Viewing, reading, listening …

QuiltCon 2023 award winners

QuiltCon is the largest convention of modern quilting in the world. The 10th event was held in Atlanta in February 2023, under the auspices of The Modern Quilt Guild. 

OzQuilt Network: Memories of Childhood

View the new online themed exhibition Memories of Childhood that features artwork by 28 OZQN members.

Modern Mystery Quilt 2023 Virtual Exhibition

The quilts in this exhibition were made by hundreds of quilters who participated in the Modern Mystery Quiltalong 2023. Modern Quilt Studio

A History of British Frame Quilts - video, You Tube.

Frame quilts are one of the typical styles of patchwork quilts in the UK. In this comprehensive study video, Carolyn Gibbs explains their key features, illustrated with many examples from her own Collection, and from the Quilters Guild Museum Collection, to whom grateful thanks are due. Carolyn Gibbs Quilts, 22 January 2023

How to Organize a Quilting Room with Timna Tarr

I spent a lot of time thinking about how to make the most of the spaces, taking into consideration the ways that I work.

While I won’t commit to this being my last studio, I do think this one will stick around. I am sure it will evolve over time. One thing I have learned is that as my work and life changes, so do my studio needs. Timna Tarr, Quilting Arts Magazine, Winter 2023

Low Volume Fabrics

Many of my quilts use ‘low volume’ fabric but I believe this is a relatively modern term in patchwork quilting. Generally low volume fabric in patchwork quilting refers to any light coloured fabric. In this post, I outline the different types of low volume fabric that I often use in my quilts and show some examples of how I have used them. Thimbles and Needles, 5 February 2023

Some quilt history stories

The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne is raising funds to purchase the quilt ‘Housetop Variations 1930s’ made by Gees Bend quilter Martha Pettway:.  

This quilt, from the 1930s, is by leading quilt-maker Martha Pettway, featuring the ‘Housetop’ pattern – a design of concentric squares – unique to Gee’s Bend. Pettway used vibrant domestic cotton fabrics on the face of the quilt, while the reverse features a backing comprised of rice, sugar and fertiliser bags. This use of readily available materials underscores the socio-historic context of quilt production of the time. 

With your support NGV has a rare opportunity to acquire this important hand-stitched quilt by Martha Pettway, one of the most important quilters of Gee’s Bend.  

(NGV on Facebook, 23 December 2021)

A short video presentation on the proposed acquisition (and how to donate towards it) is on the NGV website: https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/support-us/ngv-foundation/help-tell-a-new-story-in-the-ngv-collection/

An interesting article and excellent illustrations of Kantha quilting from the V and A, London:

Kantha - a South Asia quilting tradition

6Originally made from old, recycled fabrics, the traditional kantha cloth is an example of 'flat', or unwadded quilting, worked on multiple layers of fabric. Bangladeshi or Bengali kantha cloths were made by women for use in their own homes as bedcovers, mats and all-purpose wrappers. The stitching consists of embroidered patterns, ranging from simple floral motifs to elaborate scenes, combined with running-stitch quilting in a colour matching the background fabric. On older quilts, the quilting runs around the embroidered motifs, a technique known as echo quilting … Victoria and Albert Museum

Joe the Quilter

‘… The lives of the working poor were rarely recorded in Georgian Britain, we know so much about Joe the Quilter because he was made famous by his death. A plan of his house was made, and a list of its contents, as they were subsequently auctioned …’. Bowes Museum Blog, 18 September, 2015

The Bellamy Quilt, Norwich Castle Museum

Welcome to the wonderful Bellamy Quilt: a spectacular love story in textiles. The Bellamy Quilt was made by a couple, Charlotte Alice Springall and Herbert Bellamy, who worked on it together during their year-long engagement between 1890 and 1891. They were eventually married 129 years ago today, on the 24th November 1891, in the parish church of St Nicholas, Great Yarmouth. What a brilliant way to spend time really getting to know each other before taking those wedding vows! … Ruth Battersby Tooke, Senior Curator of Costume and Textiles, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, 24 November 2020

