Textiles and the Triplett Sisters

This beautiful quilt owned by Barbara Menasian was purchased in Connecticut with no other provenance than what was contained in the quilt “EMC 1876.” The quilt is a medallion style with the “Chips and Whetstone” as the center piece of the sampler. The center block is surrounded by seventy-four different patterns, many which are commonly known. However, the unique arrangement of borders was then separated by a different geometric pieced row. Karen Alexander ran across a photo of the extraordinary quilt in an online history forum. Inspired by the quilt, she secured permission from the owner for a group of quilters from Northwestern Washington to re-create the quilt. Anne Dawson a quilt shop owner and quilt restorer, drafted the intricate patterns to follow the original quilt as closely as possible. Anne then used reproduction fabrics to...

In an earlier blog, I mentioned that there was a Chintz exhibition at the Nantes Quilt Show we attended. We write about Chintz quite a bit because we love it, so I thought I would make do with the few shots in the earlier blog post. However, this week we ran onto an amazing array of reproduction fabrics, which reminded me of the fabrics of Provence. So, I decided I wasn’t done with the Nantes Quilt Show. Several people from the Association of Tresors, Patrimoine etoffes of Marseille gave a presentation on the quilts and costumes of the 18th and 19th century Provence. The organization was nice enough to provide an exhibition of the clothing as well as wear authentic clothing. Although I can’t imagine trying to go about daily tasks dressed in these outfits, not...

The Houston International Quilt Festival has a large hall for of a variety of exhibits each year. This year one of the exhibits displayed reproductions of 19th and early 20th century masterpiece quilts made with reproductions fabrics. The biennial event was sponsored by the France Patchwork nonprofit organization, one of the largest member organizations in the European Quilt Association. With more than 12,500 members, I suspect selecting the 30 quilts for the exhibition was difficult. Each quilt artist selects a quilt which inspired the reproduction. It is a wonderful bonus for the exhibition viewers when the quilter cites the specific inspiration quilt, which allows for additional learning and comparison. It is often difficult for the casual observer to know the antique from the new quilt from photographs, as the reproductions are usually to close to the...

This year the 39th annual AQSG Seminar was held in Maryland, the birthplace of the Baltimore Album Quilt. SO, it was no surprise that this particular quilt genre played a large role in the event. Two of the tours offered a glimpse of BAQs (Lovely Lane Museum and the Smithsonian History Museum). However the star of the event was the Maryland Quilts Exhibition curated by Debby Cooney. The Exhibition featured multiple wonderful BAQs, but it also reminded us of the wider perspective of quilts in Maryland. Chintz quilts, patchwork, trapunto, Mary Brown quilts and more. Everywhere you looked in this small room was another glimpse of eye candy. Another advantage of this exhibition was...everyone had the opportunity to see it as an attendee. No bus trip was required. I wish the exhibit could have been open...

I love borders or frames on quilts! I’m always looking for some new ideas for my borders. An exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art provided me with a LOT of new ideas for borders. Perhaps I should I say old ideas...really, really old ideas. Some third to fifth century ideas from Syria to be exact. For those of you wondering what is the oldest use of the diamond is in a square design, I would ask you to consider this mosaic. It might not be the earliest known to humanity, but from the third century it certainly is an early example, with...wait for it...multiple borders. This artist didn’t subscribe to the rule of three. Borders don’t need to be geometric shapes, they can also be people or animals. Granted some of these borders seem a...