Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Wordless Wednesday: Inspirational photos and video from New York State, This Quilting Mama's Home




















 Photos by This Quilting Mama

 Billy Joel's New York State of Mind by Steve Schultz

Published on Jul 10, 2013
Learn about Steve Schultz: http://www.StevePlaysMusic.com
Buy this track: http://www.StevePlaysMusic.com/store.cfm
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SteveSchultzM...
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/SteveSchultz

Players:
Steve Schultz - vocal, piano, percussion
Jared Anderson - guitar
Ben Basile - bass
Christopher Brellochs - tenor saxophone
Pete Levin - organ
Mike Siena - drums
Rachel Handman - violin
Richard Carr - violin
Elizabeth Handman - viola
Talija Kristapsons - cello
Brian Zeller - string arrangement

Locations:
New York 3, Tupper Lake, NY
5 Pointz, Long Island City, NY
Stanley Theatre, Utica, NY
Co Rd 128/Ernberger Rd., Romulus, NY
N Clinton Street, Syracuse, NY
Genesee River, Rochester, NY
South Grand Island Bridge, Tonawanda, NY
Mama Mia's, Geneseo, NY
Flower Lake, Saranac Lake, NY
Queens-Midtown Expressway/LIE, Long Island City, NY
NY-74/Fort Ti Rd, Ticonderoga, NY
Taughannock Falls, Trumansburg, NY
National Museum of Play, Rochester, NY
Belmont Park, Elmont, NY
Brooklyn Heights Promenade, Brooklyn, NY
The Jell-O Gallery, Le Roy, NY
The Apollo Theatre, New York, NY
Olympic Center, Lake Placid, NY
Niagara Falls, Niagara Falls, NY
FDR Presidential Library & Museum, Hyde Park, NY
The Dakota/Strawberry Fields, New York, NY
St. James General Store, St. James, NY
Womens Rights National Historic Park - Seneca Falls, NY
Fort Ticonderoga, Ticonderoga, NY
Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Tom's Restaurant, New York, NY
The Wild Center, Tupper Lake, NY
Sunoco A Plus Mini Mart, New Hartford, NY
Saratoga Race Course, Saratoga, NY
Whiteface Mountain, Wilmington, NY
Montauk Point Lighthouse, Montauk, NY
Rockefeller Center, New York, NY
Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY
Staten Island Ferry, Hudson River, New York, NY
National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY
Oliver's Candies, Batavia, NY
Adventureland, East Farmingdale, NY
Brooks' House of BBQ, Oneonta, NY
Piggy Pat's BBQ, Washington Mills, NY
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, New York, NY
Walkway Over the Hudson, Poughkeepsie, NY
SUNY Geneseo, Geneseo, NY
Citi Field, Queens, NY
Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
Ralph Wilson Stadium, Orchard Park, NY
The Big Duck, Flanders, NY
Grand Central Terminal, New York, NY
NY-30/Wawbeek Ave., Tupper Lake, NY
Martha's Ice Cream, Queensbury, NY
Anchor Bar, Buffalo, NY
I-787, Albany, NY
Unisphere, Flushing Meadows - Cornona Park, Queens, NY
Nick Tahou, Rochester, NY
Sag Harbor Marine Facility, Sag Harbor, NY
The Mall, Central Park, New York, NY
Mr. B's Best Beef & Subs, Queensbury, NY
International Boxing Hall of Fame, Canastota, NY
Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site, Hyde Park, NY
Times Square, New York, NY

Monday, July 15, 2013

Needle Turn Appliqué--- Sort of

Yes, that's it! 

That is all This Quilting Mama accomplished in a five hour class. The instruction at The Joyful Quilter (in Glenville, NY) by Kathryn Greenwold was awesome as the class covered numerous elements of needle-turn appliqué. 



 



However, it seems that the modern age in which we live has spoiled me. I am used to fast machines, all the fabric in the world available at a my local quilt shop (or the other 8 shops within a 45 minute ride), and all the best tools, rulers, and notions to help me whip up a quilt in an afternoon. Appliqué is not only hand-held, but depends on the maker's ability to slow down, to sew one perfect and invisible stitch at a time, and to relish in the process as much as the beautiful product being created. Stay tuned to see if I am able to complete this project and if I come to love handwork.

 My deepest respect and hat is off to any woman who has made a beautiful Baltimore Album quilt with thousands of little appliqued pieces. Below are some such quilts from various shows I've attended over the last year. Each is amazing in the sheer about of work and hours dedicated to those little tiny pieces and even smaller stitches. Enjoy!



My daughter particularly liked this "Elephant Friendship Album" from the antiqué quilt collection circa 1857. Curators Debra Grana and Sharon Waddell write, "Mary Palmer Ogden was the recipient and probably the maker of this friendship album. The elephant may seem to be unusual, but Mary lived only a few miles from where the first elephants brought to the United States lived. During the time the quilt was made, Mary married and moved from Yorktown to Ossining, New York." (Vermont Quilt Festival 2013)


"Petersborough Album" earned Susan MacDuff the Best Hand Quilting award at the Vermont Quilt Festival 2012. 

"Sampling the Silk Road" (seen above and below)  earned the Handiquilter Best of Show" Award and "Best Appliqué" at the Vermont Quilt Festival 2012. Maker Christine Wickert of Penfield, NY writes, "The appliqué blocks were designed by Edyta Sitar. The border, beading and quilting designs were my own. I challenged myself to execute a large quilt made entirely of dupioni silk for the backing, batting and the quilt thread." It was hand quilted.


 From the Garden State Quilters Guild show 2013, comes this lovely quilt. "Aunt Millie's Garden-Brown is the New Black" earned maker Megan Johnson the following awards: Best Hand Appliqué, Best of Show- Machine Quilting, and First Place for and Appliquéd Quilt, Professionally Quilted. The pattern is from the Piece O' Cake Ladies.



Friday, July 12, 2013

The Teacher becomes a Student

"The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind." - Kahlil Gibran 

"Who dares to teach must never cease to learn." - John Cotton Dana  

"I hear, and I forget.  I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand." - Chinese Proverb



Today, I am going to be a student again. This is the preparation for a "Needleturn Applique" class I'm taking with Kathryn Greenwold at the Joyful Quilter in Glenville, NY.

I'm a bit nervous as the only handwork I've ever done is binding a quilt. So, here I go....over prepared, as is my personality, and with very little expectations of my own skills in this area. It will be a true day of discovery.

What classes have you taken or discoveries have you made recently that have impacted your art?



Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Red, White and............More Red & White.

“Red", I write "is the color of life. It's blood, passion, rage. It's menstrual flow and after birth. Beginnings and violent end. Red is the color of love. Beating hearts and hungry lips. Roses, Valentines, cherries. Red is the color of shame. Crimson cheeks and spilled blood. Broken hearts, opened veins. A burning desire to return to white.” 

 The following quilts celebrate red and white in amazingly beautiful ways. 
They were all on display at the Vermont Quilt Festival 2013 in Essex Junction, Vermont this past weekend. Enjoy!

 C202- Second Place Red Ribbon (seen above)
"The Star and Crown" by Consortium of Malone, NY, was an entry in the "A New Twist on and Old Favorite" theme quilt category. The description reads "Twenty-four reds with twenty-four background off-whites made into Peaky and Spike, four-patches, half-square triangles, solid block units and paper pieced four pointed stars were arranged to create a circle and star within. Long arm machine quilted."

 
 C618- Third Place Yellow Ribbon
"Feather Storm" by Rose Orr of Colchester, Vermont is my personal favorite of this set of quilts. It uses a variation on Storm at Sea setting. Rose was able to play with machine quilted feathers in the blank spaces and how color progresses from red to white within the blocks. It was quilted on a home machine.

 
 C611- Third Place Yellow Ribbon
"A Quilter's Snowflake" by Cathy Pelletier of Danvers, MA
Cathy writes "A Quilter's Snowflake by Richard Larson, Quilter's Newsletter December 2005, is a two-color quilt bed topper or wall quilt. Traditional Hunter's Stars complement the large Feathered Star. Long arm machine quilted nu Pamela Gondola."

C1010- Third Place Yellow Ribbon
"Peppermint Swirls" by Pauline R. Charpentier of Maynard, MD was the maker's response to a guild challenge of red and white. This piece was inspired by "a friend's vase." It was quilted on a home machine.

C915- Third Place Yellow Ribbon
"My Fantasy Flower Garden-No Weeds" by Rita A. Bond of Pembroke, NH
 Rita writes, "My daughter-in-law has an antique embroidered red and white quilt, which I love. I have tried to duplicate it by machine embroidering the white blocks. I used floral designs from Garden Fantasy, digitized by Janet Sansom. Long arm machine quilted by Saima Davis."

This antique beauty was in a special exhibit at VQF. The exhibit called "For Fellowship, Love and Farewell" was curated by Debra Grana and Sharon Waddell.  This beauty above was made sometime between 1850 and 1870 by an unknown maker. There are little trees in the border which were common to NY, PA and New England. Debra Grana, owner, writes, "Some references attribute this pattern to the inspiration of woven coverlet designs. Note the heart variation in the center of the block."

"Drunkard's Path, circa 1910 was a pattern believed to have been used by the Temperance Movement. Some, offended by the name, refer to the pattern as Fool's Puzzle. This quilt was hand-pieced and hand-quilted by Louisa Campbell of Nyack, NY," writes collector Mary Daughton.

Next was a friendship quilt from the Woodlawn Reformed Church of Schenectady, NY. I was immediately drawn to it having grown up in the city of Schenectady and having known many from the congregation. This quilt, however, was made in 1915 by the Helping Hand Society of the church as a gift to Reverend and Mrs. Bruce Ballard as they moved on to another church. I love how each block has a unique setting for the signatures.

 "Touching Stars, circa 1880" is also from the collection of Debra Grana. She believes it is from Unadilla, NY.  "There is an assortment of symbols in the quilting, including hands, hearts, hex or good luck, scissors and a series of people holding hands."

Finally, this "Red Cross" quilt is believed to have been made for a Red Cross Fundraiser for World War I sometime between 1917 and 1920. There are over 600 names from the 1920 census in the Springfield, Illinois area included on the quilt. It was found at an estate sale in Albany, NY.