The International Quilt Study Center is an academic program of the Department of Textiles, Clothing and Design in the College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

(Editors Note: you can view quilt images and read Peggy’s story at Lily’s website)

Lily’s Story:

This quilt (design) really started with a poem. I had the idea of a garden quilt with paper pieced blocks and color/value changes defining foreground and background areas. After struggling to explain what I meant and some crude sketches (with no blocks designed yet), I finally gave up and wrote a poem to describe it. “My Ozark Garden”
A wash of sun and shadow,
the flutter of bright wings;
A riot of hosta and cascading geraniums
and tousled asters…
Monet would love it here!

These became the design theme of the quilt–hosta blocks for vertical emphasis, multi-sectioned geranium blocks, a variety of octagon Stack ‘n Whack type blocks for asters, and a variety of leaf blocks for foliage. Several hummingbird blocks were added were added and Peggy provided the rest of the “wings” in her quilting. But all that was almost a year away…

Well, I wasn’t that worried either, because I knew from my experience as an art teacher that the improvisational process I envisioned could work–but I didn’t know what the quilt would look like.

First came the task of designing blocks–which also meant determining size, format and value patterns as well as the block designs themselves. I used Corel Draw on my computer because it allowed me to resize and layer the patterns as I worked. Some of the blocks were complex, but taken one section at a time, they went together easily as I tested them.

Needless to say I learned a great deal in the process because my experience with paper piecing was minimal up to that point. I did a lot of revising and simplifying. Probably not enough–as Peggy will attest….

In between all this, I was collecting fabrics–and more fabrics. A trip to Tulsa yielded the fabric that became the starting point for the color theme. (”Starry Night”).

I learned to keep records of what I found where–because the fabrics often surprised us. Some of the most unlikely fabrics became the most useful–and then, of course, we needed more.

Almost 9 months later we began the construction process. Dee Ann Neal, our coordinator, and a crew of guild members helped put together 83 packets containing a pattern and enough 3″-4″ strips of fabric to make at least two blocks. The directions indicated that they could add fabrics and that they didn’t have to sew on the lines! Nor were directions given for what fabrics went where. They were also reminded that they couldn’t do this wrong–just different…

A gamble? Yes. But it paid off handsomely, because members returned blocks in color, fabric and value combinations that I would never have thought of.

Then came the fun part–putting it together. My design wall is almost quilt size so I lived and played with it for several weeks. A few more blocks were needed, mostly as transition areas, and the water blocks were made.

It was pinned in vertical strips and one work day saw it almost finished and the papers removed. It did take a while to figure out that one of the “square” blocks had been sewn in sideways and that what was making things hang funny…

All blocks that had been made “auditioned” for a place in the quilt. (My favorite didn’t make it…) Extra blocks made small “Publicity” quilts, and extra fabrics found uses too.

And by the time I could turn the quilt over to Peggy, I had spent almost 14 months with the project–and although I was pleased (mostly) with the result, I was very glad to be done with it.

To see that Peggy’s quilting had captured the spirit of the design and made it a quilt to look at again and again, was a true pleasure.

To have it accepted at Houston and then win a second place award was thrilling for all of us. There were many people creatively involved with this quilt–some of whom had never participated in a group quilt before. The true credit goes to all of them. It is a much better quilt than I would have made by myself!

Her quilting artist statement:

As a first generation quilter, the art of making quilts is relatively new to me. With a strong background in art, and having sewn since childhood, quilt making always intrigued me. I was able to take my first class at my local quilt shop in 1996 and have been quilting literally everyday since.

From the moment I started, I was hooked. I knew it was trouble when I couldn’t wait to get home to take my new fabric purchases out of the bag. Still to this day, I lay out my fabric along the dashboard of my car and enjoy them during the ride home.

For years I searched for the perfect medium of my artistic expression. With quilting I feel like I’ve finally come home. It is something I can do anywhere, often times carry with me. The palette of colors and the elements of design, both in fabric and patterns, seem endless. I know it will forever hold my interest.

A perfectionist by nature, the details of the quilt and its process are extremely important. I often focus on taking extra steps if it means achieving better results in the finished product. I try to pass that on to those that I teach and also in my pattern design.

What I find most appealing about my time spent quilting is that it frees me from everything else. The stacks of fabric that surround me become little piles of cut shapes, these shapes are gradually sewn together to become blocks, eventually those blocks become rows and piece by piece the quilt is created. It is during this time that my heart somehow finds itself at peace and the quilts become an extension of who I am at that particular moment.

