Three Stories
A fragment of patchwork, a delicate doily, and piece of filet crochet hint at three of the stories in this neatly-kept house. No matter how many floors they may have, all the homes in the places we live, have many stories.
In Mirra Bank’s book, Anonymous was a Woman, she quotes Margaret Ickis’ great-grandmother:
My whole life is in that quilt. All my joys and all my sorrows are stitched into those little pieces. I tremble sometimes when I remember what that quilt knows about me.
What joys and sorrows are stitched into this quilt?
The Making of Three Stories
Starting with a vintage quilt top, mostly hand-pieced, I added the vintage crocheted house panel* in the middle. The corner decorations are one crocheted doily, cut into quarters. We don’t know, can’t know, anything about the three people who created the artifacts. We don’t know their stories, but the title of the finished piece acknowledges them.
After quilting and binding were finished, Three Stories seemed a little plain to me.
To fancy it up, I crocheted the Sweetheart Rose from my own book Crochet Bouquet, and the Twirl Center Rose and Paired Leaf Frond from Crochet Garden, and arranged them in a sort of old-fashioned looking garland. I sewed them in place, and embellished with mother-of-pearl buttons.
Three Stories has traveled with the Celebrate Doilies art, poetry, and Texas Crochet Heritage doily exhibits since 2017.
*A quick doily culture note: the crocheted house panel was probably meant to protect the back of an upholstered chair from hair oil. It’s called an antimacassar, because a popular hair product of the time was Rowland’s Macassar Oil.
Poppy, Doily, Shawl
The good thing about having several projects going at once, is that sometimes you finish a couple or three of them in rapid succession.
This week’s finishing streak began with a TextileFusion project called A Very Bright Spot in 2020. It’s based on a photo of one of the poppies Charles and Ella planted in our garden last spring. Their blooms brightened those pandemic weeks when there was no school, and we stayed home except to get groceries.
A Very Bright Spot in 2020 is knitted, pieced, quilted, and embellished with crochet, embroidery, and buttons.
As part of my on-going Doily Adventure, I’ve been trying to get a sense for how doilies have changed over the years. Recently, designers are adding more surface texture to their doilies. Here’s one by Eduard Petrushin, called Gabrielle Doily. I finished crocheting it on Thursday night. (Follow Eduard on Instagram at @duducrochet; find his patterns at ravelry.com. Still need to starch it.
Gabrielle is resting on a crocheted shawl design I will release before July of this year. It’s about time! I started working on this design in 2016. It has been put aside and picked up numerous times.
To celebrate all this closure, I started a tiny wall hanging yesterday and gathered yarn for Mandala Waistcoat, by Sara Huntington. I’ve wanted to make one of those for years.
Doily Premonition
On a Saturday in July, I went to my first Needles and Friends meeting in Comanche, Texas. For some reason, as I drove along the driveway, my macramé cord doily popped into my mind. It’s a big doily that usually hangs with the Celebrate Doilies exhibit, as an eye-catcher. “People just love big, flashy stuff like that,” I mused.
My mom had given me some old macramé cord she bought years ago. I wasn’t sure how far the cord would go, so I searched for a design where it wouldn’t matter if I ran out of cord in the middle of a round.
Also, my mom had three different weights and colors of cord, so the design had to be forgiving enough to accommodate the different thicknesses.
I found the perfect pattern in one of my books of reprinted vintage thread crochet patterns. It was a luncheon set, with coasters, placemats, and a table centerpiece. They all had the same center, which was small enough for the coaster, and the other sizes were made by repeating a sort of spiderweb-type design round.
The pattern was originally published by American Spool Company, with no designer’s name mentioned. Its name is “Peacock Tails Doily Set #7444,” and you can download the pattern free at Free Vintage Crochet.
Back to the Needles and Friends group. We meet at Tomorrow’s Keepsakes, a coffee-lunch-antique-and-gift shop on the courthouse square in Comanche. One of our members showed her recent quilts and sewing projects, which we admired very much.
When she finished, she sat down, and at that point I could see the lovely antique sofa behind her. Draped across its back was the small version of the Peacock Tails doily, crocheted in thread.
This premonition thing has been happening to me a lot lately—something pops into my mind sort of randomly and I see it or hear it later in the day. Hmm…I wonder if it would work if I start randomly thinking about things on purpose, like old friends or a book I’ve been looking for. Must try to harness this!
