Even in this unusual year, the holiday rush is taking place. So, no Honoree this week, but a heart-felt wish for merriment and light from my house to yours.  And a virtual tour. I’d like to welcome you to my home and share my holiday spirit with all my quilting friends.

I live in an 1886 house built by a local stonemason as a honeymoon cottage for one of his daughters.  We don’t have snow yet—I’m still hoping for a White Christmas—so this is a shot from a past year.

The turret is the ideal place for a tree.  This year we have a live Fraser fir downstairs with old-fashioned lights, glass ornaments, and lots of glimmer. There’s a little artificial one upstairs with a funky tree skirt I made.

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I have quilts in every room downstairs.  They make easy decorations and provide a nice backdrop for my collections of angels and the turned wooden ornaments my husband makes.

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There are Christmas tins all over the kitchen.  I started collecting these years ago while garage-“sailing” with a friend; she bought furniture, but all I could afford were the tins at 10-25 cents.  The price has gone up, but the new ones I buy now come with cookies. I think they’re rather jolly.

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We spend most of our holiday time on this back porch with a wood-burning stove, watching classic Christmas movies. Here’s where I show off the Santas, and the third tree.  The quilt is one of four new Christmas ones I made this year—a record, thanks to staying at home.

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And would you like another peek upstairs?  We have Christmas quilts on both beds; blue is my color, and Jack loves red.

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Back to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and cookies. I usually bake at least a dozen kinds of cookies each year.  This year, I made seven kinds of shortbread, plus other recipes.  I can’t share one in person, but here’s a picture from some cookie plates of Christmas past:

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Or how about these that look like quilt blocks?      

If you were here, you could use a cup from my mug tree.  When I was working, I often got a holiday mug in the grab bag, so I found a way to display them all without taking up counter space.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this “visit”. I look forward to having a real, in-person visit with many of you at the 2021 Celebration, but in the meantime, I wish you happy, happy, merry, merry, and all the best of the season.

Your quilting friend,

Anna

After last week’s shopping spree, I am making good on my promise to write about a live Honoree. I don’t know which is harder: the live ones often have great internet links, but I never know how they’ll react to what I say; the ones who have passed are harder to track down for info, but they never complain. I guess I should just be glad that each Honoree is interesting in some way. This week’s subject, Nancy Crow, has plenty of interesting accomplishments (see the link below for her bio), starting in 1979 with her co-founding of Quilt National (a juried biennial exhibition of contemporary quilt art) and coming up to date with her recognition in 2019 as a “Master of the Medium”.

I’m especially interested in Nancy as an artist and what it means to make art (I just make quilts, and sadly, there’s a difference).  The best way to get an overview of Nancy’s work is to take a look at the covers of her books; Nancy has authored half a dozen books, and they are regularly available on Amazon and other sites. If your timing is right, you might be able to score an autographed first edition.

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Or you could get a good impression Crow style from the covers of two books written by Maya Angelou which feature Nancy Crow quilts.

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So, what is Crow style, and how did it get that way? Let’s start with what Nancy recently said about herself: this is her “Artist’s Statement” which accompanies her exhibit, “Nancy Crow-Drawings, Monoprints and Riffs” at the International Quilt Museum:

I have made over 300 quilts.

The purpose of my quilts is to make something beautiful for me. They are a means of expression. They represent my deepest feelings as a response to my life. My quilts are how I see color; how I see shapes; how I see line. They are about complexity, sadness, hope and always beauty. My style of quilt-making is contemporary in that I want to express my experiences now and not copy old quilts. They are traditional only in that they are machine-pieced and quilted.

Here’s the catalog from the exhibit, which is up through March 7, 2021.  There’s also a link below for a virtual tour of the exhibit.

Color, shape, and line… Nancy is academically trained, having earned a B.F.A. in ceramics at Ohio State University, and an M.F.A. with a major in ceramics and a minor in tapestry weaving from the same institution.  If you look at her list of classes taught at her Ohio facility –more on that later– you’ll find other “art” terms like figure and ground, linear motifs, etc. But how does that translate into quilts?