It makes me very happy to share my designs and the joy that they have come to represent in my life.

2. The things that people have made themselves have magic powers. They have hidden meanings that other people can’t see.

3. The things people make they usually want to keep and update. Crafting is not against consumption. It is against throwing things away.

4. People seek recognition for the things they have made. Primarily it comes from their friends and family. This manifests as an economy of gifts.

5. People who believe they are producing genuinely cool things seek broader exposure for their products. This creates opportunities for alternative publishing channels.

6. Work inspires work. Seeing what other people have made generates new ideas and designs.

7. Essential for crafting are tools, which are accessible, portable, and easy to learn.

8. Materials become important. Knowledge of what they are made of and where to get them becomes essential.

9. Recipes become important. The ability to create and distribute interesting recipes becomes valuable.

10. Learning techniques brings people together. This creates online and offline communities of practice.

11. Craft-oriented people seek opportunities to discover interesting things and meet their makers. This creates marketplaces.

12. At the bottom, crafting is a form of play.

Ulla-Maaria Mutanen, a Ph.D. student at the University of Helsinki in Finland, has been thinking about why we enjoy making things. Creator of the HobbyPrincess blog, she developed this Crafter’s Manifesto

Note: Lily’s Creative Color class at Quilters University begins March 8th

4 Ways of Describing Color

1. RGB- refers to colored light as in TV’s and computer monitors; Primaries= Red, Green, Blue

2. CYMK- refers to printers and photographers inks; Primaries= Cyan, Yellow, Magenta (plus black)

3. RYB- This is the color wheel you learned in grade school; Primaries= Red, Yellow, Blue

4. HSV- describes any color in terms of three qualities- Saturation, Value

You can describe any color in any of these four ways- it’s still the same color!

Hue- refers to the quality that gives a color its name- red-red orange rather than just red-orange. Color isn’t a space on a color wheel - its a continuum. There’s an unlimited number of variations between red and orange (even though the human eye can’t distinguish them all.)

Value- refers to the relative lightness or darkness of a color as compared to black and white. Pink is a light to medium value, dusty rose is somewhere in the middle and maroon would be a dark value. A series of values from black to white is called a “value scale”. Every hue may have an unlimited number of values.

Saturation- (also called chrome, purity, strength, dullness and other terms)- refers to the amount of black, white or gray mixed with a hue. Pure red is highly saturated; maroon has black added (and therefore includes less red); pink may have varying amounts of white added; a dusty rose has varying amounts and/or values of gray added.

Adding black to a color creates a “shade”.
Adding white to a color creates a “tint”.
Adding any value of gray creates a “tone”.
Any hue may have an unlimited number of tints, tones, and shades.

Using A Color Wheel

Color wheels do not exist in nature, but are useful in describing the visual relationships between colors.

“Color warmth”- This quality exists only in comparison with another color. Yellows and oranges are considered the warmest (most like sunlight). Blues and blue violets are considered cooler. But a greenish blue may seem warmer, in context, than a violet blue.

Neutral colors- Technically, black , white and gray are not considered colors; practically, they are useful and necessary colors.

Primary colors- In working with pigments (paints and dyes), red, yellows, and blue (or cyan, yellow, and magenta) are the only three colors that can not be mixed by combining two other pigments.

Secondary colors- Orange, Green, and Violet are created by mixtures of two primaries.

Black- If our pigments were perfect colors, you could mix black by combining the three primary colors.

“Mud”- This is what you get when you mix three primaries red + yellow + blue (or by using any combination of those pigments.) However, these muddy or subdued or dulled colors- much better to call them “Tones”- are invaluable.

Using Colors Together

Complementary colors- Any two colors opposite each other on the color wheel. Red/Green; Orange/Blue; Yellow/Violet; Blue-green; red-orange, etc.

Analogous colors- any 3-4 colors adjacent to each other–Orange, red-orange, red, red-violet

Monochromatic- Variations of one color

Triad- Three colors an equal distance apart on the wheel. Exciting color combinations may be discovered when the colors used are not exactly equidistant–a “skewed” triad. Suggestion: Use one of the colors in purer, cleaner form–pure and/or tints/–and the other 2 in subdued or grayed form–tones and shades. Brown for example is a shade of orange (a variety of oranges, actually), beige and tan are tones of orange, while peach is more of a tint. Combine these with almost any other colors on the wheel.

