Accidentially On Purpose - New Book

Available this month is a new book, Accidentally On Purpose: The Aesthetic Management of Irregularities in African Textiles and African-American Quilts by Eli Leon. 176 pages, 129 color images, $39.95 retail price. 2007 paperback book.

Accidentally On Purpose is about improvisation in a sub-segment of African American quilts. Amazon.com just let me know that my copy has shipped - so I look forward to reading it. Has anyone else yet seen the book? What did you think?

Update: My copy arrived... The Table of Contents: Preface, Introduction by Robert Farris Thompson, two essays: "Wrapping Home Around Me: How the Patchwork Quilt May Have Become a Medium for the Expression of African Ideals" and "Accidently on Purpose," an Artists' list, and extensive bibliography of works cited. I haven't started reading the book yet. Several of the quilt photographs are ones previously published in Eli Leon books and articles. However, two photos I don't recall seeing are worth the price of the book to me: 1) on page 83 there's a full-color image of a quilt titled "Marsalis Avenue Missionary Baptist Church Quilt" by "Aunt" Jewell Harts, Beckville, Texas, 1985. 2) on page 96, the Double Wedding Ring Room. This photo shows quilter Isiadore Whitehead (1914 - 2005), Oakland, CA ca. 1970 in a room COMPLETELY decorated with the Double Wedding Ring design using fabric scraps. There's the bed quilt, of course. There's also ceiling to floor set of draps in this pattern, a vanity set chair set cushion, and two lovely rugs with the pattern.

GLAAQN - June Retreat

Are you going to be in the Michigan area in June? Check out the Sistah Quilters of the Great Lakes African American Quilting Network. Their quilt retreat is scheduled for June 8-10, 2007 at the Colmbiere Retreat Center in Clarkston, MI.

Friday night will have a dinner. Then, Certified Quilt Appraiser Patricia Boucher of Grand Rapids will talk about having quilts appraised and why we should do so. You can even pay for personal appraisal of a quilt. There will even be a PJ Fashion Show - with fabric scraps.

Saturday will be filled with one or two hour classes. The day will be capped with a Show and Tell event .. and Shhhhh Silent Auction. Sunday morning will also included classes followed by a last day lunch. The teachers during the retreat weekend will include: Wanda Nash, Shirley Talley, Kaye Whittington, Marian Coakley, Carolyn Bunkley, Verona Williams, Letha Anderson, Amy Powell, Sharon Ray, Cynthia Varnado, and Carolynne White.

Be sure to download the Retreat Registration materials here and read about the various classes and see photos of the kinds of quilts, vests, dolls and pillows you can make over the weekend. Much sucess to the GLAAQN.

Ed Johnetta Miller, Book Cover

Congratulations to Sistah Quilter Ed Johnetta Miller! One of her quilts graces the cover of Michael Downs's new book, House of Good Hope.

Downs writes the story of five, young football players in Hartford, Conn who pledged in high school to return to Hartford one day and make the city a better place. Downs interviews the men years later to determine if the pledge has been honored. House of Good Hope won the 2006 River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize. Click here for a 12-page sample of the book.

Textured: Quilts from the African Diaspora

Textured: Quilts from the African Diaspora is a multimedia exhibit, curated by Julie Crooks, commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. This National Film Board of Canada (Montreal) exhibit features historic quilts from the Buxton Historical Museum, quilts from private collections, and quilts by contemporary quilt maker Quita Alfred, who is a costume designer in Canada. Check out her website, InQb8, to see her many quilts (like the one to the left).

The Textured: Quilts from the African Diaspora exhibit closes on Saturday evening after the reception unveiling an African Disaspora-inspired quilt created during workshops held in honor of the show. Quilt historian Sharon Irving ( master thesis "African-Canadian Quilts of Southern Ontario, 1840-1920") led the weekly quiltmaking workshops. Enjoy!

Sistah Crafter & US Patents

Two-hundred and ten years ago, the US Patent Office issued patent number 572,985 to Julia Terry Hammonds, an African American from Lebanon, IL. As she wrote in her patent application, Her invention "was especially adapted for ladies who use yarn, silk, cotton, and other light materials for knitting and crocheting and does away with the necessity of having some one to assist with holding while winding."

Thanks Julia! I remember my mother asking my brothers and I to hold out our arms while she transformed the loop skein of yarn to balls. My arms wished we had Julia's invention!

Lauren Austin - Lean On Me show

Sistah Quilter Lauren Austin exhibits 25 quilts documenting and celebrating the lives of African-Americans at the Old Dillard Museum. The exhibit is titled Lean on Me: I'll Help Carry You On and will be on displayed through April 22.

You can visit Lauren's quilts at: Old Dillard Museum, 1009 N.W. Fourth St., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311. Phone 754-322-8828.

Your Quilt on a Canvass Tote

Have you ever wanted your quilt on a coffee mug? Or on a comfortable weekend T-shirt?

Give CafePress.com a try. This online retailer makes it easy for you to "shop, sell or create" any number of gift products in moments. All you need to do is sign-up for an account, upload your image (yes, you must have the copyright for the image :>), and check which products to apply the image. It took me about 30 mins to complete the entire process.

I tried it for my book, Martha Ann's Quilt for Queen Victoria. I've really enjoyed the deep 15" x 18" canvass tote bag with the book cover on BOTH sides! How about personalized postage stamps? Visit the store at: http://www.cafepress.com/blackthreads

And, be sure to give it a try yourself or for your quild!

Los Angeles Sistah Quilters

Twenty years from now - who will have documentation of your quilting guild?

The African American Quilters of Los Angeles published a 60 page booklet to accompany their 20th Anniversary Quilt Show last April 2006. The exhibit was held at the Carson Community Center over two days.

More than 150 members strive to perserve quilting in the City of Angles. Harriette Vanderhorst chaired the Quilt Show. Kudos to Estelle Hampilton, who lead the Publications and Printing effort. The show catalog includes photos and names of AAQLA members, letters from the out-going president Sara Brandon as well as in-coming president Louise McGee. All the members are listed. A gift to any quilt historian... there's a list of each of the quilts which were on display by quilter name, quilt name and quilt description!

The Guild also presented a quilt to Dr. Mayme Agnew Clayton, who passed away in October 2006. You might have read about Dr. Clayton - she had one the largest privately held collection of African-American historical materials, over 30,000 items.

If you're in the LA area, the Guild meets every third Sunday from 1:00 – 5:00 pm at the Department of Water and Power, 4030 Crenshaw Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90008. You can contact the guild at P.O. Box 781213, Los Angeles, CA 90016.

Disney's First Black Princess

A lilly pad prize for the first Sistah Quilter to create a quilt featuring the Disney's first African American princess, Maddy. The film is titled The Frog Princess and will be set in 1920s New Orleans and released in 2009.

News reports claim "Maddy will also get her own product line of toys, books, clothing, DVDs, furniture and other merchandise, sold under the Disney Princess brand." But, will she get her own line of FABRIC?

UPDATE: Check out BET's Jennifer Daniel's comments on this Disney movie. She's none to pleased. A white prince?

More Updates 10/2007: Looks like Disney is changing a few of the movie's story lines: no longer will there be a white prince, the title of the movie may now be "The Princess and the Frog." Check out this post from Supreme Being.

Textural Rhythms: Today's Favorite 5 Quilts

I've been mesmerized by Carolyn Mazloomi's newest quilt catalog, Textural Rhythms: Quilting the Jazz Tradition. This 128-page, full-gorgeous colored book is overflowing with quilts that simply sing!

The foreword is by noted quilter Faith Ringgold. Carolyn pens an essay titled Lost, Appropriated, and Recovered: The Threads of African American Quilt History. Columbia University faculty member Farah Jasmine Griffin writes the essay Jazzing American Culture. Sistah Quilter L'Merchie Frazier contributes the poem Jazz Threads. And, finally, Music professor Tammy L. Kernodle contributes the essay, Super Sisters, Mean Mothers, & Big Mamas: A History of Black Women & Jazz.

This book will capture you each time you pick it up! Every day I change UP on my 5 Favorite quilts in the book - TODAY. (And, no, I'm NOT countin' my quilt He Played Me... and Sang in my Ear"!!)

1. Satchmo by Bisa Butler (2006) ... Doesn't he look like he's about to scat?!
2. A Sound of Their Own: Background Singers in Jazz by Marion Coleman (2005). What interesting photo transfers. I love that Marion honors background singers in a quilt.
3. Strange Fruit by Marlene O'Bryant-Seabrook (2003). The subtleties of the two men hanging from the tree is really haunting, especially when matched with the human form font. Look closely, can you see the shadows of Billie Holiday's gardenia?
4. Diane Reeves by Jim S. Smoote (2005). Is it me just me or can you also hear her sing "Better Days"? Gees, her hands look like they are going to reach off the page to you!
5. Resurrecting Nina (1933 - 2003) by Sauda A. Zahra. One of two Nina Simone tribute quilts in the book. Sauda, where did you get the Nina Simone buttons?!

My list has changed EVERYDAY since I received the book. Do you have a favorite quilt in the book?!