Mom's maternal grandmother - Emma Lerdahl Lindquist



Mom's mother - Dagmar Edel Hansen Hipwell



Mom - Emma Hipwell Allebes


Mom's 3 daughters

top left - Heather Allebes Phillips

top right - Reaka Allebes Bushman

bottom - Shenna Allebes Mealey

Mom's Guild Presentation....

Emma's story - taped at a talk given to the Rocklin Quilt Group, May 2, 1994

I'm really hapy that I could be here, that I was invited to visit your group. As Patty said, at the NCQC meeting, I'm so used to having my last name, you know if there's a little hesitation I know that they are trying to call my name. but this was interesting because she was hesitating on "Emma". The "Allebes" was OK, but the 'Emma", that's the first time that's happened.

But anyway, I'm really happy to be here and I usually start my presentation by letting you know how grateful I am for parents who supported me. I think that that's what a lot of us need always in whatever we are doing is a support system or group of some sort to encourage us.

My mother and father didn't come from, ah, I didn't come from a sewing background other than my grandparents were tailors and there had been tailors for several generations. So they decided that my mother would be an artist of music instead. So they devoted a lot of time and energy into her performing as a pianist and so she did crochet, but other than that she could never construct a quilt but she was a wonderful quilter.

We used to have quilting bees at our church and she would go and as a toddler I would along with her and I used to, as probably some of you did, I played under the quilt as the quilters quilted. But before I went to school I was quilting with the ladies. I was sitting up and quilting with my mother and her friends at the church. I am so grateful for their encouragement.

My father was raised on a farm and they are very practical people, but I don't know what it was but they seemed to sense that I needed to be different. I guess I probably, I don't know of many, but I think we could even trace back to the Asian people and even to the African people, all of them who for many generations have really done a lot for wearable art. When you think of the wonderful embroidery and the beautiful colors and I think here in American here in the USA we're probably the most conservative of all the nations when you think of the Scandanavian people and their beautiful embroidery and also the Euiropeans how wonderfull their vests and hats and things were as we look at the costumes of other countries. But here we seem to have gotten a little more simple in our dress until the last few years.

I've always had a real interest in ethnic costuming. I love fur and the Eskimos, that always intrigued me. Fur and leather, feathers from the Indians with their leather that's always been a fascination to me. And when I was in school, if we ever had an opportunity to do something on a different country when your assignment you get to pick a country or a people, it seemed like I was always doing a doll dressed in some wonderful costume to depict that country. I very rarely drew maps or something like that. I was always doing something more three dimensional.

I can remember when I was twleve years old, my first wearable art garment that I did for anyone else, any living person, was my sister. And she was two years younger than I and it seemed like even if it wasn't real practical, my mother and father didn't discourage me, they still encouraged me to do this thing that I wanted to do. And I can still see it in my mind, I can still see my sister on Christmas Day standing in the snow in front of our house wearing these red satin mittens and hat that I had made her for Christmas. Now I grew up in Utah, in the snow, but I just thought as a twelve year old there couldn't be anything more glorious than red satin, even if it was Utah. I don't know if she ever wore them in the snow or for warmth or what, but I still remember that picture and how I had hand quilted these mittens and little hat for her.

It seemed like I had something about red because when I was in college we had a Snow Queen Celebration in the Junior College that I went to. This was after the second World War, I was in college at that time and I had been in grade school before that. But, my father had worked as an accountant for one of the military bases, so he had been able to get at that time a red parachute, you know - like rip-stop. Do you remember seeing those? Well there's a lot of yardage in a parachute. And for some reason that parachute just was in our house for all those years, and that's a long time, it had to have been nine years since ??? that we had this parachute.

So I was nominated for the Snow Queen. I wanted something really different and beautiful and so I said to my father, "What are we going to do with that parachute?" And so I made just a gorgeous evening dress out of that parachute and it was tiered and really full and it had a really full petticoat under it and it was just really charming. And when I told this story once before, I just ened it like that and somebody raised their hand and said "Were you the Snow Queen?" Yeah, I was. But I can remember my father for months and months he would have to pull that evening dress out of the closet to show his friends when they'd come and say "Oh, look what Emma did." He was so proud of that parachute evening dress.

Sometimes you have other things that happen in your life that pertain to your creating, whatever it might be. If you're a painter, a musician, or i f you write , or if you're a poet, whatever it might be. And I seem to have a real thing about shoes. I don't know how you feel about shoes, but I love shoes. And I have a real fun time with them. We were in Southern California and had gone to Rodeo Drive, I had never been there before, it's really a fun place isn't it? Anyway, prior to that time I had been to Tower Shoes, remember Tower Shoe Stores?, and I used to always haunt the shoe stores and especially looked at the sales racks because I wanted to have many shoes not few, so if you got them on sale you could get away with that better. So I noticed in Tower Shoes they had this wonderful pair of shoes that were cloth and I thought 'that's not very practical' but they were sure cute shoes and they were only like $15 or some kind of very reasonable price and they had been very expensive - something like $100 - and they had an ankle strap and I really liked them. I determined that I deserved those shoes. So I brought them home and it was several months after that that we were on Rodeo Drive and we went in this little shop - 'Pier Dieu' - are you familiar with the 'Pier Dieu' fabric, the French fabric?, well it is wonderful. As I walked into the store, I was looking around, I had never been there before, as I looked around and was looking at the trims and there was the trim that matched those shoes so I decided that I had to have some of that trim to go with my shoes. So I went to the gentleman there that was working and I said 'you know, I have shoes that match that trim' and he said 'they're Marlo Thomas' and then he told me the story ...

Apparently this shoe company bought up a lot of that trim and they produced this shoe and they didn't do it legally - they did it without permission. Apparently an individual could do that but you couldn't do that and sell them unless you get permission and so anyway they were apparently facing a lawsuit about this and so that's why they were $15...cause they were told to get those shoes out of the store. And so they got rid of them and I felt really happy. So I have shoes like Marlo Thomas and I'm still wearing mine and maybe she is too. And that was another experience and I did design the dress around that fabric and that was kind of in my smocking era. Do you find that you kind of do that? You smock and smock and smock....In fact I have a grandson that is 15 years old and that was my smocking period. So Chris - who is 15 - and Eric, his younger brother who is 13, during that time I smocked up a storm and they have the most wonderful little outfits that I smocked and then it was 8 years ago that I had my first granddaughter and I now have 4 granddaughters and I haven't smocked anything for them....because I'm not in my smocking era!

