"Fusible," "batting," "stash," "needles," "moonlighting to support my habit." This is not some strange subculture but the snippets of conversation you might overhear from Hamilton's quilters. The Hamilton community was well represented at the Mohawk Valley Quilt show Sept. 29-30, with "Best of the Show" going to Theresa Gallagher, staff assistant in Student Activities.
Gallagher's winning quilt, "Stars & Stripes for Matt," has a timely patriotic theme with one side an all-over stars and stripe pattern called "America." The reverse side of this unusual double-sided quilt displays a large American eagle and more waving flags of red and white stripes. "'Stars and Stripes' was made for my son Matt George ('98) as a surprise gift for Christmas," Gallagher said. (So please don't e-mail him to let him know what mom's been up to!)
Gallagher explained that, with a little help from her friends at The Tiger Lily Quilt Co., she expanded the patterns to make the quilt queen size. "The stars and stripes were made entirely from my stash with new fabric for the borders and binding," she said.
An avid quilter since taking her first class in 1989, Gallagher tells of her first quilt that is "ugly, nothing matches, hand-tied, bulky and not even cotton," that still has a place of honor in her home. Most quilters have one of these. She says because of the huge time commitment she only quilts for love: "My sewing machine and I are very close."
Quilting has its politics too, and muttering could be overheard in the Utica College gallery where the show took place, about Gallagher winning in her first show. She had never entered a competitive show before and said, laughing, "It takes being 'grown-up' to put yourself up for judging. I wasn't ready before this." Her other piece, "Birds and Bees," which she said reminds her of "lazy, hazy, summer days," also took home a third prize ribbon.
Other Hamilton winners included quilts by Anne Kinnel, who tutors for the ACCESS Project and HEOP, and Kathryn Stenstrom, cataloger in the music library. One of Kinnel's entries, "Alfalfa," took home a first-place ribbon. "A friend (Debra Boutin, assistant professor of mathematics) expecting her first grandchild told me that the fetal name was Alfalfa. I looked for my most alfalfa-like fabric," Kinnel said. The new mother's name is Holly, and Kinnel backed the quilt with cheerful holly fabric. Stenstrom's first-prize quilt, "Silent Ribbons: Night Sky," was "designed to express the complexity of the night sky."
Gail Strout, wife of English Professor Nat Strout, took home a third-place ribbon for her quilt, "Coquette," which began with her interest in fans. One of her quilts is proudly displayed in the office of David Paris, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty.
