2005 Honoree Bets Ramsey has had a life-long love of the arts and needle crafts. The summer after her graduation from high school, she and a friend set up a dressmaking business in her parents’ dining room. After earning her B.A. with honors in Art, Bets focused on her marriage and raising her four children.In…
By Helen Kelley, 1999 Honoree Helen Kelley made a series of “postcard quilts” showing places that she had visited. Helen’s label card that came with this quilt says, “Ireland- The streets of Dublin are lined with Georgian homes, each with its bright colored door and brass knocker. The basement kitchen area at the front of…
By Marguerite Ickis, c. 1930-1940. Honoree Marguerite Ickis made this quilt from pieces of costume fabric leftover from theatrical plays made possible by the WPA Federal Theatre Project, for whom she was a consultant. The Federal Theatre Project organized and produced theater events. It was an effort of the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt…
We’ve recently honored our veterans, and there were lots of poppy memes and photos going around the internet. Deb Geyer shared these from The Embroiderers’ Guild of Victoria: And I found this beaded example by Crystal Behn, A Dine and Carrier artist: The first Embroiderers’ Guild shot looks like a quilt, so I’m somewhat on…
I’m not ready to get back to work writing about the Honorees. I’ve been lucky enough (finally, after COVID lockdown) to have gone on some quilting vacations, and that has disrupted my focus. But since my trips were quilt-related, it should “count” if I share some of my takeaways. My husband, Jack, and I stopped…
When I first agreed to write this blog, it was with the intention of showcasing The Quilters Hall of Fame Collection: the “stuff” we have in the attic. But then COVID came along, and I wasn’t going for Collections work days every month, so I switched up to writing about the Honorees which was something…
I’ve been taking a break from writing because for the first time since last Spring, I’ve been able to travel for quilting events. In early July, I got together with my local study group, the Northern Illinois Quilt Study Group, to look at a member’s collection of doll quilts. Then a week later I was…
What 12-year-old sends his classic piano teacher of five years packing after he hears Fats Waller’s boogie style? And later goes on to collaborate on the Broadway musical tribute to Waller, “Ain’t Misbehavin’ “? That would be Quilters Hall of Fame Honoree and Renaissance Man, Jeffrey Gutcheon. Jeff was one of the pioneers of then-modern…
I’ve just come back from a work day in the Collections “Department” at the Hall of Fame. On a break from our cataloging, we talked about how the Quilters Hall of Fame has evolved since that first induction of six Honorees at the 1979 Continental Quilting Congress. (Shout out to our Founder, Hazel Carter!). So,…
Before I get to Sally Garoutte, I have a follow-up to do. I promised to keep you posted on the International Quilt Museum’s retrospective of the 1971 Whitney Museum “Abstract Design in American Quilts” show. You’ll remember that the original show was mounted by Hall of Fame Honorees Jonathan Holstein and Gail van der Hoof,…