Quilts for a Living: The Harness Family

Molanie Lowe Harness's husband Jerry was killed in a coal mining accident in Briceville, Tennessee in 1919 when she was pregnant with her 14th child. Daughter Anna Opal was about five and recalled the hard times of her childhood in the Appalachia of Anderson County for interviewer John Rice Irwin in the 1980s … Barbara Blackman, Women’s Work: Making a living making quilts, 4 June 2019

Ten years of ‘Twelve Quilts of Christmas’

 Mary Elizabeth Kinch is currently posting her tenth annual series of blog posts ‘Twelve Quilts of Christmas’, this year featuring Welsh Quilts. 

‘… If I had a favourite genre of quilts, they are it.  Welsh Quilts are for me the epitome of what I call “Quilting with Abandon”.  Welsh quilters boldly manifested their distinctive designs with fearless exuberance, not feeling bound to fastidious, precisely drafted, and exacting executions in their work.  Instead they embraced their own individuality and let it shine in quilts that reflected their character through their stitches.’

You will easily find the previous nine years of ‘Twelve Quilts of Christmas’ in the Archives links on the blog. 

The series is also available on Instagram @maryelizabethkinch and her Facebook page Mary Elizabeth Kinch Quilts (although the current series does not appear to be on the Facebook page).

A treat to pore over during the holiday break.

Reading, viewing, listening ...

https://youtu.be/jmbDaCGu8Hw

Kaffe Fassett discussing his quilts at 2021 Festival of Quilts, with Natasha McCarty.

‘Studio Spades’ is a series of posts about textile artists’ work spaces produced once or twice a week by Fibre Arts Australia. You can subscribe to receive an email alert each time a post is made. Alternatively you can simply read the posts at the website. There is currently an archive of fourteen entries:

https://www.fibrearts.net.au/studiospaces

It’s an interesting insight into how and where the artists work, and what they regard as essential to their practice.

Greg Lauren and the Gee’s Bend Quilters crafted wearable Americana

In our era of hyperfast consumption, Greg Lauren has a zeal for patience. His slow-made approach to reconstruction finds new life for otherwise unwanted scraps and textiles, a time-consuming process that undermines the typical more-more-more industry mentality.  

So, Lauren's partnership with the Gee's Bend Quilters feels like the designer both paying his dues and paying forward the renown garnered by his own designs.  Jake Silberi, Highsnobiety, 16 October 2021

 

How Singer Won the Sewing Machine War

The Singer Sewing Machine changed the way America manufactured textiles, but the invention itself was less important than the company’s innovative business … Alex Palmer, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 July 2015

 

Artist Bisa Butler on creating new narratives through portrait quilts

Artist Bisa Butler has been called a modern-day Griot – but instead of using words to tell stories, she uses stitches and cloth. Her quilts have graced the covers of magazines and she created the striking illustration for the soon-to-be-released book "Unbound," the memoir of activist and Me Too movement founder Tarana Burke. Nancy Chen reports.

CBS This Morning, 4 September 2021

Bisa Butler: Portraits
Erica Warren (Editor), et al, Yale University Press, 2020

Bisa Butler (b. 1973) is an American artist who creates arresting and psychologically nuanced portraits composed entirely of vibrantly colored and patterned fabrics that she cuts, layers, and stitches together. Often depicting scenes from African American life and history, Butler invites viewers to invest in the lives of the people she represents while simultaneously expanding art-historical narratives about American quiltmaking. Situating her interdisciplinary work within the broader history of textiles, photography, and contemporary art, contributions by a group of scholars—and entries by the artist herself—illuminate Butler’s approach to color, use of African-print fabrics, and wide-ranging sources of inspiration. Offering an in-depth exploration of one of America's most innovative contemporary artists, this volume will serve as a primary resource that both introduces Butler’s work and establishes a scholarly foundation for future research. 

