Spring 2004 Newsletter
London Quilters Exhibition by Kathy Thiessen
The 2005 London Quilters quilt exhibition is being planned for March 6-19, 2005. We do not have a venue yet (any ideas would be welcome, such as low-priced church halls that are not used during the week or other ideas of venues). We ask all London Quilters to be creating quilts for this event. There will not be a specific theme or size restriction. Although the venue may dictate a restriction on larger bed quilts, we will try hard to avoid this.
In order to raise funds for the exhibition we are planning a sales table at the London Quilters November meeting. Please create gift items for this table to be donated to the cause.
How to make a £35,000 quilt
When Tracey Emin agreed to help a class of 8 year olds make a quilt, she didn't realise she was courting controversy (Observer). And for once it was not part of her confessional subject matter. Emin and Year 4 of Ecclesbourne primary school in Islington made a quilt with funds provided by charity and, in a kind gesture, the artist gave the quilt to the school after the project was completed. But far from treasuring this collaborative effort, the school put the quilt up for auction at Sotheby's at an estimated £35,000. It claimed they couldn't afford to pay £3,000 to have it framed, and anyway it needed the cash. After the intervention of her
gallery and a physical tug of war when her assistant tried to wrest the quilt from the headmistress, Emin has offered to pay for the framing...provided the school keeps the work.
Lucky Raffle Ticket by Margaret Cooter
A few meetings ago I won a prize in the raffle, and want to take this opportunity to thank the unknown London Quilter who donated that prize. It was a book, "Traditional Quilts from Around the World" by Miranda Innes, and it's a delightful book. Published in 1992, it’s still in print, and if you are a traditional quilter or interested in historical quilts, this book should be in your library. It would be a good present for someone who's just discovered quilts and wants to get going on a medium-sized project.
The book centres on "18 easy patchwork, quilting and appliqué projects to make by machine" - but don't let the thought of yet more projects put you off (after all, who needs more UFOs??) - that said, the instructions look to be clear and complete, and the projects eminently manageable, even for the time challenged among us. It's as a reference book that this book comes into its own. The sections introducing each of the projects contain a two-page spread with a succinct exposé of the art form and several sumptuous photos of examples. These circle the globe: Hawaiian appliqué, Ghanaian Ewe cloth, an Australian tailor's quilt, simple Amish shapes, British strippies, French boutis, Japanese sashiko, Pakistani tasseled quilt, Seminole patchwork, Swedish woolen quilt.
As a transplanted Canadian, I was enlightened to see a tradition I'd not been aware of: Canadian shirting quilts. Aha, a catalyst for finally reusing those recycled stripes and plaids (a.k.a. old shirts); obviously, fate has taken a hand by putting this book my way ... it must be time to start a new project ....
CHAIR CHAT
Dear LQ Members,
Spring is here again - the past few days have gone from clear blue skies and trees full of pink blossom to thunder, lightning, and mysteriously blossom- covered cars. It's time to think about summer projects - perhaps some hand-piecing, which can be taken outdoors or on sewing-machine-free holidays. I hope you will also all be thinking about a quilt for our upcoming exhibition. It's a year or so away, which seems a long time now, but it's never too soon to start sewing!
By now many of you will have seen the group quilt, which Tricia has done a beautiful job of assembling. Thanks to everyone who made blocks for it - and especially to Tricia who’s organised the whole thing. I think it's come out really well.
Chair Challenge
Now that the group quilt is finished, it's time for a new Chair Challenge. This one is inspired by my husband, who keeps asking when I'm going to make a quilt for us.
Block Swap: The basic idea here is that everyone makes enough blocks for a lap quilt (in this case, 12 blocks to finish 12" square), and swaps them around, so that you end up with a quilt containing one block made by you and one each by everyone else. Sound complicated? It's not. We'll do it over several months, so you would be making about a block a week.
How it works: I'll take names from now until our June meeting for people who want to swap. When you give your name, you also need to give me a two-colour combination for your quilt. In July, I'll hand out lists of which colour blocks you need to make for each month. (You'll be making blocks in a variety of colours, depending on each participant's individual choices.) We'll swap in September, October, and November, so everyone will have a full set at the AGM. Don't worry if you think you might miss one of these meetings - you can always mail your blocks. Also, if you want to swap but will miss the July meeting, let me know and I'll mail your list.
The block: Any variation on Ohio Star. I'll give out basic piecing instructions along with the lists in July.
How to sign up: Talk to me at the meeting, phone (I've got an answering machine now!) or e-mail. If you e-mail, please put something like "London quilters" or "block swap" in the subject line, in case my hotmail filters stick it in the spam folder.
