Virginia Avery's Art Clothing

Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims started filming a series of interviews for TQS of those whom they select as Quilt Legends. Their first two choices (Jinny Avery and Jinny Beyer) also happen to be Honorees of TQHF.

Ricky and Alex go right into the homes of both Jinny Avery and Jinny Beyer and film them on the spot. You will enjoy seeing these two Honorees in their own environment.

Below are a couple of photos of Jinny Avery at her TQHF Induction exhibit walk-thru in July 2006 in Marion, IN.

Photo by Amanda Little














Jinny Avery inspects Come to the Cabaret.




















Right: Bog Coat Goes to a Party

Honoree Bets Ramsey is to the right in blue in the crowd below. Bets just received the Governor's Distinguished Artist Award from the State of Tennessee. See that story here on the hall of fame blog. You'll have to scroll down to see it or select it from the drop down menu under the April post on the TQHF blog.

(page from "Ladies Circle Patchwork Quilts", Feb 1997, article by Jinny Avery)




But back to the TQS Quilt Legends video series.

The Avery interview is included when you purchase Series One from The Quilt Show and the Jinny Beyer interview is included when you purchase Series Three.

These interviews can be viewed by joining TQS or can be purchased as a series by going to the TQS Shoppe website page.

Another wonderful source of video interviews of both Jinny Avery and Jinny Beyer are the interviews conducted by The Alliance for American Quilts Quilt Treasures project. When this page opens, look in the right-hand corner and click on the pull down Portraits menu and select the person whose interview you would like to watch.

Seven other Honorees are also featured in The Alliance for American Quilts Quilt Quilt Treasures: Cuesta Benberry; Joyce Gross; Jean Ray Laury;Bonnie Leman; Yvonne Porcella; Bets Ramsey and Mary Schafer. Do watch all of them! It's great quilt history!

Quilt Treasures is just one of many wonderful projects of The Alliance for American Quilts. Click on any of the links on the left side of their web pages to explore more information about their various projects.

New Series of TQHF Honoree Articles on TQS!

In January The Quilt Show (Alex Anderson/Ricky Tims-TQS) invited The Quilters Hall of Fame to do a series of articles about the Honorees of TQHF and I volunteered to take on the series. They call it their Quilt Pioneers Series. You can always find a link to the series on my blog.

(If you click on the photos, they will open to a larger format.)

Click here to go to TQS, then look in the right hand corner of the page that opens for the box that says "select a category". Click on that. A menu will open and give you a list. Select "Quilting Pioneers" from the menu to see all the articles about the Honorees.

To date I have written about Florence Peto (Jan), Ruth Finley (Feb) and Dr. William R. Dunton (March).

I am very grateful for this opportunity to share the stories of the early pioneers of quilt history with a broader public and hope you will visit the TQS website to check them out.

Until next time, keep thos needles flying!

Karen on the Rock

The Western Washington Quilt Study Group salutes the American Quilt Study Group

If you like to learn about antique quilts or the women who made them, this is the group for you!


Come join us for the Western Washington Quilt Study Group meeting Saturday, May 30th, 10:00 a.m. at the LaConner Quilt Museum in LaConner, Washington. WWQSG has a close association with AQSG. (More about AQSG below.) The museum address is 703 S 2nd Street, La Conner, WA 98257


The quilts of the late Sidney Knopf are on exhibit on main floor. Sidney kept a Quilt Journal of the creation of each of her quilts. Most were made in the 80s/90s and due to her illness, several remain just tops. Her husband, Ken, will join us to talk about Siddy and her quilts at our May meeting.

Please feel free to bring a quilt to share.

(Photo of Siddy Knopf Courtesy of LaConner Quilt Museum.)

Afterwards the meeting we will tour the museum and see Shiela Groman's "Vision in Fibers" and Karen Frazin's "Birdscapes."


2001 AQSG Williamsburg Seminar workshop.

Interested in learning more about antique fabrics and quilt history? Check out the AMERICAN QUILT STUDY GROUP by clicking here.

AQSG holds the premiere quilt history seminar in the USA. They also publish a collection of research papers related to some aspect of quilt history every year titled Uncoverings. Click here to search a subject you are interested in. They also publish a meaty newsletter Blanket Statements four times a year.

