November 1 – 4, 2006
These restored messages come from the Quilt History List, an online forum where quilt historians, collectors, researchers, appraisers, and enthusiasts discussed antique quilts and related textiles. The archive dates from 1996 through approximately 2016 and is being restored gradually. Sign up in the form at the bottom of the page if you want to know when a new page is added. Original spelling, opinions, formatting, and inactive links may remain unchanged.
Primary topics of this QHL Digest:
- Quilting in the Late 20th Century — Members share how they came to quilting after 1950, and Pat Kyser, Lloyd Miller and others name the people, magazines and museum shows that shaped the field.
- Did Rotary Cutters Change Quilt Design? — Newbie Richardson passes along an expert view on the rotary cutter, and members debate how much cutting tools changed the look of modern quilts compared with antique ones.
- How Many Log Cabin Quilts Survive? — Judy Schwender’s rough estimate of the Log Cabin quilts made in 1875 leads members to ask how representative the surviving quilts really are.
- Target and Pine Cone Quilts — Laura Fisher asks for written information on folded-triangle Target quilts, and replies point to Petal quilts at the IQSC and the Lumbee Pinecone name.
- The Quilt Code in the New York Times — An opinion piece on an Underground Railroad quilt tribute by artist Algernon Miller dismays members, who look up the artist, write to the author and float a joint letter.
- Southern Quilt Conference Call for Papers — Gail Ingram announces the March 23 and 24, 2007 conference in Ruston, Louisiana, and shares the call for papers on southern quilts and identity.
- Show Reports and Announcements — Members report on the Houston Quilt Festival preview and a Maryland study day, and Karen Musgrave points to an eBay auction of quilt calendars for the Alliance for American Quilts.
Date: Wed, 01 Nov 2006 23:59:32 -0600 | From: louise-b
Tomorrow night we have a guest at our guild who is going to be showing 40 of her mother’s quilts. The mother started in the 50s and has saved all of her magazines and patterns that went with each quilt. I am looking forward to seeing what she made over the years.
Personally I had a baby quilt that I cherished from the depression years, and made a scrap quilt from rectangles in the mid-60s and handquilted it and went out and burned the frames (auction buy – 25 cents) as I was NEVER going to do another one that way.
In 1976, quilts were hung where I worked in Salem College’s library in WV; in 1979 I found Jinny Beyers first book and carried it around and absorbed it. In 1980 or thereabouts the Booneslick Trail Quilters Guild sponsored a national conference, and I joined the guild shortly after that – and have never looked back.
One thing we have noticed in our guild is a preponderance of nurses early on; many are retired teachers now. Interesting changes over the years!
Also look at Grace Synder’s book for another viewpoint.
Louise – in mid-Missouri
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 06:37:47 -0600 | From: Karen Musgrave (KarenMusgrave)
Looking for Quilt Engagement Calendars! The Alliance for American Quilts (www.centerforthequilt.org ) eBay auction has five different ones and the opening bid is only $4.99. You will also find 33 fat quarters from Judie Rothermel’s Marcus Brothers Civil War reproductions and lots more! You can check it out by going to http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZalliancequilts or search by our seller’s name- alliancequilts.Your purchases also benefit a great organization which is doing incredible things for quilts. New auctions are posted every Sunday. Happy bidding and thanks for the support.
All the best, Karen Musgrave Join us! Become a member and get advance news on our auctions AND help preserve our great quilt heritage. www.centerforthequilt.org
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 07:21:38 -0600 | From: Pat Kyser (patkyser)
Re: Quilting in the last half of the 20th Century
I won’t repeat what already has been noted, but here are some additional thoughts. Mainly I want to mention people who had an impact on the world of quilts.
I grew up in a totally “quiltless” world, never saw one in my Texas home. My mother was a home economics teacher, the first in her family to go to college and receive a degree. She sewed, made all our clothes, of course, and when she died in 1949 I muddled through making clothes for myself since stores had nothing for a 5’9″, 100 pound teen. The only quilt I ever saw was a kit one I received from a family friend as a 1955 wedding gift . I had no appreciation of what had gone into it.
My first exposure to a quilt was Jean Ray Laury’s “Tom’s Quilt” in California mid 1960’s. It blew me away. I had no idea a quilt could have pictures instead of little pieces. Don’t leave her out of your list of heroes: her Applique book was fabulous.
Like Gail, the only books I found were Findley, Kretsinger and Hall, and Marie Webster. One of them said, “When you finish the top, quilt it.” I hadn’t a clue what to do, but made a quilt for my son Jeff in the spirit of Jean Ray’s but without the whimsey and artistic talent she possessed. I made it of Kettlecloth, was proud of my 1/4″ stitches through that iron fabric. Before the quilt was finished, at the request of friends, I was teaching classes to my Wed. night sewing (and escape from the kids) group. My life and career in quilt making was launched.
I was stunned to see the Whitney Museum exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and was bowled over by what had gone before. I took a two-day extension UCLA course from Patsy and Myron Orlofsky and was exposed to a history I had no idea existed, took classes from Sandi Fox and realized I was not a traditionalist. Some where along the way I met Joyce Gross, made a pilgrimage to that shop of all shops, Mary Strickler’s Quilt in the East Bay, and saw Julie Silber’s Amish quilts. Eventually I met a few older formerly rural quilters who’d ended up in Los Angeles. I bought every magazine that had a quilt pictured, and “found” Quilter’s Newsletter,
Then I moved to Alabama and fell into a world of rural black quilters whose seams were crooked, whose points didn’t match, and whose stitches made mine look elegant and tiny. I fell in love with the women, heard stories of a world totally foreign to me, and drove to Memphis to get Ely and Walker cotton fabric to replace the 100% polyester scraps they were using.
I heard about a “quilt convention” in Houston and met Karey Bresenham. Put her at the top of your list and never underestimate what she has done to expand possibilities and spawn a whole set of industries catering to quilters. She had Helen Squires talking about teaching and promoting in a quilt shop, Mary Ellen Hopkins whomping out quilts with extraordinary speed (She wanted her customers to finish quickly so they would come back and buy more fabric.) and Marti Mitchell teaching new techniques. And considerably later came Meredith and Bill Schroeder and AQS. Those two big shows have had a tremendous impact on quilters and quilt making.