I hope to get back into that. I really need to do something for those little girls before they...oh you know, we can always wear smocking.

I have always been one to save labels. Have you ever looked at the labels in a dress or suit? They're really pretty, aren't they? I could never bear to get rid of something without taking the label out. So I had a lot of labels and when my oldest daughter left to go away to college, she was only 16 years old (sic - I was actually 17), and so when she left to go away to college and for her birthday that Feb, she would turn 17, for her 17th birthday, I made her a denim vest using these labels. And she was kind of conspicuous in it but the other kids, cause noboby had seen anything like that before. The denim was from my husband's, a pair of his old coveralls. Then the next daughter, she had to have one but she wanted a jacket and I started using the sleeves of these things and anyway I ended up making 2 vests and a jacket for my 3 daughters out of these labels. And they still have them and are still wearing them and they're really fun and I attached them all with little french knots and other embroidery stitches and if you think about it...I think now we do see it occasionally - someone who is using those labels on wearable art and even on quilts.

There are other things that you might find that will inspire you. A couple of years ago when I was coming out of the California Living section of the State Fair - that's the building where they have all the wonderful quilts during the State Fair and wearable art and embroidery work and needlework of all kinds. Anyway, my husband and I had come out of that building and were walking across the grass, and if you can visualize this as you look across the grass into the next area you see Water World. Have you noticed Water World out by the State Fair grounds? Well for some reason I had never noticed it like I noticed it that day, and maybe the sun was hitting it just right and perhaps it was my mood that I was in, but as I looked over at Water World, I saw about 15 yellow inner tubes and they were up high and they were down low and they were separated at different distances and as I got closer I could see that these inner tubes were being held by people and some of them were tall and some were short, some were men and some were women, some were boys and some were girls and some were heavier so they were further apart and some were little skinny people so they were touching you know the inner tube next to them but it was a fascinating sight and as I looked at all those inner tubes and I saw the people in the background in the water and they seemed to have a pump that had that water just bubbling and with waves in it so it's really fun and exciting - I've never been in there - but it looks like a fun place and all of the faces were happy and this line of inner tubes was lined up and around to come down on the slide. Well I looked at that and I said 'Ted, just look at that'...and he said 'yeah, it looks OK' and I said 'just think what a wonderful quilt!' and he looked at me and said 'Emma, do you ever turn your brain off?' But, you know, I guess I don't very often. It seems like everywhere I look there's something that I can imagine that might be a quilt or a garment.

My problem today, I forgot one quilt that I wanted to bring. How many of you that are kind of my age remember when you were young, 11 & 12 years old so that you listened on Saturday mornings to 'Let's Pretend'? Did some of you listen to 'Let's Pretend'? Do you remember the commercial? 'Cream of Wheat so good to eat, yes we have it every day.' Well that was fun and I used to listen to that every Saturday morning and I wish I had remembered to bring that quilt with me. How many of you have seen Mary Mashuta's book on story quilts? Have you seen that book or do you own that book? It's a delightful book and if you have a story in your life that you want to tell and put it on a quilt, that book will just inspire you. I did put that part of my life on a quilt...and if you have a chance to look through that...by the way, that book - her story book and also her book 'Wearable Art for Real People', if you have that book it's a wonderful book, both of those are going to be discontinued as far as C & T Publishing. So, if you want to get those books, which are both excellent, you might want to seek them out and get them before they're out of print. But anyway, that particular quilt, 'Let's Pretend' is in her story book quilt book. And it shows me on a Saturday morning as I'm listening to 'Let's Pretend' and there's a picture of a castle and the horses and the prince and the princess and he's trying to save her and the idea is that if he gets up over the ice to save her he gets to marry her and there's little hearts and I had my grandchildren do the artwork that is on the quilt. I was kind of trying to get an excuse to stay home by myself that day. My family were going away and I said there was this really special program on 'Let's Pretend' and could I stay home so I could listen to it . And my father agreed to that and I was so glad because I knew that if they were all home I wouldn't be able to carry through with my plan. And that was so shave my legs for the very first time! I was only 12 years old and I remember that I went and I had a sister that was older than I - 6 years older - and she shaved her legs and I thought that was just the ultimate in growing up and so I went and got her shaver and if you look through that book you'll see the quilt and you'll see me in the foreground with my foot in a tub of bubbles and the shaver in hand and I was going about this and it's kind of remarkable that I thought I was grown up enough to shave my legs but I still wanted to listen to 'Let's Pretend'. I did this in front of the radio, I had a towel and was in the living room doing this. I knew that my father would never allow...and I mean I don't know if he ever realized that this was happening in my life. That was another thing that inspired another quilt.

And I think we all have stories in our lives. I think that traditional quilts are wonderful, quilts with a repetitive block, I think that they are just really wonderful. But I think that sometimes if we have an opportunity, and sometimes we think we're not artists and we can't draw, but if we tell someone else our story, they can draw it for us. I've several times designed garden quilts. You might have seen Folsoms Opportunity Quilt several years ago, the 'Seeds Are a Promise ' quilt and I designed that quilt and designed all the garden vegetables and fruits that are on that quilt and had a few people help with it. Before that, 5 years ago, I designed a quilt called 'Evolution of the Tomato' and some of you might have seen that quilt. People remember it and it started with a little seed in a pot and it eventually became a salad.

I do like whimsical things. I think there's some controversy right now about a quilt that was not accepted at the AQS show because of the theme of the quilt. To me, I can see why it wasn't accepted. Some of you might know about the circumstances of the quilt. To me, I just love to have a quilt that when you look at it you smile or at least you feel good, that you don't have to figure it out and have any idea that you might be depressed. Or that it might be making such a political statement that it's not pleasant. I think there is so much of that in art. Have you ever been sometimes like to the State Fair and gone in to the art exhibit and there's not an awful lot there that appeals to me because a lot of it is kind of depressing and sad. So I just don't want my work to ever reflect sadness, even though it might be dedicated to a particular situation I hope that it can be happy and that you feel good about it and I do like a little bit of whimsy in my work.