Well, several things help.  First, Nancy has a design inspiration wall that includes varied artifacts, including woven vessels, carved animals, and scraps of weaving. You can see some of the weaving structure repeating in the lines of Nancy’s quilts—especially the warp lines.  Then, Nancy has developed a technique of free-form cutting where she pulls a rotary cutter towards herself –dangerous, but it allows her to see where she is going and to feel that she is actually drawing with the blade.

But the biggest factor for turning training and technique into art has to be work—sweat equity.  Here’s a quilt I could imagine myself doing—alright, maybe not all that piecing, but at least using the same palette. I’m a sucker for blue.

What doesn’t show, however, is that this quilt is one of a series of 22! Crow worked for three years exploring the 45-degree angles interplay with stripes and squares.  Here’s another version that has more movement and “glowing” colors, and a third one that emphasizes the squares but uses “flatter” colors:

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And here’s another pairing. I prefer the one on the left, but I can’t say why. Which one speaks to you?

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Wikipedia identifies over a dozen Crow series, not including the November studies.  I don’t know about you, but by the time I’ve finished one top, I usually don’t want to see the same thing again, so hat’s off to an artist who buckles down and repeats, repeats, repeats for the sake of her art. It’s clearly hard work. (If you watch the exhibit below, you’ll see some of Nancy’s thoughts on this level of work: “totally focused”, “10-12 hour days”, “going forward”, “learning” and more). With all this work and discipline, where do feeling and expression come in? Nancy would probably say “Everywhere”, but I’ll give you two examples. One of Nancy’s series is Passion, a group of five quilts she created while caring for her dying mother. I can only imagine the emotions poured into each of those art pieces. Another is her Chinese Souls series, inspired by an incident she witnessed while on an art exchange in China in 1990.

Here’s what she says about those quilts:

“Chinese Souls quilts are my memorial to more than 60 teenage boys who were bound and loaded on two trucks to be driven to their execution for petty crimes. I witnessed this horrible incident when I was an exchange artist in China in September 1990. The boys were all wrapped with heavy ropes. In these quilts, the circles represent their souls and the bull’s-eye embroidery, and the hand-quilting represents the ropes tied around their souls. The colors of the circles represent the individuals.”

No discussion of Nancy Crow would be complete without a little information about one of her other interesting aspects; in addition to being an artist, she’s also a teacher.  She lives on a farm near Columbus, Ohio where a converted 1848 timber barn serves as a retreat center for five- and ten-day workshops taught by Nancy and others. This has got to go on my post-COVID bucket list. I’ve done some dyeing on my own but would love to have expert guidance. Does this look like fun, or what?

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I was going to put a link below for the 2021 schedule, but the classes are already filled, except for one. Oh, what the heck, I will put the link below so you can see what types of classes she teaches and be ready when 2022 rolls around. It will happen—I promise!

Your quilting friend,

Anna

Biographical information https://quiltershalloffame.net/nancy-crow/

Exhibit at International Quilt Museum. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ickEU7SuF5k&list=PL8wATen2F83_TAFneOIiALU5dnD6YiDcS

This link is the first of five segments which walk through the entire show; it will either re-direct you or run right into the following segment(s).

Design inspiration wall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n61dNeEblM   (wall discussion starts at 1:20)

Workshops http://www.nancycrow.com/artretreatsspring2021.html  

http://www.nancycrow.com/artretreatsfall2020.2.html

I was going to tell you about a living quilter this week, but there’s something time sensitive I need to address.  As I write this, there are only 19 more shopping days until Christmas! But don’t worry; The Quilters Hall of Fame is here to help.  Have you browsed the online store?  If not, I’ll give you some teasers with the individual links here and a general link to the store below. I know that not all of you readers celebrate Christmas but take a look anyway because you might want a gift for another occasion—or even something for yourself; you deserve it this year.

If you’ve enjoyed learning about the Hall of Fame Honorees through this blog, you’ll probably like the book version.  There’s lots of new info I haven’t included and plenty of beautiful pictures.

You’ll find many other books in the store.  They’re written by some of the Honorees so you can’t go wrong.

