Alliance for American Quilts news and events

The nonprofit Alliance for American Quilts will host Connected by Threads on Thursday, March 4, 2010 in Washington D.C. This event is actually a twofer. Two fundraising events in one.

Kicking off this one-of-a-kind event is the always fascinating Carolyn Mazloomi. Most of you will have seen her work, read her books, or been awed by her vast knowledge of quilt history. She's presenting an afternoon lecture titled "From the Country to the City: An Aesthetic Survey of African American Quilts." Mazloomi, founder of the Women of Color Quilters Network, will also reveal quilts from her collection. The lecture and tea reception will be held from 4:00 p.m - 6:00 p.m at the Charles Sumner School Museum and Archives at 1201 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC.

The evening component of "Connected by Threads" honors longtime board member Le Rowell, an independent curator and lecturer on quilts and diplomacy. Rowell's lecture is titled "Quilt Diplomacy Connecting People." Many of Rowell's quilts will be exhibited. Mazloomi will also make remarks at the dinner, and a brief overview of the work of the Alliance for American Quilts will be shared. The dinner, lecture and a silent auction of quilts and quilt-related items will be held from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at the DACOR Bacon House, located at 1801 F Street, NW, Washington, DC.

"Connected by Threads" is sponsored by Lisa Ellis of the Sacred Threads Exhibit and maker of Art Call, the on-line artist registration, jurying and exhibit administration system, www.ellisquilts.com, and the Rowell Family Charities. The duel events will benefit the nonprofit AAQ, a national organization that documents, preserves and shares the rich history of quilts and quiltmakers.

Also on exhibit at the Sumner School during this event is "Legacies in Fabric: The Heritage of Quilting and Quilters," by the Daughters of Dorcas and Sons, a DC-area quilting group formed in the 1970's. Twenty members of the Daughters of Dorcas and Sons have been interviewed for the AAQ's grassroots oral history project, Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories, http://www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/qsos/.


Individual tickets are $17 for AAQ members and $20 for non-members for Mazloomi's lecture. Individual tickets for the dinner are $75 for AAQ members and $90 for non-members. Table reservations are also available. A combined ticket to both events is $85 for AAQ members and $100 for nonmembers. For complete information and online ticket sales, visit the AAQ website.

In other AAQ news. Many of you will be disappointed to know that Karen Musgraves, long time volunteer and primary interviewer and instigator of the S.O.S. project has stepped back and is taking a hiatus from her responsibilities at AAQ. I will NOT say that Karen has left the building because I want her back! But for now she has placed the reins of the S.O.S project in other capable hands. Sorry, I don't know who will be heading that up.

And of course the 2010 New from Old contest. I've blogged before about the AAQ contest. Check it out here.

Worthy and Respected Contests and Charity Projects

Alliance for American Quilts unveils it's 2010 Contest


The nonprofit Alliance for American Quilts has just announced the theme of its 2010 quilt contest, "New From Old." This will be the fourth annual contest for the organization, whose mission is to document, preserve, and share the stories of quilts and their makers.

Here are the major details:

Quilt size: 16" square

Deadline: May 31, 2010

Grand Prize: Handi Quilter HQ Sixteen Quilting Machine for Sit-Down Use

As in previous contests, the Alliance encourages a free interpretation of the contest theme. "New From Old" could refer to a new quilt made from a traditional pattern or a quilt made from vintage fabric or fragments of an old quilt. The theme also might be interpreted personally or metaphorically, depicting anything or anybody who has been re-invented and/or re-imagined. Be playful!

The top prize, valued at $5,000, is a major prize, especially for producing such a small quilt. The other prizes are also noteworthy, and include a huge gift basket filled with goodies from sponsors including TQS, Moda, and Simplicity Creative Group. Second prize is Electric Quilt software, and third is a basket with items from sponsors including River Silks and C and T Publishing. Learn more about the prizes and contest here. From there, you can click on the contest page and download an entry form. Contest quilts become the property of the Alliance, which will auction them off on eBay next fall.

There are many benefits to entering, even if you don't win a prize. Not only are all contest quilts displayed on the AAQ website, but they will be touring to several major quilt shows, including the NQA (National Quilting Association) Annual Quilt Show in June and the AQS (American Quilter's Society) Show & Contest in Knoxville, TN in July. After the contest, all entries will be exhibited permanently on the Quilt Index, a much-lauded database of 50,000 quilts run by the Alliance in cooperation with Michigan State University.

In addition to knowing that your quilt will be preserved for the future, you'll be helping to preserve and grow a dynamic, educational, and inspirational organization for everyone who loves quilts.

