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    HEARD 'ROUND THE HALL 

 

2017 vol 2 (Spring)    

Arizona Quilters Hall of Fame, Inc. Newsletter
The Arizona Quilters Hall of Fame (AZQHoF) celebrates and honors the contribution of Arizonans to quiltmaking and educates the public about quilt making, its history and artisans.  Please visit our web site to find out more.              
   http://arizonaquiltershalloffame.org
In This Issue
President's Message
Featured Quilter
Arizona Quilt Documentation
History Corner
Ask Miss Stitcher
2017
 Board
of Directors



President
Jan Hackett
Queen Creek

Treasurer
Deb Scott
Sierra Vista

Secretary
vacant

Mary Lucille
Chandler

Jan Pederson
Globe    
Our Organizational Friends

Arizona Quilt Study Group

Arizona Quilters Guild

CJ Quilts

Country Register

Gail Van Horsen

Hummingbird Stitchers  Quilt Guild

Imma Quilter

Barbara Polston

Rim Country Quilt Roundup 
 
Quick Links...
 
Join Our Mailing List
Quilting 
Calendar
 
JUNE 2-3
Mountain Top Quilters Show Prescott

JUNE 9-10
Strawberry Patchers Quilts Show
Pine/Strawberry

JULY
Patchwork Pleasures Quilt Guild Show
Snowflake

JULY
Pleasant Valley Days Quilt Show
Flagstaff

AUG 3
Card Tricks Quilt Show
Pinetop

AUG
Alpine Quilt Show
Alpine
  
Special Note: We plan to publish our newsletter 4 times each year. Look for  Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall editions!
Please help us expand our readership by sharing with your quilting friends. Just click "Forward e-mail" at the bottom of the page!
President's Message


                                      
      It has been such a beautiful spring this year. The deserts are alive with new life. The mountains have had plenty of moisture and are ready to give us the gift of a beautiful summer in the cooler parts of the state. As quilters, we love the colors and variety that each of the seasons bring to us and hope that many will find a great source for your creativity in this wonderful treasure we call Arizona.
      While you are working on your creativity in quilt making, we hope you will take some time to consider the people in your quilt world that inspire you and help to make your quilting experience enlightening, organized, and fulfilling. Several of these quilters have been nominated for induction into the Arizona Quilters Hall of Fame. Friends of Arizona Quilters Hall of Fame will soon receive ballots to vote on the Class of 2017.
      The date and location for the 2017 Annual Induction Luncheon is set for Sunday, September 24th at 12:00 PM. The event will be held at the DoubleTree by Hilton, located at Priest and Broadway in Tempe, Arizona. Save the date by marking you calendars today.
      More news! We are excited to celebrate our 10th Anniversary by holding Sew-Ins to create quilts to donate to CASA, an organization dedicated to helping children in foster care. (You can learn more about this special program below)
We encourage all of you to participate in a group or individually to this worthy effort.
                                               Happy Quilting, Jan
 
It's Our 10th Anniversary!




Our Featured Quilters
are
our Recent
Hall of Fame Award Winners
Congratulations to All!! 
 
       
Dorthy Goulding received the 2017 AZQHF Award at the Hummingbird Stitchers' Quilts of the Huachucas Show in Sierra Vista
 
                            
Mary Anne Strauss from Valley Quilters Guild of Green Valley.
        ONLY ELEPHANTS SHOULD WEAR IVORY    20x25
"This quilt represents two dreams come true: seeing elephants in the wild and learning how to thread paint their pictures.
I took this elephant's photo while on a Serengeti Safari in Tanzania in 2011. She was right at the end of our vehicle!
 It is printed onto cotton broadcloth, then free motion thread painted and machine quilted on my Viking Sapphire 830. Two layers of wool batting created the trapunto effect of the tusks. I started this quilt during a workshop with Jennifer Day."        
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Kay Ratcliff's quilt  "Jack and Jill" received the 2017 AZQHF Award at the Delightful Quilters' Pieces of Friendship  Show in Globe 
 
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 Swan Sheridan received the 2017     AZQHF Award at the Tucson Quilters  Guild's Quilt Fiesta Show.
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Dane Reiner received the 2017 AZQHF Award at the Coconino County Fair in Flagstaff
 
