Textiles and the Triplett Sisters

My love of birds is well established. In fact, at a recent professional retreat where several of us were working on the Triplett Sisters Wedding Album Quilt, I discussed making a few changes to make the quilt tell my story better. One of the other pros said, “so are you adding more birds?” The Houston Quilt Festival had lots of birds for my eyes to enjoy.  However, I saw several quilts that even expanded the use of birds in unique ways, such as focusing on a feather. Another focused on the habitat for the birds, a hedgerow.  I loved the different examinations of the wonderful theme of birds. Clearly there are many techniques that can be used to create birds. Also, many ways to explore the presence of birds in the world within your quilt. Are...

Jane A. Blakely was born is Shaftsbury, Vermont on April 8, 1817 to Erastus and Sarah Blakely. In 1844, she married Walter P. Stickle in October 1844, and having no children of her own, the couple later assumed responsibility for three children. Sadly she became bedridden, but to “kill the time” she began to piece the quilt. The quilt features 169 five x five blocks with a border of triangles and a scalloped edge. In one corner it is inked “In War Time. 1863” “Pieces 5602” and stitched in black thread over the ink “Jane A. Stickle.” The initials “SB” cross stitched in the center led to the presumption that is backed by an old linen sheet from her mother Sarah Blakely. The quilt was listed in the highlights of the 1863 Bennington County Agriculture Fair....

I can’t believe it is almost a New Year! I haven’t even finished telling/showing you more of the Houston Quilt Festival. Don’t worry, we’ll get back to that in the next blog. However, I couldn’t wait to tell you about what is coming up for the Triplett Sisters in the New Year 2022. First, there is the new EPP quilt along with Diamante and More Sampler. The directions provide a suggested workflow to help you accomplish the quilt top in 1 year. It is available as a kit or a pattern, so you can choose your own fabrics. (Here’s the link.) I’ll be making another one right along with you, while giving history tidbits and pointers. Since I’ve already made the one with the cream background, I’m choosing a dark background (green or black) this time...

As you may recall, this year my sister and I had the Huguenot Friendship Quilt exhibit at the Houston Quilt Festival. We realized that not everyone was able to attend the festival this year, so we thought we’d take you to the festival through our blog. Since the big prize-winning quilts have been readily available online, I thought I would focus on other parts of the festival starting with miniature quilts. I’ve only written one other blog on miniature quilts, perhaps because not many miniature quilts are antique. It seems to be a more recent phenomenon. The Smithsonian National Museum of American History only has one quilt in the collection labeled “Miniature” and it was likely a Doll Quilt. True miniature quilts are patterns/designs found in large quilts but recreated in a smaller scale. Ideally, in...

Triplett Sisters Block of the Month! Our first Block of the Month: “1856 Huguenot Friendship Quilt” just completed an exhibition at the Houston Quilt Festival. We had the original antique quilt, plus seven different versions of the quilt hanging for all to see. It was wonderful to view the variety of methods and approaches next to each other. We’ve worked on creating a video of the exhibition and when it is available, we will post on our YouTube page. Until then, I’ve included photos of the quilts in this blog.   We also plan to have an exhibition of our second Block of the Month: "The Wedding Album Quilt." (Don’t worry, if you haven’t started yet, everyone works at their own pace.) In fact, I hadn’t started yet either, because as a single person I was...