Top 20 Quilts of 2017: #5, Libby Lehman's Quilt

Woodland Chromatics is one of Libby Lehman's early masterpieces

This month, I am posting a series of blogs counting down my top 20 quilts of the year. All the quilts were acquired by the collection in 2017, and they represent four centuries of American quilts. 

After suffering a ruptured brain aneurysm followed by a stroke in April 2013, Libby Lehman almost died. Eventually, she regained basic motor skills, along with her signature wit, but she would never make another quilt. This year there was an auction of her quilts, and I was one of the lucky bidders. She made this quilt, "Woodland Chromatics" in 1984, the year I graduated from high school. To read more about it, click here. 
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Top 20 Quilts of 2017: #6, Prue's PEO Sisterhood Quilt

Prue's PEO Sisterhood Quilt was one of my favorite acquisitions of 2017

This month, I am posting a series of blogs counting down my top 20 quilts of the year. All the quilts were acquired by the collection in 2017, and they represent four centuries of American quilts. 

Prudence Louise Ross was an extraordinary person. When I discovered this quilt, made for her in 1976, I had to learn more. A quick search produced a lot of information, and then something sad occurred to me. To read more about it, click here.
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Top 20 Quilts of 2017: #7, "Interacting Pyramids"

I was shocked and surprised to find this quilt in a local shop.

This month, I am posting a series of blogs counting down my top 20 quilts of the year. All the quilts were acquired by the collection in 2017, and they represent four centuries of American quilts. 

Imagine my surprise when I walked into an antique shop in Aurora, Oregon, and found this quilt. It was clearly inscribed with the name of the maker and date, and I was quickly able to track her down. I also discovered the quilt had been published in a book. To read more about it, click here and here. 

Top 20 Quilts of 2017: #8, Reversible Wholecloth Quilt

The oldest quilt in my Top 20 countdown

This month, I am posting a series of blogs counting down my top 20 quilts of the year. All the quilts were acquired by the collection in 2017, and they represent four centuries of American quilts. 

Very old quilts don't come along every day. Most of them are either in museums or with other collectors, but occasionally one comes up at auction or for sale. This 18th century, reversible wool wholecloth quilt came from another collector, Sharon Waddell, who lives in New York State and finds a lot of outstanding quilts from the Northeast. To read more about this quilt and other very old American quilts, click here.

Top 20 Quilts of 2017: #9, 1960s Hawaiian String Pieced Quilt

I knew I was on to something. It was one of the first quilts I found in Honolulu.

This month, I am posting a series of blogs counting down my top 20 quilts of the year. All the quilts were acquired by the collection in 2017, and they represent four centuries of American quilts. 

In January, I went to Hawaii on a mission: to search the vintage shops for Hawaiian scrap quilts. I have collected these quilts for a couple years now, and really wanted to go to the source. This 1960s string-pieced scrap quilt was one of the first things I found when I got to Honolulu. It is one of my favorite quilt purchases of 2017. To read more about it, click here.

Top 20 Quilts of 2017: #10, Lakota Sioux Bicentennial Star

You don't see one of these quilts every day

This month, I am posting a series of blogs counting down my top 20 quilts of the year. All the quilts were acquired by the collection in 2017, and they represent four centuries of American quilts. 

Here's something you don't see every day. It's a Bicentennial star quilt made by members of the Lakota Sioux tribe in South Dakota. It came with a paper label attached to the front. To read more about it, click here.

Top 20 Quilts of 2017: #11, Quilted Cape from Hawaii

"I've never seen anything like it."

This month, I am posting a series of blogs counting down my top 20 quilts of the year. All the quilts were acquired by the collection in 2017, and they represent four centuries of American quilts. 

When I saw this quilted cape, I thought, "I've never seen anything like it." There was a Buy-It-Now option, so I bought it. It was from one of the Royal Societies on Oahu and came from a seller in Honolulu, but nobody else has been able to tell me more about it. I thought it was fascinating because it was constructed like a Hawaiian quilt, complete with echo quilting. To read more about it, click here.