Paula Nedelstern, Bayberry Quilters Guild

 

This breath taking quilt was on display at the Bayberry Quilt Guild meeting today although with a couple others of Paula Nadelstern's latest kaleidoscope quilts. I first heard her speak and saw her early quilts nearly 30 years ago.  She found her love and her specific skill and has pursued it all this time, making one quilt at a time -- in her two bedroom apartment in the Bronx with the kitchen knee deep in fabric.  She is a an easy and informative speaker, her enthusiasm for her quilts and for teaching her method which sounds easy enough but is, many have found, devilishly difficult to pull off.

She has a wonderful informative website where one can see many more of her works, she's written three major books about how to make kaleidoscope quitls, and she has become enamored of the actual kaleidoscopes and had invited the Cape's largest vender of kaleidoscopes to the meeting with many of his wares. 

In the above quilt, as you can see quickly, she is playing with chaos, with breakin the images -- this is new and for me a little unsettling especially as she showed beside her magnificent "Akron Quilt" which is in wonderful blues  with three large kaleidoscopes, all whole and magnificent.  It was truly a great pleasure to her her talk and see her quilts -- many of which she showed as slides, of course. The one that was selected one o the 100 best quilts of the 20th century she has given to the American Folk Art Museum.

More Red

This feathered star variation is for the Bayberry Guild's quilt show challenge.  That the challenge is a red and white miniature quilt, less than 100 inches total around the edges, should be no surprise. The quilt is approximately 22x22.  It is quilted in the ditch only.  Red and white is certainly dramatic -- as the quilt world learned in spades about 18 months ago when the American Folk Art Museum in New York City took over the large exhibit space in an armory and showed a huge collection of red and white quilts.

The Bayberry Guild's annual show will be next Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  I believe the display of the red and white challenge quilts will be the first thing seen by visitors to the show.  I have not heard how many challenge quilts there will be. 

Last year when the challenge was to make a quilt that pertained to the National Seashore there were 50 quilts -- which was perfect as the National Seashore was celebrating their 50th year.  That group of quilts has been shown not only at the Bayberry show but at the National Seashore, and at two or three other venues and will be shown at yet another venue in September.  Whether the red and white quilts will have that kind of appeal I do not know.