Happy quilting, Alys Robinson
Within 4 walls: Shelter + Protection + Containment
= Inspiration: an Exhibition by Sandra Meech and Delia Salter by Tricia
Revest
On a blustery April morning I drove through the burgeoning trees of the Thames Valley to Henley to see this dual exhibition held in a small exhibition centre. A very pleasant venue, a bit like a smaller version of Chequers Mead, with a high vault and lots of natural light. This was an excellent space in which to study the work of two quilters whom members will know quite well. The room was hung with about 30 quilts with Sandra’s on one side and Delia’s on the other.
Many of you will remember Sandra’s luminous blue quilts inspired by her trip to the Arctic. There was one here called In Retreat, which again gives the wonderful feel of ice and light but there are also many other textures and surfaces explored. Within these Walls incorporates photo transfers of a church interior, stained glass and ironwork, whilst other parts of the quilt explore the fine details of the stonework . A series of long panels, hung side by side, go from the worn stones and architectural detail of the Tate Britain and the red brick of the Cruciform building (the one opposite University College) to the medieval windows of Bruges and finally the living stonework of dry stone walls with their encrustations of lichens and minerals.
Delia’s quilts featured her own hand-dyed fabric and her intricate quilting which adds extra layers of meaning to the colours and shapes of the patchwork. There were three quilts from her Shipping Forecast series. I particularly liked Plymouth with its deep green depths. Particularly effective was her use of lines of large-stitch hand quilting creating flowing lines across the quilt which meander around the block-like machine quilting patterns. Turf walls at Glaumbaer, Iceland had relatively simple shapes but gave a wonderful feeling of flowing vegetation.
The small side room was transformed into a treasure trove of sketchbooks, working designs and inspirational materials where short workshops took
place twice a day. The displays were a great way of seeing how works are planned and started. I attended the mini-workshop on sketchbooks, especially relevant for me, as I had just opened the pristine pages of my first “proper” sketchbook and was feeling daunted by the prospect of so many blank pages. In the space of half an hour Sandra had given me more than a dozen ideas of how to get started and release that “I’m not an artist” block.
For those of you who missed this exhibition in Henley you will be able to see it at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC, Birmingham in August. In this short review I have only mentioned a few of the quilts, my own particular favourites, but I am sure that everyone will find something to admire.
QUILTERS’ GUILD AGM by Linda Seward
The weekend of April 16 - 18 saw 550 Guild members descend on Eastbourne for an AGM Conference packed with lectures, workshops, excursions, demonstrations and traders. Pat Archibald’s Friday evening lecture on her trip to Kilimanjaro and the quilts that resulted was fascinating. The AGM on Saturday morning revealed that two London Quilters are holding high- ranking positions on the Committee: Janice Gunner is Vice President and is also in charge of the Marketing Division, and Louise Taylor is now the Divisional Head of Membership Services.
The Saturday afternoon lectures by Sara Impey and the Kemshalls perfectly complimented one another and were most inspiring.
It was the 25th anniversary of the founding
of the Quilters’ Guild so the gala dinner on Saturday night was
filled with quilters dressed in every conceivable manner of silver
- from sparkling shawls to sequinned jackets to tiaras. Gloria Loughman from
Sunday morning dawned stormy and grey, but undeterred quilters attended Mary Hewson’s lecture on “Optical Illusions” and a talk by the Woodrow Stuidios, who are fabric designers. This was most entertaining and eductational. The weekend ended with a Show and Tell by the Young Quilters who attended.
Haslam News!
Marion Haslam, previous editor of Popular
Patchwork and a member of London Quilters now living and working
in
Mavis Haslam has had a hanging selected for the exhibition Fabric of Nature at Twigworth (Gloucester) Nature in Art Gallery. The exhibition closed on April 25th, but will also be shown in Birmingham at the Festival of Quilts in August.
QUILTERS’ GUILD NEWS
Dear Quilters:
Already open is an exhibition of Quilts called Stars Stripes and Spirals at the American Museum in Bath which includes Quilts from their own collection and Welsh quilts from Jen Jones.
From 24th July--8th August there will be an exhibition of Contemporary Art Quilts at Uffington organised by Carol Mowat and Jennifer Hollingdale. This year the theme is 'Recycled'.
Other new shows listed include Piece by Piece in Blackheath: Quilts by Mavis Haslam, The Oast Quilters Showcase in Canterbury, and Discovered by ColourFX Textile art which is showing in both London and Bath this summer
Don't forget the Celebrity Lecture by Janet Stoyel on Wednesday June 16th at 7:30 at the Maria Assumpta Centre in South Kensington. The speaker is a textile artist with attitude!
