An American Flag, with 15 stripes and 15 stars, that flew over Fort McHenry has been conserved at the Smithsonian Institution's labs since 1998 and is finally on display along with the reopening of the renovated National Museum of American History on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.. It is huge!
Star-Spangled Banner Days You can see pictures of the original flag maker, the flag in a Smithsonian Museum's conservation lab, which gives you a sense of its enormous size, how it looks in the display case now and more. Click on the photo icon that says "Picture Gallery" to the right of the article. Here are a few paragraphs from the article about this Flag- worthwhile article,an historical account.
"To make the flag's stripes, she overlapped and stitched eight strips of red wool and alternated them with seven strips of undyed white wool. While the bunting was manufactured in 18-inch widths, the stripes in her design were each two feet wide, so she had to splice in an extra six inches all the way across. She did it so smoothly that the completed product would look like a finished whole—and not like the massive patchwork it was. A rectangle of deep blue, about 16 by 21 feet, formed the flag's canton, or upper left quarter. Sitting on the brewery floor, she stitched a scattering of five-pointed stars into the canton. Each one, fashioned from white cotton, was almost two feet across. Then she turned the flag over and snipped out blue material from the backs of the stars, tightly binding the edges; this made the stars visible from either side.
"My mother worked many nights until 12 o'clock to complete it in the given time," Caroline Pickersgill Purdy recalled years later. By mid-August, the work was done—a supersize version of the Stars and Stripes. Unlike the 13-star ensign first authorized by Congress on June 14, 1777, this one had 15 stars to go with the 15 stripes, acknowledging the Union's latest additions, Vermont and Kentucky."
"There was nothing special about it," says Scott S. Sheads, historian at Baltimore's Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, speaking of a time when a new nation was struggling for survival and groping toward a collective identity. That all changed in 1813, when one enormous flag, pieced together on the floor of a Baltimore brewery, was first hoisted over the federal garrison at Fort McHenry. In time the banner would take on larger meaning, set on a path to glory by a young lawyer named Francis Scott Key, passing into one family's private possession and emerging as a public treasure."
"On the most memorable of those occasions, the flag was displayed at Fort McHenry with George Washington's campaign tent and other patriotic memorabilia when Revolutionary War hero the Marquis de Lafayette visited in October 1824. When Louisa Armistead died in 1861, she left the flag to her daughter, Georgiana Armistead Appleton, just as a new war broke out."
A patriotic quilt exhibit is currently at The Women's Museum in Dallas TX is on Judy Breneman's blog Among the Usual Days.
Mmore about patriotic quilts can be found at Patriotic Quilts through Time. It's been on my website quite awhile and many of you have probably read it already. That's the good thing about writting about antique quilts, the articles never really get old. :) In it I ask you to use the book by Safford and Bishop "America's Quilts and Coverlets" to see the quilts pictured in it that I discuss in the article and give page numbers to.
Piece,
Kim
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
PIQF Reproduction Quilts
Happy November everyone! It's getting to be quilting time. Yellows, golds, oranges, browns and greens fill my mind and my eyes. Fall colors are warm and inviting. Fall foods are too.
I love the taste of pumpkin anything. I am a sucker this time of year for The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's or Starbucks Pumpkin Latte. MMMmmmm. The first one I ever tasted was in Golden CO at the AQSG conference in 2005. It was a cool and crisp day and this latte was a taste of heaven on a fun day at the Rocky Mountain Quilt museum. Do you have foods that bring a good memory with it to you?
The quilts I'll show you today are filled with Fall colors and they just so happen to be made of reproduction fabrics. One quilt is made in French reproductions and the other American reproductions. It is Stunning. She has keen sense of color use in a quilt. Wow. Margaret McDonald made it and she lives, no, not New England, but Australia.
Click on this link to see about 16 slides.
A quick note to close- this coming Thursday evening (5PM Pacific time, 7PM CST, 8 PM EST) Pat Sloan will tells us really how she balances all of the quilt business hats she wears with great success and how she keeps creativity flowing. She has written 19 books, has a P&B fabric line, her pattern company and she teaches all over the world, so how she has time is another mystery. Pat is lots of fun and full of energy. And she is courageous - as she is my first Woman On Quilts to be interviewed! Please join us on the telephone or listen through your website. There is no charge. Register here to get the log in link or phone passcode.
The next batch of pictures you'll get will be of arty and embellished quilts in the exhibit. One of the makers is going to be a Woman On Quilts in December!
May you have a happy Monday and wear a smile all day. Tuesday, get out to vote!
Kim
I love the taste of pumpkin anything. I am a sucker this time of year for The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's or Starbucks Pumpkin Latte. MMMmmmm. The first one I ever tasted was in Golden CO at the AQSG conference in 2005. It was a cool and crisp day and this latte was a taste of heaven on a fun day at the Rocky Mountain Quilt museum. Do you have foods that bring a good memory with it to you?
The quilts I'll show you today are filled with Fall colors and they just so happen to be made of reproduction fabrics. One quilt is made in French reproductions and the other American reproductions. It is Stunning. She has keen sense of color use in a quilt. Wow. Margaret McDonald made it and she lives, no, not New England, but Australia.
Click on this link to see about 16 slides.
A quick note to close- this coming Thursday evening (5PM Pacific time, 7PM CST, 8 PM EST) Pat Sloan will tells us really how she balances all of the quilt business hats she wears with great success and how she keeps creativity flowing. She has written 19 books, has a P&B fabric line, her pattern company and she teaches all over the world, so how she has time is another mystery. Pat is lots of fun and full of energy. And she is courageous - as she is my first Woman On Quilts to be interviewed! Please join us on the telephone or listen through your website. There is no charge. Register here to get the log in link or phone passcode.
The next batch of pictures you'll get will be of arty and embellished quilts in the exhibit. One of the makers is going to be a Woman On Quilts in December!
May you have a happy Monday and wear a smile all day. Tuesday, get out to vote!
Kim
Friday, October 31, 2008
PIQF's Quilts Begin
Hi Everyone!
It has been a very busy and exciting time. I see no end in site and I do apologize for the delay in sharing pictures of the stunning and fascinating quilts I saw on display at Pacific International Quilt Festival earlier this month.
Starting today I'll share them with you on a more frequent basis than usual for QS. There are so many and I can't just show you one full shot- No Way! I would hear you yelling through your monitor "tease, selfish, oh come on now" and I don't want that! I want you to send me happy, upbeat, WOW thoughts of gratitude and that's what I'm sending your way too.
We'll begin with this crazy style modernized quilt of a flag. Nancy K. McLerran made it. She named it "Betsy Ross Never Imagined This." Aptly named I say. Nancy embroidered minature symbols of the America Revolutionary War such as the Liberty Bell, flag, Washington's profile...
Nancy is from from Santa Rosa, in the wine country of California.
I think she did a great job of blending new and old and older styles of quilts. Notice the reproductions indigo fabrics in the canton. Very cool quilt!
Tomorrow I'll send some more pictures. This quilt will use loads of my favorite early 19th century reproduction fabrics!
Boo! from your Patchwork Queen (tee-hee)
Happy Halloween everyone- don't get a tummy ache.
Kim
It has been a very busy and exciting time. I see no end in site and I do apologize for the delay in sharing pictures of the stunning and fascinating quilts I saw on display at Pacific International Quilt Festival earlier this month.
Starting today I'll share them with you on a more frequent basis than usual for QS. There are so many and I can't just show you one full shot- No Way! I would hear you yelling through your monitor "tease, selfish, oh come on now" and I don't want that! I want you to send me happy, upbeat, WOW thoughts of gratitude and that's what I'm sending your way too.
We'll begin with this crazy style modernized quilt of a flag. Nancy K. McLerran made it. She named it "Betsy Ross Never Imagined This." Aptly named I say. Nancy embroidered minature symbols of the America Revolutionary War such as the Liberty Bell, flag, Washington's profile...
Nancy is from from Santa Rosa, in the wine country of California.
I think she did a great job of blending new and old and older styles of quilts. Notice the reproductions indigo fabrics in the canton. Very cool quilt!
Tomorrow I'll send some more pictures. This quilt will use loads of my favorite early 19th century reproduction fabrics!
Boo! from your Patchwork Queen (tee-hee)
Happy Halloween everyone- don't get a tummy ache.
Kim
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Harvard Student Reviews Gee's Exhibition
Gee’s Bend: The Architecture of the Quilt' displays quilts from the 1930s through the 1970s and some quite recently, post the first exhibition in 2002. In A Cultural Patchwork,The architecture of the quilt, student PIPPA ECCLES today wrote an article and review for The Harvard Independent.
Pippa is fond of quilts and they are her thesis topic. She gives a condensed and precise overview of the history of the origins of quilting in Gee's Bend, from the 60s into the present. She hits on the controversy or controversies, including the ongoing, (pre-Gee's) debate about whether or not quilts are art at all. She gives her view of the exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which is inspired by her personal take and the quilters history.
I digress for a moment- it is the quilter's history that has always grabbed me and my attention on the quilts too, admittedly, more than seeing the quilts in person. I like them better in books than in person myself. I made a reproduction of one I particularly liked in the big blue book. The top is made of three high contrast fabrics in all long narrow rectangles. I used older fabrics, used from clothes made in the mid last century and a sheet. I cut the pieces by scissors and made the pattern look the same, but it just didn't have the zing. It was harder than I had imagined to achieve the "awe" factor and in fact I did not achieve it all all. My respect for their artistic eye and creative thinking remains high, along with being inspired by their historical underpinnings beginning last century.
Pippa's article is worth your time to read. Here are a couple of out takes
"Their display is evidence of how far we have already come. However, it is hard not to feel like a true triumph of the quilting medium would allow the quilts to exist as artistic masterpieces without the justification of museum walls. "
"Despite the tendency toward improvisation and originality, many of these quilts are also based on patterns and display both a remarkable ability to innovative within boundaries as well as the inherently communal aspect of quilting. The “Housetop” pattern (a variation of the traditional Log Cabin) is a favorite amongst the women of Gee’s Bend. Other quilts are based on traditional Euro-American quilting patterns, such as Wild Goose Chase and Bethlehem Star, but still maintain the Gee’s Bend’s penchant for creativity and innovation."
This last one may have our dear late Cuesta Benberry rolling over in her grave- she was not a believer that African-America quilts were all asymetrical, not at all. Her books show us many quilts made in traditional block styles, including appliqué. Pippa writes "Even if seen in the light of the African American quilting tradition, one that has always favored asymmetry and improvisation, these quilts demonstrate a truly remarkable degree of originality." Pippa's statement indicates how embedded this belief is in American culture.
Have any of you tried to reproduce a Gee's Bend style quilt? Tell us about it, send photos.
I will soon post photos from PIQF. It was an amazing show and I took lots of pictures with you in mind. I have to catch up on biz first and then your show will begin, with all credits given!
Piece,
Kim
Pippa is fond of quilts and they are her thesis topic. She gives a condensed and precise overview of the history of the origins of quilting in Gee's Bend, from the 60s into the present. She hits on the controversy or controversies, including the ongoing, (pre-Gee's) debate about whether or not quilts are art at all. She gives her view of the exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which is inspired by her personal take and the quilters history.
I digress for a moment- it is the quilter's history that has always grabbed me and my attention on the quilts too, admittedly, more than seeing the quilts in person. I like them better in books than in person myself. I made a reproduction of one I particularly liked in the big blue book. The top is made of three high contrast fabrics in all long narrow rectangles. I used older fabrics, used from clothes made in the mid last century and a sheet. I cut the pieces by scissors and made the pattern look the same, but it just didn't have the zing. It was harder than I had imagined to achieve the "awe" factor and in fact I did not achieve it all all. My respect for their artistic eye and creative thinking remains high, along with being inspired by their historical underpinnings beginning last century.
