Textiles and the Triplett Sisters

Our first adventure in October was a trip to Lincoln, Nebraska for the American Quilt Study Group Seminar. While attending the seminar we visited the International Quilt Museum (now IQM< formerly the International Quilt Study Center and Museum.) Shapeshifters was a new exhibition which showcased acquisitions that had never been exhibited at the museum before. This first in a series of exhibitions focused on applique and the center medallion format is heavily represented. Each quilt uses a different approach to make the design original in the quilt artists own way. The quilts in this exhibition range in date from 1830’s – 1930’s. The gazelle quilt was made by Bertha Stenge, dubbed “Chicago’s Quilting Queen” by the Chicago Daily News. The quilt was originally purchased from the Chicago Art Institute, then later it was donated to IQM....

It has been a while since I’ve written a blog, but I thought you might need a breather after the four days in a row with our new book Hidden Treasures Blog Tour. It is hard to believe that we are halfway through the year, which made me wonder if I’d left out any amazing quilts from previous articles. Because I can only have 4-5 photos in each blog, sometimes I must make hard choices on which gems to include. However, a review of the year revealed that I’d not only left out antique quilt gems, but some exhibitions. One such exhibition was from the Mark Dunn Collection at the International Quilt Museum (formerly known as International Quilt Study Center & Museum.) In 1966 he started his career in the textile industry as a third-generation sales...

It is the final stop in the tour and I really appreciate everyone that came along for the trip to announce the release of the Triplett Sisters fifth book, “Hidden Treasures, Quilts from 1600 to 1860, Rarely Seen Pre-Civil War Textiles from the Poos Collection.” If you missed any of the earlier stops in the tour, check the bottom of the blog for web addresses so you can visit those stops too. The Chintz Coverlets and Quilts chapter of our book was a “must be included” with our love of chintz. We also managed to squeeze in some birds into this section. Maybe instead of a where’s waldo, we should have a where’s birdie challenge? It was also our honor to include a mezzaro re-purposed as a quilt. If you’d like to learn about a mezzaro,...

This month we purchased some vintage fabric and I couldn’t help but think of the traditional rhyme, “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.” With about 15 yards of this gorgeous vintage toile, Kay asked me to consider making a sample. I hesitated at first, because working with antiques so much of the time the rule is to leave it in the original condition, or “don’t touch.” But then I considered the Japanese boros which literally means tatters, where artists have taken scraps and brought new life to the fabric creating clothing, and quilts. The something old and the blue were both meant to offer protection, which the boro offers from the elements. Then, I considered the trend of “quilting vintage” where quilters are giving new life to vintage textiles from yard sales. I use...

How do you honor a 20-year career studying, preserving, and collecting quilts? By allowing the graduate student who became a curator the opportunity to showcase her work in an exhibition we can see the impact she has had. Carolyn Ducey was a grad student at Indiana University, when she applied to study quilts with Dr. Patricia Crews at the University of Nebraska. Shortly afterward she was hired as the first curator of the Center, later to become International Quilt Study Center & Museum (IQSCM.) Carolyn and Sara Dillow (the first Acquisitions Coordinator) worked together to gather some of the earliest quilts in the collection, pre-1850. Sara was also responsible for the first international additions from Kathryn Berenson, 30 white wholecloth quilts, which opened their eyes to the possibility of international textiles. At the unexpected deaths of...