Estate of LUTHER VANDROSS auction, no quilts

The Estate of Luther Vandross is being auctioned by Dawson & Ney Auctioneers on Dec 5 & 6. You can see the items on eBay. There are 1,035 items available. The nearest to a quilt I could locate is a group of Pratesi Bedlinens, with an opening bid of $150.

World's AIDS Day - Dec 1

Saturday, December 1 is World's AIDS Day. Jada Harris, special projects manager for the NAMES Project, works in this photo by Bo Shell, on a quilt panel for Tony Childs, a former AIDS activist, DeKalb County public health worker and volunteer for the NAMES Project, the Atlanta-based non-profit that maintains the AIDS Quilt, according to Southern Voice.

The Call My Name project seeks to honor more African American commemorative panels to the NAMES quilt project. According to a recent CNN story (Click to see 18 photo slides):

• Blacks honored in fewer than 400 out of 47,000 panels in AIDS quilt, Jada Harris says
  
• Volunteers for Call My Name make panels to honor African-Americans
  
• In 2005, nearly half of people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS victims were black

AAQLA 2007 Cookbook

Earlier this month the African American Quilters of Los Angeles hosted its annual quilt show. The AAQLA was founded in 1986. Its current president is Louise McGee. I'll post more about the actual show later, right now I wanted to show you the cookbook the guild sold at the show. This 156 page cookbook features desserts, breads, vegetables, salads, appetizers, soups, entrees and meat recipes. What is great about THIS cookbook is the inclusion of a AAQLA fact sheet, an endearing dedication to Helen Brathwaite, one of the guild's founders and cookbook creator, cute quilting sayings, and .... this is the unique part.... COLOR photos of each year's quilt challenge quilt. These Quiltin' Sistahs are on the forefront of documenting their guild's activities for the generations who will come after! Congrats AAQLA!

Gee's Bend - Ties and Christmas Ornaments

A quilter recently sent me a link to the Milwaukee Art Museum website. There's a number of Gee's Bend quilt-themed gifts available.... How about a Gee's Bend Christmas ornament for $18.50 (assuming one is not a museum member) or a men's tie, based on the quilt designed by Annie Mae Young, for $43.00... or 100% silk scarf for $52, again based on Annie Mae Young's quilt designs.

Gee's Bend - Bias in QNM Magazine?

I love Quilters Newsletter magazine. Have a subscription to it - look forward to it each month. This month, however, I was shocked. Have a look at the December 2007 issue on page 10 - 11. There's an article in the "What's New" feature titled "Gee's Bend Suits Raise Concern." The article goes on to briefly describe the suits brought by Annie Mae Young, Loretta Pettway and Lucinda Pettway Franklin. Three different lawsuits. Then the article talks about a June 2007 meeting the Arnetts had with the Gee's Bend quilters. The article ends with a quote from the an attorney for Tinwood Alliance and a link to the Tinwood Alliance website.

There's not one direct quote from the side of the quilters or the attorneys for any of the three women who filed suit. Heck, there's even a sub-heading under the article's author that says: "The quilters are grateful for the money, respect, and praise they have received, and they feel that the lawsuits have weakened their community."

What bias! I expect better from QNM - I expect QNM to balance the article with quotes from the women who have filed suit. To blanket-ly say (no pun intended!) that "The quilters are grateful ...." is to dismiss the three courageous women who filed suit, in my opinion.

For those who are interested, the phone number for QNM at CK Media is 303-215-5600 or 1-800-881-6634. The email address is: Questions@qnm.com Type Letter to Editor in subject line.

Christine Thresh - Michelle Obama quilted piece

Thanks to California quilt Christine Thresh, of Winnowings blog, for sending me a link to her "My Little Women" quilt, which features her local post office delivery woman, her self portrait, a black woman named Tyra (hhhhmm Tyra Banks?), Lady Cauliflower, and Michelle Obama, wife of Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. Christine has a host of Paper-Pieced People quilted pieces on her blog. Would love to know the story about the "My Little Women" quilt! You can get the pattern for the paper-pieced people by clicking here. Go Christine!

Christa Hardy defends her dissertation

I was excited to read today about the upcoming, December 3, 2007 dissertation defense by Christa Hardy, a second-generation librarian from Tuskegee, AL, at theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Graduate School of Library and Information Science. According to the university's website:

Christa Hardy will defend her proposal, "Piecin' a Quilt: Jessie Carney Smith and African American Women's History." A copy of the proposal is available in 112 LIS Building. All those interested are welcome to attend. The committee includes Linda Smith, Christine Jenkins, Erik McDuffie (African American Studies/Gender & Women's Studies/History), and Karla Moller (Curriculum & Instruction)

Jessie Carney Smith was also an librarian and recorder of black women's history. Go Christa!

Beverly Guy-Sheftall Doll & Quilt Collection

Oh! I want to see this exhibit! Now on display in Atlanta from November 18 to January 13, 2008 is the show "Made with Hands and Hearts: Quilts and Dolls from the Collection of Beverly Guy-Sheftall," curated by Akua McDaniel. The show includes "politically charged quilts" Visit the Hammond House Museum, 503 Peeples Street, SW, Atlanta, GA 30310 (404) 612-0500.

Obama and Clinton Quilted Postcards

Countdown to the January primaries and caucuses. I'm interested in hearing about quilts or quilted postcards with a 2008 Presidential Election theme. Has anyone stitched a Barack Obama Hope Quilt or a Hill-Raising Quilt? Are there any guilds or round robins creating political quilts for this upcoming election? Do post a note or link here!

The two fabric postcards here were commissioned by Detroit's own Rosie Chapman, who is an expert in quilted postcards. I vote for Rosie!

Juanita Yeager - new blog

Quilter and teacher Juanita Yeager has a blog with updates on her quilt exhibits and teaching schedule. Check it out at http://juanitayeager.blogspot.com . Enjoy!