I remember one time I was sitting in a workshop and I was a table away from somebody that was talking about home and the word refrigerator came up and I was thinking to myself 'I guess somebody got a new refrigerator' and then a little while later, maybe 20 minutes later, some other person came up with the word refrigerator and I thought 'my gosh, get a life, you know' and then I thought about it and you know 20 minutes later and we're still talking about refrigerators. And I think about my own circumstance and we have to be careful of how we make a judgement of other people because I found that I went to the laundromat for 29 years. I know that makes some of you gasp. You know - I didn't hear any gasps...do any of you go to the laundromat? But I did. We had a fire and I said to my husband, 'now that's one thing I can do, I can go to the laundromat because there's other things, you know....'. Well 29 years later I was still going to the laundromat every week and I raised 3 children in the laundromat...almost! But anyway, so I have a laundry room now and it's just glorious. And 18 months later, I'm still talking about it. So I think about this girl with the refrigerator and think maybe she only had an icebox and so she's trying to tell people how happy she is. Because it's just wonderful for me to take those things and be able to put them in my own washer in my own dryer - it's really something. I love to just sit in that room and watch the things go. And it is, it's a really cute room. It's a nice little room!

Sometimes we wonder if we have enough diversion in our lives. And I know as quilters most of us do and we have a lot of things . In fact we have more projects going that we would like to do that we have time to do. I heard a conversation about a woman who felt she needed something more in her life when she was watching 'The Price is Right' and she starting crying because some man won a car. And so she thought 'gosh I probably need something more in my life than the 'Price is Right' if I get so emotional about that that it makes me cry.' So she did. But remember that you can't complete something until you start it. You have to get it started. And you know I don't think there's anything wrong with having several projects going on at the same time. I own Tayo's Fabrics in Fair Oaks and some of you I'm sure have been to my store. But I have people come in every once in a while and they'll say 'well I've got a project going and I just can't get anything else until I finish that'. And I think, gosh that would be so frustrating all my life if I had to do it that way. I'm probably at the other end of the spectrum. I've got so much going that in fact last month it was really a marathon for me, I was so busy. But it does make your life interesting to just have a lot of things going on.

I have several garments - are some of you familiar with Mary Mashuta? - she has a tremendous book, I really like her book. And she does very quiet work, she has a term that she uses - Flamboyance Quotient - have you heard her say that? And she said that I'm not on her scale. That I'm over and above what she thinks the quotient of normal is. I took a class from her once and she wondered if I - I had a fabric that had some dots on batiks - and you were supposed to bring plaids and stripes. Well a lot of you see batiks haven't you that are plaids that are over dyed batik? So those were my plaids and then I brought these dotted batiks and these are my stripes and my plaids and she said 'well we'll work with that'. I think that whenever you take a class you want at the end to have your personality reflected in the piece and not the teachers' personality but let it be your piece.

That's one thing I try in my classes, is that each person that comes in to the class that they leave with something that reflects their personality and the colors and whatever they're going to feel comfortable with. As I point out some of the pieces that I brought tonight to share with you, I'll tell you a little bit about my feeling about winning awards and it's nice to win a monetary award but I'll go in to that more as I tell you about each garment or quilt. I think too I don't know how many of you have been in a class, either as an instructor or as a student, and there is somebody in that class that you can tell just from the expression on their face or their attitude that they're wondering how much that teacher is going to teach them. They have maybe a little bit of a chip on their shoulder - do you know anybody like that? It's really kind of discouraging but as an instructor I know that it's their loss and not mine if they don't find something in the class to learn. And it may not be from me, it may be from somebody sitting in the classroom. But everyday of your life you can learn something. Everyday, no matter how capable we are or what age we are, if we allow ourselves we can learn something from somebody everyday. And I feel short changed at the end of the day if I've spent time, maybe I've spent time by myself all day but I can learn from myself by trying something and if it works I can learn and if it didn't work, I learn that too. But if I feel like I haven't accomplished that at the end of the day, I'll pick up even the Reader's Digest or some book, National Geographic, something that I can read and gather a little bit of information and feel like I've been enriched after spending that day. I think it's so important that we allow ourselves that part of our lives to learn and it's so much more exciting than to think you know everything that there is to know because there's just no way that you can.

I learned a couple of different things just in this last year. One thing I learned from Gai Perry. I was in her home 2 different times taking an overnight workshop, and I didn't know this but maybe some of you do, but did you know that if you iron on a terrycloth or a towel if you press your seam allowances on the terry towel that your seam allowances won't show? Did any of you know that? Maybe some of you knew that. See, I didn't know that. But if you do press on the terrycloth, it's just amazing. And I learned about that just about the time I was working on the Fairfield garment that I had in this year's show. The jacket on that is silk charmeuse and it's all pieced with 1" strips, with 11 different colors of silk charmeuse and I was so glad that I learned that before because none of the seam allowances show on that silk charmeuse and it's so much prettier than if you had all those little lines showing. So I learned that and I was grateful for it. One of the other things I learned lately too about pressing from Sharon Craig. We had her at Folsom Guild for a workshop last year and she said that if we...have you ever noticed that when you press your seams sometimes you get a little stretching and you can even get some curves that you didn't have before and you knew you had been sewing straight and even? Well, if you press the way it was sewn flat before you press to the side, you're actually stabilizing the stitch and it won't stretch again. I didn't know that either. And you know I've sewn for so many years but I didn't realize that I could stabilize that stitch. Now when I press it doesn't seem like I have that problem because from experience I seem to know what to do but for the average student in my classroom that isn't something that they've done that often and then when they're starting to press they have a tendency to really iron instead of press and so sometimes their fabrics stretch and you get a curve instead of a nice straight line.

I'm going to take some time now to show you some of my garments and talk to you about those and I'll talk to you about the quilts also.

