Greetings intuitive viewers,
and welcome to
a Journey through
Aesthetic Realms
on Supreme Master
Television.
Recently,
the Pajaro Valley Quilt
Association held its
32nd annual quilt show
in Watsonville,
California, USA.
Today, let’s find out
about the some of
the techniques of
quilt making and meet
more of the wonderful
people who create
the beautiful and often
innovative artworks.
My most famous pattern is Bento Box, and that pattern has been out since 2003. What I do is I take pieces of fabric that I happen to like and I cut them up into squares, circles, triangles, try to make something that’s pleasing to me. And then what happens, I can write the directions and other people who like my quilts will come and buy the patterns. Fabric selection is the first step in quilt making. Quilters can choose from a wide selection of ethnic, artistic, or memorial materials. These often reflect one’s cultural background, aesthetic value, or family history, and may use old or modern technologies. I took a class, “Piecing with Pixels” Sandy Hart, and it’s where you take photographs and scan them into Photoshop, and then you use the filters and you make the different pieces of fabric. A lot of people, they’ll choose their vacation photos or flowers or their children. Over the past decades, a technique known as crazy quilting has received renewed interest. Let’s find out more about this traditional style with widely renowned quilter Ms. Allison Aller, who specializes in crazy quilting. Crazy quilting uses a lot of different kinds of fabrics, not just cotton. Crazy quilting has an element of random piecing to it. And crazy quilting has embroidery stitches between these patches of fabric. Those are the three main elements. The pottery in Japan had this kind of crackled glaze that was called crazing. It was very irregular patterns in the glazing and that’s how crazy quilting got its name. It was that these crazed glazes, people loved the aesthetic and so they wanted to start incorporating that in their quilting. Ms. Aller kindly walked us through one of her quilts on display, highlighting some elements characteristic of crazy quilting. If you notice, the value goes from light to dark, and it goes from light to dark out here, and that’s help to give the illusion of the perspective and landscape. In the old days, all crazy quilts had spider webs on them. They were a symbol of good luck, so I put one on mine and I put letters in it, and it says: “Take root in my heart and bloom.” And that’s how I feel about flowers. I think one of my favorite aspects of this quilt is, I started making my own fabrics by making collages of fresh flowers and photographing them and then printing my digital photograph onto fabric, and then piecing my printed fabric into my crazy quilts. Every block has printed flowers. This here, I call this my Chanel Camellia. A friend of mine had a blouse by Chanel and she didn’t like the camellia, so she gave it to me. And so I always think of my friend and her fancy Chanel blouse when I have that. I mean, I can look at any fabric and tell you where it came from, who gave it me, because a lot of crazy quilters trade fabrics. And I can tell where every single things came from. So in a way it’s a very wonderful repository of the friendships in my life as well. Beading is another element incorporated into many quilts. It gives you a whole new set of textures and dimension to work with. And a quilt like this you have to stop caring about how long it takes, and you have to fulfill your commitment to the quilt. So like this area up here, I think that was five hours at least to do that little motif of those gold beads. But you get such a rich surface. And again it’s so soothing to do. You can really calm your mind doing this kind of work. And my family thinks that’s a good thing! Our program on American quilting tradition will continue. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television. Welcome back to A Journey through Aesthetic Realms on Supreme Master Television as we continue our program about the Pajaro Valley Quilt Association’s annual show. The theme of this year’s quilt show was “It's Easy Being Green. Recycle, Reuse, Renew.” We were trying to think of a really unique theme this year, and there’s such a green movement going on worldwide that we really thought that would be a good thing to use. And part of it was, the quilt had to be made with at least 75% of recycled material. It could be old shirts, it could be scraps in your scrap basket, but you couldn’t go out and buy anything to make these quilts. Quilting is a green activity. My grandmother made lots and lots of quilts. And she did a lot of recycled stuff. She did recycle before recycle was recycle This is my quilt that I entered into the "Go Green Challenge." This quilt is made of hemp and the batting is made from recycled water bottles. So this quilt just to me symbolizes the need to return to a more sustainable fabric choice. For quilters, life is an endless source of inspiration. Hi, I am Anna Branquits and I made this quilt for my son because he loves to play baseball and he has baseball pins that he collects, from all over the country and so he got a quilt to put them in. But while some quilts relate to memories and anecdotes, others are created for sheer fun and imagination. Sometimes we have different challenge things. And this year’s challenge is “Plants Incognito,” and we drew a name of a plant that we were supposed to illustrate without printing words on our quilt. And so we all had this title to do and worked on our own quilts separately and we’ve got them all displayed here. And they illustrate different plants and then people are supposed to guess which one. The name that I picked out of the hat was “Old Man’s Woodworm,” which is a common name for a California plant. In the drawing, I got the name “Maidenhair Fern” and I didn’t know what in the world to do, so I emphasized her hair. And this type of coiled technique, I used for her bouffant hairdo. When they all get together and you see what people have done with things that you don’t have any idea they’re going to use, it’s just really, really fun. It’s so important to me to be in this group, and I don’t like meetings at all, but I won’t miss the quilt group if I can possibly get there. The dedication of the quilters to their pieces and to one another is heartwarming. So what is it that motivates these quilters? In our small quilt group, we inspire each other’s creativity, we encourage our creative efforts, and we are able to get some feedback about different ideas that we have and how they will work, and we laugh a lot. We have a lot of fun doing this. Tell us about the spiritual aspects of quilting. Well for me, I think of God as the ultimate designer and creator, and as God made us in his image, we’re all creators. And so when I’m involved in the creative process, that’s my way being devotional, so it’s integral to my spiritual life. Besides seeing it as a creative outlet and an emotional and spiritual support, the quilters at the Pajaro Valley Quilt Association also regard quilting as a way to help those in need. Over the past few years, they have donated hundreds of their handmade quilts to dozens of charities serving children, veterans, and disadvantaged people. Pele Fleming works in a program that teaches teenage mothers to quilt. When the girls start, I have them do a quilt first, it’s a really good thing to start, and it also connects them with their baby too. I’m saying, “This is something special you’re making for your baby.” It just really gives them a sense of accomplishment when they make something. It’s something that they made, even if it’s not perfect. This blanket, I made for my son. He likes the strong colors a lot and because he is now three years old, and he doesn’t speak much, I thought that the blanket will help him in learning to talk a little more, with the colors and letters. So, here I put Bryan’s name, and he knows that his name is written here. In quilting, new techniques and uses constantly evolve, as a quilter’s creativity can only expand through practice and the exchanges within this tight-knit community. Thus, quilting will always remain a cherished American tradition. My cousin Carol who inherited the grandparents’ cottage, her best friend is a quilter. And this quilt was in American Quilter’s Society (AQS) Magazine the year that it won. And her friend is leafing through a quilt magazine with her, and she goes, “This quilt looks just like Michillinda!” And my cousin said, “My cousin Ally made that quilt!” I hadn’t seen Carol in 40 years. But she called me. Long story short, we reconnected, and she has me back to the old family cottage for a week every summer. After I started going back to visit my dear cousin Carol for a couple years, she would tell me about our grandmother who I did not know, and what a wonderful person she was and how much she enjoyed needlework, and that her grandmother had finished a crazy quilt that her mother had made in the 1890s. And our mutual grandmother had handed this quilt down to Carol, and she brought it up one year to show me. And then she gave it to me… which you can imagine was quite meaningful. We didn’t know her name, the lady who made this. So we went to the family grave site together, and her name was Margaret. And with that, I would like to close and thank you for your attention, and encourage you please, thread those needles and get stitching. We thank the Pajaro Valley Quilt Association and all participants at the quilt show for brightening our world with your charming craft so full of love and joy. May such endeavors of creating, giving and sharing help make our world a nicer and gentler place for all generations. For more information about the Pajaro Valley Quilt Association, please visit Artistic viewers, thank you for being with us today on A Journey through Aesthetic Realms on Supreme Master Television. Coming next is Vegetarianism: The Noble Way of Living, after Noteworthy News. Wishing you a happy and harmonious week ahead. |