A Year of Exhibits

"Beauty Secrets" at the Benton County Museum was a smashing success!

Today, I received a Christmas letter. It was just like a lot of other letters sent out by friends and families during the holidays. There was a brief summary of how the year went, a few details about each member of the family, and a holiday greeting. This type of letter is a familiar tradition, sometimes taken for granted, but it got me thinking.

I wanted to send a brief reply to say how things had been going, but soon realized summarizing the year in just a few sentences wasn't so easy. So much happened. It was a remarkable year, and I'm so grateful. In many ways, it was a year of exhibits.

Small Wonders exhibit at Latimer Quilt and Textile Center

As the year opened, I was working on the "Small Wonders" exhibit of doll quilts by Andrea Balosky at the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center in Tillamook. It was exciting to discover the quilts and do an exhibit, and it was my first curatorial experience. To accompany the exhibit, I produced a 120-page, full-color catalog with pictures of all the quilts and a wonderful artist's statement.

Albert Einstein by Andrea Balosky

I probably could've just transported the quilts, hung them, brought them back and left it at that - but there was something very compelling about the quilts. Each one was a tribute to a person, and as a whole body of work, it was incredibly inspirational. So I felt I had to do a catalog. It was just the right thing to do. I did all the photography and layout, and self-published the whole thing through Blurb. That catalog, by the way, can be found here.

American Legion Auxiliary quilt on display at the High Desert Museum

The middle part of the year was very much occupied with preparations for "Beauty Secrets: 150 Years of History in One Quilt Pattern" at the Benton County Museum in Philomath, Oregon. It was the first-ever museum exhibit of quilts from my collection. So, I was busy organizing quilts and working on a catalog for that exhibit, but there were other things going on.

Timeless Quilts at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland

One of my quilts was on display in Bend at the High Desert Museum. I was also involved with the Timeless Quilts exhibit at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland, and later in the year displayed 20 quilts at the Northwest Quilting Expo. And there were a lot of lectures, including the Quilter's Affair at Sisters.

For me, the main event was "Beauty Secrets: 150 Years of History in One Quilt Pattern" at the Benton County Museum in Philomath, Oregon. The exhibit came together in about a year, but it was really the result of 22 years of collecting. It included a timeline of quilts made of the same essential pattern over a 150 year period, and drew record numbers to the Benton County Museum. The catalog is 80 pages, full color, and includes 42 examples of the New York Beauty quilt made between 1850 and today. You can find the catalog here.

Not a bad year's work, but that's only the exhibits. There were also lectures, publications...and lots of collecting going on. A productive year, and if I was to send out a Christmas letter, it would be all about quilts. 

The "Missing" Blocks

Last December, I blogged about the Album Quilt with Lyre , c. 1850, by Mary Couchman Small of Martinsburg, Berkeley County West Virginia. There were several posts: Four Exquisite Flower Pots, Four Circular Vine Blocks, Be Still My Heart, 1,000,000 Stitches?, Whatcha-Call-Its or Whirligigs?, The Lyre, Five Symmetrical Blocks, A Bird in the Coxcomb, Scherenschnitte?, and Unusual Princes Feather Block.    

At the time, I realized there were four remaining blocks. I'd intended to blog about them, but got caught up in the holidays and didn't get around to it. Well, better late than never. Here are the missing blocks.

The first block is a heart shaped wreath with berries. It is upside-down and at an angle on the quilt, but it is certainly heart shaped. The second block is a circular vine wreath with flowers, leaves, and buds in each corner. The third is a small basket with oddly shaped leaves and flowers, including stems that end at the basket handle, and a mysterious curved sprig below the basket.

The last block is the real reason why I wanted to do this blog around the holidays. It's a Christmas cactus! Now, I've seen other patterns called Christmas Cactus, but most of those are either Coxcomb or Cactus Basket. The pattern here is undeniably a Christmas Cactus, even though it is an original interpretation of the plant.

Full view of the quilt by Mary Couchman Small

If you missed all the other posts about this quilt, I hope you'll go back and take a look. Also, much of the story about this quilt - and its sister quilt made by Couchman Small's daughter, Harriett - is in a blog called Separated at Birth: My Virtual AQSG Poster Presentation from September, 2010. Interesting story, worth the read. Enjoy!

Who Will Win? And How?

Coming Soon: Barn Raisers II De Luxe

I'm astonished by all the comments on my Blog Hop Party Give-Away, so I thought I'd do a quick post to thank everyone for commenting and provide a few details about how the drawing will be done.

Each of the comment posts will be numbered in chronological order. Only one post from each person will be counted, and my own posts will not be counted. From there, I will use random.org. I will provide the numerical range, 1 to whatever it ends up being, and it will select a random number. The person whose comment corresponds with that number will be the winner.

Coming soon: Flower Power Hi Tops

I will contact the winner and announce who has won within a day of the end of the drawing, on December 17th, 2011 at midnight. Comments posted after midnight on the 17th are welcome, but will not be counted in the drawing. The winner may select any size, and any one of a number of shoe designs in my Wonkyworld shop at Zazzle. More designs are being added each day, and there should be at least 50 to choose from by the time the drawing is done. Maybe more!

