Quilts

Many quilting circles have their roots in the church or church-related activities. But recently I received a quizzical look from church members when I said that quilting is a spiritual endeavor.It helps us look at the way we learn about ourselves and our values. It connects us with others and the world around us. It is how we find meaning and purpose in life. Quilting explained a lot to me about the human spirit, our behaviors and our beliefs. In explaining the truths about quilting, I also discovered truths about being human.

Tibbi Kulwicki, of Abingdon, was the winner of the 2011-12 Bel Air Lions Club quilt raffle. Kulwicki accepted her prize at the April 17 meeting.

Quilting may have its historical roots in a practical need for warm bedcovers, but the vibrant and creative quilts that will be on display next weekend at Friends School are a tribute to the imagination of the modern-day artists who made them.When the sixth biennial show of the Baltimore Heritage Quilt Guild opens its doors Saturday, more than 100 quilts crafted by members of the organization will transform the school gymnasium into a museum."These are beautiful works of art," said Vicki Balzano, a co-chair of the show.

They twist and they turn. They break up communities. They sprawl across jurisdictional boundaries. And, in something akin to cellular mitosis, one has been divided into two entities that are miles apart. "They" are the state legislative districts newly mapped out in Baltimore County. If you look up "crazy quilt," in the dictionary, an accompanying picture of the map would clearly illustrate the term. The whole once-a-decade enterprise smacks of partisanship and back-room political horse-trading, eliciting a cynical shrug.

Anyone who feels a creative urge is invited to the Maryland Institute, College of Art to sit at a communal quilt to stitch and talk -- and perhaps make new friends.This communal work-in-progress is part of an art exhibition that has as many pieces as the colorful quilts it showcases.At the show's center is an exhibit of 45 vivid works created by Baltimore's master-quilter Elizabeth Scott. The Scott retrospective, curated by George Ciscle, includes quilts with patterns ranging from traditional strips to whimsical critters.

Q: I collect handmade quilts, especially those with designs that show some sort of optical illusion. Can you put me in touch with dealers who might have such quilts, or provide sources of information regarding instructions, patterns or designs?A: Among the most spectacular optical-illusion quilts are those made by textile artist Rebecca Shore. For more information, write to Carl Hammer Gallery, 200 W. Superior St., Chicago, Ill. 60610; phone (312) 266-8512.The fifth annual Contemporary Wall-Quilt Exhibition continues through June 1 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays at the Wild Goose Chase Quilt Gallery, 1511 Chicago Ave., Evanston, Ill. 60201-4405; phone (708)

A dovekie is, originally, a bird; among sailing craft, it's a small (21'5"), single-sail, lowerable-mast, flat-bottom, no-bilge, inboard-engine, fiberglass boat - a one-person boat that will still move in as little as 4 inches of water. It is very rowable, very trailerable. In 1987, Robert De Gast bought an 8-year-old dovekie for about $6,000, brought it to Chesapeake Bay, added a small centerboard and named it Fiddler.De Gast is one of the great modern Bay (and beyond) sailors. People know him for his maritime photography, but it's the boats he has owned that he talks about.

The word "quilt" comes from the Latin "culcita," meaning stuffed sack or cushion. Quilting refers to the stitching holding together three layers: a pieced or appliqued cover, filling and backing. The earliest evidence of quilting is a circa-3400 B.C. carved ivory figure in the British Museum of an Egyptian pharaoh wearing what looks like a quilted mantle.Quilted clothing and bedding, primarily professionally made luxury goods for the wealthy, are mentioned in 13th-century French and Dutch accounts.

The Atlanta art dealers accused in a lawsuit of taking and not returning three heirloom quilts from a woman in Gee's Bend, Ala., have handed the quilts over to her attorney. After calling a news conference late Wednesday to dispute the charges, attorneys for art dealer William Arnett and his son Matt delivered the quilts to the Birmingham law office of Peter Burke. He represents Lucinda Pettway Franklin, one of the three plaintiffs in the dispute; she says the Arnetts took and held her quilts for two years.

Quilts have played a prominent role in Mount Airy's centennial year.The town's centennial quilt, made by 22 local women over the course of a year, features 26 town landmarks and hangs in Mount Airy's Town Hall.The quilt theme surfaces again this month in "Timeless Treasures: Mount Airy's Centennial Celebration Quilt Exhibit." The exhibit will feature about 40 antique quilts, most of which have been handed down through generations of local families.The quilts will be on display July 15-17 at the Mount Airy Senior Center, 703 Ridge Ave.Judy Elwood, a veteran quilter who coordinated the centennial quilt project, came up with the idea for the antique quilt display.

