Textiles and the Triplett Sisters

The Joslyn Art Museum of Omaha was the host of a quilt exhibition from the Shelburne Museum with the wonderful title, Pattern and Purpose. Even if you’ve seen these quilts before, they are wonderful examples of American art worthy of multiple views. The history of the Shelburne Museum is worthy of note too. Mrs. Electra Havemeyer Webb founded the Shelburne museum in 1947 to house her family’s collection of horse drawn carriages. However, it didn’t take her long to decide to create a “collection of collections” for “an educational project.” She began searching through New England and New York to create her collections. Size was not a barrier as she even bought steamboats, houses, stores, bridges, placing these items in the middle of her garden. I’m grateful for her amazing collection of quilts which provide a...

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...

This year the 39th annual AQSG Seminar was held in Maryland, the birthplace of the Baltimore Album Quilt. SO, it was no surprise that this particular quilt genre played a large role in the event. Two of the tours offered a glimpse of BAQs (Lovely Lane Museum and the Smithsonian History Museum). However the star of the event was the Maryland Quilts Exhibition curated by Debby Cooney. The Exhibition featured multiple wonderful BAQs, but it also reminded us of the wider perspective of quilts in Maryland. Chintz quilts, patchwork, trapunto, Mary Brown quilts and more. Everywhere you looked in this small room was another glimpse of eye candy. Another advantage of this exhibition was...everyone had the opportunity to see it as an attendee. No bus trip was required. I wish the exhibit could have been open...

So if you follow our blog, you might be wondering where in the world we are since March 10. Funny you should ask, we have been to multiple countries in the world teaching, seeing exhibitions, and quilt shows. We’ve also been writing our next book which had a shorter than expected timeline, given that it has three times the number of quilts. However, all of this is now to your benefit, because we’re now going to share what we can through the blog. We went on a “visit” to Jodhpur lands of India, through the “Peacock in the Desert” exhibition in Houston. We went to a private exhibition in Belgium, I’m still waiting to hear what photos I can share. We went to the Pour L’Amour du Fil Quilt Show in Nantes, France and will share...

We are continuing to work on our Huguenot Friendship Quilt as our block of the month. It is an amazing quilt that contains many signatures that are either cross-stitched or embroidered into the quilt. If you haven’t seen this quilt yet, please be sure to follow this link and join us in making your own version of the quilt. Last week when showing this quilt in a presentation, I was asked if it was a signature quilt, friendship or album quilt. The term “inscribed quilts” is really the catchall category for a variety of quilts that have multiple names/signatures. (The joy of finding a quilt with the maker’s signature is surpassed by finding a quilt with multiple signatures.) The signatures can be inked or stitched with a signature (cursive) or printed. The names can be stamped,...