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A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....07-29-03...Quilts, Men, America and Such
Billie; FreeTheHostages | FreeTheHostages

Posted on 07/29/2003 5:58:57 AM PDT by Billie



A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day
Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.
A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in need; and congratulate those deserving. We strive to keep our threads entertaining, fun, and pleasing to look at, and often have guest writers contribute an essay, or a profile of another FReeper.
On Mondays please visit us to see photos of A FEW OF FR'S VETERANS AND ACTIVE MILITARY
If you have a suggestion, or an idea, or if there's a FReeper you would like to see featured, please drop one of us a note in FR mail.
We're having fun and hope you are!

~ Billie, Mama_Bear, dansangel, dutchess, Aquamarine ~




by FreeTheHostages
design by Billie


A quilt by one of the greatest living quilters, Michael James.


Guys quilting? Who's in control here??

Don't worry, it's still the women. Whether it's a traditional floral beauty, a lovely Baltimore album quilt, a positively painterly quilt, a breathtaking applique quilt , or a more modern quilt , quilting is still mostly women's work.
Michael James has got it right though: he's struck by how democratic and down-to-earth quilters are. Everyone has a story about their special quilt, and quits, for everyone, touch them some place deep. It's a positively American art form. And it's an art form that always pays homage to history and tradition, even in some of it's great modern and dramatic forms by modern quiltmakers such as Katie Pasquini-Masopust.
Lots of conservative women attend quilt shows! I saw lots of Republican bumperstickers at the 2003 Vermont Quilt Festival. But not many men of either the Republican or Democrat variety there. {Sigh} I tried to persuade one male Freeper who I know lives in Vermont to attend this festival, and I got a private Freepmail saying: “If you ever see me at a quilt festival, just shoot me.”
What is it with men and quilting? LOL – apparently not much. Well, for what it's worth guys, you are the subject of the first of four facts I do present in this post regarding quilting:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


1) Quilters Love Men – Especially Diver Dave


Blue Ribbon for the Best Landscape, 2003 Vermont Quilt Festival

Quilters love men. Men have been there for us – hanging quilts, driving us to the fabric store, paying our fabric bills, ignoring the occasional pin in the carpet – but most of all, pretending to understand us.
Isn’t it cute? The way he lovingly drives you to the weekend quilting bee, unaware that you and your girlfriends are spending the weekend plotting how to run the town while letting the men think they are in charge? The way he pretends to admire your latest quilt – without comprehending that the quilt explores female despair at having to live with a man who does not understand a thing about quilting?
It's just as well the guys don't know the details of quilting. Then we can explain that we can't clean the house just now because we are "exhausted" from quilting.
GailA with her 'helper', Rocky, relaxing after an exhausting day of quilting


Who is YOUR FReeper Quilt Guy? Is it DIVER DAVE?

If you quilt, you know a man who suffers for your quilting. Here I accept nominations for Free Republic Quilt Guy of the Year. Who's your Freeper Quilt Guy? Tell me the story of how your man has suffered for your quilting. What does your quilt guy do for you? Does he babysit the kids while you’re off at some wild quilting sleep-over slumber party? Does he not complain that there are some pins hidden in the carpet? Or is it just so cute the way he pretends to care what your latest quilt looks like, hiding his boredom?
P.S. I will be giving another copy of Ann Coulter’s book Treason to the best nomination, but I should warn you all that Diver Dave will probably win, even if his wife doesn’t quilt, because he’s always coming in second or third in my contests, and I just think it’s time he won something. And thank you for playing. With that, on behalf of the hostesses, this half-hostess (for increasingly obvious reasons) thought I'd put to rest once and for all these rumors that my contest threads are fixed. :)

(With thanks to GailA for her quilted animals!)


In the pioneer days, quilting was seen as creative and useful, so the men wouldn't stop the women from doing it. The women were able to create a work of art without it being though of as frivolous. It was a way of fulfilling a creative impulse in an acceptable way. The trade-off, though, was that, until recently, quilting was not seen as an art form, so men were hesitant to get involved. Hmm, what’s so wrong with that? Let the guys play golf with each other at Augusta National – I’ll be quilting that weekend with the girls!
Men: You can't live without them, but you can quilt without them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


2) Quilting is Conservative
It’s such an American – and a conservative – thing to do. The very idea of quilts is conservative – to save and use those scraps of cloth, not to waste a thing. One of my favorite quilts at the Vermont Quilt Festival this year is a quilt made out of all different little scraps which has for its title, simply, "Used ‘em!”
Quilting is respecting history and remembering, things conservatives are good at. Here’s a link to quilts that remember the victims of 9/11. Never forget. Panels from this quilt project travel around the country.
Especially after 9/11, there have been many more patriotic quilts and, temporarily, a shortage on stars and stripes and patriotic fabric in the quilting shot. We Republican women were not caught short: we already had been favoring the red, white, and blue. Right, GailA?

