My Favorite Things: 1970s Quilts

"I don't give a damn what anyone says...

I love 1970s quilts, and I'm going to collect them!"

It was a beautiful day when I said to myself, "I don't give a damn what anyone says...I love 1970s quilts, and I'm going to collect them!" The idea didn't come without some pushback from all the folks who thought they knew better. But really, they didn't know diddly.

1970s polyester crazy block quilt, made with raw edge appliqué 

The quilts of the 1970s were rarely the technical masterworks we see being made today. A lot of them were put together by inexperienced quiltmakers, and made out of material people joke about today. The road to gaining acceptance and respect would be long, it seemed.

how could anyone look at these colors and not learn anything?

The presence of polyester double knit fabrics is precisely why the quilts are so great. Fade-resistent fabrics made it possible to preserve the vision of the artists. Their use of color was masterful.

Hexagon Diamonds, Oregon - a masterwork in polyester double knit

Quiltmakers in the 1970s did not necessarily think of themselves as artists, but they were. I was convinced when I saw what they did with what little they had. They used homemade, cardboard templates with sandpaper pasted to the back. There were no rotary cutters or long-arm quilting machines. Even quilting cottons were scarce.

how could anyone not fall in love with this quilt?

The quilts are full of joy. They represent a blissful starting point, or more precisely a starting over point. Other periods such as the Civil War era, Victorian period, Colonial Revival and Great Depression had a lot of quiltmaking activity, too. The surge in American quiltmaking in the 1970s was the latest in a series of revivals.

"Interacting Pyramids" Barbara McKie, 1974

There were no rules back in the day, at least not like there are today. Books, magazines and teachers were hard to find. By the 1970s, 40 years had passed since the last, big boom in American quiltmaking, but having no rules meant new quiltmakers had no idea how they could be bending and breaking the rules.

improvisational 1970s quilt made with strips of polyester

Art paying tribute to art: "Klee" by Marsha McCloskey, 1973

An appreciation for quilts as works of art grew in the 1970s. Major museum exhibitions explored antiquities in a new context-- decorative domestic objects gaining recognition as important works of art. At the same time, artists began making quilts intended to be works of art, for the wall rather than the bed.

how could anyone look at this quilt and not think it was important?

I have blogged about each of these quilts in the past. The information is out there for anyone who is interested. There are details about physical attributes, how and when quilts were acquired, places of origin and any available history. It is great to see a group of favorites together, and to think about why they are favorites.

Today, the information age generates a lot of knowledge, but we must continue searching for wisdom. It would be wise, for example, to consider all aspects of quilt history when assessing the cultural value of the quilts of an era, rather than simply picking and choosing favorite periods and styles and marginalizing others.

Things haven't slowed down much since the 1970s. Despite many changes in the industry over the years, it is still going strong. Many of our most noteworthy, experienced quiltmakers and fiber artists got started in the 1970s. That is why I say, "When it comes to the quilt industry today, all roads lead back to the 1970s."

My Favorite Things: Mid-19th Century Applique Quilts

1850s applique quilt, Mary Couchman Small, Martinsburg, West Virginia.

Although I never really focused on applique quilts, there are a few good examples in my collection. My favorite ones are from the middle to late 19th century.

1850s applique quilt with cardoons and meandering vine border

During the period, applique quilts were on trend, particularly red, white and green ones. Often they had bits of double pink, cheddar orange and other colors, and sometimes the original colors faded or changed over time.

Floral applique quilt, c. 1860

Most of the time, it is a bit of an investment to purchase quilts like these, but every once in a while I find a great bargain. The 1850s quilt with cardoons and meandering vine border was a bargain, and so was the 1860s floral applique quilt with green, turkey red, double pink and cheddar orange.

Nine-Block, Floral applique quilt, c. 1860

Applique quilt, c. 1860, Mrs. M.E. Poyner, Paducah, KY

A couple of the quilts are fairly well known, such as the 1860s applique quilt made by Mrs. M.E. Poyner of Paducah, Kentucky. The quilt appeared in publications and exhibitions; "Kentucky Quilts, 1800-1900" by the Kentucky Quilt Project, and "Homefront & Battlefield: Quilts & Context in the Civil War" Madelyn Shaw and Lynne Zacek Bassett.

1870s album sampler with birds & wreaths

The 1870s album sampler with birds & wreaths appeared in The Quilt Digest 4 in an article called "The Collector: On the Road" by Michael Kile. Collector and dealer, the late Sandra Mitchell was the subject of the article. Good read if you can find a copy.

Album bedcover with rooster center block, 1868, Hannah J. Swin, NJ

Another favorite applique quilt is an album sampler, made in 1868 by Hannah J. Swin of New Jersey. It has a handsome, cocky rooster in the center, surrounded by a variety of decorative and floral blocks. The strawberry appliqué block just below the rooster is absolutely precious.

Whirling, leaflike feathers in an 1850s Prince's Feather from Maine

I like Prince's Feather quilts, also called Princess Feather, depending on who you ask. Three of my old quilts fall into the genre. Two are green and white, and one is red and white. There's something I love about two-color quilts, especially the green and white ones. I don't see them as often as the red & white and blue & white quilts.

This 1850s Prince's Feather with stars has a fabulous border

1890s Prince's Feather variant, a six-block with leaves

A few of these quilts will be in the new book, "Inspired Free-Motion Quilting: 90 Antique Designs Reinterpreted for Today's Quilter" - co-authored with the wonderful and amazingly talented, award-winning long-arm quilter Mandy Leins. As we eagerly anticipate the book release later this year, I dream about one day gathering all the old applique quilts together for a fabulous exhibit.
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My Favorite Things: "New York Beauty" Quilts

1880s pieced quilt, unknown maker, Texas

"New York Beauty" is my favorite quilt pattern. I acquired my first one in 1989 from Shelly Zegart. It was a beautiful, 1850s red, white and green quilt with cheddar orange accents in the centers of the sunburst cornerstones.

1850s pieced quilt, unknown maker, Kentucky

Years later, I learned there was no way of knowing what the maker would've called the design, but people generally referred to it as New York Beauty, a 1930s name from a Mountain Mist quilt pattern.

1930s Mountain Mist New York Beauty

Looking at quilts for sale, there were not many made with the elaborate, pieced sunburst motif. The design was intriguing, how modern it looked even though some of the quilts were obviously very old.

1860s pieced quilt, unknown maker, Kentucky

If I saw a "New York Beauty" I would buy it or bid on it-- kind of an expensive hobby, collecting quilts made with one of the most complicated patchwork motifs-- but I did it for more than 25 years.

1870s pieced quilt, unknown maker, Virginia

Quilts in good condition were preferable, but condition did not play a big role in collecting them. It was almost like collecting mochaware. I accepted the flaws because the quilts were so hard to find.

After a while the quilts started to pile up. Maybe there were more "New York Beauties" than I first thought. People were making modern-day renditions using the design, so I started to collect those, too.

New York Beauty, 2010, by Nancy Tanguay, CT

In 2010, the Benton County Museum invited me to show quilts. The curators wanted to display the New York Beauties because the collection presented so many variants of one motif, and that was interesting to them.

1860s pieced quilt, unknown maker, Kentucky

Research took time. Vetting sources of information was the biggest task. Luckily, there were approximately 40 examples in the collection by then. The quilts could tell their own stories, and it didn't need to be about what people believed.

2011 exhibition at the Benton County Museum, Oregon

By the time the exhibition took place in 2011, I produced an 80-page, full-color self-published catalogue, which was available with the exhibition and afterwards. The catalogue is now out of print. Subsequent publications were revised, such as the catalogue for the 2013 exhibition at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles.

Leading to that exhibition was a 2012, full-length feature article in Quilters Newsletter by Mary Kate Karr Petras. The curators in San Jose saw the article and invited me to show the quilts.

2012 article in Quilters Newsletter

As I was preparing for the San Jose exhibition, I got a note from New York quilt dealer Jane Lury, who had recently sold me a magnificent 1930s "Springtime in the Rockies" quilt. The quilt was made with a 1931 Capper's Weekly pattern, and it was a wonderful variant of the New York Beauty design.

1930s "Springtime in the Rockies" quilt

Jane told me about some friends of hers. They were from France and had a magazine, and they liked to visit homes with quilts displayed as part of the decor. They wanted to come to my house, but it was a mess. There were quilts all over the place, in preparation for the San Jose exhibition.