Outhouses. Potbellied stoves. Four-mile walks in the snow. These are legacies of the Rosenwald Schools. For the past several weeks, county students have been studying the schools, a loosely affiliated network for African-American children that a white businessman, Julius Rosenwald, helped start with a grant in 1917. Twenty-three would spring up in Anne Arundel County alone. But what fascinated history students at North County High School in Glen Burnie and Southern High School in Harwood were the minutiae -- where children went to the bathroom, how they stayed warm and got to school, and what their classrooms looked like.

A quilt made by a prominent African-American textile artist and teacher was stolen during a burglary this month from the Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum in Oella, where it was on loan. The red-and-gold quilt owned by Joan M.E. Gaither, a former professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art , was missing after a break-in at the museum overnight on Dec. 19, Baltimore County police said. The burglar or burglars broke through a glass pane in a back door and threw a television, picture frame and a few items from the gift shop onto the floor.

Pat Gardner, a quilt artist, teacher and lecturer, died Oct. 12 at Maryland Shock Trauma Center as the result of a fall she suffered Oct. 12. The Edenwald Retirement Community resident was 83. Born Patricia M. Zug in Reading, Pa., and raised in Richland, Pa., she earned a bachelor's degree in home economics education at Juniata College. She moved to Baltimore in 1951 and began her quilting career in the early 1970s, when she developed an interest in Baltimore and Pennsylvania antique quilts and other textiles.

On a brisk autumn morning perfect for a leisurely drive, I set out from Baltimore en route to Maryland's westernmost county. With its rolling hills dotted with farms, mountain vistas and cornfields, plus dense forests gleaming with brilliant fall hues, rural Garrett County makes a stunning canvas for Mother Nature's handiwork. As the miles rolled by, making the city a distant memory, the ever-changing landscape unfolded like a good book. Each stretch was a revelation filled with quaint finds and charming discoveries: tiny towns with names like Accident; an Amish farmer driving a horse and buggy; herds of sheep and cows grazing in open fields; roadside produce stands with pumpkins for sale.

Elizabeth Scott, an art-quilt maker whose work was acclaimed by critics as "filled with hope and sadness and love," died of heart failure April 25 at her home in the Penn North section of West Baltimore. She was 95. Born Elizabeth Caldwell near Chester, S.C., she was a middle child of 14. Her family sharecropped vegetables and cotton on the plantation where her grandparents had been slaves. Her grandfather was a basket weaver, potter and blacksmith. Her father, a railroad worker, made quilts.

Inge Stocklin reflects back and says with a chuckle, "I always wanted to teach women to quilt in prison. ... I don't know why. " And for more than a decade that's what she's done -- coaching inmates at the Patuxent Institute for Women, a correctional facility in Jessup, through the weekly Circle of Friends quilting group. Now in its 12th year, the program has been a success for the inmates as well as the charities that benefit from their work, Stocklin says, based on feedback she receives from the participants.

An exhibition of Upper Shenandoah Quilts made from 1840 to 1860, as well as contemporary quilts, will open on Saturday in one of the exhibition buildings at the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace and Museum in Staunton, Va.In conjunction with the exhibition, which runs through May 29, the museum is sponsoring related activities. These include demonstrations, lectures and films. Admission will be charged for some events.Daily hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in March; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in April and May. The exhibition itself is free; however, for the Wilson house and museum, where other other quilts can be seen, the charges for admission are: $6 for adults; $4 for students; $2 for children.

`TC Everything you want to know about quilts can be learned at the fifth annual Quilters' Heritage Celebration, which runs from Thursday through next Sunday at the Lancaster Host Golf Resort and Conference Center near Lancaster, Pa.The theme, "Non-Traditional Views," explores new technical and artistic approaches to the art of quilting. You will see hundreds of quilts, from traditional designs to contemporary patterns. The show's highlight is the first complete East Coast showing of an international exhibit, "Fabric Gardens," of 78 quilts from around the world.

Jane W. Courtney, a former newspaper columnist, accomplished needlepoint worker and volunteer, died Thursday of a stroke at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. She was 76. The daughter of a salesman and a seamstress, the former Jane Weismuller was born and raised in Livingston, N.J. She was a graduate of Livingston High School. After her marriage to James M. Courtney Jr., a chemical engineer, in 1951, the couple lived in Newark, and later moved to Mendham, N.J. Mrs. Courtney studied writing at the County College of Morris in Morristown, N.J., and at New York University's New School.