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Twenty-five years ago a group of friends gathered in a San Francisco apartment to memorialize companions who had died of AIDS.
The NAMES Project: The AIDS Memorial Quilt is one of the rare pieces of needle/art that has 1) changed my understanding of the makers' life experience and 2) moved me to tears. I saw it, unfolded in its entirety, on...
Get a historical overview of the HIV/AIDS pandemic from human contraction to the present AIDS epidemic.
The commemorative quilt weighs 54 tons and spans 1.2 million square feet
At 1.3 million square feet, the AIDS Memorial Quilt is the world's largest piece of community folk art—and one of the most powerful.
Block # 7 New York Rose by Becky Brown A pattern to recall the Sewing Society at the Park Church in Elmira. Elmira, New York in the Chemung River Valley, Finger Lakes region. Counties just north of Pennsylvania are called the Southern Tier. Rudyard Kipling, visiting Elmira to see author Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) who spent his summers there, described a town "surrounded by pleasant, fat little hills." Elmira in Chemung County: the blue star in a county too new for this map from the 1820s. In the 1840s Elmira, New York was divided by arguments over slavery. Fifteen years before the war a group of anti-slavery Presbyterians felt the need to form a new congregation eventually called the Park Congregational Church. Thomas K. Beecher (1824 - 1900) in the 1850s A decade later Thomas Beecher came from Brooklyn to head the church. Beecher had just lost his young wife Olivia Day Beecher, who died at 26 probably due to pregnancy complications. Thomas himself was not well, suffering from some chronic disorder. One reason for choosing Elmira was that it was home to Gleason's Water Cure Sanitarium. He took up residence. Gleason's Sanitarium in the early 20th century New York Rose by Robyn Revelle Gragg Frances Juliana Jones Beecher (1826-1905), called Julia, known as the Belle of Bridgeport, Connecticut Thomas shared his grief over Livy's death with her cousin and close friend Julia Jones. After four years they wed. The young couple were New England aristocracy (New England's rather austere aristocracy). Thomas was son of renowned minister Lyman Beecher and half-brother to famed Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry Ward Beecher and Catherine Beecher. Julia's maternal grandfather was dictionary author Noah Webster. Julia and Thomas lived on East Hill Later in life Julia raised money for her charitable causes with her Missionary Rag Babies, hand-made dolls sold by the Park Church sewing circle. The first Park Church A friend described Julia as a woman "who plunged into life," and she became a full-fledged partner in her husband's job as small town minister. The Park Church Sewing Society was in place when the Beechers took over, but Julia had a strong influence upon the charitable group over the next fifty years. Lyman Beecher with his children, Thomas at top left. All the men became ministers. New York Rose by Denniele Bohannon Thomas was a charismatic person, witty enough to become close friend to Sam Clemens. He enjoyed science, mechanics and games (his Brooklyn church members never got over the fact that he suggested a bowling alley in the church basement.) However, like many of the Beechers, he suffered from depressions and Thomas and Julia's marital happiness was the subject of friends' speculation. When asked once how he was doing he replied: "As well as possible when hitched to a steam engine." Sam Clemens enjoyed writing to both of them (and about them.) See a link to Bridget Reddick's thesis about their marriage: Hitched to a Steam Engine below. Sam Clemens and Elmira friend Charley Langdon. Museum of the City of New York. Charley brought Sam to Elmira where he fell in love with Charley's sister. New York sampler dated 1860 made in Elmira Collection of the Chemung County Historical Society. "PRESENTED TO Mr & Mrs. W. J. Smith. BY Their Elmira FRIENDS. 1860." Lake Street, Elmira in 1860 Organizations like the Park Church Sewing Society became branches of the Sanitary Commission, supplying clothing and bedding during the war. In spring, 1864 the Elmira group asked neighbors in the Finger Lakes region to donate items for a Southern Tier Fair to be held at the new Presbyterian Church on Lake Street. Thomas was on the committee and we can be sure Julia was involved too. The chair was Jervis Langdon, the "richest man in Elmira," whose daughter Olivia married Sam Clemens after the war. "Contributions from any quarter, and of anything that can be converted into money, will be thankfully received." The church was decorated in standard fashion festooned with evergreens and dried foliage. This view is of New York City's Sanitary Fair the same year. The Southern Tier Fair opened on March 14th for a week's worth of fundraising. Four days later the new church caught fire while the hall was preparing to open for evening festivities. Boys lighting the gas lights accidentally ignited the evergreen hangings. The building was gutted; the exhibits were lost but only two people were killed, 16-year-old Fred Hart and 64-year-old Maxcy Manning Converse, who had run back into the fire to rescue people. Several other men were injured in rescue efforts. The Elmira Fair was a disaster, long remembered in Elmira history. The Beechers are remembered too. Sculptor Jonathan Scott Hartley cast a memorial to Thomas Beecher that stands in front of the second Park Church, as eclectic as the Beechers were. Hartley also did a memorial to Julia (a drinking fountain.) The Block New York Rose New Yorkers favored a blue and white color scheme for their fancy repeat block quilts. Most traditional applique patterns are based on a rotation of eight units. The usual format is a central image with four north/south units balanced by four diagonal units. That 4 + 4 design fills up a square block better than 8 rotating motifs. But you might add things to fill the corners. From the Smith's 1860 Elmira quilt signed by Kezia Y. Flint (1839-1878.) She soon went west marrying Reverend Charles Hopkin Brace. National Museum of American History Two blocks based on 8 rotating arms from Mary Hill's 1847 sampler from Maltaville in Saratoga County. Common New York solution to how to fill the corners, this one from an online auction. Sharon Waddell who collects New York Quilts has called the image a New York Rose, the perfect name for Block #8 our Ladies Aid Sampler. The simpler block is in the border corners. New York Rose by Barbara Schaffer Further Reading "Hitched to a Steam Engine": Marriage and Crises of Gender at Park Church in Nineteenth-Century Elmira, New York by Bridget Louise Reddick: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5468&context=etd Block in a sampler made for Benoni Pearce of Dutchess County, 1850. National Museum of American History. Bettina Havig is doing 10" blocks.