Pippa's article is worth your time to read. Here are a couple of out takes
"Their display is evidence of how far we have already come. However, it is hard not to feel like a true triumph of the quilting medium would allow the quilts to exist as artistic masterpieces without the justification of museum walls. "
"Despite the tendency toward improvisation and originality, many of these quilts are also based on patterns and display both a remarkable ability to innovative within boundaries as well as the inherently communal aspect of quilting. The “Housetop” pattern (a variation of the traditional Log Cabin) is a favorite amongst the women of Gee’s Bend. Other quilts are based on traditional Euro-American quilting patterns, such as Wild Goose Chase and Bethlehem Star, but still maintain the Gee’s Bend’s penchant for creativity and innovation."
This last one may have our dear late Cuesta Benberry rolling over in her grave- she was not a believer that African-America quilts were all asymetrical, not at all. Her books show us many quilts made in traditional block styles, including appliqué. Pippa writes "Even if seen in the light of the African American quilting tradition, one that has always favored asymmetry and improvisation, these quilts demonstrate a truly remarkable degree of originality." Pippa's statement indicates how embedded this belief is in American culture.
Have any of you tried to reproduce a Gee's Bend style quilt? Tell us about it, send photos.
I will soon post photos from PIQF. It was an amazing show and I took lots of pictures with you in mind. I have to catch up on biz first and then your show will begin, with all credits given!
Piece,
Kim
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Announcing Guest Interview
The first guest interview on Women On Quilts is
Pat Sloan On Balancing Her Creative Arts
How does she stay inspired with fresh ideas, make one artistic expression lead to another and have the energy to handle it all? Plus live Q&A time.
Pat carries more roles than you can imagine and this is just for her work! Her quilt businesses are family owned and run, but she is the creative brains, teacher, quilt maker and designer behind it all. Tell me more...
You must register for this interview to receive the phone number and code or link for webcast get in. The live interview is fr.ee
Please join us on the teleclass or webcast on a November evening. There is time for live Q&A and your questions will make this aspect fun for everyone.
Women On Quilts
Piece,
Kim
PS When you go to the WOQ page, please cast your vote for the best day and time for you to attend future interviews.
Pat Sloan On Balancing Her Creative Arts
How does she stay inspired with fresh ideas, make one artistic expression lead to another and have the energy to handle it all? Plus live Q&A time.
Pat carries more roles than you can imagine and this is just for her work! Her quilt businesses are family owned and run, but she is the creative brains, teacher, quilt maker and designer behind it all. Tell me more...
You must register for this interview to receive the phone number and code or link for webcast get in. The live interview is fr.ee
Please join us on the teleclass or webcast on a November evening. There is time for live Q&A and your questions will make this aspect fun for everyone.
Women On Quilts
Piece,
Kim
PS When you go to the WOQ page, please cast your vote for the best day and time for you to attend future interviews.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Heading north to PIQF
I am leaving early tomorrow for northern California to attend a wonderful quilt festival. They bring in quilts from all over the world, hence the name Pacific International Quilt Festival. This is a Mancuso Brother's event.
I'm taking a full day's class with Barbara Olsen about breaking out of your box and trying something new and arty. Barbara is known for her black and white spiral quilt among others. Before I return I'm teaching at guild near there about my other favorite subject- antique quilts. It's going to be a great get-away with wonderful people, who knows who I'll meet? I'll post pictures and tell you all about the event when I return next week.
Speaking of that, today I announced the first guest I'll interview on Women On Quilts. I emailed those on my VIP list and registrations are coming in. If you sign-up now you'll receive her name, topic and all the info right away. If you want to be there you'll be assured of getting a "seat." Its fr.ee. There are other benefits, besides first notice, to being on WOQ's VIP mailing list. Hope to "see" you there.
Piece,
Kim
I'm taking a full day's class with Barbara Olsen about breaking out of your box and trying something new and arty. Barbara is known for her black and white spiral quilt among others. Before I return I'm teaching at guild near there about my other favorite subject- antique quilts. It's going to be a great get-away with wonderful people, who knows who I'll meet? I'll post pictures and tell you all about the event when I return next week.
Speaking of that, today I announced the first guest I'll interview on Women On Quilts. I emailed those on my VIP list and registrations are coming in. If you sign-up now you'll receive her name, topic and all the info right away. If you want to be there you'll be assured of getting a "seat." Its fr.ee. There are other benefits, besides first notice, to being on WOQ's VIP mailing list. Hope to "see" you there.
Piece,
Kim
Monday, October 13, 2008
Quilting Through Crises
Last week I sought out news on the economic sitations on the TV, radio, Internet and LA Times, as I imagine many of you did too. During critical events happening in the world, or the US like this, I tend to start a new quilt from scratch, no pattern.
The trend to quilt at times like this began for me when the Oklahoma City Federal building was bombed in 1995. Choosing or drafting a design and auditioning fabric gets the most consideration from me and this stage gives me the greatest push into creativity. I used a pattern and made a brightly colored quilt with an Escheresque pattern. Using a design wall was essential because the colors of a block flowed into the next block in order to get the effect. It took lots of time to figure out.
Creative thoughts are the opposite of depressed, helpless, hopeless, and mad thoughts. Opposite thoughts with their accompanying feelings don’t exist in your mind/body at the same moment. Engaging in creativity is one way of coping with feelings that come up at times like these. Sure I cry and pray as I go along too, but I keep my mind moving along with the quilt on its path to completion.
Making a quilt kept my mind from concentrating solely on the devastation and my feelings of helplessness and powerlessness to help. The news kept me involved with the story and able to hear the people interviewed. I could send "God Bless yous" from my heart to theirs as I moved pieces for the color arrangement and sewed the pieces together. The same calling to be creative came forth as other disasters struck.
When I'm sewing by machine I feel less involved with the information (partly because it's hard to hear or read while doing it) so it is the best remedy when I need a break from it all. If the sewing is simple, my mind can wander and send energy to the struggling people. I also go through my attitude of gratitude list while sewing. There is so much for which to be thankful. By the time the quilt is completed, I feel some relief from the intensity of the days before. I have worked through a great deal of feelings and gained a life awareness I didn’t have before the crisis. The quilt always reminds me of the new awareness I gained and how fortunate I am, providing another opportunity to say a little blessing prayer for the people who died and their families.
Because I lost my voice, got a sinus headache from the hot dry winds and the economy was tanking, I figured the spirits were talking to me to take off a couple of days to design a new quilt project. I also needed to separate from predominantly left brained activities to open up the right side – wide. As a result, time flew buy, my body relaxed and I felt calmer and more creative thanks to designing a quilt block and auditioning fabrics.
This is a picture of one block showing where I am in the process right now. A stained glass panel is the end goal made with 8 blocks.There is a bit of a twist, but I'll keep that to myself until it's finished. How I will cover the seams on this one I have not decided just what yet. Since I awoke to good news about the stock market, I worked all day on the computer. (Hmm, is this a no win situation??)
I have planned two different colorways for the blocks. The other color resulted in a private challenge when recently I was dared (in the good way) by a quilter whom I had the pleasure of staying with while teaching at her guild in Escondido CA. The challenge came from a quilt shop "ah ha! moment "when we fell for fabrics that were not the usual choice for either of us. Life is full of surprises. We agreed to make stained glass blocks we design separately using the same fabrics. This blue, green and gray one is a test quilt and i'm gald i took the time to do it as i will handle the challenge quilt differently. Fortunately I like both versions.
Would you like to share your quilt made in a crisis or your story. I would be very interested in hearing about your use of quilting and how it helps you. Post it as a comment or email me.
Peace,
Kim
The trend to quilt at times like this began for me when the Oklahoma City Federal building was bombed in 1995. Choosing or drafting a design and auditioning fabric gets the most consideration from me and this stage gives me the greatest push into creativity. I used a pattern and made a brightly colored quilt with an Escheresque pattern. Using a design wall was essential because the colors of a block flowed into the next block in order to get the effect. It took lots of time to figure out.
Creative thoughts are the opposite of depressed, helpless, hopeless, and mad thoughts. Opposite thoughts with their accompanying feelings don’t exist in your mind/body at the same moment. Engaging in creativity is one way of coping with feelings that come up at times like these. Sure I cry and pray as I go along too, but I keep my mind moving along with the quilt on its path to completion.
Making a quilt kept my mind from concentrating solely on the devastation and my feelings of helplessness and powerlessness to help. The news kept me involved with the story and able to hear the people interviewed. I could send "God Bless yous" from my heart to theirs as I moved pieces for the color arrangement and sewed the pieces together. The same calling to be creative came forth as other disasters struck.
When I'm sewing by machine I feel less involved with the information (partly because it's hard to hear or read while doing it) so it is the best remedy when I need a break from it all. If the sewing is simple, my mind can wander and send energy to the struggling people. I also go through my attitude of gratitude list while sewing. There is so much for which to be thankful. By the time the quilt is completed, I feel some relief from the intensity of the days before. I have worked through a great deal of feelings and gained a life awareness I didn’t have before the crisis. The quilt always reminds me of the new awareness I gained and how fortunate I am, providing another opportunity to say a little blessing prayer for the people who died and their families.
Because I lost my voice, got a sinus headache from the hot dry winds and the economy was tanking, I figured the spirits were talking to me to take off a couple of days to design a new quilt project. I also needed to separate from predominantly left brained activities to open up the right side – wide. As a result, time flew buy, my body relaxed and I felt calmer and more creative thanks to designing a quilt block and auditioning fabrics.
This is a picture of one block showing where I am in the process right now. A stained glass panel is the end goal made with 8 blocks.There is a bit of a twist, but I'll keep that to myself until it's finished. How I will cover the seams on this one I have not decided just what yet. Since I awoke to good news about the stock market, I worked all day on the computer. (Hmm, is this a no win situation??)I have planned two different colorways for the blocks. The other color resulted in a private challenge when recently I was dared (in the good way) by a quilter whom I had the pleasure of staying with while teaching at her guild in Escondido CA. The challenge came from a quilt shop "ah ha! moment "when we fell for fabrics that were not the usual choice for either of us. Life is full of surprises. We agreed to make stained glass blocks we design separately using the same fabrics. This blue, green and gray one is a test quilt and i'm gald i took the time to do it as i will handle the challenge quilt differently. Fortunately I like both versions.
Would you like to share your quilt made in a crisis or your story. I would be very interested in hearing about your use of quilting and how it helps you. Post it as a comment or email me.
Peace,
Kim
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Introducing Women On Quilts: Interviews, Teleclasses, Webcasts
I have been working 24/7 and now I've lost my voice! Oh my gosh- I have just never been so a buzz with new ideas and projects that I can't wait to complete so I can get on to the next. I have been dropping hints about the imminent launch of my new project. After a critical week like this one has been for people around the world, I think it’s time for some good news.
Introducing (trumpets roll please) a teaching, learning, and sharing opportunity for creative women everywhere- Women On Quilts: Interviews, Teleclasses, Webcasts! From the comfort of your home, by telephone or using the internet, meet fabulous women who make their living or live their joy in the quilt world. Learn how they did what they do to pursue their goals and find succesful inside and out. My hope is you will feel a spark from these conversations and classes that will enable you to accomplish your dream too.