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The 2017 AZQHF Award winner from the AQG Show was
Kathy O'Brien.  "Moonlit Garden" is 77x77 and was quilted by Penny Boese. Inspired by "The Last Days" pattern by Roxi Eppler Hardegree in the book "From The Cover" (Quilter's Newsletter),  Kathy designed the border to enlarge it.
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 Kathy Nothelfer received the 2017 AZQHF Award at the
Sun City Festival Quilting Bees 
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Kay Parch received the 2017 AZQHF Award at the Pine Needlers Show in Heber-Overgaard 

Beverly Bespalko received the 2017 AZQHF Award at the Cotton Patchers Show 
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Karin Scanlon's quilt "Inner Dialogue" received the 2017 AZQHF Award at the Red Rock Quilters of Sedona's Tracks in the Desert Quiltfest.  According to Karin,   
 "This symbol is usually seen in a circular format.  It is said to
represent a person's journey through life and is part of the Tohono O'odham creation story.  Similar mazes can be found all over the world and are part of many different cultural traditions.  Although the design appears to be a maze, it is actually a unicursal figure with only one path.  If one follows the path one goes around the entire maze along all of the turquoise lines until one reaches the center."
Arizona Quilt Documentation Project  
A Bit of Historical Crazy-ness
by Sue Franklin
After our January break, February was business as usual with continuing education by Sue on Crazy quilts. Usually we think of Crazies belonging to the late 1800s, but the Maryland Historical Society acquired a Kaleidoscope quilt dated 1834. However, in the last quarter of the 19th century, a new form of needlework swept the country via books, magazines, and advertising. In short order, the new concoction, called a Crazy, was everywhere! It became the epitome of elegance.
 
There were no rules; quilters went wild with "crazy" patches and lovely needlework to hold their choices together. This method was so different from the past's precise needlework. Some crazies were contained, as within squares surrounded by sashing and cornerstones. Most were not. The majority were pieced on a foundation, while others were not.
 
                  
Varied fabrics were used; silks, wool, velvets, cotton, artificial, or a mix. The oldest Crazies were pieced and embellished by hand, although women with a sewing machine were "proud" to use them. On some Crazies, painted and embroidered flowers, odd little figures, pictures of children, musical scores, letters, and dates fill every available open space. For some makers, in the words of Wordsworth, "enough is always a little bit more."        
 
Sue Franklin's Crazy Crib Quilt

BUT, did all this really begin in the 1800s? The answer is no. Centuries earlier, the Crazy was made as a garment. Venice's Carnival, said to have originated in 1162, contains a Harlequin, a magical character dressed in a colorful patched costume. This is one of the earliest examples of the "crazy" style. The Jester of the Middle Ages also has a similar appearance in his clothing. Additionally, Japanese nobility donned Crazy patched clothing on occasion. Penny McMorris, author of Crazy Quilts, an early 20th century offering, maintains that a Crazy quilt is the earliest known quilt pattern.
                                   *****************
A recently documented quilt from the Tucson QDP Team:
Hummingbird, a Kathy Hansen family quilt

NEWS AND NOTES from the Phoenix Metro QDP Team
By Lenna DeMarco
 
The AZ Quilt Documentation Project continues on it steady march of seeking out and documenting the quilts of Arizona. Groups from around the state are holding public Quilt Documentation Days as well as documenting the quilts from members of their groups. Individuals have documented and submitted the information on their own quilts. Most of the state history museums have had their collections recorded. To date, there are over 5000 quilts from the Arizona Collection on the Quilt Index.
 
The Metro Team has been busy with the close of the holidays. Team leader Lynn Miller did a training session for quilters in Globe. The full team visited the quilters in Sun City Fiesta for a training session. At both events enthusiasm was high and quilters were excited to incorporate quilt documentation in their guilds.   Most of the quilts documented were contemporary quilts made by the owners. It is so satisfying to see quilters eyes light up when they begin to record the story of their quilts and realize that the information on their quilts will soon be available to scholars, researchers and quilt enthusiasts all over the world. They are even more excited with the knowledge that this information will be available on the internet for future generations. "Grandma's Quilt" takes on a whole new meaning and importance.
Here are a few more Arizona quilts recently added to the Quilt Index:
    
  
Shades of Escher 
 
 
Trip Around the World.

