I approached my study center at the American Quilt Study Group Seminar in Lincoln, Nebraska, as an opportunity to give attendees something they would always remember. Hopefully, I did just that. My feeling is the best way to study quilts is in the cloth, so I brought 42 New York Beauties plus a few ephemeral objects, and shared them all with a group of 40 attendees in a two-hour period. That's right, I brain-banged 'em.
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c. 1850, Kentucky |
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c. 1860, Kentucky |
We didn't spend long on each quilt. The presentation was supposed to be more like a slide show, with quilts in chronological order, charting the life story of the New York Beauty quilt pattern. Rather than a slide show or powerpoint presentation, we had a big stack of quilts.
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c. 1870, South Carolina |
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c. 1870, Kentucky |
I've lived with these quilts, so they're all very familiar to me. Now that I've had time to debrief, I realize the whole thing must've been a spectacle.
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c. 1900, Missouri |
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The two Mountain Mist New York Beauties, c. 1930 |
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"Box of Crayons" is my nickname for this quilt, c. 1940 |
We saw how many things changed over time, including colors, fabrics, layout, sashing and cornerstones. Throughout all of its evolution, the New York Beauty was never an easy pattern.
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c. 1940, Idaho |
It was interesting to see so many red, white, and green ones made in different periods. Red, white and green was a traditional color combination for this quilt, a tradition that was maintained, no matter how non-traditional the quilt turned out to be.
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c. 1940, Texas |
After looking through all the old quilts, we saw some newer ones. In the last 15-20 years, the pattern has seen an evolution and resurgence in popularity. Foundation piecing was introduced, and artists turned the pattern upside-down and inside-out, infusing it with bold colors and whimsical overall designs.
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1999, Indiana |
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2010, Washington |
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2011, California |
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2010, Connecticut |
It was a memorable day for me, and I hope it was for everyone else. We saw 42 quilts in the cloth, and I sent everyone home with a little printed booklet, 20-pages, full-color- a spacial edition of my "Beauty Secrets" catalog made especially for the AQSG Seminar. It included pictures of certain quilts and a brief introduction to the collection, plus a block comparison. A friend who couldn't be there came over to me afterwards and said, "I heard you hit it out of the park." That felt good.
I would like to extend a big thank you to AQSG for having me as a study center presenter, and to everyone who was there. I hope you had as good a time as I did! For those who could not attend, I hope you've enjoyed the blog. :)
I can never get enough of these quilts! Your seminar must have been amazing, and a spectacle....in a good way! A very good way! I'm sure everyone was giddy when they left, and thinking 'I need to make one of these NOW!' :o)
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