During this demise of our country’s economic fabric, I can't help but think about women living during the Great Depression and making quilts for covers and mattresses. I have to believe we will figure a way to avoid another Depression. Every day brings new information, new stock market numbers and experts discussing how we can save our money. Although I couldn't have known this when Women On Quilts was just a buzz in my head early this summer, what I am bringing to you certainly seems to be an antidote during this crisis and the ensuing months of the recession. Just think, from your home or office you can meet women working in the wide world of quilt businesses, designing, writing, leading & planning, teaching, quilt making, and so much more. I will teach how-to classes in research, quilt history and to spark your creativity & overcome challenges in your life, work & art such as
building confidence
fearless speaking in front of groups
using perfectionism to your benefit
using healthy attitudes & beliefs in your work and art
releasing blocks, fears, and negative thinking
finding approaches to living your life pursuing creativity ***
I so appreciate all of you that subscribe to my newsletter, read this blog, post comments and send me emails. You made WOQ happen. To keep up with my next interviews with well known and lesser known quilters, including the first women I haven't announced yet, opt-in to WOQ VIPs now so that you will automatically get the class and interview announcements. As a thank you, you will receive my E-article "Sparking Your Creativity." Yes, you want to subscribe to both QS and WOQ as they are completely different and WOQ VIP's get privileges non-subscribers and feed subscribers do not.
Look for QS newsletter on Monday when I will talk about my quilt making during this week of economic crisis and you'll get a glimpse into some of my thinking about the mind/body benefits of being creative. I will pull from my background in psychology for some of the classes I offer through WOQ.
***An interview Judy did with me reveals more about WOQ's purpose and goals on Womenfolk:The Art of Quilting.
Introducing (trumpets roll please) a teaching, learning, and sharing opportunity for creative women everywhere- Women On Quilts: Interviews, Teleclasses, Webcasts! From the comfort of your home, by telephone or using the internet, meet fabulous women who make their living or live their joy in the quilt world. Learn how they did what they do to pursue their goals and find succesful inside and out. My hope is you will feel a spark from these conversations and classes that will enable you to accomplish your dream too.
During this demise of our country’s economic fabric, I can't help but think about women living during the Great Depression and making quilts for covers and mattresses. I have to believe we will figure a way to avoid another Depression. Every day brings new information, new stock market numbers and experts discussing how we can save our money. Although I couldn't have known this when Women On Quilts was just a buzz in my head early this summer, what I am bringing to you certainly seems to be an antidote during this crisis and the ensuing months of the recession. Just think, from your home or office you can meet women working in the wide world of quilt businesses, designing, writing, leading & planning, teaching, quilt making, and so much more. I will teach how-to classes in research, quilt history and to spark your creativity & overcome challenges in your life, work & art such as
building confidence
fearless speaking in front of groups
using perfectionism to your benefit
using healthy attitudes & beliefs in your work and art
releasing blocks, fears, and negative thinking
finding approaches to living your life pursuing creativity ***
I so appreciate all of you that subscribe to my newsletter, read this blog, post comments and send me emails. You made WOQ happen. To keep up with my next interviews with well known and lesser known quilters, including the first women I haven't announced yet, opt-in to WOQ VIPs now so that you will automatically get the class and interview announcements. As a thank you, you will receive my E-article "Sparking Your Creativity." Yes, you want to subscribe to both QS and WOQ as they are completely different and WOQ VIP's get privileges non-subscribers and feed subscribers do not.
Look for QS newsletter on Monday when I will talk about my quilt making during this week of economic crisis and you'll get a glimpse into some of my thinking about the mind/body benefits of being creative. I will pull from my background in psychology for some of the classes I offer through WOQ.
***An interview Judy did with me reveals more about WOQ's purpose and goals on Womenfolk:The Art of Quilting.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Green Quilts
If you read these topic labels for an article "Environmental Politics, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, New Mexico, Philadelphia (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Alabama, Missouri, Google Inc." would you think it was about quilts?
Here is a terrific take on recycled cloth, which starts by introducing the Gee's Bend quilt exhibit opening at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. From Recycled Scraps To Museum-Quality Quilts, by Sandy Bauers for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Ok, that's not really new news to quilters, but how about this?
"...clothing Swap-O-Rama-Ramas started by New Mexico's Wendy Tremayne because she "wanted to find a remedy for consumerism."
"The idea is for women to bring in old clothes, experience 'total abundance' when the stuff is piled together, then start taking things to nearby sewing machines and design experts to learn how to alter them to fit or refashion them into other clothing."
Have you ever been to such a swap or heard of them? I read articles about people remaking old or out-of-fashion cloths into trendy clothes. It's chic. And there is an upsurge in sewing one's clothes at home. No doubt Project Runway has contributed to the surge in fashion designing at home and in schools with such a degree.
I wonder if this particular swap came from this trend or from the green generation who thankfully are taking our trash seriously too. Either way, its a fun and exciting expression in the wide world of fabric lovers.
A Google search is full of info. Wendy began the swaps in 2005.Please comment below if you have personal experience with the Swap-O-Rama Ramas!
Piece,
Kim
Here is a terrific take on recycled cloth, which starts by introducing the Gee's Bend quilt exhibit opening at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. From Recycled Scraps To Museum-Quality Quilts, by Sandy Bauers for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Ok, that's not really new news to quilters, but how about this?
"...clothing Swap-O-Rama-Ramas started by New Mexico's Wendy Tremayne because she "wanted to find a remedy for consumerism."
"The idea is for women to bring in old clothes, experience 'total abundance' when the stuff is piled together, then start taking things to nearby sewing machines and design experts to learn how to alter them to fit or refashion them into other clothing."
Have you ever been to such a swap or heard of them? I read articles about people remaking old or out-of-fashion cloths into trendy clothes. It's chic. And there is an upsurge in sewing one's clothes at home. No doubt Project Runway has contributed to the surge in fashion designing at home and in schools with such a degree.
I wonder if this particular swap came from this trend or from the green generation who thankfully are taking our trash seriously too. Either way, its a fun and exciting expression in the wide world of fabric lovers.
A Google search is full of info. Wendy began the swaps in 2005.Please comment below if you have personal experience with the Swap-O-Rama Ramas!
Piece,
Kim
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Hand Quilting Patterns
Hand Quilting Patterns on Antique Quilts is an article I just wrote and posted on Ezine Articles. It is available for downloading from them to your website, guild newsletter, any public media as long as it includes my name and information at the bottom. The entire article must be used, not portions.
There is a new article on my website about Welsh Quilts. Mary Jenkins is my guest author this month and she wrote the fabulous book "Making Welsh Quilts" which is in it's second printing. In her article,'Making Welsh Quilts: Necessity is the Mother of Invention' Mary talks about quilting and quilts in Wales where she grew up, then and now.
In the book, Mary describes how Amish quilts were inspired by Wale's quilts. In the book she features 10 patterns for medallion style Welsh quilts all shown completed in glorious reproduction fabrics.(one of Mary's recent samples is in the article) They are yummy quilts. Mary and Clare Claridge, the co-author, have pages and pages of Welsh quilting patterns they are known for; spirals, fans, leaves, pears, flowers, hearts, borders and more. The quilt projects have quilting patterns and templates. They are easy enough for beginners to piece by machine or hand.
The beginning of the book is a quilt gallery of antique quilts, one of which is pictured in her article. To find out more about their book, there is a link to Amazon at the end of article and another to Mary and Clare's webpages.
A big thank you from me to all of you who responded to my SOS call for fabric to mend my tasty antique quilt top. You guys are so great and so helpful!! I am following your leads, checking out different original fabrics first. If they don't work out, then the repro has been discovered. It is by Judy Rothermel in Lancaster 3. The red fabric remains a mystery. Further ideas are invited.
Piece,
Kim
There is a new article on my website about Welsh Quilts. Mary Jenkins is my guest author this month and she wrote the fabulous book "Making Welsh Quilts" which is in it's second printing. In her article,'Making Welsh Quilts: Necessity is the Mother of Invention' Mary talks about quilting and quilts in Wales where she grew up, then and now.
In the book, Mary describes how Amish quilts were inspired by Wale's quilts. In the book she features 10 patterns for medallion style Welsh quilts all shown completed in glorious reproduction fabrics.(one of Mary's recent samples is in the article) They are yummy quilts. Mary and Clare Claridge, the co-author, have pages and pages of Welsh quilting patterns they are known for; spirals, fans, leaves, pears, flowers, hearts, borders and more. The quilt projects have quilting patterns and templates. They are easy enough for beginners to piece by machine or hand.
The beginning of the book is a quilt gallery of antique quilts, one of which is pictured in her article. To find out more about their book, there is a link to Amazon at the end of article and another to Mary and Clare's webpages.
A big thank you from me to all of you who responded to my SOS call for fabric to mend my tasty antique quilt top. You guys are so great and so helpful!! I am following your leads, checking out different original fabrics first. If they don't work out, then the repro has been discovered. It is by Judy Rothermel in Lancaster 3. The red fabric remains a mystery. Further ideas are invited.
Piece,
Kim
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Mouse Attack- help needed
I hope he enjoyed himself or better yet, was a mother mouse feeding her babies. Whoever lunched on my otherwise pristine pre-Civil War quilt top, left a gaping hole in an acid green fabric c. 1840 and a smaller chomp in a madder red print with black, white and tan motifs. See for yourself--
I have gone through my stash looking for reproduction fabric to repair the top but can't find either one in my stacks. They both look so familiar to me me, I'm pretty certain both were reproduced. Can anyone tell me which company made either of these, or the the designer? Here are closer shots.
I showed this top at a Guild lecture I gave last week and upon packing it noticed the brown fabric was splitting, cracking in one block. (Crocking is when color from the dye rubs onto another block) This happens over time to browns when they are washed or in the sun. That's not the case with this top, but the brown pieces feel dry and inflexible compared to the others fabrics. If the top had been batted and backed the splitting probably would not have happened, yet anyway. Iron was used to make brown dyes and this is what often happens to brown fabrics in quilts.They are the first to deteriorate, and this is how it begins--
Please help me find the fabrics. The brown fabric I have not seen reproduced. I plan on putting a dark brown plain fabric underneath it and crepoline across the top in order to save it from further deterioration from movement.
Lest you wonder, I bought the top with these mouse chews included, free of charge!
Piece,
Kim
I have gone through my stash looking for reproduction fabric to repair the top but can't find either one in my stacks. They both look so familiar to me me, I'm pretty certain both were reproduced. Can anyone tell me which company made either of these, or the the designer? Here are closer shots.
I showed this top at a Guild lecture I gave last week and upon packing it noticed the brown fabric was splitting, cracking in one block. (Crocking is when color from the dye rubs onto another block) This happens over time to browns when they are washed or in the sun. That's not the case with this top, but the brown pieces feel dry and inflexible compared to the others fabrics. If the top had been batted and backed the splitting probably would not have happened, yet anyway. Iron was used to make brown dyes and this is what often happens to brown fabrics in quilts.They are the first to deteriorate, and this is how it begins--
Please help me find the fabrics. The brown fabric I have not seen reproduced. I plan on putting a dark brown plain fabric underneath it and crepoline across the top in order to save it from further deterioration from movement.
Lest you wonder, I bought the top with these mouse chews included, free of charge!
Piece,
Kim
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Cyber Redecorating
Lately I have been redecorating my cyber spaces. My yen for new colors and presentation is evident everywhere. (The joy of changing led me to two new suits in unusual colors, trendy eye glasses and cutting my hair 4"! )
Take a look at my website antique quilt dating guides...by Style. What do you think of that red? Does Turkey Red come to mind?