Through the Embroiderers’ Guild of America, I met and studied under Jeff and Beth Gutcheon and Michael James. I wrote a correspondence course for EGA and had students all over the US and the world. Before 1980, quilting was exploding world wide, with folks first slavishly copying our US quilts and then expanding out into their own style, using flora and fauna and motifs from their own traditions.
I have to stop: this is getting too long. Think of Mildred Locke who founded the Tennessee Valley Quilt Association, taught meticulous hand quilting to thousands of women, and was a key person in the Schroeders’ first endeavor at Paducah. Individual women and a few men have had impact on the popular resurgence of quilt making and the development of a huge industry surrounding it. In 1978 at Houston they were predicting a ten-year cycle for quilt making, and here we are nearly three decades later and still going strong!
I’m so grateful to have been a tiny facet in this wonderful explosion!
Pat Kyser in Alabama
Date: Thu, 02 Nov 2006 10:54:08 -0500 | From: Paul and Nancy Hahn (phahn)
After days and days of very few or almost no posts on QHL, thanks Newbie for getting us rolling again. And on top of the cyberspace drought, I am again in SC, without my antique quilt buddies, who, I believe are meeting today at FVF. Boy, do I miss the excitement we all generated at AQSG a few weeks ago. Anyway, I would love to hear more specifics on the impact of the rotary cutter, Newbie. I’m thinking it has made me cut smaller, more precise pieces and even more imaginative pieces as you can slice and piece and slice again. Love the way I can piece multitudes of half square triangles and then just keep rearranging them to my heart’s content. Is this the direction you were implying?
Nancy Hahn, Dataw Island, South Carolina
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 11:33:47 -0500 | From: Lloyd E Miller (lemiller)
As a teenager in the ’50’s, I fell in love with the idea of quilting when Woman’s Day Magazine did a feature article on quilts from the Shelbourne Museum. I still have the clipping somewhere. When I finally could start doing something in the 60’s, it was working in a vacuum, except for my grandmother who did strictly utilitarian quilts of squares and rectangles, sometimes in double knits, and who gave me the very good advice to be accurate in my patterns or the quilt would never be ‘right’. She used postcards as the template for her rectangles. The only resource from our library was The Standard Book of Quiltmaking by Marguerite Ickis, published in 1959. I shared a copy with my grandmother who proudly produced a quilt in the ‘waterwheel’ pattern. It wasn’t until the bi-centennial and the advent of a guild, publications and discovery of like-minded souls that I could come out of the closet.
Linda Miller in Upstate NY
From: Catherine Litwinow
Hello from Iowa and the rest stop after the Hoover birth place.
I’ve written Fons and Porter and the AAA’s magazine about a quilter’s view of the UGRR. Fons and Porter said they would look into it. I didn’t hear back from AAA. The art council did the plaques and designed the quilt blocks when the rest area was remodeled. No quilters were involved as far as I know. The rest stop is located on the east bound side of I-80 which is after the West Branch exit. The rest stop on the west bound side has promotional fliers and no mention of UGRR. I can only hope travelers just look at the quilt blocks and don’t take the time to read the plaques. Hoover was born in West Branch into a strong Quaker Family. Hoover’s grave is on a hill and looks down on the one room house where he was born. His library is there. The museum always has a display of embroidered feed sacks sent back to the States as a thank you from the Belgians who received the food after WWI. There is also a small historical village. The area is known to have helped with the abolitionists. John Brown supposedly trained there before the Harper Ferry revolt. There is no written proof of station stops. At least my quilt guild and the IIQSG know about the myth. Catherine Litwinow
From: Laura Fisher (laurafisherquilts)
Hi all– would love if someone can direct me to written info about TARGET quilts–you know, the kind made of folded triangles, sewn one row sort of atop the row before atop the row before, til the whole composition looks like the top of an artichoke–layers of triangles, weighs a lot, usually no batting or backing, motif usually comes out circular.More often seen as small pillow fronts than large quilts, but I have had several bed size compositions.
Was there a pattern ever published? I have had “free-hand” ones, mostly circular, but some arrayed just in rows, some incredibly precisely cut and carefuly color coordinated, others so informal it’s hard to distinguish that there was a pattern in there.
I have the info from the Texas book on a Target quilt, would love to see other written stuff.
Thanks in advance.
Laura Fisher.
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 13:53:08 -0800 (PST) | From: Judy Schwender (sister3603)
Also called Petal quilts. The IQSC has 2, I believe.
Laura Fisher.
From: Newbie Richardson
Maggie, Your comment about being given “permission” to use a sewing machine is very insightful…yet, we know that many, many 19th c quilts were machine sewn – and quilted. Darn that old Colonial Revival for screwing up history!
A.Newbold “Newbie” Richardson
From: Newbie Richardson
Ok, so I will ATTEMPT to paraphrase Toni’s observations to me on the subject of the influence of rotary cutters. To begin with, in my opinion, in the hands of a competant crafts person, the rotary cutter is an absolute blessing. I use them to help me cut strips for ruffles, to find the correct grain on (cheap) fabric that is printed off grain, etc.
However, Toni pointed out that some traditional patterns have to be “tweeked” in order to be fully rotary cut and machine sewn. (I think “machine sewn” is the key to this, BTW) I am not really conversant in all the variations of popular pieced quilt patterns, but the example I was able to make sense of was the various adaptions of the Log Cabin patterns. If you do a survey of Log Cabins made before the advent of the rotary cutter compared to those produced in the 1990’s -say- after the cutter became wide spread, you can see that more frequently than not the designs have been made less complex. In many instances the cutter encouraged the designer/maker to make the pattern pieces bigger – thus creating a less visually appealing design. So, ipso facto, an unintended consequence of the rotary cutter has been to make many many contemporary quilts far simpler, more “gross” in terms of the design than the original traditional patterns were.
To illustrate this, I purchased a book by Patricia Cox and Maggi Gordon entitled: “Log Cabin Quilts Unlimited – The Ultimate Creative Guide to the Most Popular and Versatile Pattern”. Paging through the examples – and looking at the dates of manufacture – illustrate this observation perfectly. This has to go hand in glove with the advent of the “make it in a day” mentality which has over taken the crafts world in general.
