Summer Memories & Quilts

by Karen Leggett Abouraya

Summer is a time for lemonade and summer camp, ball parks and swimming - and perhaps a visit to Grandma's house, with scrapbooks, old photos, soft quilts and other treasures with stories. Like the quilts of Gee's Bend. 

Susan Goldman Rubin celebrates The Quilts of Gee's Bend in her new picture book filled with colorful images of the practical artistry of several generations of women in Gee's Bend, Alabama.  In 1928, "when Nettie Young was eleven years old, her mother gave her a pile of cloth strips and told her to make a quilt all by herself." The cloth came from old work shirts, dress tails and aprons. Nettie arranged it all into a design she called "Stacked Bricks."

“When I was growing up, you threw nothing away,” said Nettie Young. “You found every good spot for a quilt piece and that’s how you made your quilts.”

The women of Gee's Bend, descended from slaves on the Pettway Plantation, have been making quilts for generations. The quilts had a practical purpose, but they were also beautiful works of art.  "Ought not two quilts ever be the same," explained Mensie Lee Pettway.

"How did the women come up with original ideas? Annie Mae Young said, ‘You find the colors and the shapes and certain fabrics that work out right, kind of like working a puzzle.'"

The Gee's Bend quilts can be inspiration for young writers too, whether they are writing at camp, in class or surrounded by trunks in Grandma's attic.

·       Help children collect a few pieces of old clothing - especially shirts or skirts that can be cut into strips or squares.  Have them design a quilt, individually or as a group, using these pieces. Give them time to think about their design. Then ask them to write about their designs:

o   What do you like about the colors you put together?

o   Does your quilt tell a story?

o   Write a true or imaginary story about some of the fabric pieces: who wore that shirt? Where has that dress been? In the kitchen? At a party? If possible, talk to the person who wore a piece of clothing and then write down your "interview." 

o   If the quilt includes pieces of cloth from your own clothing, write about something you enjoyed doing while wearing that shirt or dress.

·       Alternatively, have children talk to an older friend or relative about some special item – a vase, a photo, a piece of jewelry, a quilt – and then ask the child to write down that story, like a journalist bringing another person alive with words.

If you are feeling very ambitious, you can help youngsters make real quilt squares and then a real quilt following the directions in Rubin's book – making their own little piece of history.  

Mensie Lee Pettway said, “A lot of people make quilts for your bed, for to keep you warm. But a quilt is more. It represents safekeeping, it represents beauty and you could say it represents family history.”

 https://childrensbookguild.org/karen-leggett-abouraya

MEMORY QUILTS

by Joan Waites

My last blog post described an elementary school artist-in-residence program I participated in, working with fourth grade classes. After finishing with the fourth grades, I began working with each of the fifth grades. Our assignment was to make a class art quilt, illustrating the students special memories from their time spent at the school.

We began with a planning session, brainstorming ideas and doing rough sketches. Students were asked to pick one larger element to showcase, so it could be seen from a distance. Smaller details or designs were added to the background. For example, several students chose to draw the musical instrument they played in the band, adding musical notes in the background. Other students drew themselves wearing their patrol badge, chose an element representing the school fair, or drew portraits of themselves and their best friend.

Because a sewn quilt was a bit too complex a task to accomplish during our allotted time, (and beyond my capabilities), we assembled the art quilts using painted fabric squares, using the following supplies:

1.     Precut squares of fabric in a neutral color, approximately 8X8 inches, one per student.

2.     Any liquid type of acrylic paint-inexpensive craft acrylic paint works well.

3.     Large piece of patterned background fabric, measured to accommodate as many squares made per class.

4.     Old broom handle, curtain rod or even a varnished and sealed branch to hang the quilt.

5.     Paintbrushes, paper cups for water, paper plates to mix paint, paper towels and plastic trash bags to protect desks. Fabric glue to assemble all parts. For embellishments: black sharpie paint pens, ribbon, buttons, beads or other elements that can be glued on to fabric.

After the paint fully dried, students outlined their paintings using a black Sharpie paint pen. Beads, buttons or other embellishments were glued on top of painted squares. Squares were then glued in rows to the large patterned background fabric. Each square was then framed using strips of ribbon. Mismatched ribbon pieces add a lot of colorful interest! Most of the supplies were donated by parents as well as contributions from the PTA. We used some colorful sheets for the background fabric, and students brought in beads, ribbon etc., from home, keeping our costs down.

A similar project could also be done as a writing exercise, using squares of colored or patterned paper glued to a larger background piece. Have students write a paragraph or two about their fondest school memories, or challenge them to write these in poetic form.

The completed quilts will be hung and displayed first at the fifth grade graduation, then moved for permanent installation in the new school, sharing their memories with many more students in years to come.

www.joanwaites.com