If you are a subscriber, have you seen the new look of Quilters Spirit? (clicking the blog title will take you there) Do you like the apple green color? I love this shade of green. When we were redecorating our bedroom awhile back and picking the paint I was pulled to this green! I didn't chose it though, it's hardly a restful color. But it is perfect for Quilters Spirit.
Very soon now I will be launching a brand new program. There is something for every quilter. I am very excited to tell you about it... but it isn't quite ready to begin. I have spent many days of long hours and given it a lot of thought and planning. Technology and software glitches are still present. I am working with one beta system, which means it is in the trial phase, but oh my gosh, when it's right, WOW, it will be great for us to use together.
I won't tease you any more, tonight. Watch for my announcement!
Quilters are animal people. Here are my furry ones keeping me company in my studio. Haley is a Maine Coon not quite 2 years old. And Faith is nearly 10 years old. She is part chow, part border collie and part??? They are both rescued animals ( they rescued me) and dearly loved members of our family. They love quilts and leave their hair all over them.
Piece,
Kim
Take a look at my website antique quilt dating guides...by Style. What do you think of that red? Does Turkey Red come to mind?
If you are a subscriber, have you seen the new look of Quilters Spirit? (clicking the blog title will take you there) Do you like the apple green color? I love this shade of green. When we were redecorating our bedroom awhile back and picking the paint I was pulled to this green! I didn't chose it though, it's hardly a restful color. But it is perfect for Quilters Spirit.
Very soon now I will be launching a brand new program. There is something for every quilter. I am very excited to tell you about it... but it isn't quite ready to begin. I have spent many days of long hours and given it a lot of thought and planning. Technology and software glitches are still present. I am working with one beta system, which means it is in the trial phase, but oh my gosh, when it's right, WOW, it will be great for us to use together.
I won't tease you any more, tonight. Watch for my announcement!
Quilters are animal people. Here are my furry ones keeping me company in my studio. Haley is a Maine Coon not quite 2 years old. And Faith is nearly 10 years old. She is part chow, part border collie and part??? They are both rescued animals ( they rescued me) and dearly loved members of our family. They love quilts and leave their hair all over them.
Piece,
Kim
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Contemporary Websites
I come across some pretty darn wonderful out-of-the-ordinary websites while cyber-cruising around and I thought you might like to know about some of them too.
The first is written by Serena Renton, an artist and college teacher currently in North Carolina. Her website is a thinker and a looker Layers of Meaning. She offers her personal comments on design and textile arts and the creative expression of them.
Sue Spargo is a folk art quilter. She designs all of her own pattern designs which . are quite different than what you may think of when you think of folk art quilts. Sue uses wool, decorator fabrics, trims and cottons all together in a pattern to make her appliqued quilts, pillows, and gifts. Her designs are whimsical and wonderful and some are even useful, like needle cases and pin cushions,. She draws from the old but they are decidedly contemporary.
Fiberella is an art quilter's website with a gallery of quilts made with machine needle felting, machine embroidery and quilting and thread drawing techniques that make quilts very exciting and intriguing. Paula Scaffidi, the quilt artist invites quilters to submit photos of their own work to post in her gallery!
Mildred's Lane.
Recently I watched a teaching video for beginning art quilters and those quilters who want to know the art school terms and thinking about composition and drawing to add to their repertoire. It was terrific, like being with friends in their studio, they being the teachers on the video Jan Davila and Elin Waterston. You can read more about Teach You Art Quilt Basics and my thoughts as a student. After that, why not check out my other book reviews, they offer quite a variety of topics in the quilting field.
The first is written by Serena Renton, an artist and college teacher currently in North Carolina. Her website is a thinker and a looker Layers of Meaning. She offers her personal comments on design and textile arts and the creative expression of them.
Sue Spargo is a folk art quilter. She designs all of her own pattern designs which . are quite different than what you may think of when you think of folk art quilts. Sue uses wool, decorator fabrics, trims and cottons all together in a pattern to make her appliqued quilts, pillows, and gifts. Her designs are whimsical and wonderful and some are even useful, like needle cases and pin cushions,. She draws from the old but they are decidedly contemporary.
Fiberella is an art quilter's website with a gallery of quilts made with machine needle felting, machine embroidery and quilting and thread drawing techniques that make quilts very exciting and intriguing. Paula Scaffidi, the quilt artist invites quilters to submit photos of their own work to post in her gallery!
Mildred's Lane.
Recently I watched a teaching video for beginning art quilters and those quilters who want to know the art school terms and thinking about composition and drawing to add to their repertoire. It was terrific, like being with friends in their studio, they being the teachers on the video Jan Davila and Elin Waterston. You can read more about Teach You Art Quilt Basics and my thoughts as a student. After that, why not check out my other book reviews, they offer quite a variety of topics in the quilting field.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
More Ruby McKim
A few posts ago I told you about synchronatic events that happened while I was teaching a workshop on using antique blocks and fabrics to create antique-inspired quilts. I bring quilts samples I have made and ask the students to bring their potential projects to class. We discuss their blocks, fabrics and tops ages and what quilts from their era would have looked like. Then we talk about what they can do, what quilt style, quilt design, binding, and setting using currently available fabrics with their own. (Click on this post's title for more info about this.)
At this workshop I showed my recreation of a Ruby McKim flower block that was both embroidered and appliquéd. I had found an extremely tattered quilt using these blocks with lilac solid color fabric and matching quilting thread. I saved it for many years and finally cut out the best blocks and reused them in a new wall size quilt. You can see the original and new quilt here.
These are some of the blocks I cut out to use.At this workshop I showed my recreation of a Ruby McKim flower block that was both embroidered and appliquéd. I had found an extremely tattered quilt using these blocks with lilac solid color fabric and matching quilting thread. I saved it for many years and finally cut out the best blocks and reused them in a new wall size quilt. You can see the original and new quilt here.
At the workshop one of the ladies brought this quilt to show and ask about the date. She had no idea is was a sister version of mine that I showed earlier in the class. Her quilt is all embroidered, with no appliqué, but they are the same McKim blocks.
Here is the original pattern from Ruby's "Designs Worth Doing" catalog, 1930-31.
A few of the blocks close-up
How's that for synchronicity? I was thrilled to see Mary's quilt. I knew it was a McKim pattern right away, but putting this together with the other McKim state flower blocks that also showed up at that workshop (I blogged about these in July)it was quite a coincidence and wonderful learning experience for all of us.
If you have any McKim quilts, tops or blocks you would like to share, please put a link to them in the comments.
I've added a share/bookmark icon. If you like my newsletter won't you please take a moment to tell others by clicking on those sites of your choice in that icon- it opens to show all types of destinations. Or you can send them the url for my blog http://quiltersspirit.blogspot.com. Thank you :)
Piece,
Kim
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Quilt Historians in the News
On August 21, Kimberly-Clark sponsored a reception for notable Tennessean Bets Ramsey at the Knoxville Museum of Art. The event included a preview of an online portrait of Ramsey, a nationally recognized educator, curator, writer, organizer, historian and award-winning quilter. The portrait was produced as a part of Quilt Treasures, a joint project of the AAQ and Michigan State University.
The multi-media portrait of Ramsey includes a mini-documentary, extensive biographical information and over forty interview clips on various topics. The project will debut publicly on the Alliance’s website in mid September. To view the project visit Center for the Quilt.
There's much to be learned from old quilts, but they can't speak for themselves," says Amy Milne, executive director of the Alliance for American Quilts. "Our website projects save not just the images of quilts, from the humble to the magnificent, but allow us to save and share the stories of how and why they were made. All the funds raised in Knoxville, with Kimberly-Clark's help, will enable us to preserve these stories online for all those who value these treasures."
Also sponsored by Kimberly-Clark on August 21, was the first ever Quilt Train event in Knoxville. Board members of the AAQ from all parts of the US and a large contingent of quilt and train enthusiasts from the Knoxville area enjoyed a rolling wine and cheese party on the Three Rivers Rambler excursion train owned and operated by Gulf & Ohio Railways Inc. Vintage quilts from the collection of Knoxville resident and esteemed quilt historian Merikay Waldvogel were hung and draped around the train. Also exhibited on the Quilt Train were small quilts from the AAQ contest, My Quilts/Our History, for which quilters around the country and abroad made quilts celebrating their personal quilt histories. (For more information about the contest and the upcoming auction, go to the Alliance website,Center for the Quilt
The Quilt Train evening continued with a dinner at Calhoun’s by the River restaurant to honor nationally-recognized quilt historian, curator and author Merikay Waldvogel, who recently ended her term on the AAQ board after many years of dedicated service. Waldvogel and Ramsey were co-directors of Tennessee Quilt Survey, a major effort to document the state's quilts which produced a traveling exhibit and publications. The documented Tennessee quilts, along with thousands of quilts from other state and museum collections, are preserved permanently on the Quilt Index, a rapidly-expanding online repository of historical and contemporary quilts, a joint project of the Alliance and Michigan State University.
Kathy Metelica, Market Manager for Kimberly-Clark’s southern region honored Merikay Waldvogel and Bets Ramsey for the important contribution both have made to the preservation of Tennessee’s quilt history, and added “Kimberly-Clark would like to congratulate The Alliance for American Quilts for 15 years of preserving the rich history of American quilting. We are proud to sponsor these events.”
The information above is from a press release from The Quilt Alliance, which is the Center for the Quilt and the Quilt Index. Contact for more information is Amy E. Milne, the Executive Director of The Alliance for American Quilts, (828) 251-7073, amy.milne@quiltalliance.org, www.centerforthequilt.org.
Related to the women honored by the Alliance is another great quilt org.The Quilter's Hall of Fame. Both Bets Ramsey (in 2004)and Merikay Wadvogal(2009)are inductees of The Quilters Hall of Fame. Merikay's will be official next July, her induction was made public this past July. The Quilter's Hall of Fame inductee this July, 2008, was Helen Kelley, writer, quilter, teacher, machine quilting pattern expert, and so much more. She has written a column for QN forever. Sadly, she passed away this Monday, Sept. 1. The Quilter's Hall of Fame offers detailed biography's of each of their inductees and this book is a worthwhile investment for any one interested in our quilting history, past and present.
The multi-media portrait of Ramsey includes a mini-documentary, extensive biographical information and over forty interview clips on various topics. The project will debut publicly on the Alliance’s website in mid September. To view the project visit Center for the Quilt.
There's much to be learned from old quilts, but they can't speak for themselves," says Amy Milne, executive director of the Alliance for American Quilts. "Our website projects save not just the images of quilts, from the humble to the magnificent, but allow us to save and share the stories of how and why they were made. All the funds raised in Knoxville, with Kimberly-Clark's help, will enable us to preserve these stories online for all those who value these treasures."
Also sponsored by Kimberly-Clark on August 21, was the first ever Quilt Train event in Knoxville. Board members of the AAQ from all parts of the US and a large contingent of quilt and train enthusiasts from the Knoxville area enjoyed a rolling wine and cheese party on the Three Rivers Rambler excursion train owned and operated by Gulf & Ohio Railways Inc. Vintage quilts from the collection of Knoxville resident and esteemed quilt historian Merikay Waldvogel were hung and draped around the train. Also exhibited on the Quilt Train were small quilts from the AAQ contest, My Quilts/Our History, for which quilters around the country and abroad made quilts celebrating their personal quilt histories. (For more information about the contest and the upcoming auction, go to the Alliance website,Center for the Quilt
The Quilt Train evening continued with a dinner at Calhoun’s by the River restaurant to honor nationally-recognized quilt historian, curator and author Merikay Waldvogel, who recently ended her term on the AAQ board after many years of dedicated service. Waldvogel and Ramsey were co-directors of Tennessee Quilt Survey, a major effort to document the state's quilts which produced a traveling exhibit and publications. The documented Tennessee quilts, along with thousands of quilts from other state and museum collections, are preserved permanently on the Quilt Index, a rapidly-expanding online repository of historical and contemporary quilts, a joint project of the Alliance and Michigan State University.
Kathy Metelica, Market Manager for Kimberly-Clark’s southern region honored Merikay Waldvogel and Bets Ramsey for the important contribution both have made to the preservation of Tennessee’s quilt history, and added “Kimberly-Clark would like to congratulate The Alliance for American Quilts for 15 years of preserving the rich history of American quilting. We are proud to sponsor these events.”
The information above is from a press release from The Quilt Alliance, which is the Center for the Quilt and the Quilt Index. Contact for more information is Amy E. Milne, the Executive Director of The Alliance for American Quilts, (828) 251-7073, amy.milne@quiltalliance.org, www.centerforthequilt.org.
Related to the women honored by the Alliance is another great quilt org.The Quilter's Hall of Fame. Both Bets Ramsey (in 2004)and Merikay Wadvogal(2009)are inductees of The Quilters Hall of Fame. Merikay's will be official next July, her induction was made public this past July. The Quilter's Hall of Fame inductee this July, 2008, was Helen Kelley, writer, quilter, teacher, machine quilting pattern expert, and so much more. She has written a column for QN forever. Sadly, she passed away this Monday, Sept. 1. The Quilter's Hall of Fame offers detailed biography's of each of their inductees and this book is a worthwhile investment for any one interested in our quilting history, past and present.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Antique Qlt Vendors Finale!
Last but most definitely not least are two vendors whose quilts you can enjoy seeing here as they do not have internet access.
Labors of Love can be found at large quilt and textile events and festivals. I saved their pictures for the Labor Day weekend. (If you believe that, I have a genuine UGRR quilt for sale...)
Cotance, owner of Scarlet Ladies Antiques, describes herself as a gypsy, traveling from shop to show to shop to show across the country.
This concludes my photo journey through the first International Quilt Festival in California.
Have a great time for the rest of your long weekend.
Piece,
Kim
 |
| Antique Qlt Vendors Finale |
Labors of Love can be found at large quilt and textile events and festivals. I saved their pictures for the Labor Day weekend. (If you believe that, I have a genuine UGRR quilt for sale...)
Cotance, owner of Scarlet Ladies Antiques, describes herself as a gypsy, traveling from shop to show to shop to show across the country.
This concludes my photo journey through the first International Quilt Festival in California.
Have a great time for the rest of your long weekend.
Piece,
Kim
Friday, August 29, 2008
More Antique Qlt Vendors
I promised you more pictures of the vendors selling gorgeous antique quilts at the Long Beach quilt show and I follow through on my promises! It seems uploading them is another story completely and each photo has to be repeated many times before it actually uploads. This is taking longer than piecing a king size quilt and I am just too busy to acquiesce.
So, as not to disappoint, I have found a way around this temporary obstacle.
If you will, click on this album
To see more of the quilts these vendors offer you, here are their websites.
Email Sandy White ~ sandywhiteAQ@adelphia.net
Cindy's Antique Quilts
Mary Koval Antique Quilts
Believe it or not- I have two more vendors to share with you! Since a holiday weekend is upon us, I will blog them to you before you can make a quilter's knot.
Be safe and have fun,
Kim
So, as not to disappoint, I have found a way around this temporary obstacle.
If you will, click on this album
 |
| Antique Quilt Vendors |
To see more of the quilts these vendors offer you, here are their websites.
Email Sandy White ~ sandywhiteAQ@adelphia.net
Cindy's Antique Quilts
Mary Koval Antique Quilts
Believe it or not- I have two more vendors to share with you! Since a holiday weekend is upon us, I will blog them to you before you can make a quilter's knot.
Be safe and have fun,
Kim
Monday, August 25, 2008
Hewson & the French Connection
My article "John Hewson and the French Connection" is currently in The Magazine ANTIQUES , August 2008 issue. This is my second research paper about John Hewson in less than a year, but I have been engaged in in-depth research about him and his work since 2002.
The first paper appeared last October in FOLK ART Magazine of the American Folk Art Museum. Hewson is considered to be one of the earliest and the finest of chintz block printers in America's history. He emigrated from England to Philadelphia in 1773 to set up one of the first textile printing factories here. His goal was to dye and print cotton and linen fine enough to compete with England's dyed and printed cottons. Colorfast printing on cotton was still new to the Western world at that time and they loved it; colorful cottons from India, called chintz, were all the rage around the world and now Europe and America would be competitors.
A small number of textiles printed by Hewson exist today (as far as we know there are twenty-eight) and the majority of them have a large vase holding a bouquet of garden flowers placed in the middle of a square printed panel. The quilt maker often placed this panel in the middle of a medallion or frame quilt. Or the vase and flowers design was carefully cut-out of the chintz and appliquéd to a different background in a quilt.
The vase and flowers are colorful and naturalistic in their depiction. Hewson's influence was thought to be from his homeland and from Dutch flower paintings. A closer look at the neoclassical decorations on the vase indicated to me that it was in fact more like the decorative arts I was seeing made in France in the last quarter of the 18th century. With the decorative arts as my field for research, I became more convinced of the French connection as I went along. Then in 2004 I found the source of his design!
What I reveal in this important paper is the late 18th century French arabesque wallpaper in the Louis XVI style from which Hewson borrowed the vase and flowers design to print onto cotton. He took the central portion of the vertically repeating design on the wallpaper, adapting the tip top of his flowers and bottom of base of his vase, to show a complete free-standing design.
The wallpaper curators of museums in France and America are of the belief that this wallpaper was from the atelier Jean Baptiste Réveillon, whose manufactory was known for producing the finest luxurious arabesque wallpapers at that time. 1780-1790. Who printed the French wallpaper I discuss in this article, is not certain as it is not stamped with a manufactory and it is not in the sample books of Réveillon's wallpapers kept at various museums. However, the late 18th century printing was likely printed at his manufactory after he retired, by the new owners were Jacquemart and Benard.
I also reveal how the manner of Chinese wallpaper artists probably affected Hewson's designs and choices he made for the lay-out of his panel. This is not to be confused with the style called chinoiserie. The manner of early Chinese wallpaper artists, who were the first to make wallpaper, is the influence I write about here and it is significant.
Wonderful photos accompany my article. The highlight of all the photos however is the pair of portraits of John and Zibiah Hewson!! Their portraits have not been published before.
I will be publishing more of my research findings and assessments about John Hewson’s life and his work. I am available for lectures and presentations. To talk about this further please contact me directly at a different email address, quiltdating@gmail.com or go to my website for the phone and address at http://www.antiquequiltdating.com/ I welcome your inquires and contributions!
The month is nearly over, so if you haven't found a copy yet, order one from the publisher by email: avalarezo@brantpub.com or to subscribe call 212.941.2806. Some Borders and Barnes & Nobles sell the magazine, as well as other fine bookstores, and many libraries subscribe.
Enjoy,
Kim
Kimberly Wulfert, PhD
The first paper appeared last October in FOLK ART Magazine of the American Folk Art Museum. Hewson is considered to be one of the earliest and the finest of chintz block printers in America's history. He emigrated from England to Philadelphia in 1773 to set up one of the first textile printing factories here. His goal was to dye and print cotton and linen fine enough to compete with England's dyed and printed cottons. Colorfast printing on cotton was still new to the Western world at that time and they loved it; colorful cottons from India, called chintz, were all the rage around the world and now Europe and America would be competitors.
A small number of textiles printed by Hewson exist today (as far as we know there are twenty-eight) and the majority of them have a large vase holding a bouquet of garden flowers placed in the middle of a square printed panel. The quilt maker often placed this panel in the middle of a medallion or frame quilt. Or the vase and flowers design was carefully cut-out of the chintz and appliquéd to a different background in a quilt.
The vase and flowers are colorful and naturalistic in their depiction. Hewson's influence was thought to be from his homeland and from Dutch flower paintings. A closer look at the neoclassical decorations on the vase indicated to me that it was in fact more like the decorative arts I was seeing made in France in the last quarter of the 18th century. With the decorative arts as my field for research, I became more convinced of the French connection as I went along. Then in 2004 I found the source of his design!
What I reveal in this important paper is the late 18th century French arabesque wallpaper in the Louis XVI style from which Hewson borrowed the vase and flowers design to print onto cotton. He took the central portion of the vertically repeating design on the wallpaper, adapting the tip top of his flowers and bottom of base of his vase, to show a complete free-standing design.
The wallpaper curators of museums in France and America are of the belief that this wallpaper was from the atelier Jean Baptiste Réveillon, whose manufactory was known for producing the finest luxurious arabesque wallpapers at that time. 1780-1790. Who printed the French wallpaper I discuss in this article, is not certain as it is not stamped with a manufactory and it is not in the sample books of Réveillon's wallpapers kept at various museums. However, the late 18th century printing was likely printed at his manufactory after he retired, by the new owners were Jacquemart and Benard.
I also reveal how the manner of Chinese wallpaper artists probably affected Hewson's designs and choices he made for the lay-out of his panel. This is not to be confused with the style called chinoiserie. The manner of early Chinese wallpaper artists, who were the first to make wallpaper, is the influence I write about here and it is significant.
Wonderful photos accompany my article. The highlight of all the photos however is the pair of portraits of John and Zibiah Hewson!! Their portraits have not been published before.
I will be publishing more of my research findings and assessments about John Hewson’s life and his work. I am available for lectures and presentations. To talk about this further please contact me directly at a different email address, quiltdating@gmail.com or go to my website for the phone and address at http://www.antiquequiltdating.com/ I welcome your inquires and contributions!
The month is nearly over, so if you haven't found a copy yet, order one from the publisher by email: avalarezo@brantpub.com or to subscribe call 212.941.2806. Some Borders and Barnes & Nobles sell the magazine, as well as other fine bookstores, and many libraries subscribe.
Enjoy,
Kim
Kimberly Wulfert, PhD
Thursday, August 21, 2008
More IQF LB quilts and people
Hello everyone- I hope you are having a good August! This summer has whirled by me, one of the busiest I have had in some time. Isn't August when everyone goes on vacation and it's"dead"? Not so this year! (I go on to blab about the Olympics for awhile here, but if you scroll down you will see photos of the quilt show- promise)
Plus the Olympics have caught my attention this year, I have so enjoyed learning and seeing more about China than I ever have. I have cried so man y times watching Micheal Phelps, Shannon Johnson and Nastia, Misty May and Kerrie, and all the other people who are so superior in their sport. My heart has grown huge with happiness for them and I am regularly awed by their ability and by their handling of the challenge before them. Such wonderful role models for everyone!
I must admit that I have not watched the Olympics before, other than here and there, but this locale and Phelps' story caught my eye. Come to find out, many incredibly inspiring personal stories have been told by NBC. I am blown away by what these people have gone through in their personal life! It made me appreciate everyone of them so much more deeply.
Remember I am a clinical psychologist and have worked in many venues and heard many stories, but seldom do people rise to such levels of overcoming the challenges, although some certainly do! I don't mean in their sport, I mean in their life. They are able to keep their vision, reach their personal goals, get support, find their way, rise above feeling like the victim of their life and instead a leader of their life who dream big and make it happen in spite of the odds. I am so impressed by the Olympians' accomplishments before they get to China. I especially have enjoyed seeing how many older folks are coming back to compete and doing a great job.
