quiltersmuse.com Blog

After reading my online file about Egyptian appliqué, a woman named “Margot” sent me 10 photos of her Egyptian textile collection, yesterday. She calls herself “an inadvertent collector of Egyptian appliqué” and found her pieces to collect, in Maine and online beginning in the 1980s.

Although she apologized for the “amateurish” look of her photos, I was able to work with them a bit, with a photo editing program, and I believe you will enjoy seeing the images. There is only one that is cropped off at the end, due to a streak of light. They are wonderful!

A lot of symbolic imagery appears in the following designs. At the end of this photo essay, I will list some books in my personal collection that are helpful in identifying the meaning of the symbols. Identification of the symbols would be a good project for home-schooled children and others who are interested in learning more about Egyptian art, always a fascinating subject!

In addition, Dover Publications sells a CD-ROM & Book called Egyptian Designs for MacIntosh and Windows. No affiliation.

I hope you have enjoyed this file. Many thanks to Margot for sharing her collection with us.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

Within the last 20 years, I have run across a number of people who have tried to formulate a list of characteristics of African-American quilts. In one instant, a (white) woman with a quilt shop, instituted classes to teach others how to make an African-American quilt. The quilt would be brightly colored and asymmetrical. She’d made a large quilt that hung on the shop’s wall to use as an example. Just for the record, more recently, I ran across a speaker who attempted to describe the qualities of African-American quilts as if they are homogeneous.

For some time now, folklorists, scholars, and dreamers have been trying to define and describe exactly what an African-American quilt is, and what meaning(s) the quilt had, for its maker. The trouble with that kind of study is that not all African-American quilts are created equal, any more than are English quilts, or Amish quilts, or Dutch quilts. Women, who have made the majority of old quilts, have enjoyed being just a little different than their neighbor. For pieced quilts, this may be the reason so many thousands of different quilt block configurations exist.

More theories are in place than fleas on a dog. Most of them are not backed up by fact. Rather, they are just hunches, opinions, or broad, unsubstantiated conclusions.

“Myth and Methodology: Shelly Zegart Unpicks African-American Quilt Scholarship,” is an article that was first published in Selvedge, an international textile magazine, (London England: Issue 21, Jan/Feb 2008). The author provides an historical account of the names and thoughts of various people who have studied this subject and published their train of thought. This file is free to read/ and to download, on Shelly’s website.

Without further adieu, I will leave you to access this important file, one worth your time.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

This morning, I wanted to show you two quilt blocks that were constructed, on paper, by a beautiful person. First, I will show you this person who was outwardly beautiful.

Ellen Webster, as a young person

Ellen Webster was someone who loved history and that included the history of her town and of her family. The following quilt block that she pasted up with fabrics on a paper background is certainly artistically-rendered, and very beautiful.

Original design by Ellen Emeline Hardy Webster

I wondered why the leaf on the left edge was lopped off, and I found the answer to that in her diary!

Hardy family genealogy block constructed by Ellen Emeline Hardy Webster

During my research, I discovered a quilt block from New Hampshire that is very similar to Ellen’s, as if made by the same person. That is discussed in my 355 page e-book with 340 photos that plays on any computer, using Adobe Reader. (Hint: Don’t try to open the file with any other kind of reader). Adobe Reader is FREE to download.

In just these two quilt blocks I have shown you, it is easy to see the care and precision that Ellen brought to her creative work. She was very artistic, as is readily apparent, but moreover, she wanted to preserve the work of other New England women (and beyond) whose antique quilts she had seen at various meetings and quilt shows that she judged. Ellen was highly respected, in her time, as a teacher of Bible studies, a writer, lecturer, pianist/organist, bird lover, and other roles she took, in life.

Her story is a classic one of a farm born girl of the mid-nineteenth century, who married a dentist and traveled the world. The 162 quilt charts were given to a museum. The spirit of her work lives on in the colorful and detailed CD produced by James and Patricia Cummings and exclusively available for $24.95 plus $3.95 shipping, ($28.90). The detailed information included in this work will amaze you!

This would make a wonderful holiday gift or Christmas present! The CD even shows a photo of the Hardy family all gathered together for Christmas in 1892.

Viewing the details of the life of Ellen Emeline Hardy Webster and considering the many good works of her hands and mind is a thrill. I only wish I’d met her.

