Rhonda Bracey: At Random

Up early this morning to check out of the Millennium Broadway hotel and get on the road to LaGuardia Airport. There’s MAJOR construction going on there, so it was a bit confusing for our poor bus driver, but we got there in the end, got checked in without any hassle, and with plenty of time to spare to grab some (expensive and crappy) breakfast and/or lunch at the airport.

Our flight to Houston left a bit late, and there was a terrible noise in the plane coming from what sounded like a dog barking, but was most likely a pump not working correctly. Obviously the pilot and flight attendants weren’t worrying about it, and once we took off, the noise stopped. It started up in a big way when we landed, though. The flight was uneventful. Some of the girls slept, others chatted, or made hexies, or read. Finally, we were in Houston for the International Quilt Festival (IQF) — the ultimate reason for our trip!

Once we’d checked into our rooms, we headed to the registration desk to pick up totes, pins, etc. then met again early in the evening to get in line for Winners’ Circle, where all the Festival prize winners are announced and the winning quilts in each category are revealed. Wow! What a stunning array of quilts. Some have taken thousands of hours (often years), thousands of pieces of fabric, and many kilometres of thread to make. The skill and artistry has to be seen to be believed. Every one has been made from fabric and thread, and what some of these artists can do with that medium is just phenomenal and truly inspirational.

If you’re a Houston resident and have never been to IQF, do yourself a favour and come along to the convention centre for a couple of hours from Thursday 3 Nov to Sunday 6 Nov 2016. Just come to view the quilts; ignore the vendor mall if you have no interest in it. I think it costs about $12 to enter.

(Oh, and one of our tour leaders, Helen Godden from Canberra, won first prize in the ‘Art – Painted Surface’ category, for her work [in collaboration with batik artist Jonathan S Evans of Colorado] — ‘Faces of India’. Way to go, Helen!!!!)

This quilt won the Gammill Master Award for Contemporary Artistry and $5000 cash at the Houston International Quilt Festival. Tell me this isn’t art! I absolutely love it. For those interested: It’s raw edge applique, machine stitched. And it’s BIG. ‘Unknown man’ by Marina Landi and Maria Lucia Azara (Brazil).

The quilt below won ‘Best of Show’ and a $12,500 cash prize. In her artist’s statement, she said it took her a year to make and she used some 8400 pieces of fabric. Look at how she’s captured the reflections in the water! Reflections of Cape Town, by Cynthia England (Texas).

We had a ‘leisure’ day today, although almost everyone decided to join the group for a trip to Walmart and to an outlet mall (there’s nothing similar in Australia!). Many dollars were added to the local economy 😉 And many in the group acquired the super power of ‘extreme shopper’. Oh, I had another freshly made hot soft pretzel at Auntie Anne’s in the outlet mall — it was a jalapeno and cheese one and was SOOOO good.

Next stop was an out of the way place in New Holland, PA (Cedar Lane Dry Goods, 204 Orlan Rd) that seemed to mostly sell to the local Amish and Mennonite communities, based on the fabrics and clothing in their store. I could have bought a black cap worn by the females for $12.50, but didn’t. The big attraction for many in our group were the quilt tops made by local women — they all cost around $200 each for a queen bed size top, and were an absolute bargain at that price because I know how much fabric, time, effort, and work goes into making them. Many of the ladies will take them home and finish them off, adding the batting and backing, then quilting them, then adding binding. Some may just keep them as they are as an example of an authentic quilt from Lancaster County, PA. I didn’t buy one — I have enough quilts!

Our final stop of the day was a post office where some of the women sent home boxes of things they’ve purchased along the way. This wasn’t cheap. A single flat rate box with up to 20 lb of goods cost around $95 to send to Australia; some sent several. You could buy a suitcase at Walmart for about $30, then pay the excess baggage charge (say, another $30) and still be in front. However, you have to schlep that extra luggage, and for some that wasn’t an option.

I took very few photos today — the first two are of a car parked in the hotel car park, as viewed from the bus (Halloween is in a few days… at least, I hope that’s the reason he had the skeleton in there trying to get out!). The ‘doe in rut’ can was spotted in Walmart.

Today was spent in Lancaster County, PA. The group was divided in two, with Group A learning hand-quilting techniques from Lois, a Mennonite quilter at The Country Store in Intercourse, PA for the first half of the day, while Group B did an Amish farm and house tour. In the afternoon, we swapped activities.

I was in Group B. We started with a tour of a typical Amish house, learning about their history, some of their customs, their dress, their work practices, their dating practices, marriage and funeral practices, etc. It was really interesting. I think the most surprising thing I learned was that Amish women pin their clothes (e.g. aprons) together, and their prayer bonnets to their heads, with straight sewing pins!! Ouch!!! Buttons are considered ‘fancy’ for women, yet men’s trousers use buttons for the fly flap — that seemed a little inconsistent to me. Unmarried females wear white aprons, while married ones wear black; unmarried males are clean shaven, while married ones have beards, but never moustaches (something about the German soldiers from the 1600s who persecuted them for their religious beliefs having moustaches…). After seeing the house and hearing the history, we then travelled in a small bus around the countryside, viewing farms from a distance, and stopping in at a couple of places that sold things to the public — like quilts, and the OMG best-ever soft pretzel straight out of the oven I’ve ever eaten!!!!

After lunch, Group B met in The Country Store’s classroom, where Lois, a Mennonite, taught us hand-quilting techniques for several hours. What a lovely person she is! I always learn something from every class I do, even if the lesson is not to do that technique again, and so it was with hand quilting. Not my thing beforehand, and confirmed by actually doing it for a time. But I’m really glad I did it — first because we learned a bit more about Lois and the Mennonite beliefs, and because it was a good ‘bonding’ session with others in our group.

This evening we had dinner at a HUGE buffet restaurant (Bird in Hand, I think it was called) that was full of large groups, many of whom were much much older than those in our group, who, with only a couple of exceptions, are no spring chickens ourselves.

Some of my photos from today (it rained most of the day, so it wasn’t a good day for taking photos):

We got on the road this morning, leaving behind the luxurious ‘The Langham’ in Boston, which had been our home for the previous four nights.

First stop was Lowell, MA, just up the road a bit from Boston. We were there for a special tour of the New England Quilt Museum by the curator. The special exhibition featured at the moment is a selection of red and green applique quilts from the 1840s to 1870s or thereabouts. These are held in a private collection of some 2000 quilts, and were amazing in their colours and their workmanship. Most, if not all of them, were hand quilted and likely stitched in poor light conditions (candle light). I’ve only shown a few here.

After some 90 minutes or so at the NEQM, we moved on to New Hampshire and the Canterbury Shaker Village. The weather was sunny, but the wind was bitingly cold. Perfect for taking photos, but not so good if you were out in it without adequate protection! The Shaker Village tour (75 mins) was really interesting. I knew a little about the Shakers, but learnt so much more (celibacy and the relinquishing of all personal property were their two big things). We visited the Meeting House, the Laundry, and the chapel in the main Dwelling House, and the lovely Kia told their stories and answered our questions. The Canterbury Shaker Village was handed over to a non-profit organisation back in the late 1960s as their population dwindled and died out (the last one in this village died in 1996 aged 93; today, only three Shakers survive). Interestingly, unlike the Amish and similar groups, the Shakers embraced technology that made their lives easier and invented many labour-saving devices. The Laundry was a great example of that.

Our final destination today was Meredith, NH, by the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee.