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Elly Sienkiewicz
has written twenty important needlework books on appliqué from plain to fancy. With all these books on appliqué, she is widely recognized as the foremost expert on appliqué. Elly is also a respected scholar on the antebellum Baltimore Album Quilts. Twelve of her books are on the Baltimore Albums; eleven of them comprise
The Baltimore Beauties and Beyond series begun with Volume I (C & T Publishing) in 1989. Mrs. Sienkiewicz explores a complex historical style ---"the Baltimore-style Album Quilts" and places it within the grasp of every contemporary quilt maker. She does this through clear patterns and techniques, which demystify the construction process. Her leadership sustains the Baltimore Album Revival, now in its third decade. In a linked fellowship, needleworkers who love this style have taken it to something closely related but clearly now "beyond Baltimore". Elly’s path from academic historian and teacher to stay-at-home mother of three, led her to become one of the first professionals in the nascent quilt movement of the early 1970s. Elly notes that her Wellesley College Class of 1964 is a "cusp generation" — "women who as freshmen expected to live their mother’s 1950’s societal ideal, but who were radically different by the time they graduated. |
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| Equipped with a Masters of Science from the University of Pennsylvania, Elly
taught history for seven years, but when her children came, her traditionalist
desire to stay home with them allowed her lifelong love of needlework to come to
the fore. She was led to home-centered enterprises; finally to those relating to
the burgeoning quilt industry. Her experience ranged from quilting teacher to
retail mail-order proprietor, to respected quiltmaker, author and historian, and
The Elly Sienkiewicz Appliqué Academy®llc, an annual teaching conference with
an East Coast site, drawing attendees from across the industrialized world. |
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| A prolific author, Elly’s first book,
Spoken Without a Word, A Lexicon of
Symbols from the Baltimore Album Quilts with 24 Faithfully Reproduced Patterns
is now a collector’s item trading in the three-figures on websites E-Bay and
Amazon. Her 18th and latest book combines yet more innovative and traditional appliqué
techniques: Baltimore Elegance, A New Approach to Classic
Album Quilts (C & T Publishing, 2007). Her
books have explored every conceivable aspect of appliqué from the simplest (Appliqué
12 Easy Ways! which won the Quilt Industry Classics Award for Best Book on
appliqué; to one-layer "papercut " designed appliqué; to no-sew
appliqué (for greeting cards and cloth); to dimensional and ribbon appliqué;
to the twelve book odyssey which tutors the modern in the joyous exuberance of
classic mid-19th century Album Quilt appliqué. Each of her books has been
widely commended internationally. Elly’s devotion as a teacher, her patience,
her concern for her students, and her love for quiltmaking have made her a
cherished mentor. Because of her expertise on the historical Baltimore Album
Quilts, she has been a featured lecturer not only at quilt symposiums and guilds
across the country but internationally, on five continents. Her articles and
needlework are widely published both here and abroad. She lives in Washington,
DC with her husband, and whenever they are home, son Donald and wife Katja [sic]
and their four children, son Alex and wife Holly and their two children. |
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| Elly Sienkiewicz has been designing and making quilts, studying, writing and
teaching on quiltmaking for several decades. C&T Publishing sponsored two
major Baltimore Album Revival Exhibitions (1994 and 1998) to celebrate the
explosive impact of her twelve books fueling this century’s ongoing Baltimore
Album Revival. Before becoming so deeply involved with group-made Albums, Elly's
individual work hung at shows across the country and at Museums and Galleries in
and around Washington, DC, her hometown. She has lectured and had her work hung
on exhibition in Canada, Denmark, Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway, Japan, New
Zealand, and South Africa. Widely admired both as a needlewoman and as a
scholar, she writes with sensitivity and insight about quiltmaking and
quiltmakers. Consumed by the question of why we all so love quiltmaking so, she
is a delightful teacher and an inspiring lecturer. Affirming this, she has
lectured from the Smithsonian Institution, the American Quilt Study Group, the
Baltimore Museum of Art and the Maryland Historical Society, on across the
country, and on five continents. |
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Since 1973, her work has been widely published in quilt magazines in the USA,
Europe, and Japan, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa. Articles by and about
Elly and the Appliqué Academy have appeared in The Magazine Antiques, Folk
Art Magazine, Country Living, Victoria, Southern Living, American Patchwork and
Quilting, Patchwork Tsushin (Japan), Nissan Vogue (Japan), Quilts
Japan, Threads, Woman Sense (Korea), The Wellesley Alumna Magazine,
Journal of the American Quilt Study Group, Quilter’s Newsletter Magazine,
Ladies' Circle Patchwork Quilts, Quilting Today, Quilt, Traditional Quiltworks,
Creative Crafts, American Quilter Magazine, American Quilter, numerous
European publications, The Washington Post Magazine, The Uptown Citizen
(DC.), The Townsman and The News Tribune (Wellesley, MA). |
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| Elly says she is never happier than when she is teaching quiltmaking, and you'll
find that happiness contagious! Lecture Title: "What is this Fascination
with the Baltimore Album Quilts?", 2003 marked the 20th anniversary of Elly’s
first book on the Album Quilts, Spoken Without a Word and her long
fascination with the historic intrigue and art of these quilts. What is
this fascination, shared by so many and for so long? Artistic and historic
aspects, symbolism and needlework techniques spin out the intriguing tale of why
these quilts are so highly valued. A fast-paced slide talk threads through Album
blocks and Album symbols, across continents and through Victorian graveyards!
Elly’s website — www.ellysienkiewicz.com
— is an elegant source of
information on her Appliqué Academy and international teaching schedule. |
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