I was interested to read that this week’s Honoree, Carter Houck, was a sailor; I thought I could write about something we have in common. But she was a racer, and I was a cruiser (my husband and I crewed on the Schooner “Madeline” out of Traverse City, Michigan)—totally different experiences. Even so, it made me wonder if there was a connection between Carter’s sailing and quilting. I searched and searched and only came up with this book she wrote:
Carter also enjoyed hiking and was active in an Appalachian Trail organization, but I couldn’t find anything on that either. So, that leaves me to tell you about her quilt career; don’t worry–there’s lots of material there. You can read her bio at the link below, and I’ll give you a few extra bits. After studying fashion and working for Singer and Butterick on the East Coast, Carter found herself with her family in Texas. But, to use a sailing term, she wasn’t becalmed. She contacted the editor of the largest newspaper in the state, the Fort Worth Star Telegraph, and convinced them that they needed a sewing column (which she could write from home while caring for her children, and submit by mail). Here’s the announcement telling of the upcoming feature.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Nov. 8, 1950
These columns dealt mainly with garment and home décor sewing (lots of ruffles included), but one she did on appliqué could hold its own in any quilt book. The accompanying sketch shows Carter’s pattern-making skills.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram. June 6, 1951.
She knew her audience, and in addition to suggesting the use of appliqué for decorating children’s clothes and making knee patches, she noted, “Occasionally, on such things as western shirts, where the material is heavy, and the design all in one color, you will wish to outline it in another color.”
Following a move back East and a ten-year hiatus, Carter began another sewing column, this time for Parents Magazine. She then moved to Lady’s Circle Needlework, where she and her photographer/business partner, Myron Miller, scoured the old homes of Connecticut to find samples of embroidery and other handwork for the magazine. And that’s how her quilt career started. When they found some quilts in a bedroom, Myron said to Carter, “These are it! Forget all of that piddly diddly needlework, quilts are really exciting.” Carter knew that the only quilting magazine of the day was the black-and-white Quilter’s Newsletter (published by another Honoree, Bonnie Lehman), and that since Lady’s Circle had color printing capability, they could successfully compete. Carter edited Lady’s Circle Patchwork Quilts magazine for 20 year. And she came to be a feature writer for the competition as well. Here are some covers to give you an idea of how quilting evolved over the span of her editorship.
It was a small step from editing into publishing and Carter was prolific in that area. She’s known for writing the quilting books shown here. (Treasury and American Quilts have art-quality photos by Myron Miller.)
She worked with Honoree Donna Wilder on the first two below, and with Robert Bishop on the second two:
And showing her general needle craft expertise, she is also credited with these.
In addition to her own books and those she co-authored, Carter edited Christine Dobbs’ Crazy Quilts and wrote the introduction to Pat Long Gardner’s Handkerchief Quilts. Impressive! You could get a good start on filling a library with all of Carter’s books.
Her renown in the print world led to invitations to judge at quilt shows. She was also a quilting judge for the Museum of American Folk Art in New York City. In an interview with the Quilt Alliance (link below), she gives some insight into the early days when shows were more “hometown”, but hectic in other respects. Here’s Carter judging a local guild show:
Cotton Patch Quilters, March 2001
Although she was proficient with the needle, Carter is not known for her own quilts. She freely admitted that her knowledge of quilts came from 20 years of handling, photographing and looking up the history of other people’s quilts. I couldn’t find any Carter Houck quilts on the internet—nothing in the Quilt Index or the International Quilt Museum, not even in the folklore museum for whom she judged. But here’s one photo of Carter with a quilt she “rescued” and remade (from “Passing on a Little Bit of Who I Am”: The Transmission of Quiltmaking to a New Generation by Christine Humphery).
Photo: Quilt Alliance
The Quilters Hall of Fame does have one piece of Carter’s work, but it’s in a quilt made by another Honoree, Georgia Bonesteel. Georgia asked quilters to make blocks for a quilt that she would put together; the blocks were to be houses representing their lifestyles or quilting styles. This is what Carter sent her- a two story deep pink Victorian house with center gable and circular window. The second story has a horizontal rectangular framed piece of white Aida cloth with the name “Carter Houck” cross-stitched in medium blue, and two square two-over-two windows. The porch roof and the house and gable roof have crocheted trim, probably hand done, to represent gingerbread molding.
Block by Carter Houck Georgia Bonesteel. Three Banners: The Street Where Quilters Live. From the collection of The Quilters Hall of Fame.
Okay, since I couldn’t find any hobby photos of Carter, I’m going to close with an image from the company of her second husband, A. Grant Holt, who, with a couple of Amherst College friends, operated a Christmas décor business in the 1960s. I actually have one of these things, and I’ll bet they, or other Holt Howard ceramic items, are familiar to you too. My editor thinks these are scary, but I say they are typical “mid-century modern”.
So, the next time you read a quilting magazine, or get out your Christmas decorations, or go for a hike/sail, think of Carter Houck. She passed a year ago in April, and I’m sure she has found what every sailor looks for: fair winds and following seas.
Averil Colby: Old-Fashioned Manners and a Thoroughly Modern Technique
This week’s Honoree, Averil Colby, would fit right in with the contemporary taste for English Paper Piecing. Yes, she herself was English, and little hexagons were her preferred method of creating, as we’ll see in a moment. But first, a short introduction; for a fuller bio, see the link below.
Colby was Chairman of the Handicraft Committee of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes and was instrumental in organizing courses, classes, and exhibitions to promote and preserve the quilting crafts. Her first book came out in the late 1950s when quilting in Britain was as dormant as it was in the States. According to the Hall of Fame record, “Batsford, a London publishing firm, asked her to write a book on patchwork, as up to then nothing had been published in such depth on the subject in England.” As an aside, this statement makes me wonder how the connections came about, but that’s a research project for someone else. At any rate, Colby produced four quilt-related books and one book on pincushions, all of which are still available.
Same book- different covers. I thought you would enjoy seeing the variety of shapes.
The quilt books earned Colby a reputation as a quilt historian, and she is still cited today as an authority on Welsh and North Country quilts. Her documentation of British quilts is well-respected and is a source of patterning for quilters looking for a reproduction project. Here’s one of the quilts she found, a 1790 “Marriage Coverlet” along with a modern version called “Love Entwined” (A pattern for the full quilt or a simplified –they say; it would still be too much for me—instructions for the center only are available at the link below):
Averil Colby. Patchwork
Esther Aliu. Love Entwined
Of course, when dealing with quilt history, there are many blanks to fill in. Colby, like her US counterparts, often speculated, and (not to detract from her reputation but to put her in a mortal/human light) there is a noted instance when her imagination took a wrong turn. Here’s the quilt in question and a detail of the section that caused Colby to go astray:
Colby looked at this quilt and imagined it had been made by a farmer’s wife because of the presence of so many domesticated animals. She also noted the picket fence enclosure. This theory didn’t explain the anchors or the exotic animals, and completely left the two largest figures on the quilt unaccounted for, but her view was accepted until recently. That’s when a researcher at the Victoria and Albert made the connection to a statue which was well-known around the time the quilt had been made. (There’s some good non-quilt background information about the statue, so I’ve included two interesting links below.)
The Greek Slave. 1843/1846. Hiram Powers
The original statue was displayed at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and it became popular in ballads, satires, journalism, prints and engravings. Miniature copies were also popular for the rest of the century, and Powers applied for a patent to prevent wholesale copying and profiteering. But his statue is probably the true inspiration for the main figures on the coverlet, despite Colby’s focus on the agricultural connections. Maybe I shouldn’t have said she was wrong; a farmer’s wife (or the wife of a local landed squire) could have made the quilt, but Colby sure missed the big point.
Well, now let’s talk about Colby’s own needlework. Take a look at these sweet examples from the Collection of the Guild Museum of the Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles. (All of the descriptive text below the photos is from the Guild Museum.)