Anna Williams, quilter (1927 - 2010)

 Sherrilyn Woods, contemporary improvisational quilter, teacher and writer,  recently posted photographs of renowned quilter Anna Williams, who died in 2010 leaving a lasting legacy of her work and inspiration for others. It recalled a long ago conversation with one of our group members who cited Anna Williams as a key figure in improvisational quilting, and prompted a search for online examples and information.

Barbara Brackman's blog post from 2010, 'Anna Williams and Inspiration' is a great starting point, with links to some who have been infuenced by Anna Williams:

Occasionally an artist comes across a direction-changing inspiration for her work. Anna Williams has given that gift to many contemporary quilters. She's from Louisiana, born in 1927. Her quilts are hand-pieced of small shards, worked into powerful compositions ...

A Google image search will give you many wonderful images too.

Antique 1880s English hexagon coverlet

An 1880s hexagon coverlet (backed, but quilted only in the border) came home with Helen from a recent visit to London and Christopher Wilson-Tate at the Antique Textiles Company.

It was a show-stopper at show and tell last week, as we admired and examined every bit - the fussy cutting, the stitching, the quilting on the delicately printed border, and its overall appeal.

It is now back in use on a bed, on the other side of the world - wouldn’t its maker be pleased, and possibly astonished?

Christopher Wilson-Tate is a designer for Moda Fabrics, and an antique quilts specialist. Antique Textiles Co:  www.antiquetextilescompany.co.uk

Quilty long weekend reading

It's the Labour Day long weekend here in NSW, so no meeting and show and tell for us on Monday. Here is some quilt related reading and pictures to entertain you over the break ... hope you get time for sewing too.

A little piece of Australian history

Addicted 2 Fabric, 25 September 2019

Every quilt has a layer of storytelling, but for this special quilt recreated by South Australian pattern-maker Lessa Siegele, the story began all the way back at the beginning of quilting in Australia ...

Fabric of Life

Rich Warren, Ohio Magazine, July 2019

Artist Nancy Crow draws inspiration from near and far to create beautiful and inventive quilts that take the medium to a new level ...

Artist's polychromatic quilts tell powerful stories using recycled fabrics,
Kimberly Mok, Treehugger,  5 March 2019

 ... some of the seven "R" strategies to shift toward a more sustainable fashion industry include reducing, reusing, recycling, repairing, researching, renting, and of course, repurposing. A great example of repurposing with inspiring results is Brooklyn-based textile artist Bisa Butler, who creates these stunningly intricate quilted tapestries that are primarily made with vintage and repurposed fabrics. 

But Butler doesn't just strive to bring a bit of environmental consciousness in her choice of materials, she also strives to highlight the richness of African-American culture as well through her polychromatic portrayals of everyday citizens to historical figures like Paul Laurence Dunbar, Basquiat, and Josephine Baker ...

One from the LA Times archives, recently posted online:

The Quilt Circle: How to make an American movie? Start by piecing together a network of OC seamstresses
Kathleen O'Steen, Los Angeles Times, 6 October 1995

When they needed quilts, the producers of the movie 'How to Make An American Quilt', based on a novel written by Whitney Otto at UCI, they called Patty McCormick of Corona del Mar ...

Gwen Marston 1936 - 2019, quilter, writer, teacher

The international quilting community is remembering and mourning Gwen Marston, who died at her home in the US on 17 April, aged 82.

Some of us were lucky enough to see Gwen Marston's beautiful quilts, to hear her talk about them, and to take classes with her here in Sydney in 2013, on a trip arranged by Sarah Fielke.

• Gwen Marston - her own fine self, Quiltfolk’s profile of Gwen Marston from the Michigan issue, with photos of her quilts and her home, written by Meg Cox. 

• A Note About the Keynote: Gwen Marston, Moda's blog, Cutting Table.