A highlight each summer in Washington. D.C., is the Smithsonian Folklife Festival . Every year, the Smithsonian Institution invites orga...
The MSU Museum will honor World AIDS Day by displaying two NAMES Project AIDS Memorial quilt blocks from Dec. 1 to 11.
The AIDS quilt is so large that even the National Mall cannot hold it all at once. But the Internet can.
The quilt was unfolded on the Mall 29 years ago and Americans took it to heart.
The MSU Museum will honor World AIDS Day by displaying two NAMES Project AIDS Memorial quilt blocks from Dec. 1 to 11.
Good God! If I thought yesterday was uninspiring blog fodder, get today’s action. Now, you may not know the joys of medication, but I take GET ON WITH YOUR DAY drugs in the morning and GO TO …
Shipping giant FedEx recently donated their services to another giant — the 54-ton, 1.3-million square-foot AIDS Memorial Quilt. In late June, the world’s largest living folk art began a journey from Atlanta to Washington D.C. for two major exhibitions, and FedEx donated a lead truck to carry the first set of quilt panels 610 miles […]
AIDS Memorial Quilt finds new home in downtown Atlanta
FREE first aid kit sewing pattern, comes in three sizes. This first aid kit sewing pattern comes with a video tutorial as well.
Digital Humanities is a broad collection of scholarly activities that apply new technologies to humanities research. Some of its many facets include enhancing the scholarly lifecycle, preserving and illuminating collections that are otherwise difficult to access, encouraging new creative expression by using digital media, studying the impact of technology in the humanities, and providing cultural […]
By Susan Shinn Turner For the Salisbury Post SALISBURY — Bob Lambrecht and Jon Planovsky met in 1983 in Los Angeles. Born and raised in Southern California, the two found each other at a time when they were losing friends to an unknown disease. “We were taking care of friends who were wasting away,” Planovsky says. […]
The NAMES Project: The AIDS Memorial Quilt is one of the rare pieces of needle/art that has 1) changed my understanding of the makers' life experience and 2) moved me to tears. I saw it, unfolded in its entirety, on...
Blogged Plays with Needles
Digital Humanities is a broad collection of scholarly activities that apply new technologies to humanities research. Some of its many facets include enhancing the scholarly lifecycle, preserving and illuminating collections that are otherwise difficult to access, encouraging new creative expression by using digital media, studying the impact of technology in the humanities, and providing cultural […]
It Has Great Features and is Nice to Look at Too! Thoughtful construction makes this quilt ideal for use with a wheelchair. There are pockets to keep hands warm and others to keep small personal items, like chap stick, tissues, glasses and a phone handy. Plus, a large, hidden security pocket on the back of …
Vous voulez quilter vos patchs avec votre machine familiale? Peut-être avez-vous déjà essayé le piqué-libre, sans trop de réussite (il demande beaucoup d’entrainement pour le maîtriser). Depuis quelques années, il existe une autre alternative, beaucoup plus rapide à maitriser : Les règles à quilter A l’aide d’un pied spécial qui s’adpate sur toutes les machines, … Continuer la lecture de Mes 6 conseils pour bien débuter le quilting avec les règles →
Over 30 ideas and tutorials perfect for last-minute handmade gifts to make or sew for mom, friends, neighbors, teachers, and kids.
Gert McMullin, one of the founders of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, has been using fabric from the historic quilt to create protective masks for essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Use recycled plastic bags to help tame tricky fabrics.
Tutorial for a portable first-aid kit roll made with fabric and ribbon.
Alzheimers Fidget Quilt: An Alzheimers Fidget Quilt is a lap-size activity quilt made with different textured fabrics and embellished with assorted "fidget" objects that attract the nervous hands of Alzheimer's and dementia patients and stimulate their senses. We make thes…
Yes, you can make corner labels for quilts! They are really kind of fun and can come in handy when you need one quick. Plus there is a video tutorial!
How big is a yard of fabric? Learn that plus download our fabric yardage chart in our free sewing class library.
While it wasn't their explicit mission, ladies' aid societies gave women a leg up in the struggle for equal rights. And you could say their platform was squeaky clean: It was all about sanitation and good health.
Check out this free tutorial for a quilt border using Dresden wedges.
Folded Strips pattern for coasters and mug rugs. #coasterpattern #mugrugpattern #foldedstripspattern