I certainly don't see watching the Olympics as a tacit acceptance of communism or Chinese attitudes toward women, the environment or Tibet. As I see it, the athletes and this huge country of human beings also living on this planet, are my brothers and sisters, and knowing their ways is enhancing my life. Wasn't that Opening Ceremony something? I simply have never been so awed at a performance and I've been awed at a lot of performances, but 2008 people in unison on stage, over and over again with different sets of 2008 people in perfect unison, doing intertwined performances, on a giant led monitor- the tears were just running down my cheeks in amazement that they have this level of discipline, creativity and vision in China.
With that said, let's look at some pictures of the fabulous quilts and people I saw at the Long Beach Quilt Festival.
These happy campers are Audrey, Dee and me.
So who are Audry and Dee, besides my long time buddies?
They are the founders, planners and hostesses with the mostesses of both Quilt Camp in the Desert (Jan. in Phoenix) and Quilt Camp in the Pines (July in Flagstaff, AZ) See http://www.quiltcamp.com/ to see the teachers lined up for the July camp. It's a blast!
This was the booth for SAQA, Studio Artists Quilt Association, one of the earliest art quilt group orgs, which Yvonne Porcella began right here in California.Artists in the Photo from left- Jeanette Kelly, Cathy Gregory, Linda Miller, and Karen Lusnak.
I would show you photos of SAQA's quilts on exhibit here, but no photography was allowed. These are incredible quilts though, many presented in a series, and many were for sale and marked sold on the very first day.
when I took a time out to hear Yvonne Porcella teach for a half hour (and describe her new magazine coming out this fall!)I was oohing and ahhing in unison with the woman sitting behind me, so I turned around to talk during the break, to see the kindred spirit. Turns out it was Peggy Martin, the Strip Paper Piecing Queen!
A funny coincidence happened (there are no coincidences in my opin)I had just ordered a DVD of Peggy's book from C&T for reviewing. It won't be out until November darn it, but it was on my mind and then there she was! We had a great talk and I look forward to watching her teach even more now.
More to come from the Long Beach show, but this is it for now. Piece to you and those you quilt with!
Kim
Plus the Olympics have caught my attention this year, I have so enjoyed learning and seeing more about China than I ever have. I have cried so man y times watching Micheal Phelps, Shannon Johnson and Nastia, Misty May and Kerrie, and all the other people who are so superior in their sport. My heart has grown huge with happiness for them and I am regularly awed by their ability and by their handling of the challenge before them. Such wonderful role models for everyone!
I must admit that I have not watched the Olympics before, other than here and there, but this locale and Phelps' story caught my eye. Come to find out, many incredibly inspiring personal stories have been told by NBC. I am blown away by what these people have gone through in their personal life! It made me appreciate everyone of them so much more deeply.
Remember I am a clinical psychologist and have worked in many venues and heard many stories, but seldom do people rise to such levels of overcoming the challenges, although some certainly do! I don't mean in their sport, I mean in their life. They are able to keep their vision, reach their personal goals, get support, find their way, rise above feeling like the victim of their life and instead a leader of their life who dream big and make it happen in spite of the odds. I am so impressed by the Olympians' accomplishments before they get to China. I especially have enjoyed seeing how many older folks are coming back to compete and doing a great job.
I certainly don't see watching the Olympics as a tacit acceptance of communism or Chinese attitudes toward women, the environment or Tibet. As I see it, the athletes and this huge country of human beings also living on this planet, are my brothers and sisters, and knowing their ways is enhancing my life. Wasn't that Opening Ceremony something? I simply have never been so awed at a performance and I've been awed at a lot of performances, but 2008 people in unison on stage, over and over again with different sets of 2008 people in perfect unison, doing intertwined performances, on a giant led monitor- the tears were just running down my cheeks in amazement that they have this level of discipline, creativity and vision in China.
With that said, let's look at some pictures of the fabulous quilts and people I saw at the Long Beach Quilt Festival.
These happy campers are Audrey, Dee and me.
So who are Audry and Dee, besides my long time buddies?
They are the founders, planners and hostesses with the mostesses of both Quilt Camp in the Desert (Jan. in Phoenix) and Quilt Camp in the Pines (July in Flagstaff, AZ) See http://www.quiltcamp.com/ to see the teachers lined up for the July camp. It's a blast!
This was the booth for SAQA, Studio Artists Quilt Association, one of the earliest art quilt group orgs, which Yvonne Porcella began right here in California.Artists in the Photo from left- Jeanette Kelly, Cathy Gregory, Linda Miller, and Karen Lusnak.
I would show you photos of SAQA's quilts on exhibit here, but no photography was allowed. These are incredible quilts though, many presented in a series, and many were for sale and marked sold on the very first day.
when I took a time out to hear Yvonne Porcella teach for a half hour (and describe her new magazine coming out this fall!)I was oohing and ahhing in unison with the woman sitting behind me, so I turned around to talk during the break, to see the kindred spirit. Turns out it was Peggy Martin, the Strip Paper Piecing Queen!
A funny coincidence happened (there are no coincidences in my opin)I had just ordered a DVD of Peggy's book from C&T for reviewing. It won't be out until November darn it, but it was on my mind and then there she was! We had a great talk and I look forward to watching her teach even more now.
More to come from the Long Beach show, but this is it for now. Piece to you and those you quilt with!
Kim
Monday, August 4, 2008
Antique Quilt Vendors at IQF CA
As I said in the last blog, Joyce Gross' antique quilts were the only antique quilts on display at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach CA. However fabulous vendor's booth made up for it! I have never in all my years of quilt hunting at CA quilt shows, seen as many antique quilt vendors at one event. Even if I had, the eastern region vendors brought early 1800s quilts, quilts made of chintz, still glazed in some cases, toile fabrics and pieces of bed hangings from France, and woven coverlets. These we so seldom see en mass in southern Cal.
All the antique quilt and textiles vendors I asked were gracious to let me take pictures of their booths to share with you. I am going to show you a booth from New England vendor's today.
Pique,(accent on the e toward left) was a totally new vendor to me, owned by Julia and Valerie Kelly-Hodenius. Their coxcomb quilt was a little worn from friction during use, but the quilting was stunning. Interesting to me that the Turkey red fabric showed wear, but not the teal or background fabrics.
Their princess feather quilt- WOW- this quilt maker had time and talent. The quilt measures 127" x 131". Her applique quilt has a "coxcombesque" border flower and a compass design in-between the giant feathers. It is beautiful in person, grand and orange. Do you get a picture of the maker in your head?
Pique brought 18th century fabric from France and England on bolts! Of course these are not original, they are cardboard, but they had enough of the yardage to sell it this way, and they weren't cutting it up.
In the photo below the toile on the left is early 20th century furnishing fabric, and the toile piece on the left was made one hundred years plus earlier.Both were made in France.
We will end with a blue and white double weave coverlet dated 1854, no name or region.
Thank you Pique for sharing your collection with my subscribers. You can visit their website at www.piquetrouver.com
All the antique quilt and textiles vendors I asked were gracious to let me take pictures of their booths to share with you. I am going to show you a booth from New England vendor's today.
Pique,(accent on the e toward left) was a totally new vendor to me, owned by Julia and Valerie Kelly-Hodenius. Their coxcomb quilt was a little worn from friction during use, but the quilting was stunning. Interesting to me that the Turkey red fabric showed wear, but not the teal or background fabrics.
Their princess feather quilt- WOW- this quilt maker had time and talent. The quilt measures 127" x 131". Her applique quilt has a "coxcombesque" border flower and a compass design in-between the giant feathers. It is beautiful in person, grand and orange. Do you get a picture of the maker in your head?
Pique brought 18th century fabric from France and England on bolts! Of course these are not original, they are cardboard, but they had enough of the yardage to sell it this way, and they weren't cutting it up.
In the photo below the toile on the left is early 20th century furnishing fabric, and the toile piece on the left was made one hundred years plus earlier.Both were made in France.
We will end with a blue and white double weave coverlet dated 1854, no name or region.
Thank you Pique for sharing your collection with my subscribers. You can visit their website at www.piquetrouver.com
Piece,
Kim
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Joyce Gross & Her Quilts
The quilting gods were shining on me when I received an invitation to the private reception held in honor of Joyce Gross at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach, California, this past weekend. It's not possible to tell you all that Joyce has contributed to our understanding and flourishing of antique quilt study nationwide, but here are some of the contributions Joyce made when this field was only a thread thick in existence. As an early quilt historian and collector of all things connected, she was editor and publisher of Quilter's Journal, founding member of American Quilt Study Group with Sally Garoutte in Northern California in 1980, a Quilter's Hall of Fame inductee in 1996, an exhibitor of her quilt collections, co-author with Cuesta Benberry and contributor to Uncoverings Journal. Suffice it to say, Joyce is a legend in her own time.You can imagine her quilt collection would be magnificent, but it is better than that. She owns some of the quilts recognized as among the best 100 quilts of the 20th century and other well-known quilts made by prize-winning quilters from our past. She also collected books, catalogs, ephemera, and wrote reams of research on related topics.
Joyce recently decided that her entire collection would go to the University of Texas at Austin, and within it is The Center for American History and the Winedale Quilt collection.
The reception was held in the evening after the quilt show had closed. Joyce was beaming all evening, her eyes twinkled and her hands were almost never without another hand inside. Each of us in the small group of privileged invitees waited our turn to sit next to Joyce and talk with her personally, face-to-face. Her voice was strong, her eyes smiling; she loved every minute and every person. The feeling was mutual. Her close friends and family were present. It was a love fest.This event was the highlight of my time there and will be important for the rest of my life. She wore her Quilter's Hall of Fame medal and talked with us about her quilts on display. "Which one do you like best?," she asked, and then told us hers. She was in her element. It was so heartwarming and meaningful.
The women from the U of TX and The Center were so happy to be the recipient of Joyce's years of collecting and study. After sharing our enthusiasm, I am so happy to tell you that they are facilitating an article about Joyce, with photos and descriptions of the quilts in this exhibit and what the future holds since they acquired her collection to be featured on my Website http://www.antiquequiltdating.com/ soon. The Winedale Quilt Collection, of which The Joyce Gross Quilt History Collection is now a part, is a major quilt center in the West, I am so happy to say. Currently part of their collection is in the Alliance's Quilt Index via digital images which spans more than 200 years. Joyce's quilts are to be added as well. Twenty more will be on display at the Houston Quilt Festival this year.Amy E. Milne from the Alliance for the American Quilt, was there too and is standing in front of Joyce's Penny Tree applique quilt c. 1850.
Finally, but not least, I want to acknowledge and thank the two women that made this opportunity possible on many levels: Karey Bresenhan and Nancy O'Bryant. With the Winedale Center, they held the reception for Joyce. Together the cousins, very smartly, (ok, I'm biased) decided to have their incredible quilt show in our State! (Stay tuned for more blogs on the show and vendors I enjoyed last weekend.)
The women represented in the quilt exhibit that surrounded the reception were Bertha Stenge, Florence Peto, Emma Andres and Pine Hawkes Eisfeller, among others. With permission from the U of TX and The Center, I am able to share these photos with you here. Joyce's quilts were on display for the entire Quilt Festival, for all to enjoy, and were the only antique quilts on exhibit.Thank you Joyce.
Piece,
Kim
Sunday, July 20, 2008
State Flower Embroidery Quilt Blocks Mystery Solved
Perhaps the title for this blog should be Synchronicity at My Workshop. I define a synchronistic event as when two independent events occur close together in time and together form a bigger whole that is unexpected AND answers a question or need. (This often happens when I am doing research. I see it as a reward for my hard work and also as an indicator from above that I am exactly where I should be at this moment in time.)