AQSG's first seminar was held in Mill Valley, CA, in 1980. Some 29 years later it is still going strong! Their annual seminar is now held in a different city each year: 2000 - Rockford IL; 2001 - Williamsburg VA; 2003 - Dallas TX; 2004 - Vancouver WA; 2005 - Denver CO; 2006; Hartford CT; 2007 - Lowell MA; 2008 - Columbus OH. 2009 will be held on the West Coast again in San Jose, California. Come join us! I had the good fortunate to learn about this group just as I got started in quilting so I joined in 1981. My only regret is every seminar I missed for I was able to attend only 1985, 1989 and 1995 due to other committments. But I was able to attend 2000-2007 and look forward to seeing everyone again in 2009.

Not only do you get to hear at least 6 quilt-related research papers presented and see wonderful quilts, you also get to tour the museum quilt collections and some private collections in the cities in which we meet. And the networking among fellow lovers of quilt history has no equal!

See you May 30th!

Karen Alexander
Member of AQSG since 1981

1848 Woven Coverlet

I have volunteered to help an historical society identify some of its textiles. However, I know very little about woven textiles.

Anyone ever seen this weaver's name come up before? It reads in two corners in all caps with a dot between each word: MADE . BY . JOHN . SEIBERT . LOWHILL . T . LEHIGH CO - FOR. It also has the date 1848 in two corners. The donor's parents bought a farm house in PA in 1904 and found this coverlet on a shelf in the house.




Click here to email me if you can help me identify this weaver.

Thanks! Karen




ADDENDUM #1:

A fellow quilt historian wrote me after I posted to the AQSG discussion group:

There were 2 John Seiberts, Senior and Junior, both of Low Hill Twp., Lehigh Co., PA. Senior was born 1796 in PA, died 854, and his coverlets (some undated) were woven between 1843-51. The book I am using, Clarita Anderson, "American Coverlet Weavers and Their Coverlets", says it is impossible to tell whether Jr. or Sr. was the weaver, since they worked over the same period. There was also a son Peter, also weaving, and an apprentice weaver named Benjamin Hall working at the same place. Jr. was b. 1824, Peter b. 1821. Peter also uses "Made by" and "for" in his corner blocks.

Thank you to Xenia Cord

ADDENDUM#2:

Then I found another John Seibert signed woven coverlet on eBay the same day I posted my story on the AQSG discussion list. Item number: 180350973751. This one is dates 1844.





OTHER RESOURCES:


1) Click here Coverlets from the Historic Textile and Costume Collection.

2) check out the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art's coverlet and quilt collection.

Just enter "coverlets and quilts" in their search engine.

Reading List for Doll & Crib Quilts

Here is the list I promised those who attended the WWQSG Doll Quilt program March 29.










Books:

1) "A Child's Comfort: Baby & Doll Quilts in American Folk Art," Johnson, Bruce (1977) Harcourt Brace & Janovitch
2) "American Doll Quilts," Tracy, Kathleen (2004) Martingale & Co.
3) "Amish Crib Quilts Fr the Midwest: The Sara Miller Collection," Smucker, Janneken, Patricia Cox Crews & Linda Welters (2003)Good Books, PA

4) "Amish Crib Quilts," Pellman, Rachel and Kenneth (1985) Good Books, PA
5) "At Grandma's Knee," Vibert, Joan & Joyce Whittier (1985) Evening Star Farm/Leawood, KS
6) "Childhood Treasures: Doll Quilts By and For Children," Waldvogel, Merikay (2008) Good Books/PA

7) "Classic Crib Quilts & How to Make Them," Woodard & Greenstein (1993) Dover
8) "Crib Quilts & Other Small Wonders," Woodard & Greenstein (1981) E.P. Dutton, NY
9) "For Purpose and Pleasure: Quilting Together in 19th Century America," Fox, Sandi (1995) Rutledge

10) "Memories of Childhood: The Great Am Quilt Festival," Atkins, Jacqueline M., Museum Editor (1989) Museum of American Folk Art
11) "Childhood Dreams: A Book of Crib Q Projects," Gallagher, Susan Bennett (1989) Sterling Pub., Co. NY
12) "Small Endearments: 19th Century Quilts for Children," Fox, Sandi (1985) Scribner's
(13) "Great Little Quilts: 45 Antique Crib abd Doll-size Quilts with Patterns and Directions," Levie, Eleanor (1990)Harry N. Abrams, Inc. NY












