TOM I Portsmouth Star for Ona Judge Staines

On Saturday we began the newest Barbara Brackman block of the month with the Portsmouth Star block. As mentioned in my previous post this series of twelve blocks will give us some insight into (and I give Ms Brackman's own words) "an important place in the story of the network that assisted slaves on the road to freedom. We'll explore true stories of people who lived in slavery, escaped on the "Liberty Line" or helped the fugitives."

For the first block we had the fascinating story of Ona Judge Staines, a young slave who belonged to George Washington but ran away at age 15 in 1796 and hid in the New Hampshire town of Portsmouth. She was successful in remaining free, married a seaman and remained living in New Hampshire until her death many decades later.

The block looks like an updated version of an Ohio Star block.

As you might have read in my previous post I decided I would use a grey palette for this project. A bird used in each block would symbolize the slaves desire to be as free as a bird. The grey color would evoke the drudgery of the slave life but a few bright spots of color would enliven things from time to time.In this block the stripes represent how a slave might have felt caged in.

 As you know I like to have a bit of fun with my photo taking. What held up the process of the photo taking (I did actually finish my block on Saturday) was my search for props. Since the project is about the underground railway I thought railroad tracks would be good prop to begin with. Besides, it was more practical than setting my block afloat - Ona escaped by sea on the ship Nancy which sailed from Philadelphia to Portsmouth.

We spent several hours hunting through the collection of model trains trying to find an appropriate one. But with a collection that includes a number of European rolling stock and locomotives and a goodly few pieces of Lionel which mostly seemed to come in the livery of the Santa Fe, Union Pacific and New York Central my plan nearly came unstuck before it began.

The block are all 12" ones this time. On Sunday, after I had made my block I came across one of my little scribbled notes and sketch with a layout idea. Oops, I was thinking that this time I might put my blocks on point but the way I have used the bird and the stripe this block looks better as a straight set.

So I have some thinking to do before block II in February when I'll make my second block for the TOM project (Threads of Memory).

Prepping for the Next Quilt Project

Debuting on Saturday will be the first block in the latest Barbara Brackman block of the month project; she has named this one "Threads of Memory" and I take the liberty here to give you a quote directly from Ms Brackman

"The theme Threads of Memory refers to the Underground Railroad. Each month you'll get a block named 

for an important place in the story of the network that assisted slaves on the road to freedom. We'll explore true stories of people who lived in slavery, escaped on the "Liberty Line" or helped the fugitives."

 

The quilt groupies who follow her BOM/BOW projects have been actively searching through their fabric collections and/or visiting fabric stores to pull together a good pile of fabric to start the project with. And yes, I'm just as guilty.

 To being with I had a stern conversation with myself and said that I had plenty of fabric still left from the Dixie Diary project - and you can see the evidence above. This will be twelve blocks finishing at 12" with a focus still on the Civil War era. Many people liked my pink and grey color scheme and this will be just fine to continue on with.

 Of course once I was in a quilt shop for another purpose I thought there couldn't be too much harm in picking up just one or two more pieces of fabric to add to the pile and liven up the selection. (Guess how many quilt shops I've visited lately?) Then I began to think about making an essentially monochromatic quilt all in greys. It would represent the dull monotonous life of a slave in the Civil War era. But with a pop of color here and there to represent a few bright spots in life I might hope to make something not too monotonous.

 In one store I found three pieces of grey fabric with birds on them. H'mm, in one of the recent BB projects there were a handful of quilters using bird fabrics and they always added a good spark to the blocks so of course I dutifully purchased said fabrics. As you know I employ a lot of symbolism in my quilt pieces and I thought the birds could represent the longing of the slaves to be as "free as a bird".

And then I walked into a store and found this dramatic grey, black and lime green on white fabric. Wow! I said. I could use the greys left over from The Civil War and The Dixie Diary and some of the lime greens from the Grandmother's Choice project. And with that virtuous thought I added this fabric to the collection.

Of course you can see the dilemma I am now faced with. Will my new project be traditional and use many reproduction fabrics or will it be contemporary with lots of the new "it" color, grey, in modern prints? Or will it mix them all together like I often choose to do in a complete scrappy fashion?

I guess it is going to take a block or two before I settle into one or the other. Or maybe I'll have to be an over achiever and make two blocks each month. Blocks will be released on the last Saturday of each month.

What will it be, what will it be? Stop by each month and find out what happens.

In the meantime, the opening reception for Something Blue is this Sunday so I better be thinking about what I am going to say in my "informal talk". I'd love to see you there.

Hanging a Show

It seems as though I have been awol for the last several weeks. In reality I have been planning for, and then hanging, a quilt exhibit in a local gallery, ArtSpace Herndon.

Yesterday, with a small team of helpers, 78 quilts got put up on the walls gallery style. Yes that sounds like a lot, and it is, but most all of them are on the "wall hanging/display" size. In all the hustle and bustle yesterday my camera stayed quietly in the bottom of my bag and so I have no action shots to share.

But today I went back and took a few photos.

 Oh, here is one action shot after all! The installation of the banner I made for the show required a little more ingenuity than most exhibits they hang there. This is the view as a visitor arrives through the front door - of course most visitors will not be greeted by the volunteer up a ladder!

 And as they turn to the main front desk they'll see my quilt "Don't It Make Your Brown Eyes Blue" paired with a lovely one made by Anne Smyers titled "The Five Elements: It All Begins in the Water".

Entering the main gallery space you'll see this; and indeed, that is my big quilt "The Blues and the Greys" from the Barbara Brackman Civil War BOW done back in 2011. The center large quilt on the back wall is an applecore quilt - the top was pieced by Susan Shaw's great grandmother in the 1940's and then hand quilted by Susan last year.

 To the left is an alcove with a number of small pieces. The nine pieces arranged in a random oval are all 12" pieces made for a challenge I issued to a few quilters in early December. The requirement was to make a quilt inspired by, and titled with, something you heard from your Mother. That challenge is named "My Mother Always Said". There are some fun pieces to see in that one.

 The main feature of the exhibit is The June Bride collection. Beginning in 2011 I gathered a group of 13 other quilters and issued them a challenge. I would give them a vintage quilt block (one that had been made as a block but never got beyond that stage) and they were required to make a piece, 24" x 24" using that block. There were five sections to the project and all had as a theme something to do with a wedding.

The first section, A Bridal Shower, was hung in a show I co-curated here at ArtSpace in January 2012. For this show the four other sections are displayed. Because of space restrictions not all of the quilts in all of the sections are here...but 39 are!

Above you can see two rows of four quilts (i.e. 8 quilts) that come from the "Baskets for the Bridesmaids" section. Then, overlapping, (and looking at the photo below) there are another two rows of four quilts from "The Brides Wedding Day Album". On the longer straight wall are nine quilts from "The Rehearsal Dinner".

 Tucked in on that short wall on the extreme right of the photo above are a couple of "story boards" that briefly describe the project and display the vintage blocks that everyone started with.

 Now on the longest wall (above) we were able to hang all fourteen of the quilts from the "Tuxedo Rental Time" section.

Then as you turn to leave the show you'll see this corner which demonstrates the variety of styles that comprise the show.

If you're counting, yes, you did not see 78 quilts. Amazingly, we ran out of the hanging wires and a hasty order was placed for more. In a week or two I'll show you the balance of the pieces.

On exhibit from today, January 14 until Sunday March 2, the show should surely provide a dose of color for the winter months. There is a catalog with details of all the quilts to walk you round the show and a visitors book for you to leave your comments in. And if you have a case of the winter blues, then do make a visit to see the show, titled "Something Blue", and come away feeling refreshed and buoyed by seeing quilts given the gallery treatment.

The opening reception will be on Sunday, January 26 when we'll have refreshments, a mix and mingle with many of the quilt artists and I will present an informal talk about the show and related quilt topics.It would be great to see you there!

Thanks to all who helped me by lending their quilts for the show and, for the assistance in getting it up and ready for primetime yesterday.

Am I forgiven for not blogging much lately? A new Barbara Brackman BOM will begin on Saturday January 25 which I will be doing so watch out for that. And maybe now this show is up I'll have time to finish off last year's The Dixie Diary.

Promises, promises!

