More Words . . . About the Infinite Variety Exhibit

If Joanna Rose's red & white quilts have captured your imagination, you might want to read what others have had to say:

Simon Schama in the Financial Times
James Barron in the New York Times
Katherine Clarke in the Wall Street Journal
Marlon Bishop on WNBC
Lizzie Crocker in The Daily Beast
Angela Riechers in Metropolis Magazine
Samuel Parker in The Last Magazine
Alice Dana Spencer in Handeye Magazine
Martha Stewart on The Martha Blog
Paddy Johnson on Art Fag City
James Andrew on What is James Wearing
BWW News Desk on Broadway World.com

I believe the exhibit will turn out to have an important impact on quilts and quilt exhibits, both because of the wonderful exhibit design and the treatment of these sometimes quite simply made quilts as art.

Speaking of exhibit design,  since I've been home, I've read that the circular nature of the pavillions created as part of the exhibit are a nod to the quilting circles and bees, also more literally represented by the chairs, draped with quilts at the center of the show.  I like that idea.

Words on Quilts

I love words on quilts and, apparently, so does Joanna Rose, as there were many quilts with words as well as signature quilts from her collection in Infinite Variety.

Many people stood looking up at this quilt for a while, puzzling out it's meaning ... happily satisfied when they saw the names, pieced from small hexagons inside the larger ones.

Here are a couple more of my photos of a couple of the word quilts and signature quilts from the show (as usual, click for a larger image)

On the redwork quilt on the left, names are embroidered on the embroidered blades of a fan–just like one you might have had as a child (I did).

On the detail photo of the "signed" schoolhouse quilt below right, it was interesting to see how some blocks only had a few names and others, like you can see, were covered with names on both the red and white areas of the block.

 

I think all the young, modern quilters must have especially loved all the "hexie" quilts in the collection.  The quilt below was constructed completely from itty bitty hexagons, even the big white background areas.

 

(last photo from the iPhone app, because I had to include it ;-)

How They Did It

 

If you are curious about how the display for Infinite Variety was created, the American Folk Art Museum has photos–of which this is one–posted on Flickr here:  "Infinite Variety" Installation Shots

As you can see in the foreground of this photo, each "row" was hung and then the quilts were raised and the next "row" added.  Notice the crane being used in the background, too.

It must have been amazing to watch this all come together.

It's Here

I just installed the iPhone app.

It looks and works just like the HD version available for the iPad.

It's free and I can't imagine a quilter or quilt appreciator who wouldn't enjoy it.

There are individual photos of all the quilts in this amazing show–I know, I know, I promise to stop gushing about it soon ;-)

The individual quilt pages look like this.  You click the image to make it full screen and can zoom in further using standard iPhone/iPad gestures.

I'm thinking with this on my phone, I will never be bored standing in line again . . .

To find it, go to the iTunes store and search for Infinite Variety.



Your search results will include this:

 

We did ask the techies at the show and, sorry, no plans to produce a version for android devices :-(

I wish I thought of it ...

This photo, isn't one of mine.  I found it on the Park Avenue Armory website. 

I wish I had thought about laying down on the wooden floor of the Armory and looking up like this ... and taking a photo, of course ;-)

Tomorrow is the last day of the exhibit.  If you can go, GO.  It's worth the trip.

Flour Sacks!

It is probably because I am working on my own quilt from patterned, vintage feed sacks, Road trip to the 1930's, that this quilt really caught my eye at the Infinite Variety show.



In this redwork quilt, each block is made from a flour sack with the company name and logo, carefully embroidered by the quiltmaker.

 

I thought it might be fun to try a couple of these as designs myself, so I took a few detail photos of my favorites. 





Do you recognize any of these brands?  My friend says that Carnation is still using this logo.

Look Up

At the Infinite Variety exhibit, you saw a lot of people that were looking up, just like the man that stepped into my frame just as I was taking this photo. The quilts were arranged in cylinder-like pavillions, hung back to back, 3-5 quilts high, with enough space between them, that you could also see the quilts beyond in other pavillions.

Here is a view, from the inside of one pavillion, looking up.

 

You could walk around the outside of these large cylinder shapes to see the quilts on the exterior and then go inside to see the interior quilts.

There were no labels, no quilt names, no quilters' names (except as they appeared as part of the design), no artist statements. Only the quilts.

It was interesting to notice the taste of the collector.  For example, although these quilts spanned three centuries, there were very few political or patriotic quilts--my non-quilting friend kept looking for a "flag quilt."  

I will be blogging about some of my favorites in the next few days.  You can see my photos in the flickr photoset Infinite Variety.

If you have an iPad, grab the (free) Infinite Variety app.  It has individual photos of all the quilts. There is also an app for the iPhone which hasn't yet been released to the app store.

Incredible!

If you saw the promotional postcard, did you think they were really going to hang the quilts ... like this?

This is the view as you walked through the doors of the exhibit space at the Armory on Park Avenue in NYC. It was the most inventive, creative, AMAZING display of quilts I've ever experienced.

