuary. You would miss her and she was out cuddled up in that quilt. So when it came time to take them home, I said to her mother, ‘I want her to have that quilt.’ And it just amazed me because they said that at home it just seemed to give her such peace. That’s the way she looked. She cuddled up on that quilt in such a peace. I like to feel that the comfort that she had from that, eventually she started eating the way she should again and now she’s, I think she’s graduated from college already. She is a fine, healthy young woman. When I see her and think about it, I think, you know maybe it was the love that she got from that quilt helped her to heal. So I’m just so, when we gave God the glory for that weekend and when I think of that, I really do, I just thank God that I was able to make a little difference in her life.” You can read more quilt stories 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…
