Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Masterpiece Quilts: Road Trip!


Today, I took a road trip to Tacoma, Washington, to speak to the Puyallup-based Comforter Quilt Guild. It was my fourth lecture in the last two weeks - and the third time I've given my "Masterpiece Theater" lecture in this period - but each lecture was its own thing, and it kept me energized. Today, I brought eight quilts, mostly from the 19th century, for the hour-long lecture. Here's what I brought.



I began with three album or sampler quilts, all vastly different. There was the Mary Couchman Small Album with Lyre from West Virginia, c. 1850; the Album with Rooster by Hannah J. Swin of Bergen County, New Jersey, 1868; and the Sampler with Birds and Wreaths, which I just received during the past week.




The next group included three pieced quilts, all variations on the pattern most widely known as New York Beauty made in the mid-to-late 19th century, before the New York Beauty name was coined.



I wrapped up with a modern looking wool utility quilt and Lucy Mingo's Bible Story quilt from Gee's Bend. Both quilts represented my evolving idea of what a masterpiece quilt could be. During the talk, I also shared some books, including Shelly Zegart's "American Quilt Collections: Antique Quilt Masterpieces"; Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedias of pieced and applique quilt patterns; Eileen Trestain's "Dating Fabrics" and a few others. It was another fun day, a great group, and I hope to have the opportunity to visit them again in the future! Last lecture of 2011 will be on December 12th at the Northwest Quilters meeting. That'll make 14 lectures for the year. It's been a great year!

11 comments:

  1. Thanks for showing these! Your collection is really museum worthy.

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  2. Thank you! That's really nice to hear. I thoroughly enjoyed today's talk, and it was good to bring so many applique quilts because there are many talented applique quilt makers in the guild. I was treated to their show and tell, and was very impressed!

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  3. Those quilts in your collection are so inspiring, I never get tired of looking at them. People who get to see them in person are really lucky;)
    I love the rooster in the first quilt. They all are gorgeous! LeeAnn is right, they are museum worthy!

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  4. Could look at these quilts time and time again. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. BEautiful quilts, I am sitting here in awe. What an amazing collection of quilts you have accumulated. Ok the first quilt what else do you know about it, I grew up in Bergen County would love to know more....Have you done any research on the quilt?
    perfect colors for me :) and applique what could ever get better????
    LOVE so many of these blocks. Thanks
    Kathie

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  6. I realize these pictures are all repeats, but I've started to include blogs about lectures to help me keep track of what I'm doing. If I get invited back, I can double check the old blog to make sure I don't bring the same quilts next time. LOL!

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  7. Just stumbled onto an old issue of The Quilt Digest and the 3rd quilt, the one you just purchased is pictured.
    Thought you might want to know...

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  8. Oh yes, I've had my eye on that one for years! I blogged about it maybe a week ago when it arrived.

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  9. what were they called before they were called New York Beauty?

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  10. wooly- They were called many different things. I found almost 20 names when doing research on The Quilt Index. The most common pre-1930 names were Rocky Mountain (or Rocky Mountain Road) and Crown of Thorns, which today is a completely different pattern altogether.

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