Averil Colby Samples. Various Averil Colby samples of hexagons and clusters from printed and plain cotton fabrics. The image also shows some of the samples with examples from the (museum’s) Averil Colby Fabric Collection, which dates from the end of the 18th Century to the 20th Century.
And here’s another shot from the Quilters’ Guild Museum to give you some sense of scale. If that purple pincushion has such small sides—I presume the gauge is metric, but even in inches the measure is impressive– imagine how tiny the little red pieces are! (Right foreground of the above photo)
Hexagon Rosette Pin Cushions. Two hexagon rosette pin cushions made by Averil Colby. One has striped fabric with a central blue rose and a mauve central hexagon, and the other with plain mauve hexagons and a central purple hexagon, decorated with a circle of sequins and beads.
Colby was a prodigious maker of pincushions. It’s reported that she worked while she had callers and often sent a completed pincushion home with them when the visit was over. Not all of Colby’s work was Lilliputian. Here are two more items from the Quilters’ Guild Museum that are larger than the little pincushions.
Averil Colby Samples (mounted)
Banner. Made from 81 hexagons of silk and satin stars joined together by brown velvet lozenges, mounted on a pole with a silk cord for hanging. The hexagons are hand-pieced and the papers are still intact. The banner is finished on the back with a coarse netting. The maker and date of the hexagons is unknown but thought to date to the late 19th/early 20th century. The loose hexagons were assembled together by Miss Averil Colby in 1960
Colby amassed a collection of fabrics spanning the late 1700s to the middle of the 20th century. And she used what she collected.
Averil Colby Fabric. Museum of the Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles
Unfinished pieces by Averil Colby. Collection of LittleWelshQuiltsandothertraditions.com
G. Spiller’s Quilt, 1839. Repaired by Averil Colby using fabrics from her collection. Museum of the Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles.
Although she obviously could handle a needle and thread, Colby didn’t do much actual quilt-making; she didn’t think she was “good enough.” But she pieced what the Brits call mosaics. This last piece brings us to the modern connection: hexies.
Black Frost Cushion. 1953. Victoria and Albert Museum. Given by the Needlework Development Scheme
Hexies took off in the mid-to-late 2000s, and I made a quilt using the EPP (English Paper Piecing) method. It was easy, accurate and relaxing to do in front of the wood fire one winter, so I understand the attraction for Colby. For me, it was a “one and done”, and I wondered if the trend is still alive.
Answer: Oh YES! Hexagons of all sizes (the larger they are, the more modern the quilt, but many updated Grandmother’s Flower Gardens can also be seen on Pinterest). And the technique is now applied to shapes beyond the hexagon, so there are Caesar’s Crowns and Castle Wall quilts too. Tula Pink has this fun pillow which is so different from Colby’s.
Tula Nova pattern. www.fatquartershop.com
I’ve included some links below if you are interested in a tutorial on EPP.
That covers the modern, but you may remember my initial reference to old-fashioned manners. I always feel fortunate when my reading about an Honoree turns up something that shows a human-interest side of her or him. The quilt-related facts show the public persona, but sometimes I find something a little more private (well, not exactly private because it’s on the internet; maybe lesser-known or tangential is a better description). And that’s when I know I would have liked to be friends with the person I’m writing about. Here’s what I found about Averil Colby.
This is a sample of her editing of the galleys for her first book. How many authors would use the phrase “be kind enough to…”? She could have used a simple proofreader’s mark (a squashed-down “C” super-imposed on a double slash). Or she could have just written a directive. But instead she asked, as if the printer would be doing her a favor. She elevated and equalized the transaction. That’s old-fashioned manners, and I very much would have enjoyed knowing a person who could bring such grace to a business transaction.
One good thing about writing this blog is that I learn a lot of new things about some pretty extraordinary people. An even better thing is that I learn when I’ve been wrong about one of them. Case in point: Michael James. There’s bio information about him in the link below, but if you’re like I was, you may be saying, “I know Michael James; he’s the guy that does those striped art quilts.” Yes, but read on.
With his formal art background, Michael James began quilting for art’s sake. He came into quilting in the era of the Whitney Abstract Design show, and his early work is replete with form and color. Here’s an example with complementary hues, value changes and more y-seams than I would care to make.
Elaborated Tangram. 1976. International Quilt Museum.
Shortly after that quilt, the stripes took over. James made his own yardage from strips of cotton and silk sewn together in gradations of color or value, and he experimented with this medium for nearly fifteen years. You’re going to recognize the signature Michael James style in the next three quilts.
Rhythm/Color: Spanish Dance. 1985. Newark Museum.
This is one of a series named after dance styles, and there’s plenty of movement in the quilt; other quilts in the series include Morris Men and Bacchanal. You can appreciate the color work here, and still recognize the Drunkard’s Path block. That changes in the next quilt.
Quilt #150: Rehoboth Meander. 1993. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Gift of the James Renwick Alliance.
The stripes are still there, but what happened to the block? The comfortable curve of the Drunkard’s Path has gotten jagged. Also, the grid is completely overridden, and I wouldn’t want to guess how this piece was put together. I can identify vertical panels, but no horizontal blocks. James consciously tried to move away from the traditional quilt block construction method; he felt that it was becoming “too predictable.”
The last of my stripe examples shows James as a painter. He’s trying to capture a scene and use his art to evoke an experience.
Aletsch. 1990. National Quilt Museum.
James explains his inspiration:
Aletsch is part of a series of quilts that represent my efforts to synthesize sensory responses to a particular space: the vast mountainous basin in the Swiss Alps that encloses the Aletsch Glacier, the largest in Europe. In the summer of 1988 I spent several days hiking along its perimeter, which extends many kilometers down from the Jungfrau firn. What impressed me most was the very audible sound of millions of gallons of water rushing unseen beneath the perfectly still expanse of glacier. It seemed incongruous: the unrelenting movement of so much water and the stone rigidity of so much ice. Combined with the brilliance of the light and the clarity of the air, that incongruity made for a very memorable scenario.
But let’s go back to a simple version of the stripes because it will set the stage for telling you how I was wrong about Michael James:
Interweave. 1982. International Quilt Museum.
Interweave looks like something you or I could make. Maybe not with all those colors (some of his quilts have as many as 150 different colors), and probably not with such mastery of value and luminosity. But I could construct this quilt, and so could a beginner. And that’s just the thing: Michael James began as a beginner. And he did the hard work of learning to quilt well because to him, “good craftsmanship is the foundation on which the art of the quilt rests…. as much depends on craft as on vision.”
So now we come to the part I was wrong about. I think of Michael James as only an art quilter, but there’s a backstory. In addition to formal art training, he has a history with traditional quilting. And I’m not just talking about his family background in the textile industry. (His great-grandparents emigrated from rural Quebec and from Preston, Lancashire to work in the textile mills of south-eastern Massachusetts, where he grew up in the shadow of the local textile mill himself.)
He wrote (in addition to other things) two how-to books. I own both, but had never really looked at them because I’ve given up on the idea that I will ever be an art quilter. I made the mistake of thinking these books were just about making art quilts. When I pulled my copies off the shelf to start writing, I got a big surprise. They aren’t about art quilts; they’re about quilting.
These are-IMHO- the best basic instructional books available. In the first handbook, the descriptions of basic techniques are scrupulously written and the photos show it all broken into each individual step. I haven’t come across a better explanation of the quilting stitch. The second handbook brings that same full explanation to the more artistic components including design and use of color. If I still wanted to make a graphic-style art quilt, I could follow these steps. These books can be found on the used book sites and for under $3.00 on Amazon—well worth the price.
Well, the books were just the beginning of my finding that I didn’t know Michael James like I thought I did. But I’ve learned.
I now know that for the last twenty or so years, he’s been making digital quilts (quilts constructed with fabric on which he has printed and tinkered with images—his art major was painting and printmaking). I’ll give you just a small taste of those, and you can find more on the links below (his website, International Quilt Museum collections search and IQM exhibit), and Pinterest is full of images of his digital work.