This quilt, I had had a real fascination in the last couple of years of Asian fabrics and Asian art and years ago, it's been a long time, it could have been 10 years ago, Yvonne Porcella had done a couple of wonderful flat kimonos or wall quilts and perhaps some of you have seen them. They were beautiful and I always thought that someday I'd like to do that even though I probably would be more conservative in my colors, she's very bright and...well these are pretty bright too aren't they? But still there's a blending probably more in my work. But I knew I wanted to do that and did it because of the inspiration of Yvonne Porcella. I remember...some of you might be familiar with Fibers Guild. That guild started in my home about 25 years ago and Yvonne was one of our first guests and she was still nursing at the time in hospitals and just doing wearable art and quilting as a sideline. And has given up nursing now and is now doing her clothing and painting on silk that sort of thing. She changed her life in 25 years but she is an inspiration to a lot of people. And this piece is pretty special. It has won at San Jose - the Museum in San Jose - 2nd place in the juried show. And then it also - did any of you get to the Bedford Gallery show in Walnut Creek? - it was a wonderful wonderful show and it was juried into the show and I was especially pleased to be a part of that show and this quilt was in that. That's one thing about having the name Allebes, I'm often one of the first on the list. So with all of these prestigious people, Miriam Nathan Roberts and Jonathan Shannon and Roberta Horton and Mary Mashuta and Miranda Stewart and all the...they were all part of this show. And I felt very complimented to be invited to participate. It was one of the nicest shows I've seen in many years, it was a really beautiful show. So if you happen to see a show there again...I guess it was probably the best attended and highest comments from any show they've had there. The Bedford Gallery is a realitively new gallery in a new center in Walnut Creek.

Walnut Creek has a lot of artists and I just am amazed at the number of really fine artists, Sally Collins and Gai Perry, Diane McClune - a lot of really outstanding people are coming from Walnut Creek and I awe them, it's a wonderful community for quilters.

Over on this side, I have - some of you might have seen my Taxi garment that I made. I made that 2 or 3 years ago. I believe it's been 3 years. It has been a real fun piece. The first time it was ever shown was at Bazaar Del Mundo in San Diego and I did get a special award for creating with a theme. How it all started, because of the time I have, it seems like I have little time to just wander through stores and look and find what I need so I find catalogs are a great source for me for shopping. So I found these shoes in a catalog and they have the word Taxi on them and they're yellow with black and white check and on the side little tires are appliqued. Well I saw those and I thought I just have to have those shoes and they weren't $15! But they were wonderful and I decided that I just had to have those shoes so I did buy them. And they feel wonderful, they feel comfortable - they're a great shoe. And then I called Yellow Cab company in Sacramento and said 'Do you know anyone that might have some Yellow Cab memorabilia that I could get ahold of?' So he gave me a name - I called the right man - and he gave me the name of a couple that lived in Southern California in Anaheim. And each of them are 3rd generation cab drivers - this husband and wife. They met at the Yellow Cab company and got married and then they set up this business and it's called Taxi Stand. And they have all kinds of things for the Yellow Cab. That's where I got the hat and the button covers and the rhinestone pin and the pictures that are transferred to fabric are on their brochure of the things that they carry - like pillows and little cars and posters and things - so I had those transferred to fabric and put then into the garment. The top of the piece where the yellow cabs are right in to the fabric are a pair of men's jockey shorts. I took those apart and made them into part of the jacket. You probably can see a little bit of sparkle that's behind those circles and that's Prismatic Foil. I have Prismatic Foil in several of my garments and the one that I'm wearing - you can see a little bit of sparkle in the sleeve and up here. It's a wonderful foil that is washable and dry cleanable. It's called Prismatic Foil. It comes in wonderful colors. It's just beautiful and I love working with it. Anyway, those rings are brass washers that I got at the hardware store and now he orders them for me and I sell them at Tayo's. I cover those with a buttonhole stitch and attach them over the Prismatic Foil and they're supposed to be headlights of the cabs as they're wandering allover the garment. The pants, by the way, are pieced. I wasn't able to get a 1" check at the time so I thought I would just piece them myself and I love to do checkerboard and you'll see that in a lot of the things I do. I do work with checkboard design often. Even my kitchen floor is checkerboard too and I have some checkerboard throughout my house. Someone came to my house for the first time and they said 'gosh, even your house is checkerboard'...not a whole lot, just a little bit.

Anyway, and then I thought it would be fun to do a quilt and I did do a quilt to go with the garment and it's called 'Taxi Town' and someone asked me if the curved pieces in 2 of the corners were supposed to be significant of seatbelts and I told them 'no, they're they freeway access to the roads'. But it's supposed to be a sky view of a town that has all these drivers in their little taxis going here and there and everywhere over the town highways. So that's my 'Taxi Town' quilt.

This particular garment, if anyone wants to come up and try any of these jackets on, you're welcome to and you're welcome to look at them afterwards. This particular garment was a challenge that we had in Folsom Guild and they gave us the fabric. This little fabric that goes around the scallops and around the epualets is a little black and white gingham and a lot of the girls just discarded that. We were allowed to discard 2 fabrics if we wanted to and we were allowed to hang on to how ever many and we could add. But anyway a lot of them discarded that, but I find that if you have a little check and you cut it on the bias and you use it in piping it looks just like little beads. Wonderful piping and that's what I've done on here. They gave us the plaid, of course they gave us the 3 solids, but the plaid didn't have the periwinkle in it so I got some tulip paint and the periwinkle that is in here, I painted it in. So if the color isn't there - just paint it in. And I have another garment, the one that I'm wearing, when there's a color that shouldn't be there, I've painted it out. So you can do that too. Anyway, this was for Folsom Guild and I did win - I think they called it....oh it was like First Place but they had some nice name for it besides First Place - anyway, the Grand Prize was what they called it. I did win that with this garment. It has the cropped pants and the jacket. I call it 'Don't Worry, Be Happy' because of all the worry dolls on it.

This one I call 'Celestial Flight'. This is a challenge that we had at Asilomar. I don't know if any of you ever participated in that but we were given white fabric with stars on it and I thought well I'll do something that has to do with stars. I happened to have these wonderful buttons that are on the epaulets at the shop and I wanted to use those and so I used a design that I call Fibonacci - it's a mathematical equation that has a nice design look and I've used it in several garments including one other garment that I brought tonight. But it can be used in quilts too. In this one it kind of gives you the idea of a skyline - I did use it also in the taxi garment - you can see I've got little airplanes and stars sparkling. This is also a pattern on the sleeve and on the left front that I call Diagonal Strip Piecing that I like a lot. I teach these techniques in my class.