Two quilt exhibitions: Cowra and Canberra

War and Pieced: The Annette Gero Collection of Quilts from Military Fabrics
Cowra Regional Art Gallery
23 February - 28 April 2019
It is not an exaggeration to say this collection is a unique showcase of spectacularly complex geometric quilts made from military fabrics by soldiers and military tailors in the time of war. Once termed “soldiers’ quilts” or “convalescent quilts”, the pieced textiles in this exhibition are associated with World War I and World War II, as well as the earliest quilts from the Napoleonic Wars, the late eighteenth century, conflicts in India, South Africa and wars during the nineteenth century. 


The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Quilt Project

Museum of Australian Democracy

Old Parliament House, Canberra

Until 1 July 2019
The #UDHRquilt Project features never before seen work from a global craftivism project. Stitching in local and global stories; see the intricate detail of these quilts that represent the world’s conscience.

• If you are unable to visit the exhibition, you can learn more about the project, the quilts and the craftivists at the #UDHRquilt Project website.

Australian National Quilt Register re-launched online

The National Quilt Register is an online database and central resource for the Australian quilting community. It provides digital access to quilts held in public and private collections throughout Australia ... read more in the Australian Quilt Study Groups' blogpost here.

A list of Australian Quilt Study Groups events for 2018 is also on the blog now.

This week at Fairholme (2)

Two more interesting vintage pieces came to light for this week's show and tell ...

Margaret was helping to clear a friend's house after his death
when she came across a hexagon coverlet probably made in
the forties or fifties, judging by the fabrics. The hexagons are
about an inch and a half, the background fabric and backing
are a sturdy blue cotton. 

The mix of fabric prints in the hexagons is varied and interesting 
- probably dress making scraps. The friend's late wife had been
 a quilter, but there is no provenance for the piece, and it might 
have been stored undisturbed for sixteen years.

Val bought this piece of undated textile art from a trader in
Newtown many years ago. Made from silk, it is a purdah
(from the Persian for 'curtain'), sourced from the region of
Afghanistan. The ties at the top indicate its intended use.

It was a single layer when Val bought it. She has added a light
batting and backing, and hand quilted it in black thread, using
motifs from the pieces, and from the region, including a ram's
head, a symbol associated with Alexander the Great who died
in 323 BC in Babylon (modern Iraq).
The black sashing strips are hand-embroidered braids, commonly
made by women in the region. There is evidence of a little wear,
but the colours are still rich and warm. It is used as a couch quilt.

Antique and vintage quilt parade (3)

Lynette has gathered a lovely collection of antique and vintage quilts over several years. She generously brought in most of them last week for us to see them up close, and to take in their qualities. Lynette has bought several quilts from American dealer, Jane Lury of Labors of Love. Jane's 'Meanderings of a Quilt Collector' was published by Quiltmania in 2016.

Hexagons, of course!

Edge of the Grandmother's Flowergarden.

22 blade Dresdan Plate, 1930s, bought in Japan, from
Jane Lury.

'Jack in the Pulpit', from Texas, 1920s.
Beautifully hand quilted.

Late 19thC - early 20th C, bought in Houston, 2012. This
one is very large, and it might just be Lynette's favourite.

Late 19thC, possibly English, Also bought
from Jane Lury.

Bear's Paw, bought in Houston in 1999.

Late 19thC - 1900, 'Robbing Peter to Pay Paul' block.
You can see that the batting is very thin and worn, but the
blue fabric has held its colour remarkably well.
Bought in rural Canada from an estate clearance, for $40
- the family didn't like it!

Labelled as made in February 1948. The tulip fabric is
feed sacks. The stems and leaves are embroidered.

Antique and vintage quilt parade (2)

As we looked at and gently handled all of these dozen or so quilts, we wondered what their makers would have though about other generations of quilters still appreciating their work, as thing of great beauty, after so many years.

The first of Lynette's collection - a beautifully buttery soft nine
patch made in Texas, that Lynette bought from Sydney dealer
Jenny Burton. Hand quilted, made for practicality, every now
and again an 'odd' piece is used to make up a block, when the
quilter has run out of 'right' fabric - it is utterly charming.

