Food for Thought...

Obituary printed in the London Times: Interesting and sadly rather true.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

•  Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
•  Why the early bird gets the worm;
•  Life isn't always fair;
•  and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

Gee's Bend

Gee’s Bend was founded before the American Civil War, and it is a small, rural community southwest of Selma, Alabama. The home of cotton plantations, Gee’s Bend was primarily owned by Joseph Gee and his relative, Mark Pettway, who bought the Gee estate in 1850. 

Post-Civil War, the freed slaves took the name Pettway, became tenant farmers for the Pettway family, and founded an all-black community nearly isolated from the surrounding world. During the Great Depression, the federal government stepped in to purchase land and homes for the community, bringing strange recognition — as an "Alabama Africa" — to this remote hamlet. 

Over two centuries, the women of Gee's Bend have developed a distinctively bold and sophisticated quilting style based on traditional patchwork quilts. While each quiltmaker brings her unique personality to the community tradition, many Gee's Bend quilts are remarkable for their distinctive geometric simplicity mixed with a bold sense of flair, an innovative approach to a quintessentially American art made possible by a mix of heritages: African, Native American and European. 

The women of Gee's Bend have passed their skills and style down through at least six generations, from the 19th century to the present.

Throughout much of the twentieth century, making quilts was considered a domestic responsibility for women in Gee's Bend. As young girls, many of the women trained or apprenticed in their craft with their mothers, female relatives, or friends; other quilters, however, have been virtually self-taught. 

The women consider the process of piecing the quilt top to be highly personal. In Gee’s Bend, the top is always pieced by a quilter working alone and reflects a singular artistic vision. The subsequent process of quilting the quilt is sometimes then performed communally, among small groups of women. Women with large families often made dozens upon dozens of quilts over the course of their lives.

During the civil rights movement in the 1960s, Gee's Bend enjoyed several years of national visibility. A quilting bee was formed just up the road from Gee's Bend, in Rehoboth, Alabama, that made standardized quilt patterns for department stores and later undertook piecework sewing projects for Sears and Roebuck and Co. That cooperative effort was the first opportunity for many women in the area to hold jobs and bring income into their households bringing about both economic freedom and a community transformation. 

By the 1990s, quiltmaking in Gee's Bend had diminished significantly as younger residents moved away and most of the remaining quilters entered old age.  In the late 1990s, William Arnett and his son Matt, as a part of their research of African-American quilts, visited Gee's Bend and embarked on a multiyear effort to document its quilts, history, families and stories. These efforts gradually expanded, and in 2002, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, in partnership with the Arnetts, presented an exhibition of 70 quilt masterpieces from the Bend entitled The Quilts of Gee’s Bend. 

In 2003, with assistance from the Arnetts, the living quilters of Gee's Bend founded the Gee's Bend Quilters Collective to serve as the exclusive means of selling and marketing the contemporary quilts being produced by the women of the Bend. The Quilts of Gee's Bend exhibition was later followed by a second major exhibition, "Gee's Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt," which debuted in 2006. 

Art critics worldwide have compared the quilts to the works of important artists such as Henri Matisse and Paul Klee. The New York Times called the quilts "some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced."

Today, the quilter’s of Gee’s Bend continue their time-honoured tradition with their quilts having a historical, cultural as well as lasting artistic value for the Bend as well as for fellow quilters.

Chicago!

Friday, April 16^th at last! Raymond and I left for Chicago. Chicago is known for a lot of things… deep dish pizza, Al Capone, the mob and prohibition, site of the World’s Fair … and so much more…But this trip, Chicago is all about International Quilt Show. 

One the way down, we made a few stops.    I’ve heard from lots of people that I should get to Newmarket to see Evelyn’s Sewing Centre, so we took the opportunity to go.  Evelyn’s was something to see with tons of fabric and quilts and notions and embroidery stuff etc, etc...  From there, we headed Birch Run in Michigan. Why you ask? One word: Outlets!  On Saturday, we stopped at the Lighthouse in Michigan City for some more shopping.