How Green is my ... Design Wall

I haven't made time to quilt in so long, so National Quilting Day seemed to be a good reason to dip into my scraps and get busy.

First, I cut and sewed triangles and made more scrappy stars in shades of the designated color for March, green. I want to make more, but the five star blocks on the left side are a start.

Then I pulled out my cream/tan scraps and made six inch 9-patches and two inch 4-patches and some strips to put them together into single chain and knot blocks–alternate blocks for a sampler quilt that I am now almost ready to put together.

Then I cut more green and cream scraps, combined them with some other colors and made some sample blocks for the April Block Lotto ... which I can't share until April 1.

I hope I'll find time before the end of the month to make more stars, more crumb blocks and . . . maybe make green and cream doll quilt.

Edited to add ... it's all Julie's fault.  I saw the leftover green bits on her wall and started playing with mine.  It's 11 inches square right now ... I'm not sure if it's done (mug rug?) or if it will grow into that doll quilt.

Right now, I'm thinking it could be interesting on-point with some applique setting squares and more--yes I have more leftover--4 patches.

What is on your design wall? Check out more design walls at Judy Laquidera's blog Patchwork Times.

The rest of the red scrap projects

Put a short February and the Flu together and ... well, I feel like I didn't accomplish much with my red scraps for the rainbow scraps challenge.  But now that March is here, I can share my scrappy red and white lotto blocks.

I almost thought these disappearing 4-patch blocks were a too easy choice for the lotto ... but I decided that anyone who hasn't tried the "disappearing" technique, really ought to be exposed to it, if only so that if they ever need to make a quilt quilt, they'll have this as an option.

Can't wait to see what color March brings ...

15 Minute Challenge

The challenge was to make a 15 minutes of play-style block using stripes, plaids and polka-dots.  Since a few red scraps were left, guess where I started?

 

. . . and guess what I discovered is lacking in my stash?  I think when I go to the Dallas show next month, I'll be looking to add some STRIPES to my stash ;-) 

Seeing RED on my design wall

Friday night's FNSI was a Friday night SICK-IN for me--I was down for the count with the flu all of Friday and most of Saturday. Yesterday, I was upright, but not up for leaving the apartment, so I cut more red triangles from the scraps I found in the bottom of the project box and made 8 more scrappy hearts, for a total of 13. I added some black squares to the red squares and made six 16-patch blocks and . . . from the bits and pieces left over, I pieced a dozen red crumb blocks.

At this point, my red scrap bin contains more pinks than anything else.  I'm counting that as a victory.

The 16-patch blocks will probably become a tote like this one; not sure yet how the crumb blocks will be used.

Saturday night--when I started to feel human again--I sewed together the last of the road trip blocks I need from the feed sacks.

Next up, getting started on the applique on the setting triangles for all those feed sack blocks. I haven't made such a traditional quilt in ... maybe forever. It doesn't feel like me, but it's interesting and fun to think about making a quilt like one that might have been made by a quilter in the 30's or 40's from her collected feed sacks.

See more design walls by following the links at the bottom of Judy's Design Wall Monday post.

It's out of the project box

. . . and finally back on the design wall.  Appropriate project to spend Valentine's day with, don't you think?

Friends from the block lotto community have been sending me rose blocks to help and I think I have enough to get serious about finishing this one. This isn't all the words, but I wanted to put as much as I could on my temporary design wall to see if I still like the idea of words and roses.

When I pulled out the project box and unpacked the blocks made ... look what I found in the bottom–more red (and pink) scraps!

I think I will need to make a few more words or phrases, enough roses to fill in-between and to form the border, but ... I see a lot of these found scraps becoming triangles for more scrappy stars.

Follow the links at the bottom of Judy's Design Wall Monday post to see more quilter's design wall.

It's a Start

Tonight I made the first five red scrappy stars . ..  I couldn't resist pulling out a few of the blue ones to see how they will look together.

 

It's going to be fun to add new colors into the mix as the year goes on.

Scrap Challenge Saturday

This little stuffed heart is one of the things I made from my red strings. It will become a pin, I think, but could also hand on a bag or be used as a pin cushion.

You can find step-by-step photos and directions on flickers here: Heart Pin Step-by-Step. I plan to put together more thorough (and printable) directions . . .  someday.

The rest of my red strings from last week were made into fiber postcard valentines. I still enjoy a bit of child-like awe over how you can stick a stamp on a fiber postcard and it almost always arrives at its destination unscathed.

I used a lot of red scraps in a bunch of sample lotto blocks for March--since I've already given everyone a heads up that we'll be using red fabrics, I can share the corners of the blocks I've made . . .

. . . come back on March 1 to see how great the blocks turned out ;-)

I wanted to do red and white blocks in March in a nod toward the Folk Art Museum's exhibition of red and white quilts that will be taking place in New York, Infinitie Variety: 3 Centures of red and White Quilts.  (If you're going, I'll be the one wearing the little stuffed heart pin ;-)

Although the next project didn't begin as a red scraps project (the cover heart is one of the bonus blocks from the string hearts), I used 2 red fabrics from my red scraps bin for the inside and pockets and some red wool felt scraps for the felt leaves.  I have published directions for making the small hand-sewing kit here: My Portable Hand-sewing Kit.