Helen's family brought two Durham quilts for daily use from
working class northern England in the 1920s, and referred
to them as 'those Pommy things'. Helen and her sister have one
each. Both the pink and yellow cottons are faded, and it is worn
from frequent use. Two sides were extended with pink panels
added by machine by Helen's dressmaker grandmother.

Val told us that the quilting design was probably drawn on the
fabric by a travelling 'marker', in blue pencil, from a stock of
patterns. Many markers were men. The hand quilting stitches
are deeply embedded in the quilt sandwich. You can see more
of the original colours in the depths of the stitches.

Helen bought her crazy quilt from the late Narelle Grieve.
There is no documentation. It is very worn in parts, but much
of the colour and fabric is intact

It is heavily embroidered, as is typical of the style.

Embroidery on the block pieces and seams.

Jo-Ann bought her late 19thC - early 20thC quilt in Houston in
2014. As a professional long-arm quilter, she was particularly drawn
to it  as it an early example of free-motion machine quilting.

The block appears to be a variation of the 'Wonder of the World'.
The quilt maker's choice of just two fabrics, and dark grey and
white give it a surprisingly modern look. 
From an earlier viewing, we learned that 'although there is not a 
lot of documentation, some inferences can be made about the quilter 
- it is assumed she was comparatively well off, because the quilt is 
not scrappy, being made from just two fabrics ... and it is machine 
quilted. The batting is now quite thin, and the quilt is very soft and 
drapes beautifully, probably indicating that it has been well used.'

Antique and vintage quilt parade (1)

We enjoyed a parade of vintage and antique quilts earlier this week, as members brought treasures from their own collections and family treasures for close-up inspection. Thank you all for sharing them with us, and to those  (Val, Roslyn, Margaret) who were able to fill in some gaps in the quilts' stories.

Roslyn's vintage quilt was found hung casually over a fence at 

local weekend market, more than 25 years ago. With a toddler 

in a stroller, Roslyn didn't spend much time looking at it, and 

paid the asking price, not knowing if it was a real find. It was.

Quilt historian Annette Gero authenicated it as a hand quilted 

Durham wholecloth quilt from the 1930s, valued at 

considerably more than its $5 market price!

More photos are in this 2014 post, the last time 

we saw this treasure.

Dawn's 'Sixty Five Roses' quilt is on its way to vintage status. 
It was made for her nephew's wedding quilt, and is in regular 
use, as evidenced by the fading on the red border. 
The pattern was first published as a fundraiser for a 
Cystic Fibrosis charity. 

The crocheted lace butterfly is one of four, one in 
each corner of a supper cloth made by Roslyn's 
paternal grandmother for her parents as a wedding 
gift, about 1940.

Denise found this hexagon quilt, of indeterminate age, in an 
op shop. She doesn't particularly like it, but didn't feel it could 
be left behind!  Vintage - probably not yet.

Two more posts are planned on more of the vintage and antique quilts.

World Quilts: American and Amish quilts

The International Quilt Study Centre and Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska has recently added Amish quilts to its World Quilts initiative, aiming to offer a 'global perspective on quiltmaking'. The first part of the World Quilts project is on American Quilts.  Both give a comprehensive, well illustrated insight into the development of the quilts historically, methods of quiltmaking in each tradition, and their place in the quilting world today.

The summer break might be a good opportunity to explore both, while you escape the heat.

A little quilting history in photos

Quilting In The Last Years Of The Great Depression (18 Photos)
Old Photo Archive
During the Great Depression, sewing materials were conserved for clothing and repair; however, toward the end of the Depression, quilters brought out their tools and un-used squares and got to work. Quilting has always been used to pass on family stories and memories, but it also has a long tradition of being tied to acts of kindness and charity. After years of tattered clothing and poverty, those still down on their luck got great happiness and comfort out of receiving a new quilt.