Expanding the Art and Community of Crochet
The Evening of Excellence at the Crochet Guild of America ChainLink conference in Portland, Oregon, last week was a celebration of the Design Competition winners, the graduates of the Master Crocheters program, and the winners of the Guild Challenge, which was to see how many sets of chemo caps each guild contributed. A set of caps included one each for a man, a woman, and a child. So cool!
After all the awards, everyone (except me) settled back for a presentation about how we might grow the crochet community by…wait for it…appealing to people who don’t crochet! I talked about how we can use family connections, art, and collaboration, to broaden the appeal and appreciation of crochet.
And now you can see the evening’s ceremonies and speech for yourself, because it was live-streamed on Facebook! I come in sometime after minute 58. Enjoy!
CGOA 2018 Presentation Notes
I’m thrilled to be giving a talk this evening at the Crochet Guild of America’s annual conference in Portland, Oregon. The presentation is called “Expanding the Art and Community of Crochet.” One of the points I emphasize is using exhibits and shows to spread the influence of crochet to people outside our usual crochet circle.
Getting a Public Crochet Project Started
When I talk about a public crochet project, I usually mean a show or exhibit. You will probably come up with lots more ideas.
To me, a show is when lots of people enter things they have made for a two- or three-day display. Think of a quilt show put on by a local quilting guild, and you’ll know what I mean. There might be different categories of entries, and you could award ribbons or a Best-of-Show award.
An exhibit is more like a collection of works that center around a theme, like my exhibit Celebrate Doilies. One person or a committee would curate an exhibit, choosing historical items, artworks, and other materials that support the theme. An exhibit is usually displayed longer than a show, and can travel to different venues.
These links are to articles about how to organize quilt shows, where lots of people enter their work. They will give you a starting point for planning a crochet show.
www.quiltinghub.com/Articles/ArticleID/325
lostquilt.com/displaying-quilts/organizing-a-quilt-show/
Talking about Your Crochet Event
If you put on a show, an exhibit, or some other crochet event, you need to let people know about it.
Talk about it early and often. If you can, start at least one year ahead of time.
This post has good ideas for publicity: threadmongers.blogspot.com/2012/08/quilt-shows-attendance-and-publicity.html
You or your group will be the best advocates for your crochet event. To communicate well, you will need:
- Good photos or samples of what your event will be about, so you can show people what it will look like.
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Accurate information about your event. Think back to the Five Ws you probably learned about in elementary school: Who, What, When, Where, and Why.
Let people know the details—WHO is putting on the show or whose work is in the show, WHAT is it about, WHEN will it be, WHERE will it be, WHY are you doing this and WHY should people be interested?
- Finally, how can people help? Maybe you want people to enter their work in a show. You may need volunteers. Think about how people can help.
Where to Talk About Your Crochet Event
Involve your crochet friends and guild, but think about who else would be interested in what you are doing. Consider giving talks to:
- Genealogy groups
- Senior Citizens groups
- Service organization meetings. The Lions Club in my town has a weekly luncheon where they have a speaker. You could be one of those speakers.
- Historical society meetings
- Art and needlework groups other than crochet
Writing about Your Crochet Event
At some point you will need to do more publicity. Preferably free. Here’s a list to get you started:
Social Media
The key to publicizing anything on social media is to post often and with pictures. See if you can come up with something flashy and eye-catching to draw attention to your project. These great, big doilies I crocheted for Celebrate Doilies got lots of likes every time I post them on Instagram or Twitter.
As early as you can, make a list of magazines, newsletters, newspapers, and websites that have event listings. Find out their deadlines and be sure to meet them.
Newspapers and Magazines
You never know when your listing will lead to further publicity through a feature story. If it’s a small town newspaper, offer to write a feature article about your event.
Try tourist and travel magazines
If you are a college graduate, your alumni magazine or newsletter may want to list an event you created.
Guest Blog Posts
Even if you have your own blog, consider writing guest blog posts to expand your audience. Read the host blogger’s guidelines carefully and follow them.
Interviews
Accept offers for interviews. If you’re anxious about speaking off the cuff, ask if you can do a written interview.
Sandi Horton’s Poem
Modern Girl
Copyright 2017 by Sandi Horton. All rights reserved.