Articles:





1) "The Crib-Size Quilt" by Peto, Florence, Woman's Day magazine, Dec 1951, pg. 72-75 & 125-127
2) "Embroidered Summer Spreads" by Pinka, Sharon, “Blanket Statements”/AQSG/ Winter 08-09/Issue #94, pg. 1, 3-5
3) "Pint-Size Patchwork" by Ghormley, Mary, Quilters Newsletter Magazine, 6/1/2004, pg 30-33
4) "Juvenile Kit Quilts" by Zimmerman, Darlene, McCall's Quilting/Vintage Quilts, Spring 2001, pg. 5-51
5) The Psychology of Collecting Crib Quilts by Wheeler, Beth, Patchwork Quilts magazine, Dec/Jan 96-97, pg. 16-20
6) "The Story Book Quilts of Marion Cheever Whiteside Newton" by Patterson, Naida T., Piecework mag, Sept/Oct'97 pg. 38-43
7) "Marion Cheever Whiteside Newton: Designer of Story Book Quilts, 1940-1965" by Patterson, Naida Treadway, Uncoverings 1995/AQSG
8) "This Old Quilt" by Roy, Gerald E., Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting, Sept/Oct 2006, pg. 12,14,16
9) "Small and Smaller" by Gunter, Judith and Phyllis Twigg Hatcheer, Quilters Newsletter, Oct 2007, pg. 50-54



Sunbonnet Sue as seen on eBay early April 2009

Quilt Study Group Features Doll Quilts

Can you guess who is behind each quilt?

Fourteen enthusiastic quilters and quilt history aficionados gathered at the La Conner Regional Library on Sunday morning March 29. It was exciting to see so many new faces!  After presenting a history of doll quilts spanning some 100 years using quilts from my personal  collection, we had an exciting Show & Tell.





Left - 1900 scrappy claret and blue (11x14) from collection of Margot Mead.

It is always such fun to hear people's stories about what drew them to quilting. Equally fun is to hear the stories they have to share about the quilts the have brought. I'll post those shortly as I gather them.


















(Above gold and blue Nine Patch from collection of Margot Mead - 11"x14")











Back of Chinese Coins below right.




Be sure to visit the International Quilt Study Center to see more quilts as well is the QUILT INDEXto see more quilts.



(left-9x14 Chinese Coins from collection of Margot Mead.)




To view a podcast about doll quilts click here.

This will take you to the video of Mary Ghomley as talks about her doll quilt collection. You will have to scroll down to about the 14th lecture to find the one on doll quilts – "Childhood Treasures: Quilts Made for and by Children". IQSC featured an exhibit of Ghormley's doll quilts from Oct 2006-March 2007.



Left (16x24): from the collection of Kim Kellem. Made by her mother (Connie Lou Kellog Anderson) and Connie’s grandmother (Lou Rankin Olsen) in the late 30s.











Above right: cotton scrappy crazy (10x14) from collection of Margot Mead.











I’ll be posting a list of books about doll and crib quilts soon. Once you read my list, I hope you will email me the names of other books about doll or crib quilts or contain a chapters on this subject to add to the list.


Another favorite past-time is collecting old photographs of children with quilts or children with dolls. I'll share some from time to time.












After our meeting we trooped over to the LaConner Quilt Museum. It was the last day of Patricia Ormsby Stoddard's exhibit of Ralli Quilts, the traditional textiles from Pakistan and India. They were magnificent! It was such a treat to finally see these quilts in person after only being able to view them in the pages of Stoddard's book for the past 5 years. Also on exhibit for the last day was "All Things Not Quilted", a mesmerizing assemblage of everything except quilts--knitting, weaving, lace making, basket weaving, sewing, embroidery etc.


Meanwhile, keep those needles flying! Otherwise future quilt historians might run out of quilts to study!

Karen Alexander


PS: The folks behind the quilts!




PPS: The artist reception for their new exhibits at LCQM – "Visions in Fiber", featuring the work of Shiela Groman, and "Birdscapes, featuring the work of Karin Franzen – took place April 3rd and 4th. Unfortunately I could not make it but I'll hop the ferry and get over there soon.