Best wishes,
Cathy Corbishley Michel, e-mail: qgrl@yahoo.com
Members representative - Region 1
Website: www.qgr1.freeserve.co.uk http://www.qgrl.freeserve.co.uk
WANTED: REVIEWERS!
Last year Our Patch, Region 1’s Newsletter for The Quilters' Guild of the British Isles, invited Dulwich Quilters to write a group review of the first exhibition of the Festival of Quilts. This worked very well. This year, Our Patch has invited The London Quilters to send in a group review of the Festival of Quilts, NEC Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, August 19 - 22.If you would like to take part in this, please contact Margaret Scholey-Hill at the London Quilters meetings or e-mail dhill60@onetel.net.uk.
The review will be in the September 2004 issue.
ART IN ESSENCE
A new contemporary London arts festival that will present visual and craft art, together with music, dance, poetry and film. It will run from 13-18th July at 11 Mandeville Place, London W1. Up-to-date information can be accessed at www.artinessence.co.uk
Top Three Tips for Keeping Safe Online by Tricia Revest
Recently the threats from viruses and other internet wildlife such as worms and Trojan horses have made it more and more imperative that everyone who uses e-mail and surfs the internet has some form of personal protection. Although not directly related to quilting I know that more and more of you quilt online so I thought I’d pass on a couple of easy tips for PC users. I’m sorry but I don’t know anything about specific Mac programs but the same principles apply.
1. Get a virus scanner and update it regularly. There are lots of commercial products and in general they all work well. Well known products come from Symantec and McAffee. A product which is free and seems to be effective is AVG; download it from their web site at www.grisoft.com. On the left hand side of the opening page there will be a link to their free edition. Once you have it installed, update it regularly. Only if it has the latest updates can it detect the latest viruses.
2. If you can, use a firewall. This is a piece of software which stops unwanted access to your computer when you’re online. If you use Windows XP then there is one already on your computer. Just go into the Help and Support system and type firewall into the search box. Chose the option to Enable or disable Internet Connection Firewall and follow the instructions. Early versions of XP have the firewall switched off by default but more recent versions have it on when you buy the machine. If you don’t have Windows XP then the free firewall software, ZoneAlarm, can be downloaded from Zone Labs at www.zonelabs.com. The link to the free version is on the right a bit down the page.
3. Never open e-mail attachments unless you know what they are. Even if the e-mail seems to come from a recognised e-mail address, this may be forged, a process called spoofing. It’s a good idea to delete e-mails which look like spam without opening them. In Outlook Express turn off the preview pane using the “Tools, Options, Read” menu and untick the option “Automatically download message”. You can then open messages that look OK by double clicking. Delete dodgy stuff by selecting them and pressing delete.
If you have any questions about this please e-mail me at p.a.revest@qmul.ac.uk and I’ll try to help but please don’t send me your viruses!!
INTERNET INFORMATION
The London Quilters web site address is: http: //members.lycos.co.uk/London_Quilters/lq1.htm
It is run and maintained by Tricia Revest, whose e-mail is: p.a.revest@qmul.ac.uk
EXHIBITIONS
Stars, Stripes & Spirals:
Quilts from
info@americanmuseum.org
Piece by Piece: an exhibition of stitched and quilted textiles by Mavis Haslam
17 June - 3 July 2004
At: The Library Gallery, Blackheath Grove, Blackheath Village, London SE3 (opposite station)
Open: Tues & Thurs 9:30 - 8, Sat 9:30 -5 (closed for lunch 12:30 - 1:30) Free admission
Further information from Mavis Haslam
tel. 020 8303 4069 jandm.haslam@ntlworld.com
DISCOVERED!: an exhibition of art quilts by Colour FX: Marlene Cohen, Claire Crocker, Margaret Jarvie, Alicia Merrett, Christine Restall, Stefanie Rickard.
30 June - 17 July 2004
At: Gallery Forty-Seven, 47 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3PB (opposite British Museum)
Open: Mon - Sat 10.30 - 4.30
Further information from Stefanie Rickard
tel. 020 8455 7620 info@colourfx.org.uk
The Festival of Quilts. NEC Birmingham. 19 - 22 August 2004. Ticket hotline: 01394 270707. Also, there is still time to register interest in the competitions for The Festival of Quilts. May 28th is the closing date. Tel: 0208 692 2299 for details.
Woven Blossoms Textiles from Savu in