Fiber Artist Meryl Ann Butler Creates Virginia Tech Comfort Quilts
Designed as a way to reach out with comfort and caring to her daughter, Butler created a quilt that will be presented to the university community during commencement.
(PRWEB) May 3, 2007 -- In the aftermath of the April 16th shootings, Meryl Ann Butler, Los Angeles fiber artist and mother of a Virginia Tech student knew she wanted to "do something that felt better than crying." So she decided to make a warm, comforting quilt for her daughter, a 2nd year student at Virginia Tech’s Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
As Butler explained, "Instead of being depressed over things I could not change, I decided to pour myself into the joys of playing with fabric, colors and threads.”
First, Butler needed to find fabrics in the school colors of maroon and orange. Her search led to Jeff Pollack, president of the Print Concepts Inc., the only U.S. manufacturer of collegiate print textiles. Upon hearing Butler's project idea and concern for her daughter, Pollack could immediately and profoundly relate. “I know what you are going through - my son was in the World Trade Center on 9-11. Thank God he got out,” Pollack said
Pollack offered to send Butler the fabrics she needed by overnight delivery. then made a simple suggestion, “Why don’t you make a quilt for the university, too?”
Intrigued by the idea, Butler sketched out designs for two quilts: a small, personal-size quilt for her daughter's comfort, and a more complex fiber art wallhanging for the university. “I was inspired to do something that would offer comfort to the students, faculty and staff at Virginia Tech. They don't call quilts 'comforters' for nothing,” Butler said.
The fiber art wallhanging, entitled Hugs for Hokies: Hearts and Hands Reach Out to Virginia Tech, will be presented to the campus community during commencement on May 11, 2007.
The Hugs for Hokies quilted wallhanging, crafted from over 450 separate pieces of fabric, has a border of outstretched hands reaching toward the central Virginia Tech school logo. The quilt is embellished with many tiny hearts, to remind the Hokies of the love being sent to them in this challenging time.
Both Hugs for Hokies and the quilt for Butler's daughter will be on display in Pollack's Print Concepts booth at the 2007 International Quilt Market at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, May 4-6. This trade show is open to credentialed attendees only.
At the event, Butler will distribute information about the Hokie Memorial Fund, established by the university to aid in the healing process. This fund will assist victims and their families, provide grief counseling and sponsor memorials. Contributions may be made to the Hokie Memorial Fund or to specific Hokie Spirit Scholarship Funds in the name of each of the victims. Checks made payable to "Virginia Tech Foundation Inc.” may be sent to: Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, University Development (0336), Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061. For more info call the Office of Development at 800-533-1144.
Butler is the author of 90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon. She was faculty advisor and designer of the Anti-Apartheid: Love for All Mankind Quilt, now in the collection of the Hon. Nelson Mandela and also created the First U.S. - Soviet Children’s Peace Quilt Exchange Project in 1987-88, an historic and reciprocal exchange chronicled in the media of both countries.
For additional information:
Virginia Tech Office of Development: 800-533-1144
Meryl Ann Butler website: www.merylannbutler.com, email: merylannbutler @ aol.com
Media contacts only:
MerylAnnB @ aol.com
818 825 3670
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