quiltersmuse.com Blog

The quilt above is called a Crazy Quilt and it is an original design made by Patricia Cummings in 2001. By “original,” I mean that I chose all of the elements that went into making it, selected the layout, the colors and the embellishments as well as the techniques. In this case, I appliquéd on some items, like the owl in the upper right, that was a commercially-prepared item. I hand-stenciled the yellow rose in the center with paint, and again sewn on a store-bought bee for appliqué.

You will see a lot of separate design features in this quilt as I added gold findings, like the hand, a piece of lace, ribbon (purchased by the yard), and beads. I added embroidery as well as silk ribbon ladybugs, and handcrafted “ants.” Victorians loved “bugs” and I do, too! So, it was only natural to add some “ant fabric,” as well. This is a very “busy” piece!

This quilt is mainly in cottons. I don’t much care for working with “fancy fabrics,” and there are enough exquisite prints in cotton, today, that one can get a good effect without using silks, etc. That is not to say that I never use anything other than cotton for crazy quilts because I certainly do!

I just wanted to show you one of the many Crazy Quilts I’ve made. This technique originated in the 19th century (1800s) and has a long history. Files on my main website talk about old Crazy Quilts and show antique examples and some miniature crazy quilts that I have made. I’d have to say that Appliqué. Crazy Quilts, Hand-piecing, and Hand-quilting are my very favorite quilting techniques. Just call me a turtle in a mad hare world, my saying, so if you use it, please give me credit for having said it first!

Cheers! Bring on the Halloween chocolate. Now, where could Jim be hiding the stash (of chocolate, that is)?

Pat Cummings

I have been aware of the Gollywog doll and its history for a number of years now. My doll was ordered from England, where they are still made and are popular, apparently. At the time I sent for one, I did not realize that there were any racial slurs attached to it. I’m not sure how I might have missed that fact. The doll’s image is still located in one of my related files online: African and African-Inspired Textiles.

This morning, I stumbled upon three interesting links:

1) http://www.gollyville.com/story.htm

2) A quilt named “Gollyville One,” which won a blue ribbon at the Pacific International Quilt Festival and has the same design as the “Gollyville 1 kit” sold by gollyville.com

3) Gollyville 1

The quilt, #1028, that won a prize for “Best Hand Workmanship” was made by Ruth DeBord and Wendy Reyes. The quilt was made from a kit that originated in Australia where Golliwog dolls are popular and are not meant to be derisive. To those who speak the King’s English, a “wog” is anyone of color: an Egyptian, an Indian, etc. You get the picture.

I would like you to think about this topic. When we make drawn caricatures or dolls that overexaggerate the physical characteristics of other humans, such as the emphasis on large lips, or curly hair, or skin color, does that always constitute racism or just poor taste? When, if ever, is that practice acceptable?

A second question is this: Should quilt judges award blue ribbons to quilts that are done perfectly, but carry a message that is contrary to acceptable and ethical social responsibility? In other words, is perfect appliqué more important than the message a quilt conveys, one that could be offensive to many others?

These are just words for thought on this dreary, rainy day. You would probably enjoy reading the file I prepared about “Mammy Quilts and other Black Memorabilia”, as well as the opinions of Dr. David Pilgrim, an African-American who finds many (most?) of these kinds of collectibles to be degrading and humiliating.

Touchy subject, I know. All comments welcome.

Patricia Cummings, pat@quiltersmuse.com
Quilter’s Muse Publications

Here is an image of a postcard quilt sent to me by my friend, Tamara Shpolyanska, a certified Master Quilter and quilt teacher from Ukraine. She sent this to me, in two pieces that I needed to assemble to have a finished project. I just got “a round tuit,” and completed it this week.

She has sent me four other postcard quilts, one of which needs an edge binding. I see I have my work cut out for me. Perhaps a skinny piece of left over binding would do just fine. Yes, very skinny!

