Textiles and the Triplett Sisters

Today I have some exciting news to share that has been a huge secret. Multiple years ago, to launch our book Chintz Quilts from the Poos Collection, we presented an exhibition of these amazing quilts at Carrefour European Patchwork in Saint Marie Aux Mines, France. It is a wonderful quilt show spread out between little villages in the mountains. My sister Kay and I had a great time at our Chintz Quilts from the Poos Collection exhibition signing our new book and giving a gallery talk. We were joined by co-author Xenia Cord who also sat with us to sign books. Our book included a detailed history section, as well as fabulous full quilt photos and detail shots. There are 36 quilts in the book and to learn more about the quilt photos in the blog,...

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Seasons Greetings and may the principles of Kwanzaa be with you! Although I celebrate Christmas and the birth of Jesus, I recognize that not everyone does. However, for all those holidays, it is the season for gift giving and caring for others. So, to celebrate we have three gifts for you! The first gift is that I’ve filled the blog with photos of our Block of the Month, the Triplett Sisters Huguenot Friendship Quilt. A red and green celebration of two families love for each other memorialized in a beautiful textile. The second gift is that we currently have the complete pattern on sale. We are planning an exhibition in 2021, so I hope you’ll join us on the journey to make your own version of this quilt. So far,...

For centuries Baltimore Album Quilts were considered the epitome of American Quilts. Crafted in the middle 19th century, Baltimore Album Quilts (BAQs) were in many cases the creation of professional needle workers selling completed blocks, pre-cut, or pre-basted blocks. BAQs traditionally used red and green colors with touches of yellow and blue. American quilters in the following generations attempted to make their own versions of the Baltimore Album Quilts usually as a reproduction quilt. Striving to create a quilt as close as possible to original BAQ. A few American quilters, such as Sue Garmin or Elly Sienkiewicz,, even took on the daunting task of creating quilt patterns inspired by BAQs. In 2005, a Japanese quilter, Yukiko Hirano entered her first international competition the IQA Judged Show as part of the International Houston Quilt Show. She received...

As promised our next blog focus is the exhibition curated by Cynthia Collier. But it is important to note that Cynthia did more than curate the exhibit, she was one of the amazing artists. She had 11 of her fabulous quilts in “Applique, The Timeless Beauty of Broderie Perse”. Sometimes when we feature an exhibit, I have trouble selecting from the hundreds of photos to narrow it down to the 4 quilts we will display. Even when I divide this exhibition into two blogs: one which focuses on other quilt artists in the exhibit and one for Cynthia’s quilts, I still have a hard time choosing between her 11 fabulous quilts. Besides acting as curator for the exhibit, she also donated her time to give gallery talks. She isn’t teaching anymore, so this was a rare...

Broderie perse is French for Persian embroidery, but through the decades it also came to refer to artists cutting out fabric to applique onto a background fabric. This technique was also called “cutout chintz applique.” Recently experts have come to avoid using broderie perse unless the textile also includes embroidery, favoring instead “cutout chintz applique.” However, if there isn’t embroidery present and not all the fabric used is actually “chintz” what should you call it then? When you are as talented as these artists, whatever you want. As Shakespeare reminds us, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” This is one of the exhibitions in which I had a hard time selecting which photos to include. Even though I divided the blog post into 2 parts, it still only allows eight quilts. However,...