Three “Rules” to Remember

1. Every quilt should include some “grays” (i.e. some tones-subdued colors)

2. If the values are right, the colors will work (even when they are wildly “unrealistic”-provided you’ve also used less saturated colors.)

3. Small amounts of cleaner brighter and warmer colors will give a quilt sparkle; small amounts of cleaner, cooler colors in the shadows will add vibrancy to your colors.

©1997 Lily M. Kerns

I live in Canberra Australia in one of the suburbs that was hit by the firestorm on January 18 2003. This was a small crazy quilt I made in response to the fires.

The quilt is divided into 4 strips. Starting left to right, the first represents the day of the fires, the second is the debris of houses the day after. This section was worked from a photograph that I took of our next door neighbours shed floor. In the weeks afterwards we had a false autumn as stressed trees dropped their leaves this is the third section.The last section represents the mounds of wood chip produced as what was left of the burnt forest was felled. There are 4 crosses in the quilt and four panels as 4 people died a horrible death, nearly 500 houses were lost, 2000 gardens were lost, a forest with its wild life was lost and Canberra was changed forever.

Stitches are chaotic in the early strips as life was just that, and as the clean up progressed the stitches become more controlled falling into an expected pattern as life gradually returned to normal.

There are a few images online taken during that period. There was a painful exquisite beauty in some of the textures. Sometimes pain is not what was lost, but what remains. For those who are unaware of the fires here is some eye witness accounts of the day and a news report just afterwards

Measuring 70cm x 70cm (27 x 27 inches) the wall quilt is titled “Safe as Houses” because in the face of nature we are not. It was completed in 2004.

. Remember that quilts like the same environment as humans. Do not store quilts in unheated areas, in plastic bags, or in high humidity. Attics, garages, and basements are a no-no.

2. Really think twice about wet-washing a quilt. Irreparable damage can occur, especially to antique quilts.

3. Wear gloves when handling old quilts to protect YOURSELF from possible surface contaminants.

4. In hanging a quilt, old or new, make sure that it is adequately supported. No push pins, please!

5. Do not leave quilts hanging vertically for a long time. Every 3-6 months, let them rest for the same amount of time they have hung vertically.

6. Never fold a quilt or textile the same way every time. Insert padding in the folds. Polyester batting is an inert substance that will not damage the quilt. Acid-free, lignin-free, archival tissue paper can be purchased from Gaylord or other archival supply companies. Fold it, accordion style, to stuff into the folds.

7. Dry cleaning utilizes chemicals that are potentially carcinogenic. Avoid dry cleaning any quilts. The solvent will saturate the batting and remain inside.

8. Hang quilts in interior spaces, not on outside walls of your home, to help prevent mildew from forming on the reverse side, from changes in temperature and humidity.

9. Paint wood surfaces and seal them with two coats of polyacrylic before letting them come in contact with quilts or textiles. Another barrier for preventing wood acid migration is aluminum foil. When storing a quilt in a box, wrap the outside of the folded quilt in de-sized muslin, available at the source indicated in my book, Straight Talk About Quilt Care.

10. Replace acid-free tissue as soon as it yellows, or as soon as a ph indicator pen shows that the paper has regained an unacceptable level of acidity.

Above all, enjoy your quilt!

More tips are available in the book, Straight Talk About Quilt Care, formerly a hard cover book published by Quilter’s Muse Publications, Concord, NH. And now available free online.

The new three-story, 36,000 square foot, building will house the world’s largest collection of more than 2,300 quilts and an international study center dedicated to the research, preservation and display of important quilts from cultures around the world. The $12 million facility is privately funded through contributions to the University of Nebraska Foundation, including a lead gift from the Robert and Ardis James Foundation of Chappaqua, N.Y.

In addition to the Ardis and Robert James Collection of antique and contemporary studio art quilts, the collection also includes the Cargo Collection of African American Quilts, and the Jonathan Holstein Collection, which includes the seminal Whitney Collection and an unparalleled group of Pennsylvania Amish quilts.

The architects have designed an environmentally responsible building on track for Silver-level certification in the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, the nation’s benchmark for high performance green buildings.

A Virtual Quilt Gallery will be available at the new IQSC (and also online). It will provide multimedia, interactive experiences for visitors of all ages. Individuals may design a quilt, inspect details of quilts from the thousands of archived images and videotape their own quilt stories on topics including family memories, artistic inspiration, technical challenges and historical facts. Visitors will be able to share their experiences via e-mail.