Or how about showing off your knowledge of Marie Webster with a mask in a limited-edition fabric taken from her quilt designs? On the right is Poppies and on the left is French Baskets.  There are more in the store.

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I’ve started baking my Christmas cookies and I always wear an apron in the kitchen.  I have florals and dogs, Mardi Gras and Halloween, and several general-design ones, but I pull out the Santas and the reindeer for December.  If you know someone who wishes they could be in Paris, why not get a French-themed apron? Or, if you prefer not to “travel”, there’s always candy.

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Didn’t get that holiday sewing done? (I know you had lots of time this year, so you were probably making a full-sized quilt, finishing UFOs and sewing masks.) But if you’re short on a hand-made gift, we’ve got it.

Or here’s one that doesn’t use the traditional red and green and could be out all winter long. I know I would never do so much piecing for a table runner, so this would be worth the price.

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I’m not going to include any pictures of the many bags that are available; you can use the link below.  But who wouldn’t appreciate receiving a tote gift? I know most people aren’t going out much these days, but come summer, we’ll all be looking for something to cram our beach stuff into. Shop ahead.

The homemade items in the online store have all been made by volunteers, myself included, and the sales help support The Quilters Hall of Fame. If you want something for a Christmas gift, order soon to allow for shipping. And TQHF says “Thank you”.

I don’t want this week to be all infomercial, so let me re-visit an idea from last week.  I told you a little about my development of the connection between fashion trends and quilt designs.  Well, it turns out that great minds think alike: The International Quilt Museum just hosted a virtual session on a similar theme called “Mad Men, the Mid-Century Modern Aesthetic, and Modern Quilts”.  It was presented by Luana Rubin of eQuilter.com and Dr. Carolyn Ducey, curator of collections at IQM. (I say “similar” because I was looking at contemporaneous connections, and they took the connection forward from the 1950s to current modern quilting.)  Ahhhh; affirmation!

There’s a link below for more of IQM’s virtual events; be on the lookout for the recording of “Mad Men” (December First Friday) and for upcoming First Friday postings. And there’s a link for Textile Talks too.  So much to “do” this winter; maybe I won’t miss getting out.

By next week, my tree should be up and baking done, so I promise a full post about (who will it be ????).

Your quilting friend,

Anna

Shop.https://quiltershalloffame.net/online-store/

IQM. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8wATen2F838IkHMwslSWnvPPCGb1hYk1

Textile Talks. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8wATen2F838IkHMwslSWnvPPCGb1hYk1

While nodding off after Thanksgiving dinner, it came to me that there have been several times when I wrote, “I’ll tell you about that later” or “That’s a whole other discussion”.  Well, this seems like as good a time as any to catch up on loose ends.

When I was writing about Honoree Carrie Hall and her couture business, I promised to flesh out my idea of a connection between quilts and fashion. We know that quilts often follow home decorating trends (crazy quilts in the heyday of Victorian “more is more” style; Thimbleberries when country décor was popular), but I have wondered if there is also a parallel with fashion.  I’ve found a couple of interesting pairings so far; you might call them “spurious relationships”, but, hey, it’s a start.

Fringe was big in the 2010s and that’s when I made one of those wrong-sides-together quilts with the ragged seams.

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In the 2000s, you could get rhinestones on the pockets of your jeans or on a tee shirt, and you could put rhinestones and other embellishments on your quilt.

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In June, 2016 there was an article about a comeback of the 90s bandana trend, and that same year Quilting Digest had “9 Easy Bandana Quilts to Inspire You.”

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So, do you think I’m on to something here? In my spare time I’d like to go back through the decades and see if I can find other connections. I really do have lots of time these days, and I beat myself up for not being more productive. Maybe this will get me going, but that’s unlikely to happen until after the holidays. Stay tuned. Or, better yet, help me out by finding a fashion trend in any decade and then seeing if you can find a quilt style to match.  Send me your info in the reply section.