The Allure and Charm of Doll Quilts

Doll quilts are wonderful vehicle for studying quilting history.




Joy Neal, organizer of The Western Washington Quilt Study Group, has asked me to present the March 29th program and has selected the topic of Doll Quilts. I have been collecting these little gems for some 12 years now and love to use them as a vehicle through which to share my love of quilting. They are also a wonderful vehicle of women's history as well as cultural history.

You are welcome to bring your own doll or crib quilts to share. We will be meeting at LaConner Regional Library near the LaConner Quilt Museum in LaConner, WA, on Sunday, March 29 at 10:30. See address at bottom of this post.

March 29 will be the last day for the current exhibit at the museum so you'll want to take that in for sure if you haven't already seen it! LaConner Quilt Museum.


We hope you can join us! Please send Joy Neal an email if you are planning to come. The email link is at the bottom of the page. We need to have a minimum of 8 to make this a go. Remember, you don't have to be be a quilter or a quilt historian. You just have to love to look at old quilts so tell a couple of friends! Meanwhile, here are a couple of photos to wet your appetite. These were taken at the exhibit I put together for the Lopez Island Library Nov-Dec 2008.


The second photo shows a patchwork rabbit I found in an antique shop. It's made from an old Crazy Quilt. The patchwork cat is actually made of new fabric. I was thrilled to find a book by the same title. The little quilt lying on the shelf in this photo is circa 1880s. The little quilt standing upright on the far left was made by a quilter in Virginia in 2000 of reproduction fabrics from the 1820s-1850s.















In the third photo are two dolls I found on eBay made from old quilts or bedspreads. The little quilt they are picnicking on is circa 1930s-40s. The little Sun Bonnet Sue figure on the left in this photo is actually a clothespin bag made-to-size just for a doll. I do hope you will join us in LaConner on March 29th and bring your own doll quilts to share!







Contemporary lavender doll and doll quilt made by Marguerite Cox of Marion, Indiana, about 2006.



Western Washington Quilt Study Group (WWQSG)
TOPIC: Doll Quilts
Bring doll quilts or crib quilts to share if you like.
Saturday, March 29, 2009
10:30-12:30
LaConner Regional Library
614 Morris St.
La Conner, WA 98257
Phone: (360)466-3352
RSVP your plans by clicking here!

Eat out locally or bring a bag lunch.
Visit the museum in the afternoon.


To view a podcast about doll quilts click here to go to the International Quilt Study Center and hear Mary Ghormley talk about her doll quilt collection. You will have to scroll down to about the 14th lecture to find the one on doll quilts.

Latest Textile Study Tour

Photo source: The Craftsman, Vol. 19, 1906, pg. 236

Traveling is always an adventure and the best way to approach it is: whatever happens, happens. Whatever is, is. When the "unexpected" occurs, take it as an unexpected gift from the gods. The same is true of this new technology I am trying to learn to harness.

I have now taken three of Deb Roberts' Textile Study Tours and highly recommend them. I'l tell you abaout the latest one I took and fill you in on the others later.

About 30 of us arrived in Barcelona the day before we were to sail, visiting the Textile Museum and Center of Documentation in Terressa, and then boarded the Emerald Princess. I have tried to find you a link to this museum but none that I found do the museum justice. [See my opening statement.] The ship's next stop was Marseille, where we toured the Muse de la Mode Marseille as well as the Musee Provencial at Chateau Gombert to see the antique quilted petticoats and pick up more great books. Even if I don't read French, the books were worth it for the photos and the dates.

Then it was on to Liovorno/Pisa/Florence and the Museo del Tessuto in Prato. Rome, Naples and Pompei followed. The Greek Isle of Mykonos. Istanbul. Kusadasi (Turkey), the jumping off place to Ephesus. Ah, Venice! Here we glided into harbor at least 5 stories higher than anything in the city, giving us an unparalleled advantage of height to view this historic city. And, finally, two nights on Lake Como where we had a curator-guided tour of the silk production museum, Museo didattico della Seta. (Check out the July 2008 issue of the Smithsonain magazine at Smithsonian Magazine.

