Clik here to view.
I Never Forget a Face
I noticed this Flying Geese quilt top on theRocky Mountain Quilts webpage the other day. I recognized an old friend immediately.I had this top photographed for my 1989 bookClues in the CalicoA detail...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sorting Scraps
I was flipping through my old copies of the Quilt Engagement Calendar looking for inspiration and I came across this quilt from about 1900.I bet it's from Pennsylvania...Where they liked to control the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Outrageous Fashion
I've been showing pictures of these fabrics from the 1840s and '50s lately.Large stripes and plaids in Prussian blue, buff and madder reds and brown.It's hard to believe that these large-scale prints,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Collaborating with Marci H.
I have been collaborating on a quilt with a woman named Marci whom I don't even know. Over the past year I published a block of the week on the topic of women's rights on my separate blog called...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Largest Star Quilt Block
Star from my Moda collection,Morris Modernized:CFA Vosey.Big Star makes a good topper for the bed.BlockBase #2138 a, b, c and d.It's not the largest quilt block in the world butit's the largest basic...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Blog Hop Problems
Well, I went to Italy for a few weeks. I thought I had everything set up. Why I put that bad link to my block in I don't know. No one could open it. I am very sorry.My Block for the Size Matters...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fabric Retailing: Pearl Street
Scrappy stars from about 1830Pearl Street(Most of the period drawings hereare from the collection of the New York Public Library.)Soon after the War of 1812, New York was well on its way to becoming...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Metropolitan Fair on the Web
Women at the Albany, New York, Sanitary FairLast season's Civil War reproduction that I did for Modawas called Metropolitan Fairafter the Manhattan Sanitary Commission Fair during the Civil War.I've...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cretonne vs. Chintz
Cretonne, about 1880Chintz and cretonne are names for similar fabric, large-scale furnishing prints.Chintz about 1840They are really just synonyms, names popular for furnishing fabric at different...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Voysey Blue in Morris Modernized
Pyracantha from Morris ModernizedThere is a shade of blue, just shy of blue violet, that is sometimescalled Voysey Blueprobably because it was favored by designer Charles F.A. Voysey.I called it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Hoyle's Lilac: Free Pattern
Hoyle's Lilac(see the pattern at the bottom of the page)English quilt sold at Bonham's Auctions, full of Hoyle's Lilac prints.Swatch books from the mid-19th century are full of  purple cottons, known...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Claret: Good Clue for the Quilt Detective
One of the easiest clues to a quilt's date is thisclaret red color for cotton prints, very popular from about 1890-1920.There's some variety in the shade,and you usually see it as a background behind a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Brickwork in Morris Modernized: Free Pattern
Morris Modernized68" x 89"http://www.unitednotions.com/fp_morris-modernized.pdfThis variation of the traditional Brickwork piecing is the official free pattern from the Moda website. It is pieced from...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fabric Retailing: Factory Cut-Aways
Quilt perhaps pieced from shirting factory cutaways,early 20th century.As garment factories began producing the clothing of everyday life, the availability of clothing factory cutaways...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Improved Selvages from Moda
Selvage quiltby Chicken Juliehttp://chickenjulie.blogspot.com/Selvages (or selvedges in English English) are the finished edges of the yardage.In screened fabric the selvage usually has information...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Celebrating Cretonne
Chicken Cretonne with Chinoiserie CretonneDetail of a quilt by an unknown makerat the Helen F. Spencer Museum of Art.I've been looking at the quilts at the Spencer Museum for 45 years orso. This...
View ArticleClik here to view.
2014 Quilts in Art Calendar
I needed a 2014 desk calendar with quilts in it. So I made one. Several years ago I did a wall calendar with altered paintings, which kept me entertained all year. I whipped up a few more...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Houston Quilt Market: My Virtual Booth
My Quilt Market Virtual Boothto showcase my new Ladies' Album collection for Moda:Me and my assistant Dottie in a mish-mash of Victorian clutter.Quilt Market begins today in Houston with Schoolhouse...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Factory Cutaways and Quilts
Quilts grow out of the available fabric. Quiltmakers responded to the arrival of factory-made clothing with new styles made from the factory cutaways. The crazy quilt is one.This crazy quilt dated 1911...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Pumpkin Patch
Someone asked me about this pattern last yearand I couldn't find it in my Encyclopedia of Applique.The patterns are categorized by constructionand this is one of the rather unusual designs thathas a...
View Article