I also want to tie up the loose end about why I sign off with “Your quilting friend”.  Some of you are my in person friends, and all of you share a common interest in quilts which could make us friends when we meet. But this all started when Honoree Xenia Cord gave a lecture on women who sold quilt patterns from their kitchen tables in the 1950s, and the Round Robin letters of the 1960s. She read us some of the correspondence, and I was overcome with nostalgia for a time I never experienced.  Well, almost never.  I was too young to really correspond with others during that time, but I do remember that my mother got a weekly letter—airmail with a six cent stamp—from my grandmother. So, I guess this is my way to recognize a time when life wasn’t so complicated, so rushed and slap-dash. It’s my nod to all the great quilting correspondents. And there were quite a few.  We’ve talked about Honorees Bertha Stenge and Florence Peto being pen pals (that sounds less stuffy than “correspondents”), but Peto also exchanged letters with another famous quilter, Emma Andres.  In 1939 Emma read an announcement in McCall’s Needlecraft about Peto, and wrote to her in care of the magazine. Peto and Andres only met once, but their friendship in writing continued until Peto’s death. And both Peto and Andres were in written contact with a prominent male quilter, Charles Pratt; Andres used Pratt’s techniques to create her masterpiece, “Ninety and Nine”.

You can see more Andres quilts at the link below, and you’ll also learn that Emma had a connection with another Hall of Fame Honoree, Carrie Hall. I feel like we’re peeling an onion with all of these interlocking stories.  But that’s what I think was so great about the letter-writing time of the 40s and 50s.

Another corresponding pair was Florence Peto and Honoree Lenice Bacon. Do you know the story of what happened when they met?  Bacon visited Peto’s house and at first she thought Florence was the maid.  No one ever tells why the mistake was made, but I imagine it was that Bacon came from a fairly well-to-do family (she was a descendant of the Virginia Randolphs, lived at a place called “Cedar Dells” and also had a summer home) so she probably wasn’t used to someone answering her own door. After the initial faux pas, the meeting went well; Peto had a copy of Bacon’s book, “American Patchwork Quilts”, and (according to Bacon’s report of the visit) praised it profusely.

As much as I enjoy Facebook, especially now when our live visits and events are curtailed, I can’t help but feel that we’ve lost something that the letter writers had. Sure, we have instant access, but they had the pleasure of anticipation

Well, that loose end is a sigh for softer times, and also a segue into this week’s Hall of Fame Honoree, Lenice Bacon.

You can read more about Bacon at the bio link below.  She’s known for her lectures on quilt lore and for her book, American Patchwork Quilts. The book is comprehensive, plus she gets credit for naming the Darting Minnows block which appears in Hall of Fame Honoree Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns. And she gets credit from quilt scholar Teri Klassen for being one of the only early quilt history authors to recognize, albeit in a limited and perhaps skewed way, the contribution of African-American quilters.

Here’s Lenice giving her “Quilts and Quilt Lore” lecture to the Boston Women’s City Club in 1950. She’s showing one of her favorite quilts, Friendship Quilt, made of pink and white appliqued prints. Notice the time-inappropriate “Colonial” costume.

There’s not much more to tell, but I did find a few fun snippets.  First, unless there was another nationally-published Lenice Bacon in her day, our gal went in for doggerel.  It’s hard to picture a proper Southern lady who became a Boston society lady writing at this level, but here are some examples:

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Another factoid about Bacon is that she lectured on topics other than quilts. Her programs included talks on Alexander Graham Bell, Greek poetry, “Negro” folk music, Browning (Elizabeth Barrett or Robert? Or both?) and the Currys of Boston.

Okay, Curry isn’t as well-known a Boston name as Cabot or Lodge, so I had to look into that too.  Samuel Silas Curry and Anna Baright Curry were the founders of what became Curry College; it was the School of Expression in 1915 when Bacon matriculated. That struck me as an odd name, but I learned that there was a pedagogical movement known as expressionism, and its proponents were expressionists. In modern educational terms, we might say their focus was critical thinking, reflection, “deep reading” as opposed to rote learning.  They championed elocution, public performance and vocal self-confidence. No wonder audiences were universally delighted to hear Lenice Bacon. She expressed herself as she had been taught, and the result was always reported to have been charming.