Month 12 Turning Yankee

Here we are at the end of the Dixie Diary project.

 Last month we read about Sarah and her family facing some hard choices; starvation or succumbing to pride and having to swear allegiance to the Yankee/Union side. And yes, their will to live overcame their pride and they did mutter the words of allegiance that would allow them into New Orleans.

The next step is to get my twelve blocks put together in a top. What I have in mind will require me to make four more blocks to give a square  four by four setting as well as to make the simple setting units. So, as they say, watch this space.

 To add to the excitement of this project I have tried each month to take  a fun photo of my block to share with you. It has required a little bit of a search to come up with some props each month but it has added more interest for me. This month I decided to use ceramic carnival masks that were purchased in New Orleans on a visit thirty years ago. Of course there was no time for such frivolity as this for Sarah Morgan and her family on their visit to New Orleans.

But as well I could not resist posing my block at the beginning of the first snowy day for the season.

In January there will be a new project, Threads of Memory, posted by Barbara Brackman on her Civil War blog. And yes, I expect to follow along and make the blocks. This new one will be a block of the month which gives more "breathing time" to create the blocks than does the block of the week project that was Grandmother's Choice. But somehow, the challenge to create a block a week is more exciting.

Threads of Memory will have the Underground Railroad as it's theme. Since I did purchase a number of civil war reproduction fabrics to use in my Dixie Diary project I may just carry on with using the greys and pinks. Doubtless I will still add to the collection but maybe with more restraint. The blocks are apparently all to be pieced stars at a 12" size so I am going to hold off on my decision about block size until I see the first one.

Are you going to jump on board with Barbara, Becky and Dustin and sew along with a really great group of quilters from all corners of the globe? It really promises to be another good trip!

Finished projects

I was all set to write a new post a few days ago but when I went to find the photos of the project I wanted to feature alas, there were none. Oh no, I forgot to record the finished item.

However, it was a gift for my newest great nephew and thankfully his mother sent along this photo for me.

A few years ago a friend in my quilt guild had initiated making these Scotty Dogs to give away for charity. At the time I did not make one but did listen to the others complain about how tedious they were to make. The tedious part was when the joining strip was also squares as that creates a lot of seam matching. However, I found a photo of some made where they had used a "solid" (patterned) piece of fabric for the joining strip and this seemed a great idea as it also calmed down all those different fabrics.

But I needed a gift for the baby and I knew his mother did not want a baby quilt so I thought I'd make this. The baby's room is decorated in black and white so I went to my fabric cupboard and started pulling. Since it is for a boy I wanted to avoid floral fabrics and as I was choosing I began to notice that most of the fabrics had a recognizable element to them. So the dog becomes dual purpose as it can also function as an "eye spy" game e.g. find the clock, the star, the zebra and so on.

Hopefully the baby will enjoy it and even if he does not, I really did enjoy making it (despite forgetting to take photos).

Moving on to a new project I startled myself by beginning and completing a small quilt in five days!

The quilt is small - only 12 5/8" square - but making those 2" blocks required more patience than making them at a 6" size would have needed.

The title of my piece is "There's One in Every Crowd". It was created to go into an exhibition of work by members of Great Falls Studios; the requirement was for works around 12" square that represent you.

Now, for whatever reason, I understood that to mean the piece needed to describe you. I later discover it merely meant a piece that is in your usual style. But mine was designed to say the following about me: I might take a color direction that is not the way of the crowd, I like small precise work, I rank fine detail as important, I like blue teamed with lime green, I like to work in a traditional way but with a touch of the unexpected and there are perhaps some other meanings as well. Can you find them?

Here is how my piece looks hanging alongside some of the other entries.

A different title might have been "Killing Two Birds with One Stone" as the colors chosen were deliberate; two upcoming shows I am involved in need a piece that features the color blue so I figured this would be a work that could fit in all three shows.

But the thing I like best about this piece is that it was completed in such a short time. That has been so refreshing that I really must try to do it again.

But for now, I must return to my regularly featured style which is working on projects that take months to complete. My Grandmother's Choice quilt is back from the quilter and I need to get busy with a piped binding so I can mark that quilt as another finished project for this year.