Terminus of One Path. 2008. Wikipedia photo.
Smoke Signals. 2001. Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields.
Daybook. 2006. International Quilt Museum.
The Idea of Matter. Photo: (NE) Journal Star 12/11/2010
What interests me about these quilts, in addition to their beauty or creativity, is James’ “take” on the process. He places digital printing squarely in line with the historical evolution of other quilt-related processes (think of the development of roller printing) and is surprised that the general quilt world doesn’t see the connection. He doesn’t mind cutting up a lovely, printed image (which he may have spent hours manipulating) any more than I would hesitate to cut a commercial fabric. And his foundation in traditional piecing techniques allows the most difficult inserts.
While poking around for material, I came across a comment from someone who had purchased one of James’ books. She mused (queried/complained) that a man who makes quilts can be called an artist but a woman is just a quilter. Never mind that the comment is limited and petty; I now know that Michael James is an artist who has worked all of his adult life with his chosen medium, and is still a quilter at heart. And that’s why he’s in The Quilters Hall of Fame.
We could probably all use a little whimsy right now, and there’s no Honoree more whimsical than Yvonne Porcella. You may already know her as the founder of SAQA (Studio Art Quilts Associates) or you may be familiar with some of her colorful work; or she may be totally new to you, and someone you should get to know. I’ll try to give you a good perspective on her and maybe even be able to poke around and find something you didn’t know.
In an interview for SAQA (see link below), Yvonne modestly admits she was honored by the Quilters Hall of Fame because of her pioneering of wearable art. But she shouldn’t have been so self-deprecating because there’s a lot more to her textile career than that. As a self-taught creator she has had at least three distinctive fiber styles, starting with weaving and wearables, moving to bold colors with stripes and checkerboards, and finding calm with silky nature-inspired pieces. You can read her story at the bio link below, and I’ll fill in with some photos and other information.
I think Yvonne would have described herself as first and foremost an artist or creator, but she was also an author and teacher. A glance at the book titles that are available on Amazon and elsewhere gives you a good idea of how varied her work was.
Her first two books show the influence of her California hippie connection. That’s my era too, and I remember peasant wear and what would now be called boho style. The kimonos she designed as clothing would evolve into large-scale art for the wall. You can see some nice example of her early clothing at the San Francisco Fine Arts link below.
In the next books, you get the flavor of Yvonne’s love of color, and see that she has moved from clothing to quilted expressions. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture of Yvonne Porcella where she isn’t wearing something in bold combinations of color, often set off by black and white. Here’s a great photo of her, followed by the “color” books. I can’t say which is brighter.
And last comes her beautiful hand dyed and painted fabrics. The Quilters Hall of Fame is fortunate to have one of her silk scarves, and it is so ethereal that the photo can’t capture its beauty. Here’s the book and the scarf.
Let me go back a minute to color and show you a quilt that Porcella once owned and is now in the Quilters Hall of Fame collection. This is called “Halloween Quilt”, obviously for the orange and black border and framing squares. But it’s otherwise a riot of color—it’s not necessarily Porcella’s saturated colors, because it’s a 1930s quilt, but nevertheless, it has so many hues thrown together and in that sense it’s very simpatico with Porcella. There’s an interesting story in the link below explaining what this quilt meant to Porcella and how it got to quilt historian and Honoree Merikay Waldvogel who later donated it to TQHF. If you have access to Arts and Inspiration, (the book above with the checkered-bordered quilt) page 127 has a picture of the quilt on the bed in Yvonne’s guest room.
Halloween Quilt and border detail. The Quilters Hall of Fame
I’ll give you a few examples of how Porcella took inspiration from this quilt and used color in her own works…
Chili Ice, Some Like it Hot. 2013
Primary Water. 2014
Lily Loves Her Callas. 2009
Those three photos were taken from Yvonne’s blog, which is still up despite her passing. There’s a link to it below if you want to see more from her. There’s also a link to the Alliance for American Quilts website which has a gallery of Yvonne’s quilts and other information about her. Or you can just look at the Pinterest link and be overwhelmed.
Now let’s look at some of Porcella’s other work. I’ll have some examples, but Yvonne herself will show you one of her last series in the link below; it’s labelled “olive stuffing”, and if you follow the link, you’ll not only see some marvelous pieces, but also learn about the olive connection.
Like several other Quilters Hall of Fame Honorees, Yvonne Porcella has a quilt in America’s 100 Best Quilts of the 20th Century, “Keep Both Feet on the Floor”. This is a quilt about falling and recovering from injuring her knee; I have a friend who is in therapy following knee replacement surgery, and I can guarantee she isn’t experiencing as much fun as this quilt shows—but Yvonne was nothing if not fun. Here’s the quilt:
Photo: The Alliance for American Quilts
And here’s Yvonne’s first “art” quilt, made in 1980. It’s called “Takoage.”
Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Where did her ideas come from? At first, she says that at first it was just color, and you can see that in “Takoage” . She also, like many quilters, was inspired to make quilts for each of her grandchildren, and every one of those quilts is made of bold colors. But one of the things that sets Porcella apart from the many is that for her, inspiration was everywhere: a pet cemetery, an art museum, a personal experience, a visit by the Pope to a nearby town, a road trip, fast food, etc. For me, a goal would be able to say, “The sky’s the limit” in choosing the subject of a quilting project (I’ll never be that spontaneous, but it could be a goal); for Porcella, there was no limit.
Porcella did a lot of work-in-series, and many of her pieces have images that appear over and over in her work. One of my favorites is a flying dog; sometimes he’s checkered, sometimes he’s purple, once he had green hair, but he’s often chasing a bone and he always looks like he’s having the time of his life.
Dog, Frog and Cherub. 1995. Private Collection. Photo from Arts and Inspirations
Biscuits, Triscuits and Bones. 1997. Private collection. Master Art Quilts, lark Publishing. Photo by Sharon Risedorph.
Another of Porcella’s series was her kimonos, inspired by a display of Asian clothing at an art museum. At first she made wearable works, but she changed her scale and went on to large wall pieces. The first one below is over ten feet long and almost seven feet wide.
Snow on Mount Fuji. 1985. Museum of Arts and Design, New York; gift of Martha and Pat Connell, 1991.
Quilted Haori Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee Coat, 1992. Texas Tech University-H2016-084
This kimono quilt was inspired not by snow, but by another weather-related event. Once, while teaching at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, Porcella was confined to her hotel room for three days due to a hurricane. Festival producer and TQHF Honoree Karey Bresenhan gave her a quilt book as a memory of the experience and it included a circus-themed quilt showing Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. Those two figures, made with squares and half square triangles, were incorporated into the quilted Haori coat. What a contrast between these two kimonos!
I feel like we need a break from brightness, and fortunately, Porcella can provide that too. She worked extensively with silks which she dyed herself. You saw the scarf example above; now for your moment of Zen, here are two of her nature-inspired works:
Wisteria le Deuxieme. 1995 Masters: Art Quilts. Lark Publications Photo by Sharon Risedorph
On Dwight Way. 1995. Masters: Art Quilts. Lark Publications. Photo by Sharon Risedorph.
Don’t you feel more relaxed now?
If I haven’t yet told you something you didn’t know about Yvonne Porcella, I have two last things. First, she collaborated with Julia Child in the 2000 Oakland Museum exhibit Women of Taste: A Collaboration Celebrating Quilt Artists and Chefs. Their subject was Nicoise salad, and I would love to find out what Porcella came up with for that. If anyone has information, please let me know.
Second, her son, Don is also an artist. He’s best known for pipe cleaner sculptures and installations using popular craft materials. His works often make fun of absurd consumerism and the human condition. And what this says about Yvonne Porcella is that she has encouraged creativity: through display of her own work, through teaching, through SAQA, and even through the way she brought up her children. What an inspiration!