A very traditional "flying geese" border design.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


3) Everyone Should Quilt
WHAT?! YOU SAY YOU DON’T QUILT??!!! Oh my goodness, don’t talk such nonsense!!! Apart from burdening and annoying your man, there are 1,000 other reasons to quilt, girls.
First and foremost, wouldn't you want to OWN something lovely like this quilt by GailA?



Or how about this beautiful quilt done by RJayneJ?



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


4) Quilting Is American
And, finally, the long pedantic part of this feature. JUST STOP READING IF THIS IS ALREADY TOO LONG, OK? Hee hee, no one's putting a gun to your head, people!
Quilting became a conservation between various immigrant groups to America. Various European quilting traditions mix in American quilting history with native American textile and bead work.
The term “African American” is a very appropriate description of the weave/strip tradition of American quilting. While the textile traditions of African peoples are less thoroughly documented than other aspects of folk art, it is known that there were distinct, prominent influences of four civilizations in Central and West Africa: the Mande-speaking peoples, the Yoruba and Fon people; the Ejagham peoples, and the Kongo peoples. As slaves and their textiles were traded heavily throughout the Caribbean, Central America, and the Southern United States, the traditions of these four distinct regions became intermixed. Thus by the time that early African American quilting became a tradition in and of itself, it was already a combination of textile traditions.
Originally in Africa most of the textiles were made by men. Yet when slaves were brought to the United States their work was divided according to work roles, female slaves often ended up quilting. Female slaves doing domestic chores made some of the first African American quilts. There's some modern scholarship suggesting that some of these seamstresses documented paths to freedom on the underground railroad by quilting maps onto their masters' quilts!
Seminole Indian strip quilting is my favorite. If you've never quilted and are thinking of getting started, this is a good first book:


So many traditions mixed in a lively brew the colonial textile work from European immigrants. And wa-laa – there you have it! America's quilt. And as every quiltmaker knows, if it seems to you that you have too many colors and too much chaos going on, just add another color to the stew! Quilts are all about the noisy chaos of America, a colorful, chaotic fabric of peoples bound to one God and one land.

Blue ribbon for most whimsical, 2003 Vermont Quilt Festival


People say quilting is a way of connecting the generations, through the age-old beautiful techniques of lovingly piecing lives together. Quilts are love. In pioneer days, many women lost their children when they were young, and buried them with an indigo and white "mourning quilt." Even though the grandmothers and great-aunts might not be around to teach and encourage a new generation of women, they have left their influence. Many women who quilt for a long time leave pieces "behind" in a store, planning to leave work for the next generation to pick up on when they transcend to the Church Triumphant. Younger female relatives can be comforted by these bounds that transcend time.
Vermont: that's where I learned to quilt. Kind of an extraneous, self-absorbed fact – the sort I specialized in – but frankly that's the best segue I can think of to introduce to you some of my favorite summer vacation photos from the 2003 Vermont Quilt Festival.



Happy Quilting, FReepers!






THIS WEEK'S THREADS

07-28-03 Military Monday

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping'
The guy's good, folks!
Thanks, Mixer!

1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar.
2) Once there you can click on any month and even click to the right to go into next year. Once you are in the month that you joined FR you will need to click on the number in the calendar and then an add item screen will come up.
3) In the next box enter your name in the "Calendar Text" field and then click on submit.
4) If any of the screens fail to load simply click on refresh in your browser and that will usually fix it.
5) If all else fails or simply if you want me to do this for you send me a FReepmail and I will gladly do it for you. ~Mixer




TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS: freepers; fun; military; patriotic; quilting; surprises; veterans
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To: Aquamarine
I started a Bear's Paw some time about 2 years ago...it's still sitting in my cut to finish box. I did actually FINISH 5 small projects this week. They were done except putting the backing on them. They are lap quilts for the Disable Vets project the AM Legion Ladies Aux has going. Our goal is 60 lap quilts or knit/crochet throws...36" x 36"
101 posted on 07/29/2003 11:09:38 AM PDT by GailA (Millington Rally for America after action http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/872519/posts)
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To: Billie
Quilts?! A thread about QUILTING?!!!!

My thoughts - exactly! LOL!

My Granny Flynn and my Mom quilted quite a bit in their time, all hand made. And it's amazing the materials they crafted them from.

Afternoon, BillieBlue. : )

Very pretty graphics. : )

102 posted on 07/29/2003 11:12:49 AM PDT by ST.LOUIE1
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To: GailA; FreeTheHostages
They are lap quilts for the Disable Vets project the AM Legion Ladies Aux has going. Our goal is 60 lap quilts or knit/crochet throws...36" x 36"

I think those Veterans will enjoy those quilts, maybe men don't understand quilting but men love to sleep under quilts.