The museum will contain public galleries and meeting spaces, work areas dedicated to research, and climate-controlled storage areas for the center’s expanding collection.

The International Quilt Study Center was founded in 1997 when native Nebraskans Ardis and Robert James donated their collection of nearly 950 quilts to the university. It has since become the largest public collection of its kind. It currently holds more than 2,300 quilts, and its four major collections were last valued between $8 million and $9 million.

A graduate program in textile history with an emphasis in quilt studies has been created: the only program of its kind in the world.

“Our program is unique,” said Patricia Crews, quilt center director. “We encourage important quilt scholarship and nurture the appreciation of quilts as an art form while helping to reveal their cultural history. Our interdisciplinary program encourages the study and appreciation of quilts both as aesthetic objects and as cultural artifacts, celebrating their beauty and importance to social and economic history.”

For more information about the International Quilt Study Center, visit the website.

Perhaps one of the greatest skills of African Americans before they were liberated from their shackles of slavery was the art of textile weaving. However, this was an ability that was not well known as historians lent their focus to their languages, practices and religious beliefs. Initially men would uphold the tradition of textile weaving, however after the Africans were sold as laborers on American soil, many things changed.

African American slaves were made to work plantation lands for their slave masters in order to supply the world’s demand for crops such as sugar, tobacco, indigo, rice and many more. The Africans were over worked and inhumanely treated. Thus somewhere during this process the men no longer adhered to the tradition of weaving African American Quilts. This was now taken up by the women.

Due to the slave trade their textiles were also bartered heavily throughout the Caribbean, Central America, and the Southern United States. Thus the traditions of each distinct region became intermixed. So when early African American quilting became a tradition it was already a combination of textile traditions reflecting the artistic expression of African aesthetic, religious and cultural traditions.

Buying an African American Quilt illustrates one’s appreciation for cultural history. In the days of slavery African American Quilts were used as methods of communication. Many of the abolitionists would weave maps and star points that would serve as guides to slaves so that they could free themselves of their oppressive masters. Several quilts also demonstrate a fusion of cultures from the Africans who were traded to Caribbean and South American plantation owners. This synchronisation of culture and religious practices were also demonstrated in their artistic expressions on these quilts.

Other African American quilts tell of their religious practices and beliefs. For instance the use of shapes such as diamonds and circles symbolized life stages, with the points of the diamond for instance representing birth, growth, death, and re-birth. These African weavers who believed in the existence of evil spirits also used these quilts as a manner of expressing this and often creating distractions for the spirits.

African American Quilts were perhaps not given the due credit as a form of artistic expression that came from the African who was enslaved. Investing in an African American Quilt means that the owner appreciates the talent and artistic representation of these people.

For more interesting tidbits on African American history visit http://www.allmattersafrican.com/ a website offering views and topical resources on issues such as African American quilters, African food and even African American art.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sarah_H

The following quidelines for collectors may be helpful for collecting crafts, collectibles, and ethnic artifacts. Collecting different categories of artifacts can be very exciting; for example, combining antique quilts with contemporary art quilts or with ethnic crafts.

1. Go for the challenge. The fun is in the hunt. Collecting on a budget can be more fun than working with unlimited funds.

2. Do the collecting yourself. You’ll learn in the doing and it’s much more fun than getting someone to do it for you.

3. Explore what it is you really like. Learn before you spend your money by reading and talking to collectors and dealers, and look, look, look.

4. Buy for the love of the work, never for appreciation or investment.

5. Evolve. Know that your taste will change as you grow and learn. At some point in time, you may edit, trade, give away, or change your collecting focus.

6. Try to specialize. You can specialize in a medium or a style. Specialization will enable you to more fully explore and learn. But, don’t lose the sense of fun.

7. Learn how to care for and store the artwork. Remember, we don’t own anything; we are merely caretakers for the next generation.

8. Don’t fret if you can’t afford works by established, nationally known artists. Forge your own territory. It’s OK to begin with small pieces. You’ll develop experience.

9. Be willing to look outside the usual venues for yet undiscovered values and unknowns.

10. Collecting is a long term process, so relax and enjoy every step.

Adapted from a presentation by Bruce W. Pepich, at a Sculpture Objects and Functional Art (SOFA). Pepich is Executive Director and Curator of Collections at the Art Museum, a sister museum of the Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts in Racine, WI, where, since 1981, he has nurtured the contemporary craft collection at the museums.