Finally, to Chicago!  Getting to our hotel was the first step – driving in Chicago isn’t at all like Ottawa, but we made it!  And who did we meet as we were about to check in? Johanne Batchelor with the news that we crossed time zones and gained an hour with our travels, so off we went to the Show!

We had big plans to make sure that we saw everything.  There were about 150 merchants in the exhibition hall so we had lots to see in addition to the quilts. Time was short on Saturday; there was so much fabric, notions… my goodness, just tons of stuff!  Good news was that we had all day Sunday to look at everything and have the time to take it all in. 

On Sunday, we got to the show early, before opening – I was eager to get there and see it all! The exhibited quilts were so fantastic and varied in techniques and styles that I took a ton of photos and bought a book of the quilts we were not allowed to photograph.  Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I’m sharing lots from this trip (primarily of the Show).  Then we went back to revisit the merchants.  There was so much to see!  From a section of Canadian themed quilts to still life subjects (that did not look still at all!) to traditional heirloom quilts to more sublime works of abstract art there was a lot to appreciate.

Monday, we visited Chicago. We took the train to downtown and then started walking.  One of the attractions of Chicago is the Magnificent Mile. It is basically a mile of stores with famous names – a must see (but you can’t buy… way out of my league)!   Chicago is a huge and vibrant city with loads to see and do.  It was fun!  We like to visit a city by taking some kind of tour, and Chicago has a get-on, get-off tour on a Double Decker or trolley bus.   We got on the Double Decker and decided to enjoy the sun – oh boy! Hold on to your hat!  Here I thought Chicago was the Windy City in the metaphorical sense to insinuate that Chicagoans were braggarts because of all the boasting Chicago politicians had done to best their rivals in Cincinnati in the 1960s, but it turns out that the wind off Lake Michigan has got some zip of its own. 

We stopped at The Art Institute of Chicago to visit the incredible Impressionist collection. I have never seen so many Impressionist paintings in one room.  There was an extraordinary Matisse exposition.  Check out George Seurat’s «Un dimanche après-midi à l'Ile de la Grande Jatte». The website for the museum is:  http://www.artic.edu/aic/.

It’s nice to be back in Ottawa, and I sure am inspired by the phenomenal quilts that we saw in Chicago hopefully this will be reflected in the store in the months to come. 

Fat Quarter Frenzy FUN!

What a fantastic day it was!  Celebrating the beginning of Spring (even thought it feels much more like summer right now... no complaints!) always makes me think of Easter and the Easter parade in New York.  

And that got me thinking: we should have our own parade here in the store.  So, if you wore an Easter Bonnet to the Fat Quarter Frenzy, there were in-store coupons up for grabs.  

Even thought I have a personal no-hats policy, it was great fun to see other people's creativity and how they got into the spirit of it!

Congratulations to the winner of the best bonnet designer... Paulette Sanderson!  Also, a big thank you to everyone who came by in their bonnets. Hats off to you! 

 

The Tiffany Exhibition: A Passion for Colour

Quilters know how we can get when we are entrenched in a project.  My husband felt that I should get out of the house, so he offered to go to Montréal and see the Tiffany exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

First, let’s differentiate between America's famous jeweler Tiffany & Co., in New York, founded by Louis's father, Charles L. Tiffany, and the glass and decorating companies of his son, Louis C. Tiffany.

Tiffany set out to become a painter, training in New York and Paris.  Tiffany exhibited his paintings and watercolours in international exhibitions, where he gained great acclaim. 

Eventually, Tiffany’s interests evolved, and he established his own decorating company and began receiving commissions from prominent Americans.  His company offered everything the imagination could desire …and then Tiffany discovered glass.    