The young girl eyes the multitude of colors
She wants to find just the right one
Should she be practical with a neutral
Or choose a bright, modern color?
Her mother and grandmother chose
Different shades of white and beige
They are so old-fashioned
The girl chooses a dazzling lime green
She wants to represent her generation
Even though most other girls don’t crochet
The girl wants to keep the chain going
Her nimble fingers tighten from the stress
Lime green thread twists around and around
The hook moves slowly, in an unsteady rhythm
Her mom says, ‘Crocheting relaxes me.’
The inexperienced girl continues to struggle
She refuses to give up
A smooth pattern finally takes shape
She finishes her first and only doily
Modern girls have better things to do
Doily Posters at IOLI
Nineteen of the Doily Heritage Posters from the Celebrate Doilies exhibit are on display at the International Organization of Lace (IOLI) convention in San Antonio, Texas, through Friday of this week.
As advertised, the posters tell about doily crocheters of the past and present, who are mostly from Texas. “Are there really that many stories to tell about doilies?” you may ask. When I first started collecting the stories, I wondered about that, too.
Soon I realized that doily stories are people stories, and there are more of those stories than we can collect in a lifetime. Doily stories are about families. Doily stories are about thrift and creativity. Doily stories are about mystery and mysterious connections.
If you can, go see these stories at the IOLI Convention display room, at the El Tropicano Riverwalk Hotel, 110 Lexington Avenue, San Antonio, Texas.
Hours are Thursday, July 26 and Friday July 27, 2018, 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.
Many thanks to display coordinator and fiber Renaissance woman Pat Tittizer, who worked hard on several aspects of the IOLI convention, and who provided these photos. For more information about the IOLI, please visit www.internationalorganizationoflace.org.
Colour Collective Fridays
Fridays are fun on Twitter. The process actually starts the Saturday before, when the Colour Collective (@Clr_Collective) posts a color for the week. The idea is for artists to create a piece using that color, or to find a previous work that has the color in it.
On any given Friday, at 19:30 GMT (that would be early afternoon, here in Texas), everyone posts their work, tagging #colour_collective, and the name of the color for the week. It’s a fun challenge, and my Friday afternoon Twitter feed is just beautiful!
Lots of illustrators join in, which I love, because I have been fascinated by illustration since childhood. However, artists in all media are welcome to take the Colour Collective challenge.
Making textile art takes me a while, so I had to go back to Puzzling Pinks, a piece from 2015, to find Cherry Blossom Pink for our May 11th challenge.
After working (and being distracted from working) on a large, complicated piece for quite a while, I needed a break. Usually, creating something small and relatively quick helps me feel like I’m accomplishing something, and I can go back to complex work with renewed enthusiasm.
So for the next two weeks, I made mini-quilts especially for the Colour Collective challenge. For May 18th, the color was Dioxazine Mauve, a dark violet. I put together previously-knitted purples with old and newly-crocheted stars in Stellar Perspective, a 10 x 14″ knitted, embellished mini-quilt.
In February of this year, my friend Donna was giving away some rainbow-striped-with-black fabric. I took it home. Later, when I was organizing(ish?), I piled a bright and happy doily with red, yellow, and green accents on the rainbow fabric. As the young people would say…OMG! This was clearly a match made in heaven! The happy doily and rainbow fabric were absolutely made for each other!
I posted on Instagram about this wonderful discovery, then put the doily and fabric carefully away, to work on later.
The time came in May, when the Colour Collective challenge was Gamboge. Of all the fabric I have accumulated, the rainbow fabric was the only one with any gamboge in it. Yay! I happily tweeted Fiesta Flower in the Rainbow Jungle on May 25th.
Antelope Horns in the Library
Antelope Horns in the Library
We were back in Bastrop, Texas, this weekend for another Bastrop Art in Public Places event. This time my daughter came along, and our first stop was the Bastrop Public Library on Church Street.
For the next year, the library will be home to Antelope Horns and several of the sixteen 2-dimensional art pieces chosen from a field of about 60, back in April. We took photos to show to you and of course to my parents. They love that kind of stuff!
We also took the opportunity to change from our driving clothes to our party clothes, because our next stop was the Lost Pines Art Center, where we attended a reception for the artists represented in this year’s Bastrop Art in Public Places program. Delicious cheeses and chocolate mousse were on the menu, and we nibbled while the organizers talked about the program and showed us the various sculptures and 2-D pieces on display around town.
The most exciting part was the awards.Antelope Horns won an Honorable Mention and a cash prize. Hurray!
Texas artists, please consider entering your work in next year’s competition. Find links and more information here.
Celebrate Doilies Travels
Hot Snakes and doilies? Yeah, I was kind of confused, too, when I read the first paragraph of this article by journalist Dave Thomas of the Austin American-Statesman. But read on—it all begins to make sense.
Many thanks to Dave for writing about the Celebrate Doilies exhibit during its time at the German Free School in Austin.
Next up for Celebrate Doilies:
- The doily-inspired art quilts of Celebrate Doilies join a group exhibit at the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center gallery at Tarleton State University, June 26 – August 3, 2018.
- The doily heritage posters will be on display at the International Organization of Lace conference in San Antonio, Texas, this summer.
- The Celebrate Doilies exhibit will travel to Houston in 2019. More details to come!
Antelope Horns in Bastrop
By the time the sun came up on Saturday, April 21, my wall hanging Antelope Horns was in the back seat of the car, and we were on the way to pick up my friend Peggy. Our destination was Bastrop, Texas, and our mission was to deliver Antelope Horns for the second round of judging for the Bastrop Art in Public Places 2D program.
Nearly three and a half hours later, we arrived at the Bastrop City Hall, where friendly folks greeted artists and showed us where to drop off our work. Anne Beck, who organized the competition, explained why artists had to bring their works to town for judging for the first time this year. Previously, judging was accomplished by looking at photos of artwork online and ranking them according to a list of criteria. Once the chosen art was installed in Bastrop’s public buildings, judges took a closer look at the artwork, this time choosing five pieces for cash prizes. Judges were amazed at the difference between seeing the art online versus in person.
Things changed slightly this year, with one group of judges viewing the original group of entries online, and choosing 30 pieces for the next round. Artists brought their work so the next judging panel could see them in real life, and choose the sixteen works to be displayed in Bastrop for one year.
While the judges worked, artists and their guests took a tour of the Lost Pines Art Center, a community-centered gallery with classrooms and a gift shop. Even on that cloudy, drizzly day, lots of natural light streamed in, illuminating paintings, photos, and sculptures by area artists. I loved the butterfly mosaic by Jim and Marlene Outlaw, in the floor just inside one of the building’s entries.
BAiPP provided a nice lunch for us, and we talked with our table-mates until Anne came in to tell us whose works would be staying in Bastrop.
I’m very glad to tell you that Antelope Horns is one of the sixteen! It is on display in the Bastrop Public Library until mid-April 2019.
Artists, if you’re within driving distance of Bastrop, I hope you’ll consider entering your work next year. To get their news, which will include notification of next year’s competition, sign up for the Bastrop Art in Public Places newsletter at their website. Good luck!
Click here for the first of three posts about the making of Antelope Horns.
Celebrate Doilies Podcast Adventure
Installing Celebrate Doilies in Austin last week was an adventure, which became even more exciting when Casey of www.kcknits.com came by the German Free School to interview me for Episode 95 of the www.verypink.com podcast.
In a testament to how well social media can work, Casey told about how she found me through Twitter. I had tweeted about a crochet sample book on loan to me from Gwen Blakley Kinsler, the Crochet Kween. Casey saw a retweet, read about Celebrate Doilies, and messaged me.
For the interview, we both wore clip-on microphones, even though her recorder had very cool directional microphones attached to it. I’ve learned a lot about recording voices in the last few months, and you definitely need a microphone close to the person who is speaking. Clip-ons are a pain, because their long cords tangle so easily and they limit your movement, but they are much less expensive than the fancier alternative.
We talked about how the idea of Celebrate Doilies came to me, back in 2015. Casey asked about some of the stories people have told me about their family heirloom doilies, and I was glad to tell them. After the interview, she photographed the exhibit, which we had just finished putting up.
You can listen to the podcast online at https://verypink.com/2018/05/02/podcast-episode-95-celebrate-doilies/ or wherever you get your podcasts.
Casey added some history about the German Free School in her own blog post about the podcast, which you can read at www.kcknits.com/blog/doilies.
