Textiles and the Triplett Sisters

This month Quilt & Textile Collections is celebrating 5 years. It has been amazing five years filled with wonderful textiles, exhibitions, and people. We’ve been shocked and pleased at how many different countries and nationalities have connected with QTC. To celebrate that diversity we offer you a variety of quilts and languages, wherever your home may your holiday be filled with love, peace, and joy. Frohe Weihnachten, Feliz Navidad, Happy Hanukkah, メリークリスマス, God jul! Feliz Natal, Vrolijk Kerstfeest, חג מולד שמח, E ku odun keresimesi! Buon Natale, Καλά Χριστούγεννα, Joyeux Noel, matunda ya kwanza!

Quilting as an art form is in danger. A quick online search for quilt shop closing reveals local quilt stores closing from New York to California, including the major retailer Hancocks. Publishers are closing, such as the Kansas City Star Books, AQS Publishing Division, and the list of magazines such as Quilter’s Newsletter shuttering is disturbing. Nonprofits and Museums such as American Textile History Museum, National Quilting Association, as well as Quilt Museum and Gallery in York all recently closed. In the midst of these closures, it was a relief to visit the newly opened Iowa Quilt Museum. The museum is located on the town square in picturesque Winterset, Iowa. The town itself is worth the visit, let alone with the bonus of quilts to see. The Museum opened this summer with Three Centuries of Red...

I love that phrase to explain the relationship between the United States and British Isles. It makes the United Kingdom seem closer to me than it geographically is. It is a good reminder about how close my nation was to the British. As King George in the Broadway smash “Hamilton” reminds us, “we have seen each other through it all.” Because there is such a historical connection between the United States and the British Isles, it is a vital connection to remember when researching antique quilts. Although some stylistic differences have developed through time, it isn’t unusual to see or hear quilters questioning whether a quilt labeled American is British or vice versa. In research, it is nice if you can go to an original source. The Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles is a national...

This is the second in the promised series of articles to help take you to the International Quilt Festival, even if you couldn’t be there. The exhibition "Comfort & Glory: Selections from the Briscoe Center’s Windedale Quilt Collection" featured 21 quilts from the book by the same name. The exhibition and book offer a glimpse of multiple legacies. The book shows us the legacy left by the amazing quilt artists through their works of art. The 115 quilts in the book cover more than two centuries of artistry and material culture. Some of the quilts are masterpieces, others well worn, well-loved quilts. The quilts are enriched with the stories of the makers or owners, and related objects from the center collections. While attending a luncheon at the Quilt Festival, we learned that Katherine Jean Adams was retiring, making...

Quilting vintage has become the short hand phrase for taking a vintage linen or textile and quilting it with a domestic machine or long arm. The “Oh my!” that comes along with a viewing of the new textile work usually has two completely divergent meanings. “Oh my, how dare that quilter ruin an antique or vintage quilt top or blocks with machine quilting! That piece should have been hand quilted in the style of the period!” Or the other side, “Oh my isn’t that a beautiful work of art! The fiber artist has brought new life to a textile that would have been destroyed or languished in a junk bin. ” The International Quilt Festival – Houston had two special exhibitions that showcased this genre of textiles: For the Love of Linens, and Twisted. Cindy Needham...