Your quilting friend,
Anna
PS. Here are my two “Porcella” quilts; one with bright colors and checkerboard and the other with a nature inspiration. Both have my hand dyed fabrics. If you have any to show, post photos when the blog comes out on The Quilters Hall of Fame Facebook page.
It’s the best of times and the worst of times to write about Honoree Cuesta Benberry. The best because February is Black History month and Cuesta was one of the first Black quilt historians; the worst because, as she reminds us, Black quilters are “always there” and so it’s artificial (or wrong, or just plain sad) to focus the discussion on a single month. And, with Cuesta Benberry, about whom so much has been written, I could easily spill over into March, or even April, but I’ll try to focus. You can get an overview of her story at the bio link below.
In case you don’t recognize the “always there” reference, the source is Cuesta’s book, Always There: The African-American Presence in American Quilts. If you want a peek inside this book, go to the “gallery” link below. She also wrote A Piece of My Soul: Quilts by Black Arkansans. (See the link below for an interactive video about the quilters and quilts in this book.)
I said that a lot has been written about Cuesta Benberry, but it’s also true that she herself wrote a lot. In addition to regular contributions to quilting magazines such as Nimble Needle Treasures, Quilters’ Newsletter and The Women of Color Quilters’ Network Newsletter, she wrote scholarly papers about her research. In 1980, her first such paper, “Afro-American Women and Quilts,” was published in Uncoverings, the journal of the American Quilt Study Group. There she laid out what would be her two-fold focus as a quilt historian studying Afro- American quilts:
I am investigating the role of quilts, in a historical context, in the lives of black Americans. This means quilts made by black women, and quilts not made by black women, but which have a relationship to their lives. Why did I include quilts made by white women in my “ Afro-American Women and Quilts” project? A study of these quilts portray(s), in a very vivid manner, the concepts of a large segment of white Americans about black Americans at various points in American history….
For the most part, the university scholars have concentrated their studies on a specific type of Afro-American quilt. This is a quilt with an African heritage design—an ethnic quilt…. An historical approach requires me to scrutinize all types of quilts made by black women, including the Euro-American traditional quilt.
Here’s a list of the extensive scholarly writings which followed that first Uncoverings paper:
“White Perceptions of Blacks in Quilts and Related Media,” Uncoverings, 1983
“Quilt Cottage Industries: A Chronology,” Uncoverings, 1986
“The Nationalization of Pennsylvania-Dutch Quilt Patterns in the 1940s to 1960s,” Bits and Pieces: Textile Traditions. Ed. Jeannette Lasansky, Lewisburg, PA: Oral Traditions Project, 1991. p. 80-89.
“Afro-American Slave Quilts and the British Connection,” America in Britain, American Museum in Britain, Claverton Manor (Bath, England). Vol. XXV, Nos. 2 and 3 (1987).
“Marie Webster: Indiana’s Gift to Quilts,” Chapter four in Quilts of Indiana: Crossroads of Memories. Goldman, Marilyn and Marguerite Wiebusch, et al. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. 1991.
“Quilt Cottage Industries: A Chronicle,” Quiltmaking in America: Beyond the Myths. ed. Laurel Horton. Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1994. p. 142-155.
“African American Quilts: Paradigms of Diversity,” International Review of African American Art. Hampton University Museum. Hampton, VA. Vol 12 No. 3. Winter 1995.
“The Threads of African American Quilters are Woven Into History,” African American Quiltmaking in Michigan. MacDowell, Marsha, ed. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press in collaboration with the Michigan State University Museum. 1997.
Cuesta’s work was nothing, if not comprehensive. If you want to get a quick “visual” of how extensive her writings and collections are, check out the short video about unpacking the donation of her legacy to Michigan State University. All those boxes! She also gave her collection of pattern blocks to the Quilters Hall of Fame, and you can get a little taste of them at the link below.
Cuesta herself wasn’t a quilter, but she did participate in Round Robin exchanges with other quilt pattern historians, including our Honorees, Mary Schafer and Barbara Brackman. The one quilt she did make provides a visual study of her research results; it’s a sampler of blocks made by or, or related to Afro-American quilters. Here’s the quilt:
Benberry, Cuesta. Afro-American Women and Quilts. 1976-1999. From University of Louisville Archives and Records Center, Kentucky Quilt Project. Published in The Quilt Index, https://quiltindex.org/view/?type=fullrec&kid=8-5-431. Accessed: 02/08/21
You can hear Cuesta’s own words about the quilt at the Quilt Alliance link below, but I’ll give you my thoughts too. (The blocks are identified by rows across (ABC) and numbers down (1-2-3-4).
Block A-1 is an unnamed pieced block made around 1920 by an Arkansas woman. It appears to be based on the Maltese Cross group, but I can’t find it in Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns; there’s nothing like it with the small square center. I wonder if Cuesta included this one as a testament to the precision skills of some Black quilters? So often, these skills were overshadowed by the simple designs and “improvisational” patterns that are associated with what she called “ethnic” quilts.
Block B-1 will be recognized by many as a scene from the Harriet Powers Bible quilt. In the interest of providing “eye candy”, here’s the original quilt. I love the fact that this work, with its simple motifs, was a contemporary of over-the-top crazy quilts.
Bible Quilt. C. 1890. Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_556462
Block C-3 is described by Cuesta as an unnamed applique block based on a quilt made by “slave labor” for the Abernathy family in 1850 near Gastonia, South Carolina. I went down the research rabbit hole and found a Gastonia, North Carolina with an Abernathy family (the home place is now an equestrian center, which really sidetracked me); but could it be the same family? Then I found this “Carolina Medallion”:
Lindsay, Martha (Mattie) Clark McCaslan. Carolina Medallion. 1850-1875. From McKissick Museum, University of South Carolina, South Carolina Quilt History Project. Published in The Quilt Index, https://quiltindex.org/view/?type=fullrec&kid=53-155-773. Accessed: 02/09/21
It was made in Abbeville, now McCormick, South Carolina, which isn’t near Gastonia. There are four other quilts of this pattern and time period in the South Carolina documentation project. Which one, if any, was Cuesta’s inspiration? I’m sure if I had access to her notes, they would tell me. But in the meantime, it raises the question of how this pattern was spread—a study for another day.
Before I read about block A-2, I thought that maybe it had been included as an example of paper or simple piecing to show that Afro-American women did more that “ethnic” quilts. Then I learned that this is a pattern called “May Apple” taken from a quilt made in the mid-1960s by the Freedom Quilting Bee of Gee’s Bend, Alabama. Most of us now associate Gee’s Bend with a particular style of quilt, but in the beginning, there was just a group getting together to socialize. “They were doing Wedding Rings and May Apples and all sorts of designs.” [The Freedom Quilting Bee: Folk Art and the Civil Rights Movement. Nancy Callahan Univ. of Alabama Press.]
That gradually changed as the group moved to marketing, commercial success and wide-spread popularity, but the May Apple block remains a good reminder of the early days. And it bears out Cuesta’s premise that Afro-American quilters don’t just make what we now think of as Gee’s Bend quilts. Cuesta called block B-2 the most important one on the quilt. It is taken from a small quilt made in Boston for an 1836 anti-slavery fund-raising fair. An inscription on the original carries part of a poignant poem which I’ve included below the photo of the original quilt. In a letter to a friend, Child reports the success of the fair and that her quilt raised $5.00 for the cause.
Cradle Quilt. Lydia Marie Child 1836. Historic New England.
Mother! when around your child You clasp your arms in love, And when with grateful joy you raise Your eyes to God above,
Think of the negro mother, when Her child is torn away, Sold for a little slave, — oh then For the poor mother pray!
Next comes the WPA Tulip in block C-2. Here’s the original.
Benberry, Minnie W.P.A. Tulip. c1930. From Michigan State University Museum, Michigan Quilt Project; Michigan State University Museum Collection. Published in The Quilt Index, https://quiltindex.org/view/?type=fullrec&kid=12-8-5242. Accessed: 02/08/21
This doesn’t look like the reproduction I have of a WPA pattern, and nothing in Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Applique has such a rounded center piece. Here, with a shout out to Barb Garrett and her group that spearheaded the reproduction work, is what I know as the WPA Tulip pattern.