This may be a garment that is familiar to some of you. It has origamis on the front which is another technique that I teach. When I saw this fabric with the sunflowers I thought of Van Gogh, he was my inspiration for this piece and the back of this garment has 3050 pieces in it and it is a portrait of Van Gogh. I have loved this piece. I see some looks of ...is it despair or wonder? I had a book of Van Gogh's work and it was about an 8 1/2"x11" sized sheet of paper and it had his self-portrait and I took it to a print shop in Rancho Cordova called 'Infomania' and they did a computer printout for me and the computer print out remained the same size with the little squares on it. And it wasn't just a dot, because I had tried another printer and they made just dots but this is actually little squares and they were about 1/16" to 1/8" big so I counted those squares. So there was like 3050 squares because that's how many pieces were in the pieced back. And I had 25 different shades from black to white fabric and then some of them I turned over so I actually had closer to 35 different colors after turning some of the fabric over. I just counted and counted 1-2 black, 1-2-3 charcoal grey, and I worked on a piece of matt board on my dining room table and just put them together and then I stitched them together one row at a time and took the matt board to my sewing room, stitched those up and came back and did the next row. So that's how I did it. And that's one piece that I almost quit! But I had a couple of friends who kept encouraging me and encouraging me and I did complete it. In fact I had a really great compliment on it. Virginia Avery had seen me in it one time and she wrote me a letter and told me how much she enjoyed the garment and told me she thought it should be in an art gallery and that was a really nice note from Virginia to receive that special note from her.

This is a really fun piece that I enjoyed making very much. I had the body of the jacket all done and I had done Afghani piecing on the left and on the cropped pants with some kind of art deco fabric. I didn't have the sleeves in at that point and we went to a meeting of local wearable artists, and Virginia Simpson came in wearing this jacket with these wonderful ruffly sleeves and I just thought they were glorious and she shared with me how she (she had taken a class from AnnRae Roberts) and she shared with us how this technique was done. And she was so nice, because I even called her because I was trying it and was having a little trouble with how this technique was done and she even sent me in the mail a little strip that she had done and hadn't used. So I will just always be appreciative of Virginia for sharing that with me. She also shared with me some of the threads that are in it - all kinds of little threads - she sent me a little baggy with these little threads in it. I didn't realize it until I got one sleeve all done - I was walking down the hallway to show my husband this sleeve and the hallway was kind of dark and I realized that some of these little yarns glow in the dark. And that was a surprise as I walked down the hallway I saw all these little glowy wormy things. And that makes it even fun when you're wearing this and it's a little bit dark and you see that. This is a favorite garment that I have and it was in the AQS fashion show just a couple of weeks ago in Paducah Kentucky. It's been one that I've enjoyed. One thing that I like to do too is to do the lining in some fun way so I lined it with polka dot and bound all the seams with a stripe. One thing you'll notice on there too - and I have them on the garment that I'm wearing - and it's called a Piped Prairie Point. It's a fun way to do a Prairie Point instead of just a plain Prairie Point. There are 11 different colors of solids in here that form the check pattern. You can do a check with any number from 2 - 20, it doesn't matter. You can do a lot of different colors.

As you can tell, not always, but I often work with really bright colors. This piece is called 'Night Life in the City' and it has around the neck here Afghani Piecing and as you look closer, there are lots of little beads and I always think that it's fun to have a surprise when you get up close to a garment. You don't have to see everything at once. And some of you are probably familiar with a book called 'Jacket Jazz'? We carry it in our store and I think it has some wonderful techniques but when you see the completed jackets it's just kind of overkill. There is so much going on and so much different color, to me there is not a blending that I like. Even if you have something that is bright and colorful you can have a restfulness about the piece. Even though I have a lot of color and a lot going on, in fact the back of this jacket is almost the same as the front. Notice the buttons on this too, it really looks really great - the buttons with the little characters. This pattern is called the 'Deco Jacket' and it's a new pattern by Tina Yates and it comes in this length and in a shorter length in the same pattern. It is really becoming to everyone, anyone that wants to wear that. It's a nice jacket.

One other quilt that I brought tonight, I call it 'The Rooster Woman'. I got a wonderful brochure from a travel agency and this was on the cover of the brochure. I thought she was such a charming lady. I took a class from Margaret Miller. We were supposed to bring a photograph to the class and then we were supposed to do just the color, we weren't trying to get the exact image of the photo but do a color lesson on getting the colors from the photo transferred into fabric. The actual roosters aren't in the quilt, but when you get close to it you can see that they've been quilted in. You can see that she's holding the roosters and then around the outside edge are the eggs and the straw that the eggs are nested in.

Sometimes you want to complete those ensembles with a special shoe and you can figure out what jacket they go with. I call it 'Josepha's Coat of Many Colors'. Invariably when it's in a show people call it 'Joseph's Coat' - but it is Josepha. This is the hat that goes with that garment. As I mentioned, I have a real fondness for shoes and many times I get the garment and then I find the shoe. These shoes came from Payless Shoe Source.

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I was a dufus and in trying to figure out how to work our tape player I accidentally recorded something else over part of Mom's presentation....so here's the next part....

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Shoes - sometimes I wear an 8 1/2, when they're leather it's often an 8 1/2 but when I send for a shoe it's usually a 9. I got the hat at Target. I happened to go in there looking for a little gardening tool. I had made a doll and I wanted some small gardening tools to go with this doll and someone had seen them at Target. So I thought I'd run over there and when I went in the first thing I saw was this hat hanging on the wall. So I had to get this hat.

This was a hat too that I found in a little shop and I just put some of the stars and sequins on it that I had from my little celestial jacket. So that's an idea you might use. Simple, but it works with the jacket.

A couple of years ago, I was in Marshalls and I often go in Marshalls to look at their shoes, they have good shoes. But anyway, this day I happened to find this hat. I think it was $6 that I paid for this wonderful little hat. And I didn't know what I was going to do with it but I knew I was going to do something. When I was in Paducah last week I wandered up to town and there was a little shop that was selling shoes and I went in and they had some shoes on sale and so I had to have them...and I think you'll see why. Did you ever think I'd find chartreuse and purple shoes? Aren't they neat? And they were only $12.99!