This is in no way a condemnation of a great, labor saving gadget. And I acknowledge that in the hands of talented designers, very complex designs have been developed because of the rotary cutter – but there have been more boring designs. Look at the progression of the design of Crazy Quilts: those from the late 1870’s tend to be very ornate and complex, while those made at the end of the era – the 1910’s/’20’s -when it had become a “common” pattern – are just plain blah. The rotary cutter has become a “short cut” to quilt making, not a tool for increased creativity. I think that it is a logical conclusion that though the rotary cutter has liberated quilters to create even more quilts – so it has also lead to a cheapening of design by what I call “semi-stitchers”.
Blah design has its place, though; quick quilts made for disaster relief come to mind – where the need is for warmth, not creative expression.
Ok, so now I have officially painted a bull’s eye on my email!
Best to all N
A.Newbold “Newbie” Richardson The Costume and Textile Specialists Appraisals, Conservation, & Exhibition Alexandria and Richmond, VA 703-684-0863/804-261-4998 www.costumeandtextile.net
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 20:10:51 -0500 | From: Nancy Roberts (aquilter)
A few of us quilt history buffs had the opportunity to refold the quilts in storage in a small museum in upstate New York. There were several examples of Crazy Quilts which we studied and were allowed to photograph. One piece was embroidered with two children-a boy and a girl. The boy appeared to be smoking a cigarette! We were suprised by this image. Now that I’ve told you I have to go back and see if I can find the photo.
One fairly common image we saw was an embroidered shoe button hook. Those could pose one of those “what in the world was this?” kind of questions for many who might look at the image today. Nancy Roberts
From: pepcory
Hi Laura-Check out www.lumbee.org, one of the websites for the Lumbee India ns of NC. They’ve adopted that pattern as their own and call it the Pinecon e quilt.Pepper Cory
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 10:52:33 +1000 | From: quiltstuff
I can certainly see some of these points are correct, Newbie. When cutting with a cutter you will also find it easier to cut multiple layers.. so I think the modern quilts tend to have less variety of fabric. And don’t even get me started on how the actual quilting process can be secondary or ignored.
But at the same time, the increased accuracy can allow an experienced machine piecer to get quite elaborate and accurate with more complex designs.
Also , maybe we need to factor in that since you are seeing quilts as they are being made is it accurate to compare them to historic quilts. In other words, were there many more blah ordinary quilts made years ago that just didn’t survive. Perhaps years down the track , the plain ones of our generation will have disappeared as well only leaving behind the cream of the crop for the future to marvel at our complexity.
Suzy
From: “Newbie Richardson” . In many instances the cutter encouraged the designer/maker to > make the pattern pieces bigger – thus creating a less visually appealing > design. . The rotary cutter has become a “short cut” to > quilt making, not a tool for increased creativity.
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 17:47:36 -0800 (PST) | From: Judy Schwender (sister3603)
I thought about this thusly, all speculative, and only numbers bolded are relatively sure: 2006— 21.3 million active quilters, 300 million population 1875— (height of Log Cabin popularity) 44.4 million Americans, so maybe 3 million quilters and maybe a quarter of them made Log Cabin quilts in their lifetime, so maybe 750,000 LC quilts
How many antique Log Cabin quilts have been analyzed recently? Certainly not a thousand, or even 500 (not even 1% of the possible number made.) Maybe the vast majority of the quilts made in 1875 were simple, wide-strip quilts. It might be that what we are seeing today are not representative at all of what was made in 1875. As a matter of fact, that is a good possibility. Those wide-strip quilts might have not been deemed precious enough for their owners to care for them and pass them down. They could have been used and worn out. They could have not survived. In analying any artifacts from the past, the bias of survival must always be taken into consideration. I think this is especially true when attempting to account for aestheric differences between quilts of the past and quilts of today.
Even if there were only 1 million quilters in 1875, and only 10% made a LC quilt in their lifetime, that’s still 100,000 LC quilts. Where are all those quilts??? I don’t know, do you? So how can we say what the aesthetics were?
From: Judy Schwender
As I wrote in my other posting: 21.3 million active quilters today. If each one makes just one quilt and 1/2 of 1% of those quilts end up surviving, that’s 106,500 quilts. That’s a LOT of quilts. But will they tell the true story of quilting in the U.S. today???
From: Beth Davis
t I could recommend that addresses the time period is: American Quiltmaking 1970-2000 (AQS) by Eleanor Levie I purchased it in 2004 from Eleanor, while standing in the Paducah airport after the AQS show. She was still on cloud 9 after introducing her book during the show.
Regards, Beth Davis
From: Linda Karppinen
In a message dated 10/12/2006 8:11:08 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, qhl writes:
would appreciate any suggestions for her for a reliable and “simpatico” insurance company.
Thanks,
Julie Silber
HI JULIE, Not that I’m behind on my QHL emails or anything….. and I haven’t been in touch with this company for a few years BUT my address book has: Insurance Milne, Scali and Company 1750 E. Glendale Ave. Phoenix, Az 85020-5505 602-395-9111 Chris Johnson SB Guild has a very nice show two weeks ago…Robbi Joy Eklow was our featured artist. Schoolhouse Quilt History Study Group out of Camarillo Quilting Association is still going strong although Pam Lindsay was AWOL last Tuesday. I’m parent chaperone for daughter’s marching band traveling pep band tomorrow night so I’ll get a mixture of daughter, music, and football – all things dear to my heart! Hope this finds you well. Linda Karppinen, SB
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 09:21:51 +0000 | From: Sally Ward (sallytatters)
> They don’t have a string on them. They have a stiff flat piece of > metal that you twang as you play. >
Apparently so! I went looking for one yesterday in the local music shop (nostalgia rules) and that’s just what I found. So I don’t know whether childhood memory isn’t serving me well, or whether we had some wierd kind of homemade hybrid things. The latter is a possibility, my Dad was always bringing home strange things from the pub \<GG>. Wonder where they went?
Sally Ward
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 07:44:09 EST | From: DDBSTUFF
I’ve been playing a Jew’s Harp for over 30 years and first bought one at a Blue Grass Festival in Kentucky when I was in Graduate School at the University of Kentucky.