Month 11 - Just Hominy

For whatever reason this block gave me some "issues". But it is done now and ready for viewing.

 In this months story from Sarah Morgan's Diary we hear about the anguish facing the family who are starving. All they have had to eat in their current location has been just hominy for the past ten days. The question is whether to remain there and perhaps see the death of Sarah's mother from starvation or to move to New Orleans where they would have to take an oath of loyalty to the Union movement.

Both choices are equally stark.

Ms Brackman's blog suggests making the star points have a strong contrast to represent the two choices. However, I decided to make them both in grey as they were similarly difficult decisions. And I continue on with my idea of not re-using any fabrics other than the pink on white toile. Yes, I did have to augment my fabric collection just a little so I hope the final block does not require too many different fabrics or I will be faced with some difficult choices myself - albeit my choice problem will be minimal compared to Sarah Morgan's.

I wasn't feeling too inspirational for this months fun photo so I decided to take a lead from the photo of hominy in the Civil War blog story that goes along with this month's block.

One more block to go. I have made a little start on the sashing/setting for my top but a goodly amount remains to be done before I will be able to call this project finished.

The Wrap Up Report

Maybe you have been wondering how my "something bold" experience from the weekend of October 19/20 went. I have been somewhat delayed in posting this report because of a sad family event that needed my presence in New Zealand.

 Here is my space on Sunday morning. That's my lovely artist friend Linda Jones who had invited me to join her and set up a "pop up" studio in her living room for the tour. Linda has hosted visitors to her studio for this annual event since the very first one ten years ago. By her estimation (based on a somewhat unscientific tally of who signed the visitor book) we had 140 visitors at our location.

Above is the view visitors had as they entered the home and walked down the short flight of stairs into the living room. I had some smaller pieces on the display rack on the right with various round robin quilts in the center and left. In a daring move (given the weather forecast) I also had a couple of quilts draped outside on the deck; Linda's back yard has a stunning wooded aspect and with the leaves starting to turn it provided a wonderful view so my motive in placing quilts out there was to draw visitors out to enjoy the view.

 As you can see I did set up my sewing machine.  The theory was that I was going to be showing how I create my quilts but the reality was when there were visitors in the room I was talking up a storm. Over the course of two days I maybe sat at the sewing machine for an hour total. But I was quite content with that. I did have to suck on quite a few cough drops to soothe my throat from so much talking! On the round table in front of the sewing table I had a binder which had full page size photos of quilts I have made that were not on display.

As a visitor turned to go down the stairs to Linda's studio area this was the view they saw. I apologize to my friend who was helping out as a greeter - this photo catches her in an awkward pose! My biggest quilts were draped over the upstairs railing. Although only one was seen in it's entirety this was a good place for them. You might notice that second from the right is my most recent project, the Grandmothers Choice quilt top (you can see a quarter of it).

In a basket that I placed centrally I had "party favors" containing three pieces of candy wrapped in a twist of lime green tulle tied with ribbon and a label giving my email and this blog address intended as a way that visitors could carry home a record of how to contact me.

On the days I also passed out flyers with details of  the larger local quilt group that I belong to along with advice on where I buy my fabrics, where to go locally if you have a quilt needing repair and verbal information about the quilt show I am curating at ArtSpace  Herndon in January-February 2014.

At my suggestion we decided to ask visitors as they arrived to look at all the works on display and then, as they left,  to please vote for what was their favorite painting and their favorite quilt. This had an unspoken message of suggesting that a visitor look carefully at all our work on display. Of course not everyone did this but it was a great ice breaker.

There was no clear winner among my quilts. 31 visitors cast their vote; the leading quilt was Savannah Snapshot with a total of 6 votes closely followed by I'm from the South with a total of 4 votes. Of note about these two quilts is that both of them are the product of my Remarkable Round Robin group.

Overall I was very content with this, my first testing of the waters, participation in the Great Falls Studio Tour. The experience of talking with a variety of visitors - some came specifically to meet the quilter, some were just enjoying the entire event and some were regular visitors to Linda's art studio - was very positive. It would be wonderful if I had some feedback here from visitors or perhaps some who wished they might have been able to join the tour.