Textiles and the Triplett Sisters

The fabric is coming, the fabric is coming!!! I received the tracking number from Robert Kaufman on Monday and have followed our reproduction Bird in a Basket Pillar Print fabric diligently every day. Plans are for it to be delivered tomorrow. Kay and I can’t wait! We’ll be thrilled to have it in hand with the pre-orders going out. Thanks to everyone who ordered. If you didn’t get it ordered, now is the time to get your yardage of the Bird in a Basket Pillar Print at this link. Also don’t forget to mark your calendar June 15-17 for the Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival. This quilt festival has grown even larger this year and will of course feature a special exhibit of the 2020 Triplett Sisters Block of the Month The Wedding Album Quilt. The...

Earth Day is approaching soon and since textiles lovers are big material consumables, we should try to do our part to save the earth. Most of us have the condition Stable Syndrome or “stash accumulated beyond life expectancy.” As you know, to aid the world the first rule is to reduce. So, to celebrate Earth Day, why not see how much fabric you can use from your stash. That’s right, sew away for the day! (If you need to buy a few pieces of new fabric to make use of the stash, no worries, it was already made and needs a place too.) The second rule is to reuse. Kudos to all those vintage textile lovers that are purchasing 20th century feed sacks, blocks or quilt tops to create a quilt. This last weekend, I attended...

I’m always interested in learning more about historical patchwork and natural dyes. Sometimes when you are researching one thing, you are fortunate enough to find something unexpected, which of course for me, means learning more about it. My discovery was a Huari textile from about 600-1000 that was made of patchwork. So far, it is the oldest piece of patchwork I’ve seen, and it was tied dyed with indigo! (A double score on the interest scale for me!) Huari (Wari) was a Middle Horizon civilization that flourished in the south-central Andes from 500-1000 AD. It is the coastal area of modern-day Peru where a series of Huari archaeological ruins is located. They had an extensive history of artistic expression in metalwork, ceramics, and particularly textiles. The surviving textile examples are primarily tapestries, hats, and tunics. All...

Founded in 1984, the California Heritage Quilt Project was to engage in research and educational activities regarding California Quilts. Their initial project was to research quilts made and brought to California before 1945. More than four thousand quilts were documented during the hunt for these quilts, a treasure trove of legacy. Another project the organization tackled was the California Sesquicentennial Quilt. A logistical feat of harnessing 230 quilt artists to create a single masterpiece. Board Member Helen S. Powell agreed to be coordinator of the project. Instead of dividing up the project into individual quilt blocks to be assembled later, lead quilt artists Zena Thorpe and Ellen Heck decided to create a pictorial style quilt. One artist took charge of “Northern California”, the other artist took “Southern California” and they “joined” it around Santa Barbara. Quilts...

My sister informed me, “everyone knows what it is when you call it the Bible Block like from Baltimore Album Quilts.” (BTW, if you don’t have a sister or friend to discuss quilts and quilt history, find one. I’ve truly learned so much from our discussions and hopefully my sister has learned some from me too…more than if I only went on hunts that I instigated.) Yes, most people do know what it is when you call it a Bible block, but what if in fact it is an autograph book in the quilt, not a Bible block? A real clue that you might need to explore another answer is when the quilt has more than one “Bible block” contained in it. Or if the known quilt makers have used previous books to represent an autograph...