But Cuesta has a great story in the Quilt Alliance interview, and the original quilt was made by Minnie Benberry (presumably a relative), so I think this is a case where we’ll have to accept the oral history as adding to, rather than contradicting, what we think we know.
Block A-3 is Buzzard’s Roost copied from a “slave cabin quilt”. Cuesta’s adaptation has as the center quilting design what some call an eagle, but which she says is an authentic African design representing a buzzard. Cuesta did a lot of study and research into such designs, so I’ll take her word for it.
Block B-3 is an original applique design seen on a circa 1870 Kentucky quilt. Cuesta calls it “Parasol Vine”, and it’s reminiscent of the floral clusters seen on Baltimore Album quilts.
I recognized block C-3 right away (Robbing Peter to Pay Paul; it’s the dust cover of Honoree Florence Peto’s book Historic Quilts). What I learned from Cuesta’s inclusion of this block was that Peto found it noteworthy because the maker, Sarah Harris, was allowed to put her name and date on the quilt. Such attribution was unusual for slave work in 1848.
The Lady’s Shoe block In A-4 comes from a 1890’s family quilt and was owned by Cuesta. It’s the only block in which she didn’t replicate the original construction method; the original was pieced, but Cuesta appliqued the block. Can anyone tell me why someone thought to use this particular image in a quilt? It’s tempting to read some metaphorical meaning into it—and the 1890s were certainly ripe for commentary—but maybe the quiltmaker just liked the idea of a graphic image. (It worked for Warhol and his soup cans over a half century later, so why not?) Here’s the original quilt.
Cork, Fannie. Lady’s Shoe Quilt. 1876-1900. From University of Louisville Archives and Records Center, Kentucky Quilt Project. Published in The Quilt Index, https://quiltindex.org/view/?type=fullrec&kid=8-5-410. Accessed: 02/09/21
At last, with block B-4, we come to the strippy style that is now so associated with Afro-American quilts. The inspiration for this was a 1980s quilt. Cuesta explains that the narrow looms used in West Africa dictated that narrow strips be sewn together. This necessity led to designs called “Housetop”, “Lazy Gal”, and “Brick Wall” among others. Here are a couple of examples made by two of the prominent Gee’s Bend quilters.
And finally, Block C-4 is a Mammy applique from a mid-20th century Illinois quilt. In her original Uncoverings paper, Cuesta wrote about how the stereotypical and often derogatory impressions of blacks by whites showed up in “Mammy” quilts. This one, however, doesn’t reflect any of that negativity, but instead gives the figure a mainstream profile (think Sunbonnet Sue with a wrapped head).
To sum up, this quilt is Cuesta Benberry’s research philosophy in stitches. It has historical accuracy backed by documentation (which I’d like to get my hands on some day), puts quiltmakers in historical context (whether it’s 1930s WPA designs or a pattern from the 1850s), and explores all styles of quilts.
Cuesta inspired and encouraged many quilt historians. At her induction to the Quilters Hall of Fame, she said
Quilt researchers, we of the quilt community, believe what you are doing is vital. Due to the works of early investigators, you of the present generation of researchers, have a basis of quilt knowledge from which to work. Now go forth and build on that basis, explore undeveloped concepts and investigate old and new ideas. We, the quilt community, charge you with the task of building a body of quilt information whose veracity and scholarship will be respected by all.
She certainly set a good example for us all. Respect to you, Cuesta Benberry!
Your quilting friend,
Anna
PS. Many readers will have personally known Cuesta and may have even talked with her about her choices of blocks. If you have more information about the original quilts that inspired Cuesta’s blocks, please comment. I’d appreciate your insight.
Last week I wrote about the 50th Anniversary of the Whitney Museum Abstract Art quilt exhibit. Little did I know that I would find (or create in my own mind) a link between the quilts in that exhibit and today’s honoree, Ruth E. Finley.
You may-and if you’re a quilt historian, you should- know Ruth Finley as the author of the second comprehensive book on US quilt history. (The first, of course, being Marie Webster’s Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them.) You can read some basic bio information about Ruth at the link below.
In 1929, Finley published Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them. She traced the development of quilting from Colonial times, often in a romanticized way, and included stories from her family and other quilters to demonstrate her points. Some of her history has been debunked, as noted in these quotes from the International Quilt Museum website:
Essentially, the “scrap bag” myth goes like this: colonial women needed something to keep their family warm, so they recycled scraps of fabric into bedcoverings, creating a utilitarian object from otherwise useless bits and pieces. During this time progressive-thinking Americans applied Darwin’s theory of evolution to anything and everything, including quilts. In Old Patchwork Quilts (1929), Ruth Finley speculated that quilts evolved from chaos into order, with necessity-driven scrap quilts serving as the first step. Finley did not base her theory on existing quilts; she and other early 20th-century quilt enthusiasts assumed that because examples of such colonial-era scrap quilts did not exist, they had been used up.
Research in women’s diaries and household inventories has shown that women shared textile work. Work parties of the period included barn raisings, harvestings, and huskings in addition to quilt parties. Ruth Finley romanticized quilting bees. The myth transitioned the focus of quilting parties from work-centric to social. The myth turned the quilting bee into a match-making party, an opportunity for young men and women to meet in acceptable social settings after having spent the day working.
OK; so there is a good bit of speculation, extrapolation and even fabrication in Finley’s book. But, as Barbara Brackman notes in her Introduction to the third edition of Old Patchwork Quilts, at the time she was writing, Finley didn’t have access to all the academic writing we have today—she only had one book as a guide (Marie Webster’s book published in 1915).
Old Patchwork Quilts included an attempt to record patterns and names, to describe fabrics, dyes, and quilting techniques, and to put all of this in an historical context. History was important to Finley; the whole family seems to share this interest and they maintain family artifacts and letters dating to the late 1700s. The house Finley grew up in is still in the distaff side, passed to a descendant of her sister, Mary.
You can read more about Finley’s Colonial Connecticut connections and how she incorporated family legends into Old Patchwork Quilts at the link below to an article by Ricky Clark.
Finley concluded her tome with the sad observation that while women had advanced socially and economically since Colonial days, they did so at the expense of the handiwork into which they had poured their hearts, and that quiltmaking was a dying art.
Boy! Was she wrong on that last count! And she may have recognized, by the time she finished the 16 years of research and writing that went into the book, that the tide was turning back. Here’s what she said in her foreward:
My purpose in writing this book has been twofold: First, to make a record, with the hope that it might prove definitive, of one of the most picturesque of all American folk arts; secondly, to interpret that art in relation to the life of the times during which it most widely flourished. This purpose was itself prompted by the lately renewed interest in patchwork, both old and new–an interest enthusiastically active at the moment and rapidly growing.
Maybe Old Patchwork Quilts even contributed to the revival of quilting in the 1930s and 40s.
So you ask, what’s the connection to the Whitney exhibit? Graphics; quilts as art. Finley herself collected quilts, and many of the plates in her book are from her own collection. In this sample of photos taken from Old Patchwork Quilt you can see the powerful lines of abstract art.
And Finley herself almost predicted the theme of the Whitney exhibit. She wrote,
“Incidentally, this pattern (Hosanna) particularly emphasizes the fact that most quilts are, as one would say today, futuristic—in both color and form. More than one old quilt, like the “Indian Hatchet’, ’Tree Everlasting’, and …. are prophetic of the latest trend in domestic design as to be quite startling. Or would it be heresy to suggest that modernistic art is reminiscent of folk-crafts the creations of which have gone so completely out of memory as to seem now strikingly novel?”
Finley’s collection also included appliqué and non-geometric quilts. One of the most famous to pass through her hands was this one:
Elizabeth Keckley quilt said to be made with scraps of Mary Todd Lincoln’s dresses. Kent State Univ. Museum.