I was quite surprised when I decided to learn more about it’s history.
Here is an address for “The History of the Jew’s Harp”, by Bill & Janet Gohring
http://www.jewsharpguild.org/history.html
Enjoy,
Darwin D. Bearley Akron, Ohio 44302
“To the world you are nothing; to a rescued dog or cat, you are the world”
From: Elpaninaro
Greetings all,
Just got back to Austin after heading to Houston to check out Festival last night with Mom.
There were a LOT more exhibits than I remember seeing in the past and it was a lot of fun to look through them. My personal favorite was a group of quilts based on the Mariner’s Compass pattern. One in particular was truly stunning to my tastes- it was a massive quilt with a section of a single Mariner’s Compass block (i.e. an arc) with many, many rows of brightly colored diamonds that were simply electric against the dark ground of the quilt.
Over in the vendor section there were lots of beautiful things. One vendor had an early chintz quilt like I have only ever seen in books complete with the center tree and large pheasants all around. I have never seen one in person and I hope to someday see another as this was unforgettable. Another vendor had something that must have taken some serious strength to make. It was a quilt entirely of about 3 inch squares and all were very heavy upholstery materials. Not much quilting for obvious reasons, but I really liked it. The choice of textures and colors really worked nicely.
Not meaning this as a “plug” for a favorite vendor of mine- but if anyone is headed over this weekend, be sure to go by Cindy Rennel’s booth and check out the amazing Red and Green Irish Chain she has hanging on the outside of her booth. Easily the densest quilting I have ever seen. All sorts of patterns, with rows about 1/4 inch apart and I would need a magnifying glass to count the stitches per inch. Just one of those things I felt very privileged to have the chance to look at and hold- even if just for a few seconds.
I saw a lot of Mariner’s Compass pieces for sale this weekend- and usually I only spot a couple a year (not that I actually make it everywhere- but seems there were many for sale this year.) And at a couple of places I was sorry to see that recent eBay trend of selling newly quilted old tops as vintage/antique, but I guess that is inevitable- if a shame. At least I got to look at a few up close in person and learn better how to spot these when I come across them later.
Seemed like there was less fabric than last year, but I found most of the places I like to buy from. A. Henry has an awesome new Halloween pattern of black bats on red, and someone else (Kaufmann?- maybe Miller) has a fabric that is all different pieces of Native American silver and turquoise jewelry. One vendor also had a nice stash of novelty feedsacks that were fun to look through.
All in all a good time and I hope all who attend have fun too!
Tom.
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 09:57:44 -0500 | From: Candace Perry (candace)
At first I thought this was a joke, because I was reading a review of Borat.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/opinion/03fri4.html?_r1&th&emcth&orefsl ogin
And associated with Frederick Douglas, no less…shame…
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 7:14:46 -0800 | From: Karen Evans
Okay, it’s time for the gloves to come off…anyone else think it’s time for a letter jointly signed by most of the people on this list? It’s clear that the UGRR myth has gone far enough into popular culture that what efforts we’ve individually made haven’t worked. If nothing else, it’s past time for a major quilting group (any of them would do) or museum to issue a public statement denouncing this book and this idea as untrue.
We also need someone, anyone, to challenge Dobard & Tobin to a public debate and *force* them to defend their theory with more than vague talk of oral history and Ozella Williams. They’ve made a lot of money and created an “empowering” American myth through what is, for all intents and purposes, a hoax, and I’ve just about reached my limit.
If Frederick Douglass stood for one thing, it was *truth*. It was not sloppy writing and poor scholarship masquerading as truth. Enough is enough.
Karen Evans
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 7:26:21 -0800 | From: Karen Evans
And oh, I just wrote to the Times denouncing the article and including a link to Giles Wright’s critique. I don’t expect it to do any good, but at least it’s *something*….
Karen Evans
From: Dana Balsamo
I am so nauseous, this is literally going to be in stone. What can we do?
-Dana
Candace Perry wrote:
At first I thought this was a joke, because I was reading a review of Borat.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/03/opinion/03fri4.html?_r1&th&emcth&orefsl ogin
And associated with Frederick Douglas, no less…shame…
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 12:22:43 -0500 | From: Candace Perry (candace)
Not quilt, but someone mentioned knitting in response to Newbie’s post…
http://stitchymcyarnpants.com/moks06/ A bit irreverent…don’t you feel sorry for the poor fellas?
From: Newbie Richardson (pastcrafts)
Dear List, I have gotten some posts from the membership about the subject of the history of 20th c quilting. Thank you so much – but one favor, please put something in the subject line that identifies who you are if you are emailing off list. I get so many spammy type emails that I no longer open anything where I do not either know the sender ( by name) or I see that in the subject line it is in fact intended specifically for me. I guess having to be so cautious comes with the territory of having a website!
So if I do not reply in a day or two – please resend, with an identifiable subject line.
A.Newbold “Newbie” Richardson The Costume and Textile Specialists Appraisals, Conservation, & Exhibition Alexandria and Richmond, VA 703-684-0863/804-261-4998 www.costumeandtextile.net
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 12:42:46 -0800 (PST) | From: Judy Schwender (sister3603)
You can email the author of the article. Go to http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/francis_x_clines/index.html?8qa and click on email Francis Cline. Also since, according to the article “These symbols are being rendered in multi-hued granite squares by Algernon Miller, a New York artist, as part of his Douglass tribute, under construction in a European-styled traffic circle and park bordering the northwest corner of Central Park” public money is likely involved, plus a committee to decide on what “art” will be placed at the site. If anyone can find out who is on that committee, those would be the people to write to about this. Judy Schwender
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 16:21:48 -0500 | From: Candace Perry (candace)
FYI — Information on Algernon Miller:
http://www.wavehill.org/arts/algernon_miller.html
https://www.nyhistory.org/web/default.php?sectionpublic_programs&pageserie s_view
this is really insidious, the NY-HS had a program that included this work: https://www.nyhistory.org/web/default.php?sectionwhats_new&pagedetail_pr&i d5117323
AND:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_things_to_do/attractions/public_art/monuments /african_american_experience/html/aa_sculptures_index_2.html
So what’s the deal here really? I have a feeling there is a potential dialogue here that can’t be had, or that would not be well received. Perhaps you will understand what I mean… Candace Perry
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 13:58:25 -0800 (PST) | From: Dana Balsamo (danabalsamo)
Hi all,
I emailed the author of the article and included a request for Mr Miller’s contact information and information on who was sponsoring the art. I read that Mr Miller resides on 110th st, but could not find a listing for him there…but did find a listing for an A Miller on Frederick Douglass Blvd, coincidence?
