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Win by Fall–a new quilt, a new exhibit

Hi all! I’m delighted to share my newest major piece: Coach’s Clipboard: Win by Fall, which has just been selected for the traveling exhibit of A Better World, curated by Susan Brubaker Knapp and Lyric Kinard. The exhibit will debut at International Quilt Market and Festival in Houston this October/November 2019, then travel to various venues. Big thanks to eQuilter and PAQA-South for sponsoring the exhibit!

A father and son reunion: my husband Paul is the coach. And of course the one in red is Eli, our younger son doing what he did so well throughout high school: pin his opponent.
Once the website is live with all the entries, not just the ones in the traveling exhibit, I’ll share a link. Find out more now on Facebook here.

The concept behind the exhibit is to feature someone that has helped to make a better world. Here is what I wrote for my entry:

Coach’s Clipboard:  Win By Fall

From world class cities to the smallest villages and towns on every continent, there are coaches who give their time, skills and knowledge to the children of the world.  Their names may not be instantly recognizable the way many of our heroes are, they may not receive the appreciation our first responders do, but they are appreciated nonetheless.  A top high school wrester, my husband Paul volunteered for 11 years as a wrestling coach, starting when our eldest signed up for wrestling in sixth grade through our younger son’s final high school year.  He was the clipboard guy, keeping notes on what the wrestlers did well, what needed practice in the coming week, their scores in meets and the team scores.  Win By Fall, for those not familiar with wrestling, is what you want:  to win by pinning your opponent.  Luckily, that was a fairly frequent occurrence in Eli’s high school career.  

This quilt is a father and son moment, but it also represents the generosity of Eli’s coaches in other sports gave to him as well as coaches around the world who work, one kid at a time, to make them better people which in turns makes it a better world.  Thanks to Eli’s middle school coaches including Jim Morse (Cross Country, Track and Field); True Bragg and Paul, and when Eli visited the high school Levi Rollins (Wrestling), and assorted soccer coaches.  In high school, thanks to Becky Flanagan and Helen Bonzi (Cross Country);  Patrick Kelly, Perry Goodspeed,  Jack Kelly and Paul and all the alumni wrestlers who came to help the team; and Sarah Mismash (Track and Field).

 

Detail 1, Coach’s Clipboard: Win by Fall
Detail 2, Coach’s Clipboard: Win by Fall

This completes the family quilts–Paul is notorious for scowling at any camera, but I finally got him! The others, in the order they were made:

Joshua, at age 16, made in 2010
A self portrait with no natural colors, made in 2011
Eli, Cross Country 2013 was made the following January and February 2014. His coach saw it and said “I’d recognize that hair anywhere.”
Now, finally, there is also a quilt for his primary sport of wrestling.

5 Responses to “Win by Fall–a new quilt, a new exhibit”

  1. Debby Harwell Says:

    You say this completes the family quilts. Well you got your husband in one, but there is a daughter-in-law and perhaps grandchildren in the future. I know if there are grandchildren there will be lots more family quilts!

  2. Sarah Ann Smith Says:

    Oh this is the “Core Four” or the nuclear family..there will definitely be more family quilts anon….but this is the initial four of us. Since neither of us really have much family besides just us (parents deceased, only children both of us so no tons of cousins or siblings), we are a small circle in the Venn Diagram of Life.

  3. Kelly Bliss Says:

    Sarah Ann, I so enjoy reading your blogs. What lovely Quilts! And the hair, especially in Eli’s Quilts is just amazing. I’d love to sit down with you with a couple of cups of tea and talk about how you did that!

  4. Sarah Ann Smith Says:

    Thanks so much, Kelly! The good news is that I teach how I did that…. I’m stoked because International Quilt Festival Houston has booked BOTH days of my Quilting the Garden workshops, so I am hoping to have students for two days. Not to mention (OK, to flagrantly mention) that my unofficial motto is “Have Students, Will Travel.” If your guild would like to have me come, let me know!

  5. Sarah Ann Smith Says:

    PS–as for the hair, check out this vintage but still useful blogpost: http://www.sarahannsmith.com/weblog/?p=3376