That’s it for this week.  I’ve got to get to work on my Christmas decorations.

Your quilting friend,

Anna

Bandana fashions. https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/90s-trend-bandana-headband#slide-1

Bandana quilts. http://quiltingdigest.com/9-easy-bandana-quilts-to-inspire-you/

Andres collection. https://quiltindex.org/view/?type=specialcolls&kid=38-94-6

Bio information. https://quiltershalloffame.net/lenice-bacon/

In this video, Susan Price Miller shares with us the process she went through and the history she learned while making “Rising Sun.” This quilt is her admission to the American Quilt Study Group’s traveling exhibit “200 Years of Solid Color: Cultural and Regional Distinctions, 1800-2000,” on display at The Quilters Hall of Fame September 29 – December 12, 2020.

Even in 2020 there is much for which to be thankful! We are thankful for the art of quilting and all of the folks who have contributed to the world of quilting over the years!

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you own a fascinator, now is the time to wear it; get out your white gloves too because we’re going to meet the Queen. Queen Bertha Stenge, that is—the 1930s-40s “Queen” of Chicago quilting.

Of all the blogs I’ve written so far, this may be the hardest for two reasons.  The first is that I have been championing a Stenge contemporary who was also from Chicago, and I don’t like to see my favorite upstaged. (I wrote about Mary Gasperik back in September, and she’ll be the Heritage Honoree at the 2021 Celebration, so it’s all good.) The second and more difficult reason is that there’s not much written about Bertha Stenge. Where were the paparazzi for this queen?  Let’s see if we can remedy the dearth of coverage.

You can read Bertha Stenge’s biography on the Hall of Fame website (link below) and there are a few other places where her basic info is available.  But it’s all very basic, mostly her many awards—not fitting for a queen at all! In fact, of the >250 articles mentioning her on Newspapers.com, almost a third told the same story of how she began quilting during an illness, kept at it for 25 years, and hoped to complete 50 quilts before she was done. Another third used her quote about young women of her day being too impatient to quilt—“too restless”. Most of the remaining entries gave a bare report of her placement in the local fair or quilt show. But I persisted, and found a few interesting tidbits to talk about.

Let’s start out with two of the most famous Stenge quilts, “The Quilt Show” and “The Quilting Party”.

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A few things to note about this quilt-once you get over being gob-smacked by the detail. (All thirteen quilts are actually pieced.) I love the floral motifs in the double-rodded cross hatch quilting; and then the switch-up in the wide white border to signal that these quilts are in the winner’s circle.  This is that kind of attention to detail that puts a jewel in Queen Bertha’s crown. Stenge didn’t always do her own quilting, but I feel sure she designed or at least specified the pattern. And use of trapunto became a signature element for her after her first few quilts. 

Is it fanciful to think that the Irish Chain quilt in the center is “Best of Show”?  It’s the only mini that has a border, so I like to imagine Bertha consciously gave it pride of place if not a ribbon. And she didn’t stop with the central images; she continued her detail into the border motifs, creating a showcase of other blocks that might be seen at a quilt show. These could easily compete with some Dear Jane quilts. And showing that even queens can have a sense of humor, Stenge has signed the quilt in a traditional album block.

“The Quilt Show” above is in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, and you can see their other Stenge holdings at the link below. The next quilt, “The Quilting Party” is at the Illinois State Museum along with several other Stenge quilts, and there’s a link for that too. And while you’re in the link section, you’ll see one for the Chicago History Museum which owns Stenge’s 1933 World’s Fair quilt; it has an unusual quilting pattern which is definitely worth seeing. So, let’s go to the party.

This is another quilt where detail reigns supreme. I saw this beauty in person about five years ago.  Look at some of the tiny, precise additions which add so much to the “picture” in the middle.