This past week synchronicity happened. It began the day I gave an evening lecture. The quilt guild was selling bundles of old quilt magazines and I bought a dozen Quilter's Newsletter Magazines spanning the 1980s.
The next day was my workshop "Creating Antique Inspired Quilts" I love teaching this class because of the blocks and tops women bring to share for study and discussion. Cheryl couldn't be there and sent some blocks with her friends after hearing my lecture "From Folks to Folksky: Wild & Wacky Quilts & Quotes , 1840-1940" the night before.
As you can see from the pictures they are embroidered blocks of state flowers and the state's abbreviated initials are in a small circle formation next to the flowers. The blocks are rectangular, approximately 8" across by 6" high. Wow I immediately thought- they were beautiful, well done, and sophisticated compared to some other state flower blocks. The colors are subdued in earth tones on a background fabric in natural or beige cotton, and the flower patterns were quite detailed.
I saw Arts and Crafts period all over these blocks- but who designed them?? There was no provenance with the blocks. They were a mystery to be solved. I didn't even know where to look. I suggested I put them on my blog to ask what my expert readers had to offer. With permission, I took the photos you see here for just that.
Piece,
Kim
2008 - 2014 Copyright Kimberly Wulfert, PhD. All rights reserved.
Please contact me for reprint permission at quiltersspirit@antiquequiltdating.com or www.antiquequiltdating.com
The next day I was looking through the Quilter's Newsletter Magazines I had bought there and half way through I came to my favorite cover of the bunch. It shows an appliqué quilt with four waving flags on poles with their cantons meeting in the middle. An eagleappliqued in the BAQ style, has a shield in its mouth and arrows and laurel leaves are placedin- between each of the flags. The stars form a circle in the canton; two have 29 stars and 2 have 31 stars. QNM states it is c. 1847-1858 and quilted in 1940. They suggest it was made near Baltimore MD. BUT keep in mind, this issue of QNM dates to 1985, July/August, and more about this quilt may be known now.
QNM's "QNM Readers' Quilt show" brought the synchronistic moment to the forefront- there on page 25 is a full page picture of a quilt with the same blocks! Forty-eight in total, set in a medium blue plain sashing and border with plain red cornerstones and white stars on the sashing strips and corners. The blocks are embroidered in various colors of floss.
Henrietta Bradely Ringhoffer (1902-1964) made her quilt for the Century of Progress National Quilt contest. Of course Sears sponsored this contest. She entered it in 1933 from her home in Texas. She was a perpetual quilt contest enterer the magazine says. She won many ribbons and this one was recognized by other contests, but not CofP. Unfortunately it is not shown in the "Patchwork Souvenirs" book.
Thanks to Henrietta, QNM, Cheryl, her friend and synchronicity completing the circle, I found out that the state flower blocks were designed by Ruby McKim and sold as patterns in the early 1930s. The quilt setting was Henrietta's design, QNM states. If you have any updated information about this pattern series, please comment, or better, if you have a quilt, please email a photo to me at quiltersspirit@antiquequiltdating.com and I will put it here for all to see if you like.
This was rewarding enough but as it turns out, another synchronistic event happened at the same workshop! I will share this with you in the next blog.
This was rewarding enough but as it turns out, another synchronistic event happened at the same workshop! I will share this with you in the next blog.
Piece,
Kim
2008 - 2014 Copyright Kimberly Wulfert, PhD. All rights reserved.
Please contact me for reprint permission at quiltersspirit@antiquequiltdating.com or www.antiquequiltdating.com
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Brackman's NEW Book
First I'd like to welcome all of the new subscribers to my newsletter blog! Thank you for subscribing to the Quilters Spirit circle. Knowing you are interested makes it more fun writing as I imagine you out there listening, like when I give a lecture. Smiles on faces in the audience are a barometer of how I am doing.Sometimes when the audience is real quiet, I worry. Afterward I ask the program chair about it and she tells me it was a sign they were really into it- mesmerized, wanting to hear every word. Well in that case- silence is golden, but with blogs, silence is, well, silent. Feel free to join in and comment any time! The opportunity is at the end of a blog, right beneath the line. (I have tried to place it to be above the line, but no luck so far.)
Now it is my pleasure to tell you about Barbara Brackman's newest book- MAKING HISTORY Quilts and Fabrics from 1890-1970." Of course it is excellent. Although this time frame is not at the top of my favorites list, Barbara's analysis of changes seen in quilts and fabrics from these later eras brought my other favorite field of study into focus, decorative arts for home interiors. For details read my review. To see her book's Table of Contents page scroll to the end. (be sure to stop and read paragraph 5 as you scroll down)MAKING HISTORY is the sequel to America’s Printed Fabrics, 1770-1890s and together they comprise the updates to Clues in the Calico. Anyone who is serious about learning to date fabric will want to have all three, but Clues is OOP and therefore $$$, if you can find one for sale.Her update books are still in print and affordable, especially through Amazon.
My review of America's Printed Fabrics,1770-1890s(2004)is here.
Enjoy!
Kim
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
NEW Quilt History website
Dear Readers, I am pleased to tell you about a brand new website dedicated to Illinois's quilt history. Illinois Quilt History . Included are the avenues and links available online and by mail for researching this states many contributions to the field.
The Chicago Tribune was home to patchwork pattern columns, such as Nancy Page. The 1933 Century of Progress Sears Quilt Contest was in Chicago. Two quilts made by Bertha Stenge were included in the 100 best quilts made in the 20th century. The Mid-western Amish quilters reside in Arthur, Illinois. There is more history originating in Illinois than this, and Illinois presented their documentation project in 1993 and other books about Illinois quilts followed.
As one of the founders of the Illinois/Iowa Study group, today Susan Wildemuth lives in southern Illinois. Her interest in quilts and research started a long time ago when she was growing up in Iowa. On Saturday mornings she took her Barbie suitcase with her notebooks, pencils, library cards, pop money, and little brother in tow to the Davenport Public Library in Davenport, Iowa to set about finding out the answers to her many questions as she was a very inquisitive girl- a researcher in the making!
Hand piecing and quilting came into her life in 1985. After the first class, her oil paints retired to the “things I’ll never do again” shelf in the basement, and quilt making became a permanent part of her life. Sue shares, “it just felt right.” Her interest in Quilt history came later after attending an Illinois Quilt Research Project Day at Bishop Hill, Illinois.
Thanks to her neighbor Betty Angus, who gave Sue all of her mothers quilt paper items, this then twenty-something quilt maker fell in love with and began collecting vintage quilt ephemera. It should be noted that Sue turned down stacks of vintage 1920s and 1930s fabric in mint condition, but reports she has recovered from that brain malfunction and now never meets a yard or fat quarter of fabric she can’t find a use for.
Susan Wildemuth is a city-raised Iowa native who has lived most of her adult life in Illinois on a grain farm near Geneseo with her husband, son, and an assortment of dogs. She considers herself a writer and researcher who loves quilt history and so a web site seemed like a perfect fit for a soft-spoken soul with an inquisitive nature
Sue developed this website for several reasons-
1. To encourage Illinois Quilt History Research
2. To document and save the history of the “everyday Joes and Josephines,” individuals who did or didn’t make the papers, but went about the business of creating quilts that have an Illinois connection.
3. To give people a forum to share Illinois Quilt History stories.
4. To provide tips to people doing research in the State of Illinois
5. As a collector of quilt ephemera, Sue wants to introduce or re-introduce this artful and educational collectible to others.
Not only is her website pretty, informative and easy to understand by any quilt researcher, beginner to accomplished, but it fills a need (gaping hole) in our field's efforts to grow in understanding and documenting a region's quilt history. Just think if every state had a website such as this, with links and recommended places to search for information from a distance, how much more we could accomplish in a shorter period of time. It's a brilliant idea whose time has come. It's the next step in developing our field and building our resources with the general public as the end user.
Check out Sue's website http://www.illinoisquilthistory.com/ Put her on your links page if you have a website that would coordinate with hers and let us know what you think by posting a comment here or to Sue at quiltingbee73@yahoo.com Enjoy!
As always -Piece to you and those you quilt with,
Kim
The Chicago Tribune was home to patchwork pattern columns, such as Nancy Page. The 1933 Century of Progress Sears Quilt Contest was in Chicago. Two quilts made by Bertha Stenge were included in the 100 best quilts made in the 20th century. The Mid-western Amish quilters reside in Arthur, Illinois. There is more history originating in Illinois than this, and Illinois presented their documentation project in 1993 and other books about Illinois quilts followed.
As one of the founders of the Illinois/Iowa Study group, today Susan Wildemuth lives in southern Illinois. Her interest in quilts and research started a long time ago when she was growing up in Iowa. On Saturday mornings she took her Barbie suitcase with her notebooks, pencils, library cards, pop money, and little brother in tow to the Davenport Public Library in Davenport, Iowa to set about finding out the answers to her many questions as she was a very inquisitive girl- a researcher in the making!
Hand piecing and quilting came into her life in 1985. After the first class, her oil paints retired to the “things I’ll never do again” shelf in the basement, and quilt making became a permanent part of her life. Sue shares, “it just felt right.” Her interest in Quilt history came later after attending an Illinois Quilt Research Project Day at Bishop Hill, Illinois.
Thanks to her neighbor Betty Angus, who gave Sue all of her mothers quilt paper items, this then twenty-something quilt maker fell in love with and began collecting vintage quilt ephemera. It should be noted that Sue turned down stacks of vintage 1920s and 1930s fabric in mint condition, but reports she has recovered from that brain malfunction and now never meets a yard or fat quarter of fabric she can’t find a use for.
Susan Wildemuth is a city-raised Iowa native who has lived most of her adult life in Illinois on a grain farm near Geneseo with her husband, son, and an assortment of dogs. She considers herself a writer and researcher who loves quilt history and so a web site seemed like a perfect fit for a soft-spoken soul with an inquisitive nature
Sue developed this website for several reasons-
1. To encourage Illinois Quilt History Research
2. To document and save the history of the “everyday Joes and Josephines,” individuals who did or didn’t make the papers, but went about the business of creating quilts that have an Illinois connection.
3. To give people a forum to share Illinois Quilt History stories.
4. To provide tips to people doing research in the State of Illinois
5. As a collector of quilt ephemera, Sue wants to introduce or re-introduce this artful and educational collectible to others.
Not only is her website pretty, informative and easy to understand by any quilt researcher, beginner to accomplished, but it fills a need (gaping hole) in our field's efforts to grow in understanding and documenting a region's quilt history. Just think if every state had a website such as this, with links and recommended places to search for information from a distance, how much more we could accomplish in a shorter period of time. It's a brilliant idea whose time has come. It's the next step in developing our field and building our resources with the general public as the end user.
Check out Sue's website http://www.illinoisquilthistory.com/ Put her on your links page if you have a website that would coordinate with hers and let us know what you think by posting a comment here or to Sue at quiltingbee73@yahoo.com Enjoy!
As always -Piece to you and those you quilt with,
Kim
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Stenciled cloth
This cotton panel falls into a rare category of embellished textiles, in excellent condition, considering it was made around 1830 in Maine.
Around the time this single panel was made, the theorem method of painting with oils and stencils was taught in affluent girls schools. When the theorem method is used on most of the quilt's surface , it is usually referred to as a stencil quilt. Small motifs can be stenciled on blocks and combined with patchwork and appliqué blocks. From a distance or photo, these areas can appear to be appliquéd or embroidered. Sometimes the whole quilt can look like applique and turn out to be stenciled. (This makes reading the caption important.) This method was much faster, but required different skills and templates.
