by Amron
Gravett
MaryJanesFarm August-September 2014, p76-77
This October, the Women Writing the West will
celebrate its 20th anniversary with a gathering in Golden, Colorado. It is
in a spirit of tradition and storytelling that a group of 16 quilters from
the organization chose to do a collaborative quilting project to raffle off at
the conference. Sherry Johns, writer, longtime quilter and project coordinator
says, “I want this quilt to be something that represents the women who write
about the West, to celebrate 20 years of hard work by the founding members and all
those who belong to this organization. Quilts are a celebration of life and
this one will become an heirloom for one lucky conference attendee.”
Back in February, Sherry sent 10-inch
squares of focus fabric to each quilter with detailed instructions on theme
(women, writing, West), colors (Southwest landscape hues), and method (pieced
or appliquéd), to produce 20 finished quilt squares that will be
stitched into a queen-size quilt. Barbara Dan, writer and quilter, fondly
describes the group as the “merry band of quilters.”
But how does quilting tie into women writing
stories about the West? Creative women have always used quilts to inspire and
tell stories and have even used stories to inspire quilts. Writer Nancy Oswald
says, “Quilting is a way to tell a story visually. It’s an art, as is
storytelling. Both quilting and storytelling allow for creative expression
and enrich everyday life.”
Scenes of typical quilting projects in
the past usually involve a group of women sitting around a table with a large
quilt in their busy hands, pulling, piecing, sewing, and chatting away. The
social element of quilt-making is obvious. The nature of quilting is a
collaboration that brings people and fabric together.
Despite the vast geographical distance among
quilters in the collaborative quilt project, it was surprising to see how many
similarities there were in the individual quilt squares. But perhaps, it’s
not so surprising when we understand that our frame of reference, our
landscapes, and our stories have the common themes that the quilt assignment
hoped to illustrate. It’s not the location of the writers’ and quilters’ homes
that is their commonality, but the spirit of the West celebrated through
writing, fellowship, and support that brings our colors together.
Collaborative quilt projects are popping up all
over the place as people are striving to provide more hands-on experiences in
this age of hard-wired creativity. This project provided Women Writing the
West members a way to give back to the organization in a very
hands-on way. Many of the organization’s founding and sustaining members are
still actively involved in the operations, promotion, and celebrations after
20 years. Many of the women remain members because of lifelong friendships
developed from a love of the Western voice. Often, location divides a
group, but this organization is brought together by a depth of place: It’s
not our artistic or quilting ability that connects us, but our stories.
The end result is a quilt that visually expresses those stories in the rich and
deep hues of the Western soil.
Amron
Gravett is a professional indexer, librarian, member of Women Writing the
West and this year’s WILLA Coordinator for Scholarly Nonfiction. She can be
found at http://www.WildCloverBookServices.com http://www.WildCloverBookServices.com or
http://www.AmronGravett.com http://www.AmronGravett.com
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