JULY PRESS--AMERICAN QUILTER

Crayons 45" x 44" is in the American Quilter July 2018 issue, First Place Small Wall Quilts-Hand Quilted----AQS QUILTWEEK Spring Paducah.

This is the second year in a row AQS has awarded my quilts this honor. I blush with appreciation. Some of my colleagues have said they never thought of hand quilting an "improv" quilt, and I'm here to urge you to do just that. Liberate your imagination, thread that needle and be adventurous! 

ps....you still have time to register for my October workshop at the Madeline Island School of the Arts  STUDIO HAND QUILTING  Everyone is welcome. No one is too much of a novice.

STITCHED TOGETHER : A STORY - - A STATEMENT

BERRY PATCH WORK 46" X 48"
by pam beal

It was summer when the United Auto Workers voted to strike. Dad had picket line duty, and strike pay to cover the most basic needs. Our neighbors invited us to join them in the blueberry fields and the four of us became field hands. From my youthful point of view, we were about to have an adventure. 

Our new co-workers welcomed us with warmth and lots of help and advice. Quickly and correctly removing blueberries from the bush requires skill and just the right moves. We were paid cents per bucket, and our days were long, hot and dirty. But there you were! I experienced the music of your language, your kindness, and your work ethic. 

While I stitched this quilt, troubling circumstances called me back to my berry patch days, and the neighbors I loved. They were of Mexican heritage. Our family was....what? According to my dad, we were "mutts" from a mixed background of long ago, and not so long ago immigrants. And there was that story about how a neighbor spoke unkindly to my grandfather (a Swedish immigrant who served America in World War I) making fun of his English, and how my grandmother set that woman straight in no uncertain terms.

The quilt is now completed but significant trouble persists. It is dangerous for a society to turn away from empathy. Immoral immigration policies now culminate in the forceful removal of children from their parents. Some of the children are confined to a tent city in the heat of Texas. Subjecting vulnerable human beings to this violence is an atrocity. 

In my idea of America we stand Indivisible with her, Lady Liberty, and practice hospitality, diversity and inclusion. 

We are stitched together.

Papa and buttons from his uniform which I found in Nana's button box

THEY PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS

What a week it was! A Quilt Study Workshop from the Liberated School of Design was convened. Our pleasant location was the Woodland Ridge Retreat in Downsville, WI.

Having a theme is one way to invite the imagination to the quiltmaking process, particularly when working in a free form, liberated manner. My small studies illustrate minimalism in quilts, our working theme for the week. I choose to interpret a couple of Amish quilts, sometimes thought of as "minimal" and plain from the quilt tradition. 

This group turned out to be as adventurous as I hoped they would be! May I add that we got along right from the start making for many good times which will go undisclosed here! 
Sharing a few photos of the quilts will illustrate a free interpretation of minimalism expressed in palette, composition and considered use of elements. Traditional quilt forms were explored and simplified. Small quilts offering uninhibited discovery invited larger compositions in some cases.

Making parts, auditioning and allowing the quilt to change throughout the process is the way we cut and sew in the Liberated School of Design.

Woodland Ridge Retreat and Chris Daly offered the excellent accommodations and I thank you, the students who recommended me, and everyone who joined me! 

"Her quilts are simple and to the point. They contain no foolish chattering." ___from the forward: Quilt Artistry, Inspired Designs From The East, Yoshiko Jinzenji