I love Tamara’s artistic vision. Her quilts, large and small, are all wonderful! I am blessed to have some very special friends and she is certainly one of them. Here is the scan of the postcard. The back of the quilt features her personal stamp/ and her name in Ukrainian, as well as a personal message to me, her signature, and the date.

This small piece features a pansy and fancy fibers. It looks very elegant, in person! She sent it as a gift for St. Patrick’s Day, in 2006.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

From April 13-18, 2009, the MQX quilt show (Machine Quilters Exposition) is the hottest thing happening in Manchester, New Hampshire. With quilt teachers flying in from all over the country, as well as vendors, and show participants arriving to see their work on display, this show has become so large that next year it is moving to the Providence, Rhode Island Civic Center.

The public is welcome to enjoy the quilts on display, starting TOMORROW, April 16, from 10-6. Additional viewing opportunities are on Friday, from 9-6, and on Saturday, 9-5.

The vendors at this show always offer many tantalizing items to make quilting easier, more pleasurable, and more fun! From hand-dyed fabrics to beads to fat quarters to fill out your stash palette, there is something for everyone, and every pocketbook.

To read more about the show, please visit the MQX site

“Bear of the Trail,” by Janet Fogg, Lake Oswego, Oregon, is an example of a quilt featured in a show review on our website in 2006.

Enjoy the show, if you are in the area!

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
April 10, 2009

Contact:
Amy E. Milne, Executive Director
(828) 251-7073
amy.milne@quiltalliance.org
AMERICAN FOLKLIFE CENTER QUILTS ON QUILT INDEX
ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

The latest quilts to be posted online at the Quilt Index come from two significant collections archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Made in the late 20th century, these 300-plus quilts represent a broad range of techniques and tell a powerful story about the diversity, artistry and motivations of quiltmakers across the country.

The Folklife Center, which documents a wide variety of folklife traditions including music, crafts and food, boasts more than 4,000 collections. The just-posted quilts come from two collections. The Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project Collection from 1978 covers quilts made by six Appalachian quiltmakers from North Carolina and Virginia.

This collection at the Folklife Center site includes 229 photographs and 181 interviews with the six quiltmakers, delving into detail about their daily lives. It’s worthwhile to study the quilts on the Index, and link back to the Center’s online presentation to read about these quiltmakers.

One quilt studied in the project is a simple, practical 16-patch bed quilt made by Mamie Lee Parks Bryan, one of the six Appalachian quilters included in the project. Mamie, born in 1900, led a hardscrabble life with her coal miner husband and six children.

A very different aesthetic is represented by the second collection from the Folklife Center, now searchable on the Index, consisting of 180 winning quilts from the All-American Quilt Contest sponsored by Land’s End and Good Housekeeping from 1992 to 1996. These exemplary quilts from all over the country include many original designs meant to be wall hangings rather than bedding.

Below is an art quilt completed in 1992 by Edna Harbison of Ontonagon, Michigan.

Michael Taft, head of the archive at the Folklife Center, said of the announcement, “The American Folklife Center is pleased and excited to be represented in the Quilt Index. The U.S. Congress has directed the Center to ‘preserve and present’ American folklife, and having the Center’s two major collections of quilts in the Quilt Index meets this mandate.”

Taft added that this is an especially fitting relationship, since the Folklife Center “is already the repository for Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories, a project in partnership with the Alliance for American Quilts.” Materials from the 900-plus QSOS oral history interviews posted on the Alliance website (www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/qsos) are archived at the Center.

The Quilt Index is run in partnership by the Alliance for American Quilts, Michigan State University Museum, and MATRIX – The Center for Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences at Michigan State University. The Quilt Index merges tradition with technology and springs from the work of a unique team of researchers and experts committed to making significant, quilt-related data widely accessible to both scholars and the general public.

Applications are now being accepted from institutions or quilt documentation projects who are interested in becoming a Quilt Index contributor, with a deadline of May 31, 2009. Information and application materials can be found at: http://www.quiltindex.org/collections.php

The Alliance for American Quilts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

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