Thanks to my experiences on three Deb Roberts Textile Tours, I now truly appreciate visiting museums telling the story of texile production history in the various regions of Europe. Don't overlook the Museum Textile Terressa if you are ever in Barcelona.

Some more interesting leads about the textile production history of Europe:

Some more interesting leads about the textile production history of Europe:

European Textile Routes

Textile and Clothing Museum

European Network of Textiles

I was very pleased to discover the magazine Datatextil that the Terressa museum publishes twice a year. It is in both Spanish and English on each page. I bought one back issue (18 Eruos) and wish I had bought all of them, but you know how hard it is to schlep so much weight these days on airplanes! I bought issue #17 because of the article "Indigo Blue: Fabrics of the Miao and the Dong of Southwestern China."(I was interested in this subject because of my visit to that area to photograph the spring festivals in 1996.)

However, once I began reading the whole issue I became very excited about all the articles. Two in particular caught my attention: Los textiles en La Piscina (Textiles in the swimming pool) -- the story of the transformation of a community's former Art Deco swimming pool into a museum in France covering 11,000 square metres. An abandoned textile workshop next to the swimming pool was included in the redevelopment plan. The textile department is now divided into two sections, the Applied Arts section and the tissuetheque -- the section which houses fabrics and sample books. The history of this museum’s collections goes back to 1835 with the creation of the first textile industrial museum, the Industrial Museum of Roubaix, which housed huge sample books that reflected the textile production of the time.

Twintex Museum.

You can see some photos of the La Piscina Museum here.

http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/252126359eseoGj?start=0

Also in the same issue was the article "The Twintex Museums project and the Perspectives for Development of the European textile museum network." From the article I quickly gleaned that a new organization had been formed -- Association of the European Textile Cities -- to help consolidate transnational networks, joint projects involving cultural institutions as well as production sources within the textile industry.

Their aim was to "encourage reflection on the roles of textile museums in the profound changes taking place in Europe's textile cities." How exciting to learn that this conference had been held in Prato (Italy) at still another museum we would soon be visiting -- The Museo del Tessuto. If you are ever in Florence, be sure you take a side trip to Prato to visit this museum.

It was exciting to learn what Europe is beginning to do to capture and document and integrate the history of their industrial textile production. Our guide at The Museo del Tessuto in Prato, whose father and grandfather were once deeply involved in textile production in Prato, said the town fathers are a little late to the table with the project, but better late than never! The museum had some very colorful and interesting traditional ethnic African pieces on display while we were there. Click on the British flag in the left hand corner of this website to get an English translation. See Prato Textile Museum

Another wonderful website to visit, though we were unable to visit the collection itself while on our own tour, is The Zucchi Collection. The collection is actually located in three different storage locations and contains some 12,000 designs and 56,000 printing blocks which span three centuries from 1785-1935 and is available for study to scholars and fashion people alike. Do take time to browse thru this website. You will be utterly delighted at the detailed photos of the printing process and design, though I wish images were larger! Here is the link to a brief history about the collection. Be sure to click on the name Giordano Zucchi when you reach this page.

Farmer Karen

Sometimes quilters herd sheep and goats, too. (After all, wool batts are sometimes used in quilts, right!) A couple of my quilt friends and I volunteer to help a local farmer here on Lopez move his sheep from one pasture to another several times a year. One year I was even enrolleld as a mid-wife at the last minute because my hands were so much smaller than the farmers. What an experience that was!

During a move of the herd in August 2008, we got caught in the act by the Wall Street Journal. I'm the one with the crook in my hand.


What a hoot to come back from the textile tour and find the story in my in-box. And wouldn't you know, the museum magazine I just shared with you also had an article about taking wool to the primary schools to teach the youngsters about their textile heritage! The school here on the island does a lot of this kind of teaching, too! We also share quilting with them as well!




If you can't get the address to the Wall Street Journal site to "link" with a click here you'll have to type...wall street journal lopez island... in your search engine to come up with the article, if you are inclined to pursue this story.

The story is actually about how one of the farmers on Lopez came up with a mobile slaughter house that proved much more humane than carting the animals off-island to a slaughter house. The subject matter of the article may not appeal to you but it is actually an important step for small independent farmers who are trying to create sustainable independent organic farming communities outside big agra-business.


More later about our classes in French boutis on-board the ship!