103 posted on 07/29/2003 11:15:29 AM PDT by Aquamarine
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To: FreeTheHostages
Hi Freezie! Your quilt history is very interesting!

You should have another 'contest' and have one as a *prize*. : )

104 posted on 07/29/2003 11:17:30 AM PDT by ST.LOUIE1
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To: Aquamarine; FreeTheHostages
Quilters are some of the most down to earth and pleasant people around

I have no doubt about that. FreeTheHostages is just an aberration. :-)

105 posted on 07/29/2003 11:20:21 AM PDT by The Thin Man
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To: Pippin
Thanks Pip. :)

Hope your 'puter woes are soon behind you.
I've had my share of 'puter woes. I just go down and buy new parts and upgrade. I've got a drawer full of old motherboards, modems, hard drives, etc. Actually, they're pretty simple to upgrade and cheaper than a new one IMO. Now monitors are a different story. When they go snap crackle pop!, it's time to get a new one.

106 posted on 07/29/2003 11:22:10 AM PDT by Diver Dave
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To: ST.LOUIE1
Howdy Louie. Thanks for your vote. :)
107 posted on 07/29/2003 11:25:04 AM PDT by Diver Dave
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To: Billie; dutchess
I love inserting those little 'deliberate' typos to make him smile. :)

Be more original! Don't you know that's dutchess' excuse? LOL!

108 posted on 07/29/2003 11:25:54 AM PDT by The Thin Man
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To: Aquamarine; GailA
maybe men don't understand quilting but men love to sleep under quilts

They understand all right! They just don't want to admit it in front of other men! At least on a subconscious level, they understand about quilts.
109 posted on 07/29/2003 11:26:03 AM PDT by FreeTheHostages
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To: GailA
to quilt is human, to finish divine
110 posted on 07/29/2003 11:27:15 AM PDT by FreeTheHostages
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To: Diver Dave
Congratulations on a well deserved win. It must give you great satisfaction knowing that your hard work paid off. :)
111 posted on 07/29/2003 11:27:26 AM PDT by The Thin Man
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To: The Thin Man
Have you thought about taking up quilting? ;)
112 posted on 07/29/2003 11:29:58 AM PDT by Aquamarine
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To: Pippin
I think quilts are neat!

I think *you* are neat! (((((((((Pippin)))))))))

: )

113 posted on 07/29/2003 11:33:48 AM PDT by ST.LOUIE1
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To: Aquamarine; The Thin Man; Diver Dave; Billie
Have you thought about taking up quilting? ;)

Yes, have you, the Thin Man? You seem a little jealous of Diver Dave's win. Diver Dave had that over-regulated gingerbreadhouse, and then another hilarious entry in my tagline contest. You should wish him only well, The Thin Man! Tsk, tsk, jealously is sooo unbecoming. I think quilting would soften your rough edges!

In fact, I can think of a good quilting pattern to start you on: drunkard's path.
114 posted on 07/29/2003 11:35:06 AM PDT by FreeTheHostages
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To: Billie
Awwww, look - your mom quilts, too. :)

LOL!

Er.....maybe you should be sleeping under that one. LOL!!!

I know, shame on wolfie. : (

A beautiful rose from a beautiful lady, thank you. : )


115 posted on 07/29/2003 11:40:11 AM PDT by ST.LOUIE1
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To: jwfiv
Hi, JW!

The ladies are putting on their Finest for us, eh? : )

116 posted on 07/29/2003 11:42:31 AM PDT by ST.LOUIE1
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To: Calpernia
The word quilt comes from the Latin culcita meaning a stuffed sack. :-)

It is when I'm under one. : )

117 posted on 07/29/2003 11:44:04 AM PDT by ST.LOUIE1
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To: The Thin Man
Congratulations on a well deserved win.
It must give you great satisfaction knowing that your hard work paid off. :)

Thanks.
Yep. The secret was to know when to quilt quit. :)

118 posted on 07/29/2003 11:48:59 AM PDT by Diver Dave
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To: FreeTheHostages
LOL, I'm armed and dangerous when I quilt too. the sharpness of those fabric cutter wheels still unnerves me.
I'm sure it would unnerve wolfie, too

Hey....you insinuating wolfie would even consider quilting? That's a 'woman' thingy. : (

And sharp cutter wheels wouldn't bother me.....only a silver bullet....and you ain't got one. LOL

Seriously, this is a very nice thread and the graphics are pure eye candy. : )

And I just know you're going to be telling me how many men DO quilt. LOL

119 posted on 07/29/2003 11:52:09 AM PDT by ST.LOUIE1
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To: MeeknMing
Democrats Bolt Again....to New Mexico

Hi, Meekie - I'll use the same phrase I used Thursday on John's thread....."Dem Dam Dims"! They can't stand it if they don't have an advantage, can they?!

120 posted on 07/29/2003 11:54:02 AM PDT by Billie
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