Textiles and the Triplett Sisters

We’ve had so much to write about, I haven’t even finished your tour of the Houston Quilt Festival. However, even though the photos are from 2018, there is a little teaser about 2019 included in the blog too. This week we focus on the section, "In the American Tradition: Appliqued." Applique quilts seem to be a favorite of our readers, and while we usually focus on antiques, it is always nice to share what current quilt artists are accomplishing in the traditional style. The “Bird of Paradise” quilt by Janet Olmstead (aka Mrs. Sew n’ sew blog) is from Alberta, Canada. Be sure you check out all of the birds, squirrels and horses she included. Ginger Brant’s quilt is inspired by the Baltimore Album Quilts and more specifically by a later Civil War era quilt. She...

The Triplett Sisters’ love medallion quilts, particularly those that use chintz “panels” for the center. So, imagine our excitement when the American Quilt Study Group decided to make medallions the subject of the next quilt study. Yippee! That means that fifty members of the organization will be making medallion quilts. That means a traveling exhibit of medallion quilts will hit the road to spark the creativity of quilters across the nation with these medallion quilts inspired by historical quilts. Immediately after the announcement last fall, ideas began to emerge. Museums and private collections were searched for the best medallion quilt. Which one quilt would inspire a quilter so much that the quilter either wanted to reproduce the antique quilt or create a new quilt based on the antique quilt. Medallion panels were made using fabric created...

 May the road rise up to meet you,filled with inspiration from your dreams.May the light shine upon your projectwith your fabric stash un-ending.May your quilts be easy binding,as you create your legacy.May your needles be easy threading,with all your notions at hand reach,as God holds you in the palm of his hand. 

This beautiful quilt owned by Barbara Menasian was purchased in Connecticut with no other provenance than what was contained in the quilt “EMC 1876.” The quilt is a medallion style with the “Chips and Whetstone” as the center piece of the sampler. The center block is surrounded by seventy-four different patterns, many which are commonly known. However, the unique arrangement of borders was then separated by a different geometric pieced row. Karen Alexander ran across a photo of the extraordinary quilt in an online history forum. Inspired by the quilt, she secured permission from the owner for a group of quilters from Northwestern Washington to re-create the quilt. Anne Dawson a quilt shop owner and quilt restorer, drafted the intricate patterns to follow the original quilt as closely as possible. Anne then used reproduction fabrics to...

In an earlier blog, I mentioned that there was a Chintz exhibition at the Nantes Quilt Show we attended. We write about Chintz quite a bit because we love it, so I thought I would make do with the few shots in the earlier blog post. However, this week we ran onto an amazing array of reproduction fabrics, which reminded me of the fabrics of Provence. So, I decided I wasn’t done with the Nantes Quilt Show. Several people from the Association of Tresors, Patrimoine etoffes of Marseille gave a presentation on the quilts and costumes of the 18th and 19th century Provence. The organization was nice enough to provide an exhibition of the clothing as well as wear authentic clothing. Although I can’t imagine trying to go about daily tasks dressed in these outfits, not...