Tiffany began to integrate glass in many forms in these interiors, including leaded-glass windows and lamps.  With glass, Tiffany was curious to experiment with the colours and brilliance as they changed under natural or artificial light, and he was captivated by the effects that could be captured by craftsmen.  New techniques were honed, using a combination of traditional glass techniques and an original, free approach.

Tiffany developed the making of stained-glass windows into an enormous business, using different types of glasses (2 which he patented himself), techniques and embellishments to create never-seen before works of art. 

The Montréal exhibition is breathtaking, and it is both varied and interesting.  Tiffany’s most famous designs are being displayed and they are nothing short of awe-inspiring.   Also a part of the exhibition is Tiffany stained glass windows originally made more than a century ago for the American Presbyterian Church.  That Church and its windows were acquired by the Montreal Museum in 2008.   

Some of Tiffany’s windows on display would make tremendous quilts, and I am surprised that we have not yet seen an adaptation of his work from glass to fabric. The colors and richness of subject would make for very challenging and beautiful quilts.

If you get a chance to see this exhibition, I encourage you to do it.  Tiffany’s work is fantastic and revolutionary.  The show is on in Montreal until May 2^nd, 2010, and it’s sure to inspire you. 

Aurifil

If you’ve ever been in the store and asked my opinion about thread, you’ve probably been treated to a rave review of Aurifil thread.  It is fantastic, absolutely second to none in my opinion.  I thought that I would do a little digging to see if I could validate my opinion.  Low and behold… there are very real reasons why Aurifil is great.

Established in 1983 by an Italian based company, Aurifil was born with the goal of quality thread always looking to become more refined and advanced.  The base reason for Aurifil’s success is the origin of the raw materials.  Egyptian cotton called Makò is used – taking into account staple length, fiber thickness and maturity.  While this might not sound terribly exciting, it’s critical for the final product.  Aurifil’s unique process continues through the Twist: the force that consolidates the fibers and flies of thread after the spinning process to create a balance of tension.  Too tightly twisted creates lively snarling thread and too lightly twisted creates fraying and breaking.  There are different weights of Aurifil thread available to suit your specific purpose – machine piecing, hand piecing, appliquéing, top stitching… Finally, in the dying process the thread undergoes a special process to be mercerized in addition to being dyed to give the thread the lustrous look associated with Aurifil. 

 
All of this means that Aurifil is strong, smooth and leaves little lint in your sewing machine which keeps it clean and running smoothly.  There are currently 216 colours on the market (and growing!).  All to say that I love how it sews and it gives me great pleasure to see the rack of Aurifil in the store.  We have the polyester Aurifil specifically for embroidery as well as the variegated in addition to the cotton (36 and 50 weight) in small and big sizes.   Come check it out – you’re sure to love it.  

Pamela Allen: Artist & Creator

The Running Stitch is excited to be hosting renowned artist Pamela Allen for a two-day quilt show, workshop and trunk show on May 7th and 8th, 2010.  It promises to be an exciting two days!  

Pamela calls Kingston home, where she spends many of her days in her studio painting, decoupaging, collaging, assembling, carving and… making art from fabric.  Pamela is inspired by Lucky Shie, her hero, who gave Pamela her first introduction to fabric art. 

 

Pamela has participated in a number of solo exhibitions in addition to group exhibitions.  Pamela enjoys a wide variety of subjects from still life (with her own quirky twists) through to a wide variety of historical styles, including medieval (while staying historically true).

Pamela’s work tends to the free form.  She enjoys creating art within the confines of her own boundaries – that is to say conventional methods may be ignored to create a more open-ended (and open-minded) piece of art. 

Pamela enjoys teaching.  She encourages and assists her students to create an original piece born from their own vision and personal expression.  She enjoys fundamentally challenging her students to express and create beyond their normal boundaries.   Creativity and spontaneity are hallmarks of Pamela’s work. 

Her work is celebrated in various publications and she has an instructional DVD called Think Like An Artist which debuted at the 2008 International Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas.