Take a Chance and Save Quilt History with "The Voice of You and Me 2004"
August 11, 2004
Louisville, Kentucky, August 11, 2004 - Well-known quilt artists Yvonne Porcella and Karen Musgrave have collaborated on the quilt, "The Voice of You and Me 2004," to support the work of The Alliance for American Quilts. The Alliance for American Quilts, a nonprofit organization, uniquely joins people who love, study, collect, and make quilts to ensure that our nation's great quilt heritage is documented, preserved and, most importantly, shared at the Center for the Quilt Online.
This second in the series of quilts titled "The Voice of You and Me" is a real departure for art quilters Porcella and Musgrave, both of whom are Alliance board members. Instead of a modern-looking art quilt, the two created a naïve rendition of a Baltimore Album-style quilt, made with 1850s reproduction fabrics provided by P & B Textiles and batting provided by Hobbs Bonded Fibers. The quilting on the 70" x 60" quilt was donated by Nancy Brieschke of Cedar House Quilting in Sandwich, Illinois. Tickets are $5.00. The drawing for the quilt will be held in Louisville, Kentucky on May 18, 2005 at the Garner-Furnish Studio.
"This quilt is my connection to the past so I can support the present, as I create for the future, because I know that quilts matter," said Karen Musgrave, of Naperville, Illinois. Yvonne Porcella, of Modesto, California said, "This quilt gives the feeling of hearts and hands and home. The feeling is one of reminiscing about antique quilts and those anonymous women who made unusual pictures. These are the women we will never meet but they give us a warm feeling, and we love the sense of style they offer with their handwork."
A pattern for one of the quilt's blocks is available to members of The Alliance. For information on membership, to purchase tickets and to learn more about The Alliance for American Quilts, visit the Center for the Quilt Online, contact The Alliance (502/897-3819).
The Center for the Quilt Online shares incredible, FREE resources with everyone who cares about quilts. At the Center for the Quilt Online, you can find:
- Quilt Query-Experts from our incredible board-including Marsha MacDowell, Penny McMorris, Yvonne Porcella, Julie Silber, Merikay Waldvogel, Janice Wass, and Shelly Zegart-will answer your questions about quilts, including care, display, history, restoration, and evaluation.
- Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories-The Alliance's extensive oral history project, with hundreds of in-depth interviews with quiltmakers across the U.S.
- Quilt Treasures-Documentary web portraits of key figures in the great 20th century Quilt Revival-including Virginia Avery, Cuesta Benberry, Jinny Beyer, Jean Ray Laury, Bonnie Leman, and Yvonne Porcella.
- The Quilt Index-A growing digital reference library, with searchable information and photographs of more than 1,300 historic and contemporary quilts.
- Boxes Under the Bed-A national project to ensure the preservation of historic quilt-related materials, such as patterns, letters, and clippings from publications
- Special Features-Film clips from "The Quilts of Gee's Bend," "Hearts and Hands," and "Quilts in Women's Lives."
- H-Quilts-The lively internet discussion forum.
The Alliance for American Quilts, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, implements its projects in partnership with institutions and organizations nationally, including three regional centers- the Center for American Material Culture Studies at the University of Delaware, the Great Lakes Quilt Center at the Michigan State University Museum, and the Center for American History at the University of Texas. Other Alliance partners include the Library of Congress American Folklife Center, and MATRIX - The Center for Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences Online.
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