Star of the Mountain
 
History Corner
  by Lenna deMarco 
"Sentimental Favorite - Mountain Mist"
By Lenna DeMarco
 
In today's quilting world we are practically overwhelmed with batting choices. From polyester to cotton, from wool to bamboo, from high loft to low, everyone has their favorite. It's hard to keep up with all the new innovations in batting. But for most quilt makers there is one brand that is familiar to all - Mountain Mist. For 150 years Stearns and Foster has provided quilters with a reliable and affordable batting that for many was the first they ever purchased. Mountain Mist has a long and colorful history and one that is closely tied with the story of quilt making in America.
 
Commercial batting has been available in America since the turn of the 19th century. Like today, it was offered in a range of materials and quality. In 1849 George Sterns and Seth Foster listened to their wives complaints about the batting they were using in their church quilting bee. Sterns and Foster had established a textile company in Cincinnati in 1846 that produced cotton wadding. Responding to their wives' needs, they began experimenting on a cotton bale and produced the first cotton batting with a Glazene Finish. The success of this batting allowed them to maintain dominance in batting production well into the 20th century. Mountain Mist is still produced in Cincinnati over 150 years later.
          
                                     Mountain Mist c1960 
By the late 1920s, as the Great Depression began to impact most of America, Mountain Mist, wrapped in a bright red and blue paper wrapper, created a marketing ploy that made it the most successful batting of the 20th century.   In a stroke of marketing genius they included a free pattern inside each wrapper. Quilters across America rushed to buy Mountain Mist eagerly anticipating a new pattern in each purchase. Not only traditional but newly designed patterns could be found printed in scale with full directions and color suggestions inside each roll. When quilters thought "batting" they thought "Mountain Mist". Additionally, the company sponsored national quilt contests, block design contests and new full quilt design competitions. These continued into the 1990s. During the two major quilt revivals of the 20th century Mountain Mist was one of the leaders.
 
Quilt history fans and collectors eagerly seek early Mountain Mist wrappers. Hundreds of different patterns were printed. Some collectors pursue the quilts created from Mountain Mist patterns. In 2016, the International Quilt Study Center presented an exhibit, "Inside the Wrapper" that displayed their collection of quilts made from the Mountain Mist patterns and explored the impact Mount Mist has had on quilt making. Books by and about Mountain Mist, vintage batting and quilt contest ephemera are all prized by the serious collector.
                       Mountain Mist c2017 - still going strong! 
 
Mountain Mist quilt batting is still available in most fabric and quilt shops. Now wrapped in a plastic bag with blue and green printing, the logo remains a familiar one. Still reliable, still affordable, Mountain Mist continues to be a staple of the quilting world.   Images and information about Mountain Mist patterns is readily available on line and is a favorite topic of many bloggers. The next time you go to an antique store or look through Grandma's quilts, look a little closer. You might just have a Mountain Mist pattern quilt and a little piece of American history.
 
                              >>>>>><<<<<<<< 
Ask Luce Bobbins!
  Dear Luce,
I recently joined a local quilt guild and I am amazed at all they offer their members! Quilt teachers, outside speakers, pot-lucks, challenges and round robins - not to mention charity sewing bees. We meet in a lovely space. My question is: How can we afford this?
 
Delighted Danica
 
Danica,
If you are happy with your choice, who cares? (Ooops. Don't mean to be cheeky.) This group sounds amazing and I am happy you found it.
 
Perhaps the best person to ask would be the guild's treasurer. He or she should be able to put your mind at ease about the finances. You may be surprised by the various sources of moola.
 
But, since you're new, maybe asking now is a bit uncomfortable. You can wait awhile to ask or befriend a member may be in the know. It's been my experience that a busy group like your guild often fund their activities in several ways. Among them:
Dues - your annual (and often nominal) contribution to the guild's "pot".
  • "Tag" or Clean Out Your Sewing Room sales - members bring the unwanted/unneeded/ un/loved, "what-was-I-thinking" items and offer them at ridiculous prices with part or all proceeds going to the treasury.
  • Opportunity Quilts - A quilt made by one of more of the members that is offered raffle-style. You will often see these at quilt shows and other gatherings.
  • Craft Fair - Member-made handbags, totes, cosmetic bags and quilts vended at local artisan gatherings.
  • Mini-grants - Some guilds are really chapters of a much larger organization like the Arizona Quilters Guild. Member chapters can apply for monies to be used for charity projects. Yes, paperwork and forms are involved but for the $100 or $200 available, the effort is surely rewarded.
Thanks for asking, Danica. Enjoy your group and maybe bring a friend to join in the fun!
 
Fondly,
                               
Luce Bobbins