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Then & Now: 1930s
International Quilt MuseumJames Collection1997.007.0366It's the perfect thirties quilt, scraps of multicolored printsthat follow a design rule popular then and now:"Any color goes with any other color...
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Polka Dots: From Whence the Name?
Katherine HepburnPolka dots are assumed to have an association with the Polka dance, which became a European rage in the mid 19th century.The Polka from 1844 sheet music.The music is 2/4 time.Although...
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Indiennes: Antique prints & Rather New Repros
While going through my old paper files to donate to the Quilt Research Center at the University of Nebraska Libraries I came across a "tear sheet" from Quilters Newsletter in 2002.I wrote a series...
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Whirl-Wind Virtual Author Tour
So I have a new book out in the midst of a stay-at-home order, which means no L.A., N.Y.C. or London interview shows (like that ever happened.) But we're all working on virtual ideas to communicate how...
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Sea Island Cotton
Fabric quality is an issue with utility quilts made inthe 1880-1930 era. But they weren't made to last forever.Many years ago when I used to travel to give talks on quilts I'd listen carefully to what...
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Sophia Coltrane: A Quilt & A House
Medallion quilt attributed to Sophia McGee Coltrane (1783-1882)76” x 80”The North Carolina project documented this medallion, brought in by one of Sophia’s many descendants....
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Rosie Lee Tompkins Review
Quilt, 1985Irene Howard quilted many of Effie's tops.I belong to a small group of amateur critics (Fabulous Five of us) who email often about politics, the museum world, textiles and general...
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Divided Hearts: Plan for an Inking Class
Susan Vachino inked her ancestors' names on her Antebellum Album quiltC&T Publishing has a page full of class plans coordinated with books. Here's one for my Divided Hearts book---using the inked...
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Domestic Manufacture in 1839
Collection of the International Quilt Museum, dated 1839https://www.internationalquiltmuseum.org/quilt/20080400027The dark square with white streaks shows fabric that crimped inthe roller, hardly high...
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Out of Control Exhibit: Iowa Quilt Museum
Deb Rowden & I have hung our show at the Iowa Quilt Museum in Winterset. The theme is Out of Control: Quilts That Break the Rules.We explained the rules and how to break them in the labels.We...
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Napoleon III Commemorative Prints
France's Empress Eugenie & Emperor Napoleon IIICotton roller print, 1855Here's an esoteric collection, fabric celebrating the reign of the Emperor Napoleon III, who ruled France from 1848 to 1870.A...
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Anna Williams Quilt
Julie Silber loaned us her Anna Williams quilt for our Out of Controlexhibit at the Iowa Quilt Museum. The Rule that Anna broke so well was"Some Pieces Are Too Small To Save."This small work of art,...
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Early Quilt in Indiana?
Pieced & Appliqued Quilt, estimated date 1790-1810Children's Museum of IndianapolisPictured in Quilts of Indiana, page 12Mary Stewart Carey (1859-1903)Her branch of the Slauson/Tarkington/Stewart...
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Calimanco Quilts
Wool bedcover signed & dated Lucy Arnold, 1815Connecticut Historical Society.http://emuseum.chs.org/emuseum/objects/6515/pieced-quilt?ctx=a8f4d8469b41158bb96fe82ebdffd56d76ce38b1&idx=6We've...
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New Editions: Encyclopedia Pieced Patterns & BlockBase
During 2020 Ann Rutter & Sara Sueberling at Electric Quilt and I have been working on revising my indexes to pieced quilt patterns.The published index started in 1979 with typed, xeroxed pages...
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Birds, Pomegranates and a Spider for Lunch #1
Last year Peggy Norris posted this photo of a quilt in the collectionof the Mahwah New Jersey Museumhttp://mahwahmuseum.org/They have only a few quilts. This one, donated in 2016, is a prize but they...
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Birds & Spiders #2: Quilts with Provenance
Kay Triplett's photo of a quilt in Jane Lury's collection with the bird & spider discussed yesterday.This post is about quilts with some family history.Quilt attributed to Catherine Parker Custis...
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Birds & Spiders #3: More Tree of Life Quilts
Quilt with little history in the collection of the DAR MuseumThe elements in the central tree of life are cut and rearranged fromthe bird chintz we've been looking at in the last two posts. The...
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Birds & Spiders #4: The Fabric & Conclusions
The DAR Museum has two related pieces of chintz. This one, possibly made into a bolster cover, isan arborescent with floral and pomegranates but no birds.The other has the two birds on either side of...
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Centennial Suffrage Fabric 2020 Give-Away
August 26, 2020 is the 100th Anniversary of the official certification of the ratification of the 19th amendment so I had a give-away this week.Poster by Bertha Margaret BoyeA national celebration of...
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