According to a search, it looks like he has done many works for different organization all relating to African American History. Which I think is extremely empowering and wonderful, his work is very interesting. I would hope he would be open to dialogue about this subject.
My best, Dana
Candace Perry wrote: FYI — Information on Algernon Miller:
http://www.wavehill.org/arts/algernon_miller.html
https://www.nyhistory.org/web/default.php?sectionpublic_programs&pageserie s_view
this is really insidious, the NY-HS had a program that included this work: https://www.nyhistory.org/web/default.php?sectionwhats_new&pagedetail_pr&i d5117323
AND:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_things_to_do/attractions/public_art/monuments /african_american_experience/html/aa_sculptures_index_2.html
So what’s the deal here really? I have a feeling there is a potential dialogue here that can’t be had, or that would not be well received. Perhaps you will understand what I mean… Candace Perry
From: Mitzioakes
I’ll write to anyone – I am doing a lecture tomorrow at our quilt show here in Vermont on this ‘myth’ and I will most definitely share this latest pile of – well, guess I will be nice and go no further…… I have a feeling this might be a very interesting weekend in Vermont – thanks for updating me on this latest ‘project’ Mitzi from Vermont
From: Gail Ingram
Several on the list who saw the flyer for the Southern Quilt Conference at the recent AQSG seminar have contacted me and others who heard of it from them have made inquiries.
I had hoped Kathy Moore would be able to make the announcement on our list, but Kathy is in Austin, where she donated bone marrow to her sister this week. She has the brochure on her computer and owing to a recent hard drive crash of my computer, I do not. Laurel Horton, who also has the brochure on her computer, is attending the British Quilt History seminar in Belfast.
Thus, please consider this a preliminary announcement, made on behalf of th e group.
On March 23-24, The Southern Quilt Conference will be held in Ruston, Louisiana. All interested in the quilts, quiltmaking practices, and quiltmakers of the American South are invited.
The conference topic is quilt making in the American South—regional practices, hallmarks, makers, and related topics that illumine our understanding of quilts and quiltmaking from Virginia to Texas, including West Virginia, which was a part of Virginia until 1861, and similar areas o f Kentucky.
Keynote speaker will be Laurel Horton, whose work is well known both among quilting and folklore students. Also presenting a paper will be Fawn Valentine, also well known to AQSG members and folklorists.
The Conference will be held on the campus of Louisiana Tech University. Among the sponsors are the LA Tech English Department, its School of Libera l Arts, and the Louisiana Regional Folklife agency.
A fee covering meals and special costs will be announced. We are trying to assure it is nominal.
The Conference solicits papers that will advance an understanding of quiltmaking in the South. Project descriptions are due December 1 and shoul d be sent to my address, listed in the AQSG annual handbook or available by emailing me. Guidelines are those used by the International Quilt Center’s symposium (see posting to this list) and will be available online, we hope at QHL site. The Conference welcomes both individual papers and group projects.
Kathy Moore, Laurel Horton, and I are co-chairs for this conference. Dr. Susan Roach, whose efforts have resulted in the Louisiana Quilt Search results now available on the Louisiana Folklife site and who was herself a leader in that search, Martha Gilbert, and I serve as local co-chairs.
Accommodations are available at convention rates at local motels, including the Holiday Inn Express, Hampton Inn, Super 8 Motel, Econo-Lodge, and Ramad a Inn. Ruston is a small town, and all are convenient to conference and hospitality sites.
For those driving, Ruston is located on Hwy I-20, approximately half-way between the Mississippi and Texas borders. For air travelers, airports are located in Monroe, 30 miles east of Ruston, and Shreveport, an hour to the west. Southwest Airlines serves Jackson, MS, and many visitors fly into Jackson and rent a car for the approximately 2-hour drive to Ruston. Please let me know if you have questions about travel or accommodations.
A more carefully articulated announcement will be forthcoming.
Meanwhile, Susan, Martha, and I take this opportunity to invite any who wis h to help with the conference to email me at the above email address. We particularly call this to the attention of members of the Deep South Quilt Study Group and to Louisiana members of this list and/or AQSG. We can use help at registration tables, with transportation, and similar tasks. We hop e this will be an event in which many will choose to share responsibilities and (pardon the cliche) ownership.
We hope The Southern Quilt Conference will identify questions and areas tha t need investigation as well as contribute new information on the topic at hand. The quilts of the Deep South, in particular, have not been studied in the same depth as those of the Upper- and Mid-South, and we hope this project will address this fact.
We would be remiss if we did not acknowledge the wealth of scholarship produced in consequence of Bets Ramsey’s earlier Southern Quilt Consortium and related work at the Hunter Museum in Chattanooga. We hope this Conference will have similar results.
Please email me if you have further questions.
And please come!
Gail Ingram, Co-Chairperson The Southern Quilt Conference
Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2006 20:21:55 -0600 | From: Gail Ingram (gingram)
Dear Friends,
If you keep up with your email, you will have read the earlier announcement of The Southern Quilt Conference and the call for papers to be presented at that Conference, to be held March 23 and 24 in Ruston, Louisiana.
I want to add my personal invitation to the formal one.
Some of you have written me in the past and generally asked the question Shreve McCaslin asks of Quinten Compson in Faulker’s great novel “Absalom, Absalom!”: “What is it like down there? Do people really live down there?”
Well, this is the best chance you’ll have this year to begin to answer those questions. March is spring in North Louisiana, and by March 23rd the azaleas ought to be in full bloom, along with the early roses and dogwoods and countless other plants of the woods and gardens of our part of the country. And when the South is in full bloom, it’s hard not to imagine that “God’s in his Heaven/All’s right with the world.”