When I was in Bazaar Del Mundo last year, they have a little vendor - artist in the courtyard. Have you ever been there? It's really a wonderful little place and it's really festive during their 'Fabric Fantasy'. From one of the artists there, I got this delightful little pin and it had all the colors except it needed some chartreuse so I just took some thread and I wrapped it around and twirled it a little bit and stuck it on there because it needs to go with this garment. It needed a little chartreuse, so I added it. These are the fabrics that I've selected and I'll take them out of this bag and leave them up here so you can see how I go about selecting what I'm going to do with a piece. This is Prismatic Foil which I'm going to use when I make this garment and then these are the pieces of the fabric that I bought to go with it.

I had a lady in the store today and she had a piece of fabric she had gotten from me earlier and it had a companion piece with it. Well the fabric she got, she needed 5/8 of a yard - she was short one sleeve - but the companion fabric was a stripe. So I said "why don't you make the sleeve out of the stripe to go with it. Then your other fabric that you have a little left over you can use for a cuff on it." And she went for it you know - but she was really skeptical. She thought that was really pretty far out. And so I showed her this, what I was going to do. Man, she felt so brave! She got that stripe and she's going to go home and do it and she registered for my class. So, a lot of times people are kind of afraid and they don't think about it until you just plant that little seed and then they'll go for it. And I can't take my eyes off of that beautiful blue sweater that you're wearing with the pink and yellow. Isn't that wonderful? She should make something to go with that! It's so pretty. I think it's gorgeous, it looks great on her. Anyway, so I'll put these down on here so you can see if you want to come by.

I think that you've seen kind of what I do when I build up to something, how I'm inspired to do what I do. And I love doing what I do and it is such a wonderful part of my life. But I have to say that my husband is such a support to me and I'm sure you have families that are a support in your group too. We were shopping one day and I have a little denim outfit that I made as a challenge for a group and we happened to be shopping at the outlets - you know by the Nut Tree - and when we were in this little shoe store, he happened to find these shoes. He said 'Emma, come look at these shoes, they'll go great with your outfit you're wearing.' So he even points out shoes to me too. He knows that I really like them. I happen to be wearing those shoes tonight. And sometimes when you buy a pair of shoes and you think they're really different you find out that they go with a lot of the things you do. And I didn't have any idea that they'd go with the outfit that I'm wearing tonight but they do and they're the most perfect shoe and I don't know if you noticed but you'll notice more now that I've drawn your attention to it.

This particular outfit that I'm wearing, is...one thing I like to do if there's a fabric that you're using in your garment that is especially nice I think it's nice if you can have it somewhere in your garment in it's wholeness. And that's what I've done on the sleeve here and part of the front. I have fabric so it's uncut so you can see it in it's original state and then I've pieced throughout the garment using it with a lot of other things. Now if you were to have seen this fabric just as a piece of fabric - this is the 3rd bolt in fact I have to go back tomorrow and order a 4th bolt, it's been so popular - just last week I got a bolt of it and it came out in another color - kind of a raspberry and navy blue shade and it's all gone. We don't have any more of it and so I'm going to be ordering that again tomorrow it's such a glorious piece of fabric. I think it's just wonderful. Well, when I saw this fabric my whole idea went completely to the pink that was in it and had I not used that pink it could have been pretty dreary. In one of the fabrics there's a little pink like cloud. Well next to the pink cloud there was a lavendar cloud and I didn't want any lavendar and so that's the one that I painted out. If you can paint it in - you can paint it out! And I did, I painted those purple cloud appearing things kind of a camel color so that they blended with the whole thing better. We had a dollmaker, her name is Emma Graha, I don't know how many of you might know her. She's from the Bay Area. She came and taught a class at my store and I had seen this fabric, it hadn't come in yet, but I remembered what it was about. One of the pins that she made while she was at the store, she'd brought some of her jewelry along, and we told her she could do that in case the students wanted to buy it. Well I had to have this piece - and you will see that there's one little piece in this pin that's the base fabric of the jacket that I'm wearing.

I love so much what I do. I wish I had time to do all that I want to do but it's not going to happen in my lifetime I don't think. I think there will always be something. One thing, I guess probably other than my husband, the accomplishment that I had in finding him and loving him and marrying him, was the accomplishment I have of 3 daughters who sew. A lot of times when a mother sews, we've found that the kids usually don't want to have anything to do with it. Well, either the mother is impatient in teaching the children or she does it all. But I knew that there was no way I was going to have the time to do the kind of sewing that I like to do, which is time consuming, and even with my children when they were young, I never made something for them that didn't have an embroidery on it or pipings r everything was embellished in some way. And so I always knew that I was going to have help with this. So as soon as my oldest daughter got old enough, she was in pressing and helping me cut and doing those things. And all 3 of my daughters are really excellent seamstresses and sewers and all have contributed to their income. 2 of them don't need to any more but one daughter still contributes significantly to their family income sewing. She can be home with the children and still contribute...cause it's hard sometimes these days when you have a young family to get along on one income. So all of them have been able to do that and I feel really proud of them and they know it. They know that I do.

A lot of times when you finish with a garment, there's a concern about what to do with the extra pieces. I'd just like to show you in closing what I do with the pieces that are left over. This is a little bag that holds the pieces that are left from the garment that I'm wearing. Then if some time, if I should have a problem and something tears or gets caught or I get a spot on something...you know maybe I'm too close to the Clorox in this laundry room I've got...anyway, these pieces are in here so that I have something that's handy. These are the pieces and also the letter and information and extra button covers in case I should lose one of the correspondence that I have with this couple and also pieces that are left and an extra pair of jockey shorts just in case. These are the pieces left from another garment and they're just wrapped up. So this is what I do, I just put them in a baggie so that it's not hard to get to, it's neat and it's not mixed up with a lot of other stuff and it's surprising, sometimes I'll even take something that's in a bag and use it to make a doll or something. There will be a small piece, the shoes or something of a doll, that can used out of these bags of leftovers.

Anyway - it's been very fun to be here. You've been a delightful audience. You've laughed when you were supposed to. That's always appreciated. It's fun because several of you I know and it's kind of fun and I can speak to you and then the others you feel more relaxed and then you feel like you've touched them to. So it's been really nice to be here and I appreciate that.

