Ruth Finley secured her reputation as a recognized authority in the quilt world with the writing of her book, Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them, first published in 1929. Ruth was born into a prominent and well-educated family. She completed three terms of college work but left college to spend a year…
Author: The Quilters Hall of Fame
We will soon be seeing some changes at the PCC & St. Louis Train Depot! The Quilters Hall of Fame (TQHF) has received a grant from the Efroymson Family Fund with Central Indiana Community Foundation to help with the restoration of historic door openings on the depot which was built in 1895. Previous owners boarded…
Ruby Short McKim developed her views of art at the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts. The driving principle was that art is for the average person and art should fill the homes of all. Ruby’s training in the arts opened the doors for her to flood the US and other countries with…
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…