Zuri at QuiltCon

Three of us Zuri members boarded an early morning flight last Thursday morning for Austin headed to QuiltCon, a first-of-it’s-kind, Modern Quilting show put on by The Modern Quilt Guild in Austin, Texas. Workshops. Lectures. Vendors. Exhibit. Quilts. Books. Fabrics. Meeting some of our favorite bloggers. Fish tacos. The three of us staying up to the wee hours of the night there in the hotel room talking about quilts and quilting. And what exactly is modern quilting? And is there an African American aesthetic? And, how to define African American quilting. (More about those discussions in a later blogpost.) It was wonderful! One of the nicest parts of the experience was meeting black women from around the country who quilt. There weren't a lot of us, but there were enough to embrace and learn from. Special shout out to our friends from the AAQLA. We arrived back home Sunday afternoon saddled with books, fabrics (lots and lots), coupons, new techniques, and photos. And lots of ideas!

Our First Trunk Show!

Special thanks to the members of the Cumberland Valley Association for offering Zuri Quilting Guild the opportunity to put on our first trunk show. The event was held at First Presbyterian in Franklin, TN on the first Tuesday of February. It was a blast!

What a great group of women there at CVA! What fun we had! Over eighty members of CVA came out to the trunk show. It was one of their largest meetings, we were told. The group first learned of Zuri at the Gees Bend Quilt Exhibit back in August 2012 at the Frist Center. The museum offered live demonstrations of quiltmaking to go along with the Gees Bend exhibit, and Zuri as the only African American guild in the area was invited to do the honors.

While many of our members weren't able to attend this month's trunk show, nearly every Zuri member sent a quilt to be displayed. The CVA members were floored by the bold color and designs of Zuri quilts. I dare say that the four Zuri members who were able to attend (Peggy, Cynthia, Roz, and myself) learned as much as we passed along. CVA is made up of some pretty experienced quilters who had lots of experience with and knowledge of quilting. They appreciated however the opportunity to learn about the history of our Guild and our commitment to preserving quilting among African Americans. We reminded them that while black people arrived on these shores as slaves, they did not arrive ignorant about textiles and piece work. Admittedly, Africans probably knew nothing about the European three layered-bed quilt (coming as they did from a Sub-Saharan climate), they knew everything there was to know back then about applique, piecing, and embroidery (and you can bet their slaveowners put that knowledge to use and learned a thing or two about African piecing and embellishing from their slaves.) Many CVA women were eager to get their hands on the luscious modern African fabrics Zuri members use in their quilts. Several woman came up afterwards confessing their own love for bold colors and fun designs. Women from both Guilds exchanged cards and well-wishes and promised that this would not be the last time the two organizations would exchange creative ideas.

For more photos from the trunk show, click here.

May 2012 Meeting

Photos from our May 2012 meeting where we had a wonderful time together!

Spring Forward with Zuri

After days of rain and dreary skys, a beautiful blue sky greeted us this morning as we piled into Scruggs Center and began arranging the space to meet our sewing needs. Natural light filled the room to greet us. Everyone was in a sunny mood.

Judi opened our March meeting with a beautiful inspirational writing about sisterhood.

Patricia passed out envelopes with our 2012 block challenge which are to be completed by our December Christmas party.

Stacey and Renita shared stories from the previous weekend's Womanist Gala in New York where twenty-nine black women scholars of religion gathered to celebrate over forty years of womanist religious scholarship. The climatic moment for the womanist legends who were honored were the quilts each received as gifts from Zuri Guild. Stacey thanked the group profusely for the sacrifices members made back in November and December to piece the quilts together in time for quilter to quilt them and hand them off in time for the Womanist Gala. News that recipients wept upon receiving their quilts made our sacrifice all worthwhile.

We discussed more business. And then on to our favorite part: Show-and-Tell. Zuri members have been busy since our last meeting. Take a look!



This is weekend to spring forward. One hour less of sleep!

Don't forget. There will not be an April Guild meeting. We will be in retreat at the Butterfly Meadows Inn in Franklin. Bring your machines sisters and let's quilt all night long.

New Year, New Space for Zuri!

What a difference a new meeting space makes to a Guild. Bright. Airy Roomy. Yet intimate. Grateful to American Baptist College for allowing Zuri to hold its monthly meeting in the Scruggs Center. Our January meeting was cancelled because the new meeting space we had our sights on wasn't available after all. But God worked it out and provided us with a better and more fitting meeting space!

Important business from today's meeting:

1. Our Spring Quilting Retreat will be held once again at the beautiful Butterfly Meadows Inn April 12-14, 2012.

2. Charity Quilts for graduating seniors who have been in the foster care system are due April 12th. Our contact person Dana Eskridge will get the names and gender to us by March 1st.

3. In appreciation for allowing us to meet at the college and in support of our member Renita J. Weems who serves as Academic VP at the college, we agreed to raise money for women students at ABC by hosting an annual Renita J. Weems' Book Scholarship fundraiser. This year's fundraiser will center on breast and heart care. Zuri Quilting Guild will provide two quilts for the fundraiser, one focusing on black women and breast care and the other on black women and heart care. More details will be forthcoming.

4. We expressed our appreciation to Zenola Diggs for hosting our meetings for the past 20+ months at McKendree UMC.

5. One of our members brought back information from Chicago about The Lynch Quilts Project a beautiful example of how quilting can become a vehicle of political protest and mobilization against violence against women.

6. Finally, our next meeting will be Saturday, March 10, 2012.

Take a look at some photos from our February 2012 meeting.

Our December Holiday Party

A beautiful time was had by all at Zuri's Annual Holiday Party this weekend at Nicole's place. We decided to put on our first Quilt Challenge. Every woman got a bag containing a crayon and an alphabet a couple of months ago and was challenged to create a quilt that incorporated both the color of the crayon and the letter of the alphabet. Click here to see some of the beautiful quilts that resulted from the challenge along with the winners of the challenge. Even though only one quilter won in all categories (congratulations Patricia Scott!), every quilter walked away a winner in her own right.

Zuri and The Connector Bridge Project

Two years ago The Metro Council gave the go-ahead for a $18 million dollar 28th Avenue Connector bridge that would improve the flow of traffic between north Nashville and West End. The new connector would bridge the historically African-American north Nashville neighborhood with the West End area.

Public artist David Dahlquist of Des Moines, Iowa was chosen to design the project and his theme for the project centers on themes of connectivity. Understanding the bridge to tie two formally separated neighborhoods and cultural areas, Dahlquist has chosen for his concept quilt pattern squares, knots and a unifying thread that sews or ties one side of the bridge to the other.

The Metro Art Commission honored Zuri by inviting members to display some of our at Dahlquist's December 1st meeting with members of the North Nashville's Hadley Park Community Center. Dahlquist was in town working with community members to create the patterns he will use as inspiration for the bridge quilt squares. The thought was that Zuri Quilts would inspire Hadley Park visitors to come up with designs Dahlquist could use for the bridge. For more photos from the that evening, click here.

Don't forget our Holiday gathering at Nicole's home next Saturday,December 10th. Bring a dish and your quilt challenge project!!