Other fundraisers to consider:

Hopes and Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS

Please give the gift of a quilt to warm the life, the heart and the lap of an ALS patient, and help raise awareness and research money for ALS – Lou Gehrig’s disease. To be a part of the Hopes and Dreams Quilt Challenge - Simply fill out your entry form and donate your quilts today.


Your donated quilts will be given to an ALS patient or used to raise awareness and research money for ALS by being photographed, displayed, auctioned, or raffled.

In addition to contributing your quilt to a wonderful cause - ALL donated quilts are eligible to win exciting and wonderful prizes. Our list of generous sponsors, categories and great prizes is growing!

Hopes and Dreams is a non-juried quilt challenge. All donated quilts will be entered into general prize drawings plus there are incredible prizes recognizing the most generous quilter, quilt shop, professional quilter and guild. Special prize categories for theme quilts and 'most popular' quilts.

For the comfort of the patient, we request that quilted or tied quilts be a minimum of 35" x 44". Lap and Bed size quilts of all sizes are welcomed. We look forward to you joining us in this unique quilting event - the Hopes and Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS.

Photo: Quilt donated by California quilt artist Jane Herlihy.

Tote Tuesday: Fiber Arts for a Cause
hosted by Virginia Spiegel

ToteTuesday, a Fiberart For A Cause fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, will open Tuesday, February 2 and continue through March.


ToteTuesday will feature themed totes filled with unique, beautiful, and inspiring items from the worlds of fiber arts, knitting, art quilting, mixed media and surface design.

You can expect totes offering original artwork, autographed books, hand-dyed fabrics, gorgeous yarns, handmade journals, fun and useful materials/tools for mixed-media and surface design, and much, much more.

A list of the twenty-four themed totes now in progress is at Virginia's website

ToteTuesday will take place Tuesdays in February and March here.
100% of the proceeds will be donated directly to the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause. Fiberart For A Cause has already donated over $190,000 to the ACS:

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACSFundraiser.html

The Alliance for American Quilts—Anniversaries and Auctions!

Heads Up! Time is short!

The Alliance for American Quilts Crazy Quilts Auction starting date: MONDAY, OCTOBER 26th!!! Check your calendar! One quilt to be auctioned is shown in the photo to the left, Crazy for Pink made by Joan Kniffen.

AAQ's executive director, Amy E. Milne has taken a break from her busy schedule to tell us about a couple topics every quilter should care about. -- Dawn

As executive director of the Alliance for American Quilts, this is my favorite time of year—the warm buzz of Market and Festival in Houston is still in the air and it’s time for our annual small quilt auction.

During Festival this year the AAQ held a reception to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories project. It’s never more evident how important this oral history project is than when quilters are gathered together sharing and reflecting.

Through the Q.S.O.S. project, the diverse team of partners that is the AAQ ensures that these stories are documented, shared and preserved for future generations. We now have over 1,000 stories from today’s quilters presented on our website and archived by the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

Pictured here: Q.S.O.S. volunteer leader extraordinaire Karen Musgrave with AAQ President Meg Cox.

You can be a part of the Q.S.O.S. project in many ways.

1. Visit the AAQ website (www.AllianceforAmericanQuilts.org) and explore the Q.S.O.S. collection, print a few out to tuck in your bag or leave by the tub. You’ll find inspiration from quilters of all ages, experience levels and backgrounds.

2. Take a look at the Q.S.O.S. manual (www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/qsos/manual.php) on our website and consider becoming a volunteer interviewer.

3. Present the project to your guild or community leadership to see if they would undertake or underwrite their own Q.S.O.S. project.

Crazy for Quilts

The other exciting AAQ event at Houston was the exhibition of 85 small quilts, the Crazy for Quilts contest entries, including Joan Kniffen’s Crazy for Pink, the first photo in this blog. Our exhibit had great placement, just behind the German Fabric Forest exhibit.
 
The 16”x16” quilts are entries into the AAQ’s annual contest, this year celebrating the spirit of the crazy quilt. Entrants were encouraged to draw inspiration from one or more aspect of the crazy quilt: design, color, fabric, surface embellishment, history or any other aspect of this style. The response includes a full range of “crazy”-from traditional approaches to art quilts.

Seeing our contest quilts on exhibit at Festival is always thrilling—the hard work and generosity of the artists who entered and donated their quilts shines through to me, and the show-going public delight in the artistry and diversity of these quilts. Whether you’re a crazy quilter or not, I know you’ll appreciate the creativity, skill and stories embedded in these quilts, and you’ll soon have the opportunity to own one of them.

The eBay auction of the Crazy for Quilts entries begins on Monday, October 26 and continues through November 16.

The quilts will be offered in three 7-day auctions, all of which start and end on Monday’s at 9 pm Eastern. Visit the AAQ website for instructions for bidding and a full gallery of the quilts, including Michele Muska’s, Ciao Bella, Limoncello, above right. All proceeds support the AAQ, whose projects include Q.S.O.S., the Quilt Index, Quilt Treasures and Boxes Under the Bed.

Bio:  Amy E. Milne, Executive Director, has worked as a nonprofit administrator, an educator and an artist for the past 17 years. She holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design from North Carolina State University and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Michigan.

Amy joined The Alliance after serving 5 years as Executive Director of SeeSaw Studio in Durham, N.C. Amy works closely with its Board of Directors, board committees, members, partners and supporters to carry out the planning and implementation of AAQ projects.

Amy travels to national quilt shows and meetings that allow her the opportunity to network and meet with members of The Alliance's virtual community and to share our mission with new audiences.

Embroidery leads Dorothy Thompson to crazy quilts

Dorothy Thompson's crazy quilt, Bucolic Scene, drew me right to it. I wanted to sit right down in her little embroidered garden. It was so inviting and intricately worked and colorful with a hint of crazy. It took a while to track Dorothy down. She tends to spend her evenings working on crazy quilts and rarely ventures near a computer! But with the help of the Alliance for American Quilts and Dorothy's computer savvy friend, Carol Pope, we finally connected. She graciously shares not only photos of her romantic, beautifully crafted creations, but also a bit of herself. Please give Dorothy Thompson a warm Subversive Stitchers welcome. Maybe a raised needle salute! -- Dawn (First photo, Down the Garden Path, details)

Dorothy Thompson: Crazy quilting is my passion.

The threads, the beads, the techniques, all speak to me. Most evenings I sit and lose myself in the worlds I create. I hope that the energy and love that go into my work are transmitted to the viewer.

"Doing and making are acts of hope, and as that hope grows, we stop feeling overwhelmed by the troubles of the world." --Corita Kent

I am inspired by the area in which I live--the Olympic Peninsula of Washington--70 miles west of Seattle--the upper left-hand corner of the map. This area, although further north than Maine, has a gentle climate similar in many ways to southern England. It is a lovely region full of trees and flowers and gentle rain. I have a cottage garden and our property is also a designated wildlife refuge.

How did I get so involved in crazy quilting? My grandmother taught me to embroider at an early age. I have tried many crafts, but I always come back to embroidery. I really got started crazy quilting in 1997.

I saw an ad for the crazy quilt club by Carolyn Cibik of Evening Star Designs and joined. Once a month a magical package arrived with fabrics and threads and beads and ideas and wonderful quotations about women.

I traveled to Portland and took a course from Judith Baker Montano and then went to a crazy quilt conference in Omaha. There I saw magnificent quilts by Christine Dabbs and my horizons truly expanded. I had never imagined the level of needlework she attained! I also discovered Inspirations magazine--especially the work of Carolyn Pearce--and learned even more techniques. I've never stopped.

One of the things I like best about crazy quilting is that there is always room for something new I want to try or a new idea that seizes me.


My husband of 42 years, Earle, has a strong background in art and is my most loyal fan and best critic. I am also fortunate to belong to a small, informal group of women--Slippers and Sweats--who get together and stitch once a week. They have believed in me when I couldn't believe in myself. It was because of all this support that I had nerve enough to enter my crazy quilt, Down the Garden Path, into big shows. (Photo 1, details of Down the Garden Path)

It was juried into the Association of Pacific Northwest Quilters show in Seattle in 2006 and then into the American Quilters Society show in Paducah,, Kentucky in 2007. What a thrill!

I entered the Crazy for Quilts contest put on by the Alliance for American Quilts and was fortunate that my quilt, Bucolic Scene, won an Honorable Mention. (Dorothy's Bucolic Scene is shown in the right column of Subversive Stitchers.) Those quilts will be at the International Quilt Association in Houston this fall. Another thrill to have a quilt there!

The Alliance for American Quilts does great work in documenting, preserving, and sharing the story of American quilting. My quilt, along with the others in the contest, will be auctioned off on eBay to benefit their organization.

I teach at Quilted Strait here in Port Angeles. I have included some samples (see photos) --the crazy quilted bear, a crazy-quilted top to a sewing box, and a heron embroidery from a pyramid with a series of scenes with herons.