Should you be considering shopping, there is a sale going on today, with some products up to 75% off. Go to www.zazzle.com for details, and click the banner at top for the discount code.

Shoe Salesman?

Coming Soon: Flower Power Flats!!

Way back in my high school days, I attended a boarding school in New Jersey and lived next door to a young man named Solomon. His father had a successful shoe business, and a lot of the boys liked to poke fun at "Sol" because everyone knew he was really being groomed to go into the family business. That's what he did, he's had great success, and I have a lot of admiration and respect for him.

As much as I've admired Solomon, never in a million years did I think I'd be doing anything with shoes, except buying them, wearing them or kicking them off. But I can now say without any hesitation that I'm a shoe salesman. All the positive comments on my Blog Hop Party Give-Away have been just wonderful. People are talking...but they're also buying...and once again, I'm blown away by the quilt community.

When I tell my friends and family about the shoes, they usually say, "Are you serious?" and then I show them the shoes...

Coming soon: Hyacinth Highsteppers

I guess already I knew my quilts were popular, but the idea of putting the designs on Keds to create stylish and unique footwear that quilters love...it's something I never imagined.

Ruby Slippers

There are minimal royalties involved. I get a 10% cut plus referrals, but that's not what's important to me. Getting quilts out there into the world is what's important. In addition to the shoes, I've got a whole line of gifts available, from postcards to puzzles, from aprons to ornaments. Not everyone can own a Willy Wonky quilt, so offering functional and decorative items featuring the quilts is the next best thing. Big thank you to all who have commented, and special thanks to those who will soon receive their own Willy Wonky quilt shoes. May you enjoy them in good health! If you haven't entered my give-away, please do - and good luck!!

Blog Hop Party Give-Away!!

In the spirit of holiday giving, I'm participating in this year's Blog Hop Party with Give-Aways. Each participating blogger offers some type of give-away, setting their own rules about how the give-away will work. All participating bloggers will be linked to the host site, Quilting Gallery.

So, what am I giving away?

Sunsteppers

SHOES!! One pair of custom-made Willy Wonky Quilt Sneakers by Keds, to be exact! I am offering these shoes currently through Zazzle, and new designs are being added daily. Ladies shoes come in two types of slip-ons and lo lace-up. Men's shoes come in low and hi top lace-up. Here are a few samples.

Double Wedding Ring Slippers

Tumbling Bloxfords De Luxe

Yorks II

Barnraisers

Sturgeon Bay Stompers

To enter, simply post a comment on this blog entry describing where you would go wearing quilter's shoes. Comments must be received from now until the end of the day on December 17th. A winner will be drawn randomly after the closing date and announced on the blog.

Upon notification, the winner will select a shoe style and provide shoe size and mailing address. Delivery time will be several weeks depending on location of winner and time to manufacture the shoes, but I think you'll agree it's gonna be worth the wait! to see more, visit my Zazzle shop.

See other gifts at Zazzle.

Shopping: For Quilt Lovers

When people see my quilts, they sometimes wish they could take the quilts home. Now they can...sort of... Wonkyworld at Zazzle is open for business, just in time for holiday shopping. My shop was designed specifically with quilt lovers in mind, and I'm happy to offer decorative and functional items. It's shopping for quilt lovers!

If you're a fan of the blog, treat yourself to a souvenir. Show your love of quilts, and have a tangible reminder to come visit the blog. Most orders received this week should arrive in time for the holidays. See other gifts available on Zazzle, and to visit my shop, click here.

Dazzled by Zazzle

Pending design: Sturgeon Bay Stompers

I've been designing things as long as I can remember. Over the last 25 years, I've designed books, book covers, awards, business cards, pins, athletic wear, swimming caps, postcards, posters, T-shirts, banners, calendars, logos, etc., etc., etc. Most of the time, if a design comes to fruition, I've gone through individual vendors to purchase the goods, and then either used or resold them.

Willy Wonky iPad case

The print-on-demand craze of the last decade has been mostly about books for me, and I've used Blurb and iPhoto to produce my items. I never knew about Zazzle until this week, when a lovely lady named Cathleen Savage who runs a Zazzle business called QuiltedPhones contacted me asking about quilt images. We discussed some ideas, but as soon as I discovered Zazzle, I wanted to create my own products.

Blue Shade Shoes

For anyone who isn't familiar with Zazzle, it's like print-on-demand gone wild. There are mugs, mousepads, iPhone cases, cards, posters, ornaments, stickers, laptop sleeves, T-shirts and even Keds sneakers! That's what really got me going - the idea that I could design sneakers. After poking around on Zazzle for an afternoon, designing some products and ordering a few Christmas gifts, I realized I needed my own Zazzle shop.

Cathleen was very gracious when I told her of my plans to start my own shop, even though it meant I would be holding on to my images. And I'm thankful to her for leading me to Zazzle. To visit my Zazzle shop, click here.