She also designed a quilt, “The Roosevelt Rose”. Finley, although considered a feminist and supporter of women’s labor and education reform, is said to have been a life-long Republican although her parents were Democrats and hosted McKinley in their home, where Ruth presented him with a small bouquet and a little speech. Who knows? Concerning the quilt, she told reporters that it was the first quilt pattern named for a President since Lincoln. (What about Garfield’s Monument? A piece of Ohio history she should have been familiar with.) She also mused that the 19th century fashion of naming blocks for historical events hadn’t produced a 20th century block named “Fourteen Points for Peace”. Here’s “The Roosevelt Rose”.
1934 syndicated wire photo
“The Roosevelt Rose—A New Historical Quilt Pattern” as published in Good Housekeeping, January, 1934
When Old Patchwork Quilts came out, it was publicized all over the country. Finley’s husband, Emmett, who headed the Associated Press wire service, was probably responsible for such wide-spread coverage. The promos were especially popular when they could be treated with “poetic license” to fit an editor’s needs, as seen in these two opportunistic articles. Finley herself never associated “Pine Tree” with Christmas, and she described the second quilt as a bride’s quilt named “Lotus Flower.” But the holiday connections sold newspapers.
Ah! Newspapers! As important as we think Old Patchwork Quilts may be, that wasn’t what got Ruth Finley into Who’s Who in America; her career in journalism did that. She started at the Akron Beacon Journal where, notably, she scored an interview with the former Akronite wife of Thomas Edison and earned her first by-line by interviewing Mrs. Henry Ford. Her career took off when she moved to the Cleveland Press and did a series of articles on the condition of working women. These articles were syndicated and published throughout the US.
Following in the tradition of the undercover work of Nellie Bly (who stayed 10 days in an asylum for an exposé), and the muckraking tactics of Ida Tarbell, Finley assumed the persona of a working girl, Ann Addams. She worked in a restaurant (a week), laundry, mill, sewing shop, factory; was “insulted in a mansion”. Once again, the editors took liberties and made it seem that “Ann” was on assignment to them; here’s a headline from Wilkes-Barre, PA; similar headlines appeared in Oklahoma, Washington, and Indiana.
And here are the accompanying syndicated photos for “Ann’s” jobs:
In the shop girl story, “Addams” exposes the issue of piece work, favoritism, and unwanted advances.
In this article, pretty little Emily, sick from food poisoning through a meal that was part of her wages, is “holding her fort like a wounded soldier” until she collapses and is taken out back and left while the other waitresses had to continue to push through the lunch rush.
Here, “Addams” tells about metal cuts on the working girls’ hands and the cost of “prosperity” at the expense of the working girls who are forced to put in extra hours.
“There was a peculiar interest attached to being literally cast into the streets of a strange city, sick, friendless, and with only $2.36 in my pocket by a woman who posed before her clubs as a humanitarian and philanthropist with special concerns of in the welfare of working girls.” In this story, the mistress won’t let “Ann” wear a coat to do front porch work and terminates her when she shows signs of pneumonia (but says she will welcome back such a good worker if she isn’t sick.)
And this is where the “insult” comes in. “Ann” describes in the article how she pleaded with the mistress that she had no place to go. After suggesting she go to the YWCA but refusing to tell “Ann” where it was, the following colloquy ensues:
If it’s true that “Ann” only had one male visitor during her tenure, there may be a little backstory here, as related on Karen Alexander’s blog
“It was while working as a housemaid on an undercover story about working conditions for lower-income women that she met her future husband, also a journalist. Ruth feared her “missus” was getting suspicious because all her previous maids had had a “young man” calling on them and Ruth wanted to distract her from any questioning, so she asked the boss to send someone over. The boss chose Robert Finley, though not without some protest on Finley’s part. Within a few months the serendipitous meeting ended in a marriage with her boss taking credit in print in the newspaper for bringing them together!”
Finley’s journalistic career wasn’t all so sensational. She was woman’s page editor of the Cleveland Press, fiction editor of the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain, managing editor for the old Washington Herald, woman’s editor of the Enterprise Newspaper Association, assistant editor of McClure’s magazine and editor of Guide Magazine and the Woman’s National Political Review. She also wrote about Sarah Josepha Hale, the editor of “Godey’s Ladies Book” (who must have been something of a hero for Finley in her crusading aspect and a role model in her professional one—Finley thought someone should have designed a quilt block named for Hale). And no discussion of Ruth Finley is complete without telling that she and her husband were occultists and wrote under the pen name “Darby and Joan” about their spiritualistic encounters with a World War I soldier. What a varied career!
I hope you enjoyed reading a little about Ruth Finley.
Happy 50th Anniversary to the Abstract Design in American Quilts, at New York City’s Whitney Museum of American Art mounted in 1971 by our Honorees, Gail van der Hoof and Jonathan Holstein. If you want a review of these two quilt pioneers and their impact on the quilt world, check the links below. In the meantime, let’s figure out how to mark this milestone, because
Ok; no cake, but let’s at least celebrate. The International Quilt Museum in Lincoln is celebrating by offering several related exhibits over the course of the year. In addition to a retrospective and an update, one will show how the original display fared in Japan, and another will focus on the New York connection (I didn’t know there was one, so I’ll be interested to see how they pull that together). There’s not much on the IQM website right now—they don’t put up pictures until everything is finalized because the plan for the featured quilts might change. There’s a link below, and you’ll have to keep checking for dates and details. IQM has done such a great job this year with their virtual offerings that I’m sure it will be worth the wait to see what they come up with on this.
So, how else can we party? Would you be up for a challenge to make a Whitney-worthy quilt this year? The original exhibit focused on traditional quilts, but showcased their qualities as abstract art. Most were graphic, some (especially the crazy quilts) were akin to Pollack paintings, others were included for their striking use of color. This is really up my alley. I’ve told you in the past how much I admire quilters like Honoree Carolyn Mazloomi whose quilts tell a story, and I love the SAQA-style quilts. But those genres aren’t in my wheelhouse; I do geometry. Now all I have to do is geometry plus art.
You can do this too; in fact, you’re probably already doing it. So, why not make it into an homage to the Whitney Abstract Art exhibit with this challenge? If you want to participate, make any quilt that you think reflects the theme of the 1971 exhibit, that is, quilting as an artistic medium. Send a photo to our Executive Director, Deb Geyer [email protected] with your name and a statement (50 words max, please) about the artistic quality of your quilt. We’ll post you photo on our Facebook page (by sending it to us, you give permission for this use).
I’ll start out with a quilt that is currently on one of the beds at my house. I think it’s “abstract art” because it’s graphic and shows interesting variation in the different blacks. See how easy that was? Send your entry; think of it as bringing a gift to the anniversary party.
And now for something completely different. (Quoting Monty Python here; I have these remnants of my mis-spent youth rattling around in my head.)
It’s been snowy in the Chicago suburbs, but that didn’t stop my Bee from “going” on a retreat (virtually). All of us are COVID risks, so we haven’t been able to/willing to get together in person since last September; many of you are probably in the same boat. Here’s what we did: we set up Zoom meetings for the days we would be gone if we could actually go to a retreat location. We checked in on Friday night, three times on Saturday, and twice on Sunday. We had a small “joint” project to work on– everyone made three red, white, and blue 12” blocks in the pattern of her choice, to be assembled later as a quilt for our local veterans’ shelter. Here are mine. I learned that I should never attempt paper piecing with directional fabric; each block took three times as long as it should have.
We had also decided on a block of the month project with each of us working in our own colorway, but the fabric hadn’t come by “retreat” time, so that left us free to do whatever else we wanted. Several gals chose to finish UFOs that had been hanging around. One member made a baby quilt from start to finish (she won the “Smokin’ Needle” Award). I started some new things, including a non-directional paper piecing table runner and these ornaments made from Christmas fabric selvages.