Leave your basic black at home.
For the geographically challenged, Ruston is a long way from New Orleans and only sustained global warming can flood this little hill town.
And nice? You have never seen nice like ours, particularly if the Texans in the Deep South Quilt Study Group join us. Nice is a big thing down here, and those women are the Queens of Nice. “Ree al nice,” as Carolyn Miller would put it. In fact, this part of Louisiana is more like East Texas culturally than it is like its eastern neighbor MS.
We tend to live informally even when we are being pretentious. Long ago, when I was a graduate student at the University of Georgia, a friend invited me to join him for a performance of the Metropolitan Opera in Atlanta, at the theatre in which “Gone With the Wind” premiered. Tickets were inherited. Of course, everyone was “dressed for the opera.” But at intermission we noted a group of women who were particularly well-dressed and spiffed up. Furs flying, they had pulled their long dresses up to their knees and were hot-footing it across the street to an ice cream shop, giggling like schoolgirls. I’ve always held that image close to my heart. I think it’s who we are down here. Even when we try to be uppity, we tend to betray ourselves.
A story that is often told to illustrate that involves the legendary Huey P. Long. Long created a real university out of LSU, bringing some of the most important scholars in the nation to Baton Rouge. The university president began to put on airs. For instance, he hung lights in the trees on the grounds of the president’s home to suggest moonlight and he took to buying expensive horses. Long, who had a better sense of how far and in what direction a public official dare go, even in Louisiana, wrote him a simple note. “Douse them lights and sell them plugs.”
Along with learning about our region’s quilts, I promise you, we’ll see that you enjoy yourself. To teach, Horace said, one must also delight. We will try to create a conference that works that way.
I think all of us so far involved in this effort are excited about what can be learned about the quilts of our region. The quilts of the Deep South, particularly of the rural Deep South, have not been studied in the detail that many others have been studied. There is much to be learned.
I would also like to mention a possible side trip for those able to stay over. March is pilgrimmage month in Natchez, Ms, and for those interested in early southern architecture, furnishings, and gardens, Natchez is a real treat. An extraorinarily wealthy city by the 1850’s, its cotton and commerce barons built homes that put their extraordinary wealth to good purpose. After the war, poverty precluded messing up the purity of the Greek Revival structures by adding Victorian gee-gaws. The result is a town still full of exceptional houses of the ante-bellum period. Many make Tara look country. Many are still in the hands of the original builders’ families. The owners of the homes are hosts to guests on the tours. The gardens, that great river, and the houses make the trip special.
I recall touring Richmond, one of the more interesting homes, several years ago. It has three distinct parts, beginning with a West Indian type structure, to which has been added a Federal style structure, to which was added a beautifully proportioned Greek Revival structure. All of the town’s history in one house. Its owners had fallen on difficults times, I think. Nevertheless, there in the dining room was one of the finest collections of 18th-century American silver I’ve seen. It lighted up the dark Empire furniture. In the corner of the room, in a tatty naguahyde recliner sat one of the owners, a quite elderly woman, who wore house slippers but knew her silver. The home itself is built on an old Indian site and it contains a room devoted just to the items of the Natchez tribe that were unearthed in the three constructions. Kind of like walking into Monticello. Except for the naguahyde.
It takes a little less than two hours to drive to Natchez from Ruston. The pilgrimmage web site will give details.
Whether you can take side trips or not, we hope you will come to North Louisiana for this conference. We hope it will afford an important learning experience. And viewing experience.
If I can assist you in arranging travel or making plans, please email me.
Gail Ingram
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 21:48:46 -0500 | From: Lucinda Cawley (lrcawley)
In addition to all the quilt fun yesterday offered the last gasp of MD’s autumn leaves, bright sun and a cloudless sky for the trip to Meyersville. Many of the regulars were missing which had the silver lining of allowing lots of time for discussion. Fran had suggested that we bring Centennial items (she, Barb Garrett and I were all at the Centennial fabric roundtable at AQSG). We broadened the definition to include all kinds of commemorative goodies. There were two different Centennial scarves: one blue on white with a large central image of the main building, the other a reddish brown with pictures of various exhibition halls in cartouches. I showed a ribbon of the Women’s Pavilion and the Frances Willard commemorative scarf from 1938 which I got at AQSG. Polly Mello brought the bi-centennial (1932) portrait of George Washington (also from AQSG). Polly also had the 1876 Declaration of Independence fabric and the elaborately colored repro by Laurene Sinema as well as the Colombian Exposition (1892) fabric with Columbus and Washington and the repro with Columbus replaced by Lady Liberty (the vagaries of political correctness). We saw a very large 1930s chintz commemorating George Washington’s 200 birthday; attached were samples of other colorways. Polly does a great program on creepy textiles (she’s in great demand around Halloween. I was thrilled to receive one of her chocolate coffins–I’ve been begging for one for ages) so she’s always looking for the macabre. A handkerchief featuring “Presidential Victims of Assassins” had portraits of Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley and scenes of the deadly encounters with the murderers along with a Garfield’s Monument quilt are among the latest additions to her creepy collection. Also acquired at AQSG was an 1840s English hexagon patchwork in pristine condition with an incredible variety of fabric and color. It was a joy to study. My identical-twin-separated-at-birth Suzanne always has something new, off-beat and wonderful to offer. Yesterday it was a child’s Bertha circa 1840 in a striped fondue fabric, a set of Anne Orr Sampler Cards for Young Fingers (sewing cards with needlework themes) and several pair of detachable cuffs. It was a big day for tops. A first time attendee showed us a reproduction of a Cherry Wreath quilt pictured on p. 205 of “A Maryland Album.” The showstopper of the day was Fran’s latest acquisition: an 1840s Feathered Star (I think Maryland women favored that pattern) in red and green with stuffed quilting in the setting blocks and borders. Each of the setting blocks is quilted in a different floral spray motif and the border is done in opposing feather curves. It is spectacular! We finished up earlier than usual which gave us time to hit a couple of the local antique shops. We made a bee line for the one where Fran had found the Feathered Star but treasures like that don’t come along like buses. Cinda on the Eastern Shore
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 22:35:50 EST | From: KathrynHerrmann
MAQS’s Seven Sisters competition quilts are coming to our little town’s Art Center. Last year we got the Monkey Wrench quilts from the same MAQS challenge contest. While it is wonderful that our Arts Council is including the fiber arts in their exhibits, I got a chuckle out of the spokesperson’s observations on this pattern:
“The museum was a little doubtful about using Seven Sisters for the contest,” said Arts Council of Henderson County gallery assistant Jane Porterfield. “The pattern is quite difficult because of the curved seams, and the committee was afraid they wouldn’t get enough entries.”-Hendersonville Times-News
Of course, there’s a huge picture of one of the quilts with this article that clearly shows absolutely no curved seams. This should generate another quilt related article explaining the construction of the Seven Sisters quilt pattern.