Lorna Lawson, who came with me tonight, she came with me when I did a fashion show in Redding the first Tuesday in October and so she drove up there and back with me. And she said 'would you mind if I take photographs of the models as they come off the stage?' And I said 'Oh that would be great!' And for a long time, I mean I can't tell you how many years, people will say to me 'Emma, why don't you write a book? Why don't you write all this down?' But I've never felt like I wanted to write an instruction book. I just think there's enough like that. So I'd really, if I write a book, I'd like to write a story book. And I don't know how many of you might have read the book 'Growing Up on a Chocolate Diet' by Laura Brody. Well it's a delightful book - it's really a cookbook but she tells a story that leads up to how she got this particular recipe and so that's what I have in mind that someday....and I think this is the year. Lorna takes classes from me and as I was walking by her sewing area I noticed these marvelous notes she'd taken. 'Where'd you get those?' She said 'well I just listen to you and then I go home and I put it in my computer.' And these illustrations, they're really terrific and so I said 'boy, you're what I need to help me with this book'. So anyway, after we came home a week ago, she came to class with this binder that she had done for me. And it's each of the models in the clothes with a worksheet on each page so that I can - she has me promise here that I'll work at least one hour a week on this and I did. I took it to Paducah and I did almost 2 garments there. This last week was really hectic because I had just gotten home and I had to leave for Redding. But, anyway, I'm going to try and do 1 or 2 of these worksheets...see, there's my writing! I really want to do this. And I just thought that was so nice of her to do that. So maybe next year...you know it takes a long time to do something like that. But I hope that I can, even if I just do it for myself and my family I think it's a nice way to write my feelings and a little about myself and what's happening in my life. So I want to thank her and all of you for how nice that was of her to do that for me.

Excerpts from Mom's 'book' that she always planned to write....

THE RECYCLE CHALLENGE:

 

As members of the Network of Wearable Art based in Napa, Ca, we were challenged to make a garment using only fabrics that were recyled from the past.  I used Yvonne Porcella's jacket pattern.  The cropped pants were jeans I'd had for a while and I just cut them off.

 

The denim portions of the jacket were made from an old pair of overalls of my husband, Ted's.  Because he had painted and worked on other messy projects wearing them, I had to do a lot of cutting around to use only the 'clean' sections.  The leg became the sleeves, with the double seams  down the center sleeves.  My daughter, Heather, had had a pair of jeans with an interesting front closure and pockets that I had kept so I used them as side pieces and the front belt.  I had made a dress for my first born daughter, Shenna, (since I'm doing the typing I'll add my own comment - I made this dress for myself and was astonished when Mom went and cut it up!!!..Shenna) using the wonderful print.  Heather and Reaka (our youngest) both wore the dress as they grew into it, but when it came time to pass it on to someone else, I couldn't give up the wonderful print fabric, so I kept it for many years, knowing 'someday I'll use it again'.  The bindings were cut from a tye-dyed tie my husband had worn and enjoyed but discarded in my care.  I trimmed the pants with the print and added a pocket cuff to the side of each leg.  The remarkable shoes were discovered by my husband when I was wearing this outfit and we were shopping in a shoe store.  He's a wonderful guy, always looking out for my best interest.

 

 

 

LET'S HAVE A LITTLE YELLOW:

 

In 198? Lois Smith, a wonderful prize winning quilter was speaking at the Folsom Quilt Guild.  She said so many people (including myself) stay away from, using yellow in their work.   Lois spoke of what yellow could do for your project, how it addes light and sunshine.  I thought I would try it and it is true.  I use yellow in almost all my work now.  To me it adds a cheerful quality.

 

When I was a young girl, I had a friend who wore yellow a lot, she had a wonderful bubbly personality.  I had never worn yellow much because I was very fair complexioned and very blond so I thought it wouldn't work.  Well I thought maybe if I wore yellow I would have this bubbly personbality like my friend, so I tried several times to put some yellow in my wardrobe, but you know yellow or not I remained by own personality (not that that was all that bad).  Anyway, I didn't wear or use yellow much during my whole life until I heard Lois Smmith speak about it's merits.  Now I use a lot of yellow combined with other colors, both in my wardrobe and my home.  There is a happy, cheerful felling when we use yellow.

 

 

Shenna Mealey

shenna@bmealey.com

www.shennamealey.blogspot.com

 

Susie - A Wooden Shoe Box Doll

When I was in the 6-8 grades, my brothers and I attended the Avery Coonley School, a small private progessive school in Downers Grove, Illinois.

Every fall the parents would hold a Christmas Toy Workshop making toys for the less privileged children of the community. In 1933 or 1934, my father, Marion Syrek, was the chairman of the project. He decided on a set of nesting wooden boats for the boys and a wooden doll for the girls. I mentioned that I had seen a wooden doll in a library book and it became the pattern for the doll.

Much of the sawing, turning, shaping and painting for both the dolls and the boats were done in my Dad's workshop. My mother did all the painting of faces. She and another co-chairman, Ruth Dallwig, braided the hair and cut out the dressed from slaesman's samples of 1930's rayon dress fabrics that were supplied bu Ryth Dallwig's husband. One evening in December, the parents asssmbled to finish the projects, sewing the dresses and panties for the doll, attaching the hair and packing them into donated shoe-boxes.

I think the original doll in the book was made from a broom handle, but those my fahter made were from a 2"x2" wood piece turned on a wood lathe. Later he experimented with more complicated arm and leg joints, but I always felt the simplicitiy of the first ones made them so charming. They also explored other haircolors and also making a boy doll. They boy dolls just didn't have the charm of the yellow-pigtail girl dolls.

The dolls were delightful and appealing to many parents, and my parents took orders for them. Remember this was in 1934! My father was temporally out of work and it it hadn't been for the proceeds from making extra dolls and boats it would have been a very lean Christmas. I can't recall how much each doll cost - it might have been only $2. I know it wasn't as much as $10. The dolls were more popular than the boats and many little girls in that school received one for Christmas. I gave one to each of my three girl classmates for a gift.

The school is still inexistence and I attended a reunion of classes two years ago. Some of us hadn't seen each other for over 60 years. But I didn't remember to ask them if they still had their Susie Dolls of if the Toy Worskhop Tradition still carried on.

These dolls have been packed and unpacked countless times. I've always wanted to refurbish them and 'do something' with them. Their rayon dresses have almost disintigrated and the elastic in the panties has long disappeared. I am indebted to Emma Allebes who was charmed by them and made their new dresses in exchange for one.