I was able to set up my computer next to my sewing machine and ironing board, so when we checked in on our Zoom calls, I could keep working. It was almost like being together with everyone, and it made the work of sewing & pressing 143 blocks for my Falling Charms quilt less tedious. Our conversation ranged from quilt tips (where to get numbered pins, etc.) to family updates, to guild matters, to favorite quilt books and magazines. And of course, lots of encouragement as we showed our progress.
I added a few extras for myself to make it seem more like a retreat. First, I cut my big project ahead of time. Then I packed all my projects in my rolling crate and restricted myself to working on what I had “brought”. (Don’t you always get to retreat and find you’ve left something at home? This time I packed really well.) I also packed a small overnight bag with my clothes for the weekend and my “wear-in-public” pajamas. Jack got curbside pickup for dinner on Friday and Saturday, and I pre-made lunches so I wouldn’t have to cook. Oh, and prior to the retreat, I went shopping online and at our local quilt shop; we always shop hop at all the stores between here and the retreat house. One of my Bee mates made fun of me for this, but I think it really helped me to separate this weekend from my ordinary sewing day, and made me feel like this was something special.
Let me know what you are doing to stay sane and keep in touch with the quilt world while you can’t get out. I hope someone out there is collecting information about how quilters are coping with the pandemic; this will be a big part of quilt history.
Your quilting friend,
Anna
PS I just learned that some of you are commenting on Facebook when TQHF posts my blog. I didn’t know to look there, so I have probably missed giving a response to many of you. But now that I know it’s there, I’ll watch and reply.
I don’t know about you, but January is a time for me to draw in, reflect, and simplify. This has become especially true this year since the pandemic is still limiting my social life and activities. So, I’ve been thinking about quilting in the days before we had so many gadgets and tools, and that led me to Honoree Georgia Bonesteel.
Georgia’s quilting career spanned the time when TV shows and video tutorials were the rage. (Now we just go to the internet.) She started with crazy quilt handbags as a guest star on Sewing is Fun, a local New Orleans show, and went on to have her own PBS series in 1976. By 2003, she had made twelve more 13-part series. She really enjoyed combining quilting and teaching. You can read more about Georgia’s life in the bio link below, and you can find many of her segments on YouTube.
I watched the first video she ever made, just to get a sense of her as a person for writing this blog. But guess what? I picked up a few pointers which I’ll be trying on my next big project (Edyta Sitar’s Alaska quilt, which uses templates). You can watch it at the link below. Sometimes it’s good to go back to the basics.
She has also authored a number of books based on her “lap quilting” method: piecing and quilting small sections and then sewing the quilted sections together at the end. It was innovative when she introduced it, and as her last volume says, it still “lives”.
Take a look at the quilt on the cover of “More Lap Quilting” (top row, middle). Here’s the original quilt which is now in the Quilters Hall of Fame Collection. You can view closeups of this quilt and read why Georgia “cherished” it at the link below.
From the collection of The Quilters Hall of Fame
Georgia has been a good friend of the Quilters Hall of Fame, and a regular attendee at our Honoree Celebrations each July. In 2004 her son, Paul, recorded video footage of the grand opening of the Marie Webster House. The following year, Paul turned the video into a film for PBS featuring Georgia’s quilts and telling the story of quilting from Webster forward. It also includes great views of the Hall of Fame, along with an interesting panel discussion among Honorees Barbara Brackman, Joyce Gross, and Cuesta Benberry along with quilt historian Connie Chunn.
“The Great American Quilt Revival” is sold out in Georgia’s online shop, but it’s still available through The Quilter’s Hall of Fame. Here’s the link to the store: https://shop.quiltershalloffame.net/t/georgia-bonesteel . If you use the code “BONESTEEL” when you order, you’ll get a 20% discount on any one Georgia Bonesteel item. And you might find some other things to purchase while you’re there.
We are also privileged to have several other objects from Georgia in our collection. One of my favorites is a wall hanging titled “Three Banners: The Street Where Quilters Live”. It was made by Georgia and some of the famous quilters she met while producing her TV shows.
From the collection of The Quilters Hall of Fame
It depicts an imaginary house for each of 36 quilters, most made by the quilter, and three made by Georgia in addition to her own, where she supposed they might live according to their respective quilting styles. I love the fact that she took the time to reflect on their personalities and to put some individual element into each block. For example, you may remember from my April 4, 2020 blog about Virginia Avery that she was not only a quilter, but also a jazz musician. Here’s her block showing “Sunday Jazz at Folly Farm”.
And here’s one that uses the Seminole piecing which Cheryl Bradkin was noted for. There’s a link below if you want to see more of the blocks.
I don’t know whether Georgia Bonesteel was the first to make this kind of album quilt—a step up from “signature”/ name-inscribed quilts that have been around since the 1840s– but she wasn’t the last. Our 2021Quilter’s Hall of Fame Inductee, Marti Michell, assembled a similar quilt representing many quilters (not houses, but each block represents the quilter in some way.) Here’s the block in Marti’s Silver Star Friendship quilt made by Cheryl; it’s the cover of her Seminole piecing book.
Photo by Marti Michell
Here’s another example of a Bonesteel group quilt with components made by all of the teachers on a quilting cruise. This one is also in The Quilters Hall of Fame collection. Check the link below to see who the teachers were. I think Doreen Speckman must have made the “Peaky/ Spike” block in the lower right sail; do you agree?
From the collection of The Quilters Hall of Fame
Like many of us, Georgia Bonesteel started sewing clothing for herself and her family. And once she was into quilting, she didn’t forget her garment-making roots. She participated in the Fairfield Fashion shows (see my Jean Wells blog), and donated several items of clothing to The Quilters Hall of Fame collection. She gave a four-piece ensemble comprising a dress, belt, vest, and (yes, you’re seeing that right) cover for her Bernina machine. The title? “Have Machine, Will Travel”.
From the collection of The Quilters Hall of Fame
Her gift of the “Harbor Light” group represents the flame of the Statue of Liberty’s torch. And the final item, just identified as “Jacket” is the most sophisticated of the collection. You can read full descriptions and see more pictures at the links below.
From the collection of The Quilters Hall of Fame
These are the pieces we’ve kept for TQHF’s collection. Our storage space is very limited, so we’ve culled a representative bit and have passed on the rest to The International Quilt Museum in Lincoln.
I’m going to backtrack a little and return to books because Georgia has continued to write. And her more recent ones are often self-revealing. Do you see the bird on the black quilt on the cover of Quiltmaking Legacy? As of 2014, Georgia has kept chickens at her house, and is a member of the Hendersonville Hen Society. And I know the block on the lighter quilt has a different name, but in this context, I can’t help thinking of rooster combs.
And here’s Georgia’s most recent effort in which she shares family history and gives you a peek at her furniture. I have to admire someone who is so willing to share not only her technical expertise but also her personal information. Quilters are reputed to be giving, but we’d be hard-pressed to find one more generous than her. Thanks, Georgia Bonesteel.
First video. Georgia said, “This instructional video was produced in 1988 by Oxmoor House publishing and sponsored by Bernina USA. This was the first (and only) VHS video created to teach my “lap quilting” technique outside of the PBS studios of North Carolina Public TV. This video teaches how to make three quilts including the “Carnival” “True Blue” and “Garden Party” quilts.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeU6in3nHog&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1S9CJqIRpDdgFI6uPR3MWYPrGUES8qBJDMgFK6SCbdAG4x7FmhW_pdblU
A somewhat belated Happy New Year to you all. I’m looking forward to so much in 2021; we’ll see.
Before I write about this week’s Honoree, I want to do a follow up on Mary McElwain. We had a comment from someone whose mother had shopped at the McElwain store and bought a kit which she never finished. The daughter isn’t a quilter and she wanted some information. With photos of the partially completed top, we were able to identify it as Marie Webster’s May Tulips. You may remember that McElwain had a good business relationship with Webster and carried several of her designs as patterns and kits. Here’s the one that’s in The Quilter’s Hall of Fame collection, in a different colorway than the unfinished one.