Today's art quilters use similar techniques. Their stencils are different, and the paints are seldom oil, but the joy and quick process for dynamic results remains the same. Here is a feast of stencils available today.
Although few antique quilts remain,there are examples in the collections of these museums; American Folk Art Museum, NY, Sturbridge Village, MA, Shelburne Museum, VT, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Daughter's of the American Revolution, and others. Links to each of these museums and many more are here.
Lynne Z. Bassett, former curator of Sturbridge Village Museum, wrote an excellent article about the history of stencil quilts for The Magazine Antiques in February 2003.
While at the Shelburne Museum website, be sure to check out their building named the Stencil House, where the walls, woodwork and furniture are stenciled.
Piece,
Kim
P.S. Synchronicity! This info was posted on the quilt history list that I read this morning.
In the August issue of the magazine Early American Life is the article
EYE ON ANTIQUES: SLEEPING WITH STENCILS, by Jeanmarie Andrews
"Young girls schooled in fancy decorative techniques took paintbrush in hand to stencil these rare bedcovers." You can order a copy here http://www.ealonline.com/editorial/toc.php?id=0808
Around the time this single panel was made, the theorem method of painting with oils and stencils was taught in affluent girls schools. When the theorem method is used on most of the quilt's surface , it is usually referred to as a stencil quilt. Small motifs can be stenciled on blocks and combined with patchwork and appliqué blocks. From a distance or photo, these areas can appear to be appliquéd or embroidered. Sometimes the whole quilt can look like applique and turn out to be stenciled. (This makes reading the caption important.) This method was much faster, but required different skills and templates.
Today's art quilters use similar techniques. Their stencils are different, and the paints are seldom oil, but the joy and quick process for dynamic results remains the same. Here is a feast of stencils available today.
Although few antique quilts remain,there are examples in the collections of these museums; American Folk Art Museum, NY, Sturbridge Village, MA, Shelburne Museum, VT, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Daughter's of the American Revolution, and others. Links to each of these museums and many more are here.
Lynne Z. Bassett, former curator of Sturbridge Village Museum, wrote an excellent article about the history of stencil quilts for The Magazine Antiques in February 2003.
While at the Shelburne Museum website, be sure to check out their building named the Stencil House, where the walls, woodwork and furniture are stenciled.
Piece,
Kim
P.S. Synchronicity! This info was posted on the quilt history list that I read this morning.
In the August issue of the magazine Early American Life is the article
EYE ON ANTIQUES: SLEEPING WITH STENCILS, by Jeanmarie Andrews
"Young girls schooled in fancy decorative techniques took paintbrush in hand to stencil these rare bedcovers." You can order a copy here http://www.ealonline.com/editorial/toc.php?id=0808
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Addendum to Susan McCord Part II
Since I sent the newsletter yesterday I found this wonderful website dedicated to Susan McCord and her quilts. View Susan's Quilts here.
If you haven't come across the story about the Scandinavian quilters that was recently uploaded onto my website, I highly recommend it. It is written by Illinois quilter Janet Dykstra, who recalls the quilting heritage in her family.
Scandinavia to America: Quilting Through the Generations
Enjoy,
Kim
If you haven't come across the story about the Scandinavian quilters that was recently uploaded onto my website, I highly recommend it. It is written by Illinois quilter Janet Dykstra, who recalls the quilting heritage in her family.
Scandinavia to America: Quilting Through the Generations
Enjoy,
Kim
Friday, June 6, 2008
Susan McCord's Quilts, Part II
This blog continues from the first blog about Susan McCord's quilts, (see May 18 post) we'll start here "...of McCord's trailing vines, ... In fact, larger leafs on each quilt are made with horizontal strips of different colored fabrics." View Susan's Quilts here
Susan's quilts put this unique stripped leaf technique onto four more of her quilts earlier than the 1880s circa date assigned to her well known strippy style serpentine vine and leaf quilt, based on those featured in Fons and Porter present Quilts from the Henry Ford
One they named "floral urn," a 9 block of appliqué pot and flowers with two vine borders that have the strip-pieced leaves, and two that don't. Another with vine borders very similar to the strippy quilt's serpentine vine and leaf pattern is "ocean waves," made in late 19th century. On this quilt two of the borders have buds or fat leafs that are strip-pieced, the other two borders have leaves not strip-pieced.
Another unique quilt made by her has a border of a vine, leaf and berries in appliqué placed on one side of "turkey tracks" blocks set into the garden maze sashing. The browns of the turkey blocks speak the 1870s-1880s to me, they don't have a date for it in the book. Apparently this border showed and the bed was against a wall. But in this case, Susan put simple pink and green borders on each end, and none on the back. That's different! It seems that when a quilt is made for a particular bed so that certain borders are left off, at least the borders remaining match.
The last quilt with the strip-pieced leaf pattern is called "feathered star," nothing like the pieced block pattern and it is all appliqued. It is best described as four curved leafed vines meeting in the middle of each block, 9 blocks total. Without a specific date estimated, it may be one of the earlier one's she made. Their caption states that pinwheel stars such as these were made around the time of the Civil War. I have not seen another quilt pattern like this.
It does not have a border per se, instead a wide binding, maybe 2" that matches the white background except for a pink rectangle in one corner. The feathers and dense quilting that is not easy to see in the photo, but fill in the large white areas between the vines, keep this quilt's origin on the earlier end of the collection of 12quilts presented in this book.It's a fabulous quilt and pattern.
Some see this stripped leaf as a signature of her work, and it's easy to see why, but is it of her origin? I took a look through other books with quilts made before the Civil War time period on, especially those with quilts from the Midwest where she lived, to see if this leaf was a rarity. It is indeed!
I found two quilts that had stripped leaves, but not just like hers. Could she possibly have been influenced by seeing similar quilts to these as early as the 1860s? It would be tough, unless they are more common than the two I found suggest. In the 1860s quilt patterns in newspapers and magazines were not common like they were later in the century. Patterns tended to be passed around in a community until someone moved west and took the pattern, templates or quilt with them. In fact Susan moved to Iowa for a short time with her family before returning to Indiana.
The first example of a strip-pieced leaf which is also made in pinks and greens like McCord's is on a 1850-1870 Whig Rose variation and just happens to be online at the International Quilt Study Center. The leaves are around the Whig Rose, but I think the buds on the vine may also be strip pieced, difficult to tell by the photo in the book A Flowering of Quilts ed. by Patricia Cox Crews, p. 75, as well as online. Maybe someone who has seen it will comment and fill us in. Notice the quilting, it is exceptional!
The other quilt that has a striped leaf is different in its outcome, but the process is similar. This quilt is found in the first quilt documentation book ever written, "Kentucky Quilts, 1800-1900", pp. 12-13. It is a red and green North Carolina Lily, c. 1865. The stems flow from a stripped V-shaped base that represents leaves in gold or yellow and green. What an unusual application and it's pieced, not appliqué. It is also online at Quilt Alliance. Click on see all images of this quilt and it will enlarge further.
Before I end this longgg newsletter, did you remember my mention of Susan's style reaching into the political realm? From 1977 to 1980 a serpentine vine and leaf medallion quilt hung in Walter Mondale's office when he was Vice President. The leaves are not strip-pieced, but made from lime green, yellow, light blue and hot pink solids popular in the early 1960s when Marie Pedelty made it. In the center she depicted the oldest tree in her hometown of Madelia, MN. It's on p. 46 of the state documentation book Minnesota Quilts, Creating Connections with our Past. She sold it to Joyce Aufderheide, quilt collector, historian and speaker, who loaned it to Joan Mondale for its political reign.
That's all for now- piece,
Kim
Susan's quilts put this unique stripped leaf technique onto four more of her quilts earlier than the 1880s circa date assigned to her well known strippy style serpentine vine and leaf quilt, based on those featured in Fons and Porter present Quilts from the Henry Ford
One they named "floral urn," a 9 block of appliqué pot and flowers with two vine borders that have the strip-pieced leaves, and two that don't. Another with vine borders very similar to the strippy quilt's serpentine vine and leaf pattern is "ocean waves," made in late 19th century. On this quilt two of the borders have buds or fat leafs that are strip-pieced, the other two borders have leaves not strip-pieced.
Another unique quilt made by her has a border of a vine, leaf and berries in appliqué placed on one side of "turkey tracks" blocks set into the garden maze sashing. The browns of the turkey blocks speak the 1870s-1880s to me, they don't have a date for it in the book. Apparently this border showed and the bed was against a wall. But in this case, Susan put simple pink and green borders on each end, and none on the back. That's different! It seems that when a quilt is made for a particular bed so that certain borders are left off, at least the borders remaining match.
The last quilt with the strip-pieced leaf pattern is called "feathered star," nothing like the pieced block pattern and it is all appliqued. It is best described as four curved leafed vines meeting in the middle of each block, 9 blocks total. Without a specific date estimated, it may be one of the earlier one's she made. Their caption states that pinwheel stars such as these were made around the time of the Civil War. I have not seen another quilt pattern like this.
It does not have a border per se, instead a wide binding, maybe 2" that matches the white background except for a pink rectangle in one corner. The feathers and dense quilting that is not easy to see in the photo, but fill in the large white areas between the vines, keep this quilt's origin on the earlier end of the collection of 12quilts presented in this book.It's a fabulous quilt and pattern.
Some see this stripped leaf as a signature of her work, and it's easy to see why, but is it of her origin? I took a look through other books with quilts made before the Civil War time period on, especially those with quilts from the Midwest where she lived, to see if this leaf was a rarity. It is indeed!
I found two quilts that had stripped leaves, but not just like hers. Could she possibly have been influenced by seeing similar quilts to these as early as the 1860s? It would be tough, unless they are more common than the two I found suggest. In the 1860s quilt patterns in newspapers and magazines were not common like they were later in the century. Patterns tended to be passed around in a community until someone moved west and took the pattern, templates or quilt with them. In fact Susan moved to Iowa for a short time with her family before returning to Indiana.
The first example of a strip-pieced leaf which is also made in pinks and greens like McCord's is on a 1850-1870 Whig Rose variation and just happens to be online at the International Quilt Study Center. The leaves are around the Whig Rose, but I think the buds on the vine may also be strip pieced, difficult to tell by the photo in the book A Flowering of Quilts ed. by Patricia Cox Crews, p. 75, as well as online. Maybe someone who has seen it will comment and fill us in. Notice the quilting, it is exceptional!
The other quilt that has a striped leaf is different in its outcome, but the process is similar. This quilt is found in the first quilt documentation book ever written, "Kentucky Quilts, 1800-1900", pp. 12-13. It is a red and green North Carolina Lily, c. 1865. The stems flow from a stripped V-shaped base that represents leaves in gold or yellow and green. What an unusual application and it's pieced, not appliqué. It is also online at Quilt Alliance. Click on see all images of this quilt and it will enlarge further.
Before I end this longgg newsletter, did you remember my mention of Susan's style reaching into the political realm? From 1977 to 1980 a serpentine vine and leaf medallion quilt hung in Walter Mondale's office when he was Vice President. The leaves are not strip-pieced, but made from lime green, yellow, light blue and hot pink solids popular in the early 1960s when Marie Pedelty made it. In the center she depicted the oldest tree in her hometown of Madelia, MN. It's on p. 46 of the state documentation book Minnesota Quilts, Creating Connections with our Past. She sold it to Joyce Aufderheide, quilt collector, historian and speaker, who loaned it to Joan Mondale for its political reign.
That's all for now- piece,
Kim
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