The French edition of the magazine, Quiltmania

I was still learning who was who in the quilt world, and hadn't heard of the magazine before. It was Quiltmania. The next thing I knew, Carol Veillon, Guy Yoyotte-Husson and Christelle Leveque were at my house looking at quilts. They wanted to do magazine articles, an exhibition of 50 quilts in France and a coffee table book.

The book, "New York Beauty, Quilts from the Volckening Collection" was published by Quiltmania in 2015. Shelly Zegart wrote the foreword. It was 312 pages, bilingual, and included 70 examples of the design and variants made between 1850 and 2014. It also had patterns for three quilts. The book was the culmination of 25 years of collecting, as well as many years researching the origins and history of my favorite quilt pattern.

New York Beauty bag, introduced at the 2015 Salon Pour l'Amour du Fil

In 2015, we celebrated with an exhibit of 50 quilts at Salon Pour l'Amour du Fil in Nantes, France. It was a wonderful experience, and I made a lot of new friends from around the world.

2015: at Salon Pour l'Amour du Fil, Nantes, France

In 2016, the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum and Texas Quilt Museum displayed the quilts. Since the exhibitions overlapped by a few weeks, two completely different groups of quilts were displayed. Both exhibitions reflected the history of the New York Beauty design, and the quilts were well received in both venues.

2016 exhibition at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum

2016 exhibition at the Texas Quilt Museum

Today, the quilts are taking a break. Many of them are in acid free storage boxes, out of the light, and not on display. I love to share the quilts, but this collection has worked hard and deserves the break.

I am considering displaying a select group of New York Beauties next summer, when I have an exhibition of quilts at Latimer Quilt & Textile Center in Tillamook, Oregon. There are other groups of quilts I am considering, but I have only showed these quilts in one exhibition in the Pacific Northwest, and that was in 2011. Of course, I will post details about that exhibition as we approach the date, and we'll see what I decide to show. If you are interested in the history of the New York Beauty patchwork design, click here to buy the book.

Bicentennial Eagle Rugs

In 1976, we made Bicentennial arts and crafts projects in school and at home. People were trying all things creative, especially if there seemed to be a connection to Colonial times. Everything was red, white and blue. One of my home projects was a latch hook rug, made from a kit. It sparked my interest in collecting Bicentennial rugs.

A lot of the latch hook rug kits in the 1970s and later were patriotic American eagles. On one hand, I was surprised by how many I found. On the other hand, I wasn't surprised at all.

A friend sent me an instant message one day about a wonderful Bicentennial hooked rug (pictured at top) from a seller in Woodstock, New York. At first, I thought I would pass because I was trying to keep an eye on my budget. When I saw it, I couldn't resist. The rug is a cut above the rest. It is hooked with a loop pile rather than tufted, so it has a whole different look. I love these hooked rugs. They pair well with the Bicentennial quilts I am collecting.
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Why Bicentennial Quilts Matter

Bicentennial quilt, 1976 by Barbara McKie

Whenever I say, "the Sestercentennial is coming," people look at me like I have 15 heads. Most of them never heard the word "sestercentennial" before, but soon enough everyone will know it.

1970s pieced star quilt in red, white and blue

The 250th anniversary of the American Revolutionary War will take place in 2026. It may seem like a long way off, but it's really just around the corner. I will be ready.

 1976 Lakota Sioux pieced and appliqued Star quilt

Those of us who have reached a certain age would remember the 1976 American Bicentennial. It was a big deal. The spirit of patriotism was at a high point, and millions of Americans were learning to quilt for the first time.

hand painted Bicentennial quilt, Rebecca Thompson, Boaz, Kentucky

We are in a different place today. During the last two years, a lot of great patriotic objects hit the market for the first time, and it's been a buyer's market. Barely-vintage quilts from the 1970s started to turn up, and some of the most memorable examples were patriotic.

13-star American flag quilt from Florida

The Sestercentennial is eight years away, and I am anticipating the question, "Where are the great Bicentennial quilts?"

1970s patriotic polyester star quilt

Here they are, in my collection. I feel they are important, not just because I grew up in the 1970s and was 10 years old the year of the Bicentennial. They represent a milestone in American history and a turning point for quiltmaking in America.