May Tulips, designed by Marie Webster, from the collection of The Quilters Hall of Fame
So, I hope this encourages you to leave me a comment if you have a question or reaction to a post. You should also know that TQHF has a searchable collection online if you want to research or browse—that’s how we found the photo above. You can get there easily; from the “About the Quilters Hall of Fame” button at the top of our website, drop down to “Collections” and follow the link to our PastPerfect platform. Not everything in the Collection is cataloged yet (the Collections Committee was set way back this year by not being able to have any work days), but you can still see many interesting pieces. Enough infomercial; on to Amy Emms.
Although many of our Inductees have honors and accolades beyond The Quilters Hall of Fame, only one has been honored by the Queen of England. Amy Emms was named a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE)—she got a medal like the one on the right.
The award was made for her contribution to quilting, in recognition of her decades of work in preserving the cultural treasure of Durham or North Country style quilting. You can read all about Mrs. Emms’ life at the link below, and see a picture of her with her actual medal, but I’m going to touch on some extra “stuff” I found.
Amy Emms came from a home in a generally hard-scrabble area where quilting for hire supplemented the household income for the wives of farmers and widows of miners. Her mother, with Amy’s help as she grew up, earned extra cash by running a “club” in which she would find about twenty clients to buy quilts. They would pay her about one shilling a week until they had covered the full cost of the quilt. Under this scheme, a quilter could buy her materials and produce a quilt about every 3 weeks. Amy recalled that her mother sometimes worked until two or three in the morning. Listen to the brief interview in the link below to find out what Amy was paid for her first work—you’ll love her sweet voice, soft accent, and sly sense of humor.
A lot has changed in 100 years! Now teenagers get jobs at McDonald’s, and practically no one makes quilts for hire any more. Case in point: an acquaintance was looking for someone to make a baby quilt. I was unwilling to do it, even for a fee, so I asked my quilt guild. Not one of our 200 members was interested in doing the work. We’re all hobbyists, interested in the craft for our own amusement, not for income. And before you remind me that there are plenty of long-arm quilting businesses (quilt by checkbook, not by hand), I say the difference is that they serve the hobby community, and don’t make products for sale to the general community. I suppose you could argue that there are art quilters who make quilts for income, but I still demur because there is an element of personal/artistic expression that takes art quilters out of the quilting- for-hire, cottage industry that Emms was a part of.
Which is not to say that there isn’t artistry in Emms’ work. Here’s a quilt she made that was commissioned by the Quilter’s Guild of the British Isles for their collection.
Quilter’s Guild of the British Isles
Next are a couple of close ups of the Emms quilt in TQHF’s collection, followed by a higher resolution shot from Barbara Chainey’s site, and then a detail of a quilt she donated to her local museum.
The Quilters Hall of Fame
Barbara Chainey Quilts
Weardale Museum
The layout of the pink quilt and the motifs of the others are typical of North Country quilting, and this is what earned Emms her MBE—preserving a regional craft which had been practiced in Northern England since before the Industrial Revolution. This style of quilting is generically under the label of “wholecloth” since they are neither pieced blocks, appliqué nor embroidery and the ornamentation comes solely from the quilting on a plain fabric. Favored quilting motifs were adapted from everyday objects such as flora, feathers, fans, shells, and stars; these were tied together in a flowing manner with wave patterns. When asked about trying new designs, Mrs. Emms replied, “We’ve tried all kinds but they never work like the old ones.” (Interview with Dr. June Freeman, 1983)
Emms wrote a book about her style of quilting. She uses the name “Durham” for the county of her home town, Sunderland. In recent times, County Durham has been consolidated into Tyne and Wear, so I’m using the broader term, “North Country”. If you are interested in more information about whole cloth quilting in England and Wales, and especially the differences in the styles, I’ve put a link below for an excellent blog entry on the subject. Here’s the Emms book; it’s widely available online.
North Country quilting is also seen on cushions, dinner jackets and evening gowns. Amy Emms made a quilted wedding gown for her daughter, Olive. With typical Emms humor, Amy told Olive that she shouldn’t worry about the weight, and that “afterwards you could always make pram sets from it”. (Interview with Dr. June Freeman, 1983) Here’s a photo of Olive on her big day wearing what Amy referred to as a big round quilt. After the wedding, the dress was displayed at the Sunderland Museum.
Olive Gregson née Emms wearing the quilted wedding dress made by her mother in 1957. Sunderland Echo Tuesday, 26th January 2016,
And here’s a stunning bit of quilting on that most mundane article of clothing—the housecoat. This one was made by a student of Emms in the 1960s.
Quilted housecoat made by Lillian Clark. Weardale Museum.
I mistakenly think of fashion quilting as starting with Honoree Virginia Avery in the 1970’s, but these examples are a few decades before that. I’m always learning! And, by the way, I would definitely wear a housecoat that looks like that.
The housecoat is my segue to the other “service” that put Emms on the Honours List: her teaching. After winning top prizes in local contests for eight years in a row, she decided to give others a chance, and she turned to teaching. She started during the Second World War through the British Legion organization which promoted fund-raising activities, and she continued giving evening classes for almost two decades. After Olive’s wedding dress was seen, locals had to enter a lottery to gain a place in Amy’s classes. Here are two photos of Emms’ teaching efforts.
Amy Emms at a quilting session at Roker British Legion in 1945. Sunderland Echo Tuesday, 26th January 2016,
Amy Emms – back left at East Community Centre Quilting Class 1951. Sunderland Echo Tuesday, 26th January 2016,
Emms’ legacy continues to this day, and her name is preserved in the Amy Emms Memorial Trophy presented at the annual British National Quilt Show, Quilts UK . The Quilter’s Guild of the British Isles also keeps her spirit alive through a Bursary (grant or fellowship) awarded biennially in her name.
I’ll close with a photo of Mrs. Emms doing what she did best.
North Pennines Virtual Museum
Your quilting friend,
Anna
PS. This almost makes me want to do some hand quilting, but I know myself better than that!
Even in this unusual year, the holiday rush is taking place. So, no Honoree this week, but a heart-felt wish for merriment and light from my house to yours. And a virtual tour. I’d like to welcome you to my home and share my holiday spirit with all my quilting friends.
I live in an 1886 house built by a local stonemason as a honeymoon cottage for one of his daughters. We don’t have snow yet—I’m still hoping for a White Christmas—so this is a shot from a past year.
The turret is the ideal place for a tree. This year we have a live Fraser fir downstairs with old-fashioned lights, glass ornaments, and lots of glimmer. There’s a little artificial one upstairs with a funky tree skirt I made.
I have quilts in every room downstairs. They make easy decorations and provide a nice backdrop for my collections of angels and the turned wooden ornaments my husband makes.
There are Christmas tins all over the kitchen. I started collecting these years ago while garage-“sailing” with a friend; she bought furniture, but all I could afford were the tins at 10-25 cents. The price has gone up, but the new ones I buy now come with cookies. I think they’re rather jolly.
We spend most of our holiday time on this back porch with a wood-burning stove, watching classic Christmas movies. Here’s where I show off the Santas, and the third tree. The quilt is one of four new Christmas ones I made this year—a record, thanks to staying at home.
And would you like another peek upstairs? We have Christmas quilts on both beds; blue is my color, and Jack loves red.
Back to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and cookies. I usually bake at least a dozen kinds of cookies each year. This year, I made seven kinds of shortbread, plus other recipes. I can’t share one in person, but here’s a picture from some cookie plates of Christmas past:
Or how about these that look like quilt blocks?
If you were here, you could use a cup from my mug tree. When I was working, I often got a holiday mug in the grab bag, so I found a way to display them all without taking up counter space.
Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this “visit”. I look forward to having a real, in-person visit with many of you at the 2021 Celebration, but in the meantime, I wish you happy, happy, merry, merry, and all the best of the season.
