by Quilt Alliance | Sep 12, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1953, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, a photographer for the Washington Times-Herald, at St. Mary’s church in Newport, Rhode Island. Wedding guests numbered over 750 and another 3,000 onlookers waited outside the church. Kennedy was elected U.S. President seven years later, the youngest man to ever take this office. This Kaleidoscope quilt top was made around 1919 in Newport, Rhode Island. The owner discovered the quilt and others in an old sea chest in his family home, and documented in the Rhode Island Quilt Documentation Project in 1992. From this record: “Owner is unsure of who made this and other quilts found with it, but believes it to be one of three women: Pamela Albro-owner’s great grandmother, Fanny Albro Barker-owner’s grandmother, or Rebecca Barker Dennis-owner’s aunt.” View this quilt on The Quilt Index to read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view. Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jfk-marries-jacqueline-bouvier Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Sep 11, 2013 | Not Fade Away 2013 conference, QSOS
Today on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I’d like to share video footage of the Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories (Q.S.O.S.) interview with pioneering fabric designer, quilter, teacher and entrepreneur Jinny Beyer conducted by eQuilter.com co-owner Luana Rubin at our Not Fade Away conference held July 20, 2013. Q.S.O.S. is the Quilt Alliance’s oral history project about quiltmakers. Volunteers all over the U.S. and abroad have interviewed more than 1,200 quiltmakers for this project since 1999. The collection is presented via written transcripts and photographs on the Quilt Alliance website and is permanently archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. On occasion, we videotape Q.S.O.S. interviews to demonstrate how powerful these interviews are how important the project is. Watch these interviews along with other stories of quilts and quiltmakers on our Quilt Alliance Youtube channel. All Q.S.O.S. interviewees are asked to bring with them a “touchstone” object (usually a quilt) that has a special meaning to them. Some people choose to bring their first quilt, some bring their first award-winner, and others choose quilts associated with life events–celebration, comfort, love and loss. Jinny’s touchstone quilt, titled “Windows,” is a large hand-pieced and hand-quilted mosaic quilt made from fabrics she designed, inspired by Italian floor designs and in response to the terrible events of 9/11. On the morning of September 11, 2001, Beyer was packing for a trip to Italy to gather inspiration for a quilt to be shared at her annual quilt seminar when a friend phoned to let her know of the attacks. Her trip was canceled and Beyer learned that a good friend had been lost in the Pentagon crash. Regrouping, she began to design a mosaic quilt that would feature the colors and icons that become so prevalent in media coverage of the events–the ash and dust of the wreckage, and the American flag. Jinny shares the story on her website here. Watch the Q.S.O.S. interview to hear Jinny’s story. [youtube=http://youtu.be/fQ90mdE_9q4] Anyone can download the Q.S.O.S. manual and interview a quiltmaker in their community. Volunteers work independently to add interviews to Q.S.O.S. sub projects, including 43 state projects, 14 organizations (museums, institutions, regional quilt groups), 8 guilds and 9 country projects. Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Sep 11, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 2001, four coordinated terrorist attacks were carried out in the United States by al-Qaeda, an Islamist extremist group. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people from 93 nations. 2,753 people were killed in the World Trade Center in New York City, 184 people were killed at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and 40 people were killed on Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. Rebecca Magnus of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan made this Square in a Square quilt in 2001. She remembers: “I was tying the knots in the last two sections of machine quilting threads when I saw the 2nd plane hit the World Trade Center. This will forever be etched in my mind – where I was and what I was doing.” Magnus documented her quilt through the Michigan Quilt Project. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view. Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/attack-on-america Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Sep 10, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1991, alternative rock band Nirvana’s song “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is released as a single. The band, and guitarist, lead singer and songwriter Kurt Cobain, were only known to a small subculture of fans before the song made the unheard of leap from underground music scene to pop mainstream. Teenager Georgia Thomas Mize of Sevierville, Tennessee made this Trip Around the World quilt in 1930. She hand pieced and hand quilted it and gave it her own title: “World’s Wonder.” The quilt is inscribed: “1930 George.” This quilt was documented as part of the Quilts of Tennessee project, and is included in Merikay Waldvogel’s book Soft Covers for Hard Times: Quiltmaking and the Great Depression (Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1990). View this quilt on The Quilt Index to read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view. Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nirvanas-quotsmells-like-teen-spiritquot-is-released-as-a-single Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Sep 9, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1893, First Lady Frances Folsom Cleveland, the wife of President Grover Cleveland, gave birth to their second daughter, Esther, in the White House. The Cleveland child was not the first baby to be born in the White House; Thomas Jefferson’s daughter Martha Randolph gave birth to her son James Madison Randolph there in 1806. Louiza Sheardon of Iowa (Cold or Collins) made this Churn Dash Crib Quilt in July, 1893. A note sewn to the quilt reads: “John W. Phares. This brown calico with the little white and green specks in is a dress of your grand mother Paxton’s mother’s. Consequently it was little Louiza Phare’s Great Great Grand Mother’s dress. I made a present of this little quilt to my name-sake this 3rd day – july 1893 in the 74 year of my age. Your Aunt Lou Sheardon (Shardon?) Copied by Louiza’s Sister (Laura)” The owner of the quilt, a relative of Mary Louiza Phares, received it as a gift and documented it during the Florida Quilt Project. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view. Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/presidents-child-born-in-white-house Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