-Kathryn Sterling Herrmann Easily amused in Hendersonville, NC
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 22:45:22 -0500 | From: Karen Evans
*snorfle*
Then again, I always think of women’s colleges when I see “Seven Sisters,” so…:)
Karen Evans Smith ’82
From: Gail Ingram (gingram)
History in the Making! Southern Quilts: Exploring Tradition and Diversity
March 23-24, 2007 Ruston, Louisiana
Southern quilts reflect the complex interplay of the larger question of southern identity. Is the South, as some scholars suggest, an imagined geography, or is there a cultural coherence that gives southerners a sense of commonality? This Conference offers a forum for examining the scope and meaning of southern quilts through the presentation and discussion of current scholarly research.
We invite proposals for papers that explore the development of quilting design and production, the dissemination of quilt patterns and techniques, materials used over time, as well as the cultural and aesthetic influences that shaped quilt design and usage in the Deep South. Presentations will cover the broad expanse of time from the colonial to contemporary eras.
Individual papers should be original research. They should be twenty minutes in length. Five to ten minutes will be allotted after each presentation for questions/answers and discussion.
Panel presentations should be limited to no more than four participants plus a moderator and should relate to the theme of the conference. Each participant will be allowed twenty minutes for a total of eighty minutes per panel presentation with ten minutes for questions/answer s and discussion.
Who Might be Interested? * Historians
* Quilt Historians
* Art Historians
* Cultural Anthropologists * Folklife Scholars * Textile Historians * Women’s Studies Scholars * Collectors
Accepted papers from this conference may be selected for publication in an appropriate print or online journal.
Abstract/Proposal submission guidelines:
Individual presenters or panel moderators should submit a 150-200 word abstract with a cover letter and a resume of no more than three pages.
Abstracts/proposals can be submitted via email or the U.S. postal service. The deadline for submissions is December 1, 2006. Email submissions must be sent as an email attachment in MSWord format. PDF format will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Contact the coordinator for details. Send submissions to:
Kathy Moore, Conference Coordinator 5901 S. 77th Street Lincoln, NE 68516 kathymoore
For more conference information, contact conference Co-Chairs, Gail Ingram (gingram) or Laurel Horton (laurel)
This conference is supported in part by grants from the Louisiana State Art s Council through the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts and The Louisiana Regional Folklife Program and the English Department of Louisiana Tech University, represented by Professor Susan Roach, Regional Folklorist.
Date: Sat, 4 Nov 2006 09:41:25 +0000 | From: Sally Ward (sallytatters)
I’m still reading early posts in this thread so forgive me if someone else has already made these comments….
I started making a log cabin some time ago which was based on the dimensions and fabrics of a turn of the century quilt owned by a friend. I had a good mix of fabrics, and a marathon slicing session with the rotary cutter seemed the obvious first step. After constructing a lot of the blocks – using the traditional method of foundation piecing onto fabric – I stood back and looked and found the whole thing looked wrong. I finally figured out that it was the accuracy of the rotary cutting which had taken the life out of the quilt. Going back to the original I saw small differences in the width of the strips, and slight variations in the width along the length of the strips. Although I had tried to cut my strips randomly I obviously hadn’t been able to resist the lure of the ruled measurements. Too late to undo all my work, and with enthusiasm lost, I now have a pile of nice-but-dull orphan blocks to bemuse some future historian.
The other thing I notice is how the use of the rotary cutter spawns more and more complicated methods of making blocks which waste an enormous amount of fabric. Just a couple of days ago I watched a demonstration on the QNN videostreaming channel which enabled the construction of a fairly ordinary star with a diagonally quartered centre. The premise was that you could do this without having to cut a single triangle. There was much sewing of strips and turning of blocks and slicing off of huge chunks of fabric. Not only did I wince at the bias edges being produced, but my ‘land of expensive fabric’ heart bled to see the amount of fabric being discarded.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my rotary cutter and discovering it (and a wonderful pattern book by Janet Kime) was what put me on the road to quilting. But I do think that like fire it can be a good servant and a bad master.
I find this entire historical thread fascinating, because your perspective is so different from ours. Someone should be asking the same questions over here about the quilting revival, because our revival is so US-driven that the genetic material of UK quilting has been completely altered by it.
Sally Ward
Date: Sat, 4 Nov 2006 08:34:38 -0600 | From: Karan Flanscha (SadieRose)
It has been interesting reading various posts on the quilting revival and rotary cutter’s influence. I think the thing I see is that quilting changed from a ‘use it up’ mentality (even though many quilts were made from purchased fabric), to a market driven- mass consumption of fabric method. Quilt shops only stay in business if quilters are buying quantities of fabric, so tools and techniques that require large purchases of fabric are encouraged. Classes now tend to be how to make a single quilt, which often is a simple design that uses a large amount of fabrics. I had a beginning series of classes scheduled at a LQS, and was very surprised to hear they were not getting many registrations. I have taught beginning quilting for over 25 years, through “Adult Ed” programs, and always had full classes. So why would this class not fill at a quilt shop?? Then, a friend tried to sign up for the class. Turns out a shop employee told her ‘you don’t want to take that class, it only teaches hand methods & nobody uses those any more’. She was wrong… my classes were to teach quiltmaking techniques… just not how to make a single pattern… and I do cover machine techniques & rotary cutting… but the real reason was that she did the machine quilting at the shop & was encouraging people to take the classes that would quickly produce a top that she could then machine quilt for them! I started a ‘Dear Jane Club’ at the same shop… which is filled each month. Not a ‘quick’ project, and proof that not all quilters are looking for a slice & dice quickie quilt every time 🙂 Some of us are still looking for a challenge, and are willing to invest our time to make (or reproduce) some of the wonderful quilts from our heritage. And develop an interest in quilt and women’s history along they way 🙂 Happy Stitching!! Karan from chilly Iowa
Date: Sat, 04 Nov 2006 09:52:21 -0500 | From: joan kiplinger (jkip)
Newbie and all — Sorry to take so long but had to locate my information.
