Tales of the Boomerang Gang

The Short Story - An Introduction: The Tales of the Boomerang Gang are told in twenty 15" x 15" quilts by members of QuiltArt, an Internet mailing list for quilters. The existence of this project is testimony to the power of the Internet to create communities of interest that ignore the constraints of geography and nurture the potential of their members.

The Long Story - or How Discussion Becomes Art: The exchanges that began with a comment about sheets drying in the winter sun continued for a week or so before the were reined in by a member who wanted to know when we were going to stop talking about sheets and chores and start talking about quilting. The response to this request bears repeating, because it was the true catalyst for this project. Here is a portion of that response, written on March 4, 1996 by Victoria Slind-Flor of Berkeley, CA. The full text may be found in the QuiltArt archives.

The result? This was the catalyst that was responsible for the formation of the Boomerang Gang. Maxine Farkas volunteered to coordinate the project and intial call for quilts went out on March 5, 1996.

There were three rules governing the project:

A completely finished and bound contribution could be no more than 15"x15"

It must be able to, in some way, shape or form, tie to the "Wash on Monday, Iron on Tuesday" chant that we had discussed. However, no one was expected to follow is slavishly.

There were NO other rules.

Humor was encouraged and appreciated. The list of 30 individuals who originally expressed interest in participating settled at a comfortable twenty. There was an August deadline and the last quilt came in during October. Assembly of the finished project was initiated by Sandra Townsend Donabed and completed by Maxine Farkas.

The Participants:

Deanna Apfel Philo, CA	Gail Fligstein Bellevue, WA	Linda Hampton Schiffer Columbia, MD
Kathleen Bagioni Newington, CT	Barbara Barrick McKie Lyme, CT	Priscilla Schrock Oregon City, OR
Cozy Bendesky Pennsylvania	Inge Mardal Ste Germaine-en-Laye, France	Victoria Slind-Flor Berkeley, CA
Karen Calhoun Galveston, TX	Orlis Moroz Calgary, Canada	Linda Smith Vancouver, WA
Henrietta Clews Blue Hill, ME	Lisabeth Polouski Newport, RI	Betty Spaulding Signal Mountain, TN
Sandra Townsend Donabed Wellesley, MA	Rachel Roggel Jerusalem, Israel	Phidge Sweers Goodrich, MI
Maxine Farkas Brighton, MA	Vicki Schwam Wilmington, DE	Coordinator: Maxine Farkas Assembly: Maxine Farkas and Sandy Donabed

THE FINISHED PRODUCT:

TALES OF THE BOOMERANG GANG

The Tales of the Boomerang Gang is dedicated
to the memory of Victoria's Frog Prince, William Mahannah.
--Whenever crones and cronies gather, he will be remembered.

To find out more about QuiltArt,
visit the QuiltArt Home Page and the QuiltArt Gallery.

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