I haven't yet pulled the red and white project from my packed away UFOs–I still hope to quilt and bind it this month–but I have started cutting triangles to make more scrappy stars.  I'll be taking them with me to UFO night at the Honey Bee tonight.

Value is very important when putting the stars together and I had a hard time finding enough "lights" for these blocks.  I broke the Rainbow Scrap Challenge rules this month and used a few pinks and creams to make it work.

While I was cutting triangles, I also cut a stack of some small squares.  I have an idea for one more red scraps project this month.  They'll probably come along tonight and be sewn into 16-patch blocks.

You can check out what everyone else is making from their red scraps by following the links at the bottom of the So scrappy Scrap Happy Saturday blog post.

For the Birds

On way the way home from work yesterday, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things.

As I was walking across the parking lot and into the building, I felt a little like an extra in the a certain Hitchcock classic.

Many of the birds flew away before I snapped this (bad) photo on my phone . . . none came swooping in my direction.  The rest waited for their opportunity.

Friday Night Sew In - February 18

For the past few months, the Friday Night Sew In (FNSI) has coincided with another quilting activity–a workshop or UFO night at the Honey Bee Quilt Store.  But, this month's FNSI–next week on February 19–I have no commitments or other plans and will be spending some ALONE time with a quilting project–probably the Road Trip to the 1930's feed sack quilt.  I'm already looking forward to racing home Friday after work and spending a creative night at home.

Want to join me in this virtual Sew-in?  You can sign up here.

Progress Report

I made another dozen blocks from the feed sacks during the super bowl ... and made a few more in the evenings. I have less than a dozen to go.  It was time to get them on the (temporary) design wall so I could really see them together.

I didn't spend any time arranging the blocks, but I know I will torment myself with it when it comes time to put the blocks together because of the blend-y nature of most of them--I can tell already I will either have to embrace that characteristic or work really hard to avoid the effect.

I have also been doing some research into typical 30's applique (of the more simplistic variety) and found a simple flower that I'll applique on the setting triangles.  I made a quick trip during my lunch hour yesterday to buy some solids in 30's reproduction colors. It was kind of amazing to put the modern solids next to the vintage feedsack fabrics and see how they were an exact color match.

Nancie V named her quilt design "Road Trip." I've come to think of my quilt as a Road Trip to the 1930's. I find myself imagining a 1930's woman (in my head, she's a farmer's wife) and the design decisions she might have made while making a similar quilt.

I didn't get the temporary wall up in time for Judy's Design Wall Monday ... and so I decided WIP Wednesday was the next best thing. 

What will you do during the Super Bowl?

How are you spending Super Bowl Sunday?

Will you watch?  Will you host a party or go to one?  Will you join one of the many Super Bowl mystery quilts or quilt-a-longs? Have you challenged yourself to make serious progress on a knitting project or a quilt during the course of the game?

I've decided to spend the game focusing on my feed sack blocks and challenging myself to see how many I can make over the course of the game.   I received some extra-special motivation this week from Terri, who shared some of her feed sack fabrics with me.

 

When the BYOS (bring your own stash) group meets this month, I really want to have all my blocks made, so I can spend the time deciding on setting and start working on the piano key borders that I almost certainly will want.

Shifting from Blue to Red

As temperatures climb from the teens to the 50's today, it seems natural to shift from cool blue to red hot scraps, as part of the Rainbow Scraps Challenge.

It seemed like a natural fit to pull a blue UFO out of the trunk and finish it in January and I am ALMOST finished.  I don't know what it is about this quilt, but Grace Hopper (one of my cats) LOVED it and whenever I pulled it out to work on it, she would fly across the room, jump up on my work table, spread out and claim it as her own.  Here, she is helping me mark the plume quilting design on the borders . . . and loudly protesting because I kept rotating it to mark the borders with her on the quilt.

You can see the whole quilt in my Flickr photostream here.  FYI, the quilting is now complete and I plan to bind it this weekend. It's not clear if it will hang on a wall or become Grace's personal kitty quilt.

My blue scraps mug rug is being put to good use in my boring beige office.  It fits perfectly next to my keyboard.

Yes, that is a very oversized cup and saucer--I found it in a thrift show and thought it would be great for soup . . . or a big cup of coffee with a girl scout cookie.

I liked the idea of working on color-coordinated UFOs and after I bind the blue quilt, I will choose a red one to work on this month.

In the meantime, I was excited to start work on some red projects . . . probably because I've been having so much fun with strings that I decided to start there.  I dipped into my big ziplock bag-o-strings and pulled out anything red.

It  doesn't look like many strings, does it?  But it was enough to make two pairs of string blocks, large and small.

I have a couple project design ideas in mind for these (more later). It feels good to have made a start on the red challenge and I haven't even yet used any fabric from my red scrap bin.

 

You can see what others are doing with their red scraps by following the links on today's Scrap Happy Saturday blog post.