Patricia Cummings – pat@quiltersmuse.com
Quilter’s Muse Publications

NEW ENGLAND QUILT MUSEUM
Lowell, Massachusetts

For Immediate Release

The museum calls this quilt the “Grandpa Quilt.” This mid-20th century necktie/portrait quilt was created by an unknown maker. photo by Fletcher Boland

The New England Quilt Museum is pleased to announce their first exhibition of the Fall season, “MASTER PIECES: Haberdashery Textiles in Antique Quilts.” Featuring quilts made from menswear, some of it recycled clothing, this remarkable exhibition brings together over 40 intriguing graphic works made from simple utilitarian fabrics long overlooked in the study of antique quilts. The guest curator for the exhibit is noted antiques dealer and author, Laura Fisher, of FISHER HERITAGE in New York City.

The antique quilts on exhibit are made of menswear fabrics recycled from suits and shirts, neckties, pajamas, military uniforms, work clothes—even woolen underwear and socks. Some also resulted from the artful salvage of menswear swatch sample books and fabric mill remnants.

Popular for about a century, these quilts are compelling and often whimsical. Simple squares arranged in a diagonal pattern prove on close inspection to be made from scraps of patterned jersey socks. A shimmering kaleidoscope of diamonds in rust reds and yellows is pieced from 1950s rayon neckties. Thin lines going in every direction look like a contemporary drawing but are actually random scraps in a crazy quilt pieced of circa 1915 striped silk shirting. The narrow serpentine strips in the blocks of a 1905 Amish quilt are cuttings from woolen long johns. Bright, dimensional pinwheels are embroidered on an unlikely foundation of tailor’s wool suiting swatches, as are a flock of vividly colored birds on branches.

Visually stunning and strikingly modern, these antique textiles make distinct graphic statements out of the most everyday materials.

In addition to the quilts themselves, the exhibit will feature historic advertisements, swatch books, and catalogs from menswear businesses, dating from the 1900s through the 1950s, including several items from the vaults of Brooks Brothers, the chief sponsor of the exhibition.

The tradition of making unique, often very personal quilts from re-purposed menswear textiles gained popularity around 1850, and lasted through the 1950s. Today, the tradition revives in memory quilts made from old T-shirts and clothing that has personal sentiment. Recycling these materials is now considered environmentally aware, adding further appeal to their inherent design potential.

Laura Fisher will be speaking about the exhibition’s content at the opening reception on September 26. In addition, historic textiles expert, Pam Weeks, will deliver a lecture about textile production in New England mills on October 17.

Support for this exhibition is provided in part by Brooks Brothers and by P&B Textiles.

Fabrics inspired by one of the quilts in the exhibition, in the style of the early 1900s, have been produced by Marcus Fabrics and are currently available in the Museum shop, with proceeds to benefit the museum.

The opening reception is sponsored by School House Quilters.

About the New England Quilt Museum

The New England Quilt Museum, 18 Shattuck Street in Lowell, MA, preserves, interprets, and celebrates America’s quilting past and present.

Museum hours are 10 AM – 4 PM, Tuesday- Saturday; and Sundays 12 – 4 PM, May through December. Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for students/senior citizens; Museum members are admitted free.

Visit http://www.nequiltmuseum.org or call 978-452-4207 for more information.

This announcement is brought to you, courtesy of Quilter’s Muse Publications.

Charlotte Croft of Vermont wrote the following note after viewing some recent blog posts:

Hi Pat, I was just browsing in your blog, seeing the scrap quilt question. I decided to send this photo of the quilt I made for my niece Linda Rose who was married June 27th. I think I’m addicted to this method of using up scraps. They’re not the prettiest quilts ever made but such a satisfying feeling to know all those tiny bits were put to use. I have two twin tops ready to tie and about 40 more blocks in various sizes waiting to be completed. I enjoyed seeing “Yum Yum,” but couldn’t help thinking of the cat in the Cat Who series. I read two or three of those this summer. All for now. Charlotte

This is a scrap quilt in the style designed by Carol Coski of Westminster, Vermont. Carol owns a quilt shop there.

We had heard of “Mile-a-Minute” quilts but this is the first time we had seen one. Thanks, Charlotte. We always appreciate the photos you send.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications