Speaking of the swing of things, we'd like to make charity sewing days, like the one Pam R hosted, a regular thing. The Pine Needle can accommodate small groups in the lounge and has started a sign up sheet for an informal sew afternoon that will meet prior to next month's meeting. Quilts made will be donated to CARES NW.
Also back for another year will be our challenge! At this year's Expo, our Tribal Winds exhibit was shown alongside an informative display of PNW Native American history and culture from the Historical Society. The combination was very well received, so we'd like to do something similar for 2017. Our theme will be "Then & Now" which we hope to pair with something from the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center. Lori and Lily have already volunteered to organize a field trip to the center for inspiration. Our challenge will be to take an older quilt -- perhaps from your family or collection -- and interpret it in a modern way. There will be no size restrictions. Stay tuned for more details in the new year.
Our speaker this month was Lori Friedman, who spoke about her work with the Oregon Quilt Project. The Project was started in 2009 by Martha Sparks and Bill Volkening and reorganized in 2012 as a project of the Willamette Heritage Center with a 10 year mission to train local museums on how to document the quilts in their collections, and to document quilts in private collections in Oregon.
Lori brought a fantastic crazy quilt she found at a thrift store many years ago and used it to illustrate how The Oregon Quilt Project documents things like the provenance of the quilt, it's design, colors, size, etc. Lori brought a few reference books and a collection of vintage fabrics and blocks which she uses to help date quilts. The documentation the Project creates gets added to the national Quilt Index, and given to the quilt's owner.
Lori strongly encourages everyone to label their quilts with at minimum a date and name for the benefit of future "quilt detectives" like her. If you would like to take it a step further and register a family quilt, or otherwise special quilt, with the Project, click on the link above and call the phone number to find out when and where the next documentation day is.
After Lori's engaging talk was Show and Tell. First up was Darlene who brought a quilt with a fun story. After purchasing fabric for a quilt, her daughter thought no, it needed to be a different color. Darlene used the rejected fabric to test out this Twisted Sister block, and wouldn't you know it, once finished her daughter loved the quilt and wants it back!
After investing much brain power into her Tribal Winds quilt, Deslie was ready for something quick and easy, so she used aboriginal Australian fabric recently added to her stash to add excitement to simple blocks and create a simple but satisfying quilt.
Cathy E brought a work in progress (WIP) which could be perfect for our upcoming Then & Now exhibit! She's taken a traditional basket block from a Baltimore Album quilt and deconstructed it. We know that Cathy does amazing machine quilting, so we are all waiting excitedly to see how she transforms those temporary blue likes with intense stitch.
Marjorie shared her beautiful Tribal Winds Heron quilt inspired by Susan Carlson's book.
Linda B also shared her Tribal Winds quilt, this one inspired by petroglyphs in the Columbia Gorge.
Robin S shared her dramatic peacock quilt made with The Big Easy pattern for her daughter, initially as a wedding gift but sped up to become an engagement gift.
Finally, Lisa G brought her modern churn dash quilt which she had with her in order to find backing fabric, but was encouraged by the group to share!
Thank you to everyone for coming and sharing your inspiring work. We look forward to seeing everyone again in November -- on the last Wednesday of the month.