First, to add to J. G. Row’s and others’ comments about the popularity
of portable needlework, add Affirmative Action programs which in the
early 70s were a boon to women in many ways outside the workscene. For
the first time, women of all levels could get a bank loan in their own
name for a home. [And why the interest rates in the early 70s
boomeranged as banks took advantage of the two-income household]. This
meant more physical endeavors for women who now spent their time doing
home repairs and decorating and leaving little time for sewing. Thus the
ability to have a relaxing session with portable projects was highly
desireable. I learned to crochet at this time as a way to forget
stressful management days, and literally put my sewing machine away
during the 70s due to workload, limited social time and a horrible
selection of fabrics.
As for Newbie’s mention of the bind on cotton — and I do hope I’m the
Joan she mentioned — one has to go back to the end of WWII for the
decline of cotton. The reasons were many. Consumer demand favored the
new synthetics just emerging — first generation nylon, the third
generation rayons and within the following 8 years, a little something
called Dacron, followed by acrilan and the rest of the poly family. The 50s was a time when the textile industry was battling extremely
fluctuating raw material prices, excessive manufacturing capacity,
vulnerability to fashion changes, low-cost foreign competition and
regional differences in production costs. It was a common practice within the industry for many finishers to dump
large quantities of their cotton on the OTC market whenever their
inventories exceeded cutters’ requirements. These dumped goods were sol d
at prices much lower than the regularly priced goods because they
represented what is known in the industry as distressed merchandise. And
these lower prices for quality cloth attracted home sewers. Fabric manufacturers believed the OTC business was too much trouble for
too little profit – it was much easier to take an order for 60,000 yard s
of a color and put ut up flatfold in 1,000-yard cases than to develop
OTC piece goods business in 25-yard or 30-yard bolts of assorted colors
and patterns. In the face of mounting challenges, one textile giant contended that the
textile industry’s major failing was not one so much of overproduction
but of underpromotion. He criticized the textile industry as a “feast o r
famine business. ……with senseless emphasis on low-price selling –
anything you can sell cheap, I can sell cheaper …….no one denies
that there is relationship between price and volume but this
unimaginative, unrewarding, in fact, ultimately destructive emphasis on
low-price selling alone in the textile business has unquestionably led
the industry to its present sorry state of near apoplexy over the
possibility of even lower-price competition from Japan…..too much
emphasis has been placed on production of fabrics for real or fancied
human needs, and too little emphasis the creation and cultivation of new
human desires. Our job in the textile business is to make more people
want more of our goods, and want them strongly enough to pay a
reasonable price. In citing the chronic illness of the industry, he noted the challenges
ofy getting rid of outmoded methods of operation, pursuing innovative
concepts, new selling and distribution techniques and to make money work
harder. Another official of a large textile company sadly noted the big mill
groups folded due to attrition, consolidation, market conditions and
just plain bad management which rearranged or eliminated these
enterprises. Those that survived and continue to prosper were those
companies that havd focused on a core product where they have large
market share. Cotton was proving too expensive to produce and union demands didn’t
help the situation. This was the day of Norma Rae and mills silently
folding and going overseas. It was far cheaper to produce synthetics.
I do remember cotton’s return in the very late 70s along with the earth
children and back to nature movement. My sewing machine came out of
retirement. Sorry to make this so lengthy but the entire field of textiles is fickle
and subject to current events. Much of the background I’ve given is
taken from research from a book I’m writing on Indian Head history, a
group of companies which became an empire and owned everything at one
time or another, and is representative of all that was right and wrong
with the American textile industry.
Newbie Richardson wrote: One thing that Bobbi pointed out – that I had been unaware of – was that
in the early 1970’s the EPA really came down hard on the amount of water
that was being used to process cotton in this country. The resulting
regulations really put the fabric mills in a financial bind so that the cost of
cotton increased from $0.39 a yard to $3.00 a yard almost over night.
This lead to a need for “cheap” fibers and voila! Polyester and poly
cotton blendsCan anyone elaborate – Joan?
Date: Sat, 4 Nov 2006 09:01:51 -0800 | From: Marilyn Withrow (marilynquilts)
At the very least, it seems we should — or Barbara Brackman should — send her “Fact Sheet, The ‘Quilt Code'” — to the NY Times and to Algernon Miller and to anyone else we can think of connected with this “tribute to Frederick Douglass.” Somehow I think he must be turning over in his grave right about now. Marilyn Maddalena Withrow Professional Quilt Appraiser, Judge, Historian, Designer and Speaker Oregon State Co-Coordinator, Home of the Brave Project Editor, “Blanket Statements,” AQSG quarterly newsletter www.marilynquilts.com www.footscreekfarms.com
Date: Sat, 04 Nov 2006 19:08:39 -0500 | From: Teddy Pruett (aprayzer)
\<\<Even if there were only 1 million quilters in 1875, and only 10% made a LC quilt in their lifetime, that’s still 100,000 LC quilts. Where are all those quilts??? I don’t know, do you?>>
No, I don’t know where all those log cabins are. But If you speed up to the next generation and wanna know where the 100,000 Grandmother’s FLower Garden quilts are, I think every bloomin’ one of ’em has come across my appraisal table.
Laura – Can’t help you with written info on what you call “Target” quilts. But I can tell you that I have always known them as “Pine COne” quilts and they are made almost specifically by African AMerican women in the deep south. And HEAVY!! Lawd have mercy!! I have photos of one full bed sized one that came for appraisal – we needed a forklift to move it around.
Teddy Pruett www.teddypruett.com Only a few of the lies they tell about me are true.
quilts 5. Indiana Quilt Registry Project