We wanted to share a few photos of quilters at work from 1936-1941 ...

A historic quilt story: temporarily free to download

Quilter Sharon Barnes has written a book about her great-great--grandmother's signature quilt Round is the Ring That Has No End: Stories from the 1852 Chester Criswell Quilt:

... The Chester Criswell Quilt was made to celebrate the 1852 marriage of Mary McClellan Criswell and Jesse Jackson Smith. Over eighty people are represented on the quilt including Mary’s family, school friends and neighbors. 

There are many examples of these quilts in museums and private collections. What makes this quilt unique is that it has been passed from mother to daughter and it now belongs to Sharon Barnes, great-great-great-granddaughter of Mary McClellan Criswell. 

Barnes has spent the last four years researching the Chester Criswell quilt’s provenance and at the same time making a reproduction quilt by hand. This research has provided a foundation for a collection of stories about the women that made the first quilt. ‘Round is the Ring That Has No End’ combines quilt history and narration in a first time e-book from a new author.  (Publisher's note)

It is free to download to your Kindle from Amazon until Sunday 31 July 2016. If you don't have a Kindle you can still get the app and read it on your tablet or smart phone.

Two vintage treasures

Dawn's niece offered these two vintage quilts (made c1955 - 1962), for display at our quilt show last weekend, along with a little of their history - they were a lovely addition to our recently made quilts.

The label for the quilt on the right reads: This quilt was made by my grandmother,
Emma Brodbeck Meier (born April 7, 1890 and died January 4 1957 in
Texas, USA) for my parents, Paul and Maree Senff, as a wedding gift in 1955.
Most of the fabrics was used from flour and chicken feed sacks were sold
throughout the depression years into the late 40s. Most were floral print
and you needed 4 sacks to make a dress! Any off cuts were then used to
make quilts. Growing up on a farm and then being a farmer's wife
herself, living through hard times, my grandmother was very practical.
To make a pattern, she'd hold up newspaper against the person she was
sewing for, and cut out the pattern. She had 9 children, including my
mother, and sewed all their clothes. She herself grew up sewing, and
passed it on to her 3 daughters! (Miriam Bunn)

Label for the quilt on the left.

Vintage hexagons rediscovered ...

The Antiques Roadshow would probably call this vintage hexagon quilt top, made here in Australia in the 1950s/1960s, 'slightly bonkers'. 

It was made by the late mother of a friend of her sister, and rescued by Marilyn recently, when she discovered her sister and the friend preparing to remove the remaining hand-made cardboard templates at the edges, in order to 'do something' (unspecified) with it. Marilyn called a halt while advice is sought.

The flowers are made from a wonderful array of fabric prints and solids, mostly one fabric and a contrasting centre per flower, but with occasional rogue hexies where the main fabric might have run out. The soft olive green background hexies tie it together surprisingly well.

Marilyn remembers its maker well, and said it would have been made with a good deal of sherry and cigarettes consumed during the process - we thought 'Sherry and Cigarettes' might be an apt name for it. Further evidence lies within ...

It is a large top, with extensions at the top to accommodate
pillows, and is made up of about 150 hexagons

It took three of us to hold it up along its length ... 

Many of the hexagons were cut from cigarette packets,
mostly 'Turf' brand - an integral part of its history now,
and social history of the time.

It engendered a lot of interest and close inspection,
and Marilyn will follow up suggestions for expert advice
on its preservation and documentation.

The Rajah Quilt revisited: video free online this week only

This episode of the (US) Quilt Show, featuring Australian quilter and designer Lesse Siegele, designer of their Block of the Month for 2016, will be freely available online for just this week.

The BOM is Lesse's Rajah Quilt Revisited. More information about the block of the month, with links to kits or to the pattern only is in this blog post from The Quilt Show.

• National Gallery of Australia page on the Rajah Quilt 1841
• Quilt patterns by Lesse Siegele are available for purchase here.