Ruth Dallwig and Marion Syrek were co-cairmen in 1934.

Anita Syrek Corum

Dear Ted & Emma -

We thank you for the richest happiness we both would ever realize. You have brought to our lives each other and for that we will eternally be happy and grateful to you. We are so happy! Thank you also for our lovely marble rolling pin - we will have delicious pies for years to come.

With love and appreciation -

Naomi & Russ (Harper)

ASG Retailer's Corner - July 2009

There are some changes taking place at Tayo's! Many of you know that Shenna Mealey has owned Tayo's for the last 13 years. Prior to Shenna, her mother, Emma Allebes, owned Tayo's for 13 years. Do any of you know where the name Tayo's came from? Shenna's parents had hoped to someday have a son so they could name him after Shenna's father, Ted, whose nickname in Dutch was pronounced Tayo's. After having 3 girls and no boys, Emma decided to open a fabric store. What else could she possiubly name the store, but Tayo's!......

A letter from Mom's sister - Golda Smith

Ogden, Utah

Dec 30, '74

 

Dear Emma, Ted & Girls,

 

It was so nice getting a letter from all of you.  Thanks loads for it and the cute Christmas presents.

 

The wall hanging is so pretty and the picture is something else.  I don't know how you all think of so many fun things.

 

It sounds like you are all keeping busy.  I hope you will find time to write again soon.

 

We are all fine.  The kids are getting so grown up it is almost hard to believe.

 

......I have lots of lettters to write so had better sign off.

 

Thanks again for everything, especially the letters.

 

Lots of Love to all of you

 

Willard & Golda

 

P.S. Happy New Year - May it be the best ever.

 

Tell Judy we think of them often and send our love.

 

Two more of Mom's quilts that I love... 'The Faithful Gardner' and 'Let's Pretend'

The Faithful Gardner - 2005
Quilt - 39" x 51"
Selling Price - $3500

Artist Statement:

President Spencer W. Kimball's direction at the April 1976 Conference was, and I quote, "We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees - plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard."

My husband Ted never cared about a garden before, but he did hearken to President Kimball and ever since has kept a wonderful garden. So many call him their "Master Gardener". One year he grew a pumpkin which barely fit in his wheelbarrow. I designed this quilt to honor him for following the words of the prophet in this way and so many other ways.

more notes from friends

Your mother was a delightful person who made an amazing contribution to the world and she will be missed by all who were fortunate to meet her.  May your heavy heart be softened by wonderful memories.

 

With love and sympathy - Linda Hicks

 

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Through ASG, I received the beautiful email you shared with people.  You did a masterful job in writing it.  I have known your mom for years and bought lots of fabric from her and still have some of the garments!  She was the most talented person I have ever met and very generous in sharing her knowledge.  Having such a loving, caring family was truly a blessing for her.  You, too, were blessed in have her all these years.  I just wanted you to know that I am thinking of you and your family, and hope that the happy memories you have will help you through this difficult time.  I will remember you in my prayers.

 

Fondly - Pat Barrett

 

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I was so sorry to hear the sad news about your mother.  I know you will miss her terribly.

 

I first met Emma in the 70's when we first moved to Sacramento and I joined Fibers Guild which she had founded.  I was delighted to find new friends with interest in textile arts and your mom was always sharing new ideas and techniques.

 

Fondly - Jeanette Redding

 

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Emma well be missed by us.  She was a remarkable woman here on Earth.  I'm sure she will continue her mission on the other side of the veil in a pleasing manner to Heavenly Father.  Shenna, please tell your father that we are sorry for his loss.  I know that they were a very close couple and the members in the ward when Brother Allebes was Bishop really respected and admired both of them.

 

Jim & Danielle Delavan

 

Dear You of the Allebes Family

It's always after the initial rush of cards and well wishes/help offers that reality of time and loss set in.  This is the time I choose for a card of well wishes.  You've been in my thoughts and prayers.  I do most of my best thinking and praying early in the morning as I swim laps, in almost solitude, so you've contributed to the size of my shoulders and to the cardio health of my heart.  Thank you...:)!

 

You and Emma and your noble family have such a story and history.  And, impact on those you've known for years, like the Petersen family.  For this reason, I thank you for sharing Emma and yourselves.  I'm sorry my mother hasn't been able to respond inkind, but she's been recalling laughable (fun) moments shared with you and with Emma and I suppose this is reward for us at home.  Life is navigation and trust.  Both find us kept in the circles, relationships, and memories that count. 

 

Here's a thought for you: "A sunset is not the death of the sun."

 

Thoughtfully, Brooke Petersen Sedgwick

 

Emma Allebes, Artist and Bernina Fashion Designer

Monday, November 23, 2009
Goodbye to Emma Allebes
Emma Allebes, Artist and Bernina Fashion Designer
Our dear Emma Allebes, an unforgettable Fairfield and Bernina fashion show designer, died of leukemia on October 6, 2009. So much of my stuff is still packed away, but I found a photo album and there was Emma. I think this might have been taken in the year 2000 at the wonderful quilt show we used to have in Marin county. Emma had requested that flowers at her service be tied with black and white checked ribbons. It's serendipity that I have her photo in those checks!

 

 

 

 

I always remember her NY taxi cab outfit, and the pearly queen (like they have in England). I hope she enjoyed sewing on buttons! She and I met at the party after a Bernina show, both of us feeling a bit shy and out of place, so we spent much of the evening talking and from then on delighted in running into each other. I won't go on, you can read wonderful things about Emma at emmaallebes.blogspot.com. What a wonderful idea for her daughter Shenna to put up the blog so her wide circle of friends and family could come together in thought.

 

Here is the jacket that won Emma a red ribbon that year in Marin. Her work was impeccable. Look at the variety of techniques she put into a cohesive whole. At first you just see the intricate, traditional piecing but it is combined in such a variety of sizes and blocks and fabric variations, that it does not look very traditional. It doesn't look bulky or bumpy, and then you see the manipulations with various prairie points and beads. 

 

 

 

Always lovely work! I will try to post more photos of her work as I collect them.

 

from: http://artyouwear.blogspot.com/  by Rosalie Cooke