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The center alone would have been a tour de force, but again, Stenge doesn’t stint in the borders. How many can you count? And here are some detail shots I took of the fabrics:

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You’ll have noticed that the yellow and red print in the star centers on the right is the same as that used on the “quilt” in the center.  Once again, Bertha is winking at us.  But the fabric also provides a segué into another interesting aspect of Stenge’s quilting career, and that is her friendship with Florence Peto (another Hall of Fame Honoree) and others. Bertha and Florence lived in different states but stayed in touch through letters.

It’s said that Florence Peto was instrumental in convincing Bertha Stenge to work in traditional and center-medallion style. I’m not sure how much convincing Stenge required; her earliest works are pretty traditional.  But I do know that Peto played a big part in getting Stenge to use historical fabrics like that purple stripe in “The Quilting Party”.  Peto often instigated round robins or supplied fabric and challenged Stenge and her other pen pals to use it in a quilt.  Take a look at the sashing in this Sawtooth Star quilt that Stenge made. Those of you who are quilt historians will recognize that wavy stripe and brownish-reds as being old (maybe 1870s?), and it’s just the kind of thins Peto used and shared.

We can also look at another example, “Gazelle”, and wonder if some of the fabric came from Peto. Here’s the photo I took at the Intenational Quilt Museum.  The first detail has fabric in three colorways, and could have been a challenge. I don’t know what to think about the floral in the second one because Stenge seems to generally rely on solids and tone-on-tones; this could have come from Peto, but there’s no proof.  Either way, my heart warms with the thought of these ladies sending around their quilting missives, sharing their progress much like we do today online. And who wouldn’t want to be the Queen’s correspondent?

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As an aside, “Gazelle” was made from a newspaper pattern—something unusual for Stenge who largely favored her own original designs.

No discussion of Bertha Stenge is complete without mention of her artistic talents. Here are some examples of how she used her formal art education in her quilting.

This quilt is pieced in a secondary palette of purple, orange and green, showing a good grasp of the color wheel, and inverts the central medallion format in a way that is innovative while still being controlled.  Stenge made other hexagon quilts which can be seen in the Illinois State Museum collection.

Here’s a quilt that shows how Stenge could break out from her traditional preferences and emulate the Art Deco Style.  It’s also whimsical with blocks representing sardine cans, and celery and tin-opening keys in the quilting. (OPA was in charge of rationing during World War II.)

And speaking of whimsy, look at this detail from “American Holidays”; the Valentine is being mailed to Bertha Stenge!  The Queen can poke fun at herself.

What?  The Queen pays taxes?  Well, at least she was a good sport about it and saw the ironic side of things.  Stenge didn’t compete for the prize money (her biggest award was put into war bonds).

I’m going to wrap up with my favorite Bertha Stenge quilt, Iva’s Pin Cushion. I love the subtle coloring and design symmetry, and the trapunto work and quilting are exquisite.

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Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this visit with Bertha Stenge. Do you agree she earned the title of “Queen”? She showed humor, a quick wit, a command of her art, and loyalty to friends. To top it off, she was modest (“The two things you need most in making quilts are plenty of patience and a warm iron.”).  That adds up to regal in my book.

Your quilting friend,

Anna  

Hall of Fame bio https://quiltershalloffame.net/bertha-stenge/[AH1] 

Wasserman blog http://annquiltsblog.blogspot.com/2018/06/quilts-at-art-institute-of-chicago.html   

Art Institute of Chicago collection https://www.artic.edu/artists/36792/bertha-stenge (I was puzzled by the name of one of these quilts, Toby Lil;  then I read that it represents English crockery known as “Toby” jugs and was named for or given to a friend, Lillian.)

Illinois State Museum http://www.museum.state.il.us/ismdepts/art/collections/daisy/gallery.html

Chicago History Museum Century of Progress World’s Fair quilt https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/digital/collection/chm_museum/id/3197/rec/2

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I hope the Michigan tourism office doesn’t mind my referencing their slogan as I write about an Honoree from their State.  Maybe after reading this, you’ll want to visit some of Mary Schafer’s quilts in East Lansing, so I think it’s a legitimate use.  But before we “travel” to the Great Lakes/ Wolverine/ Mitten state, there’s some unfinished business from my earlier blog about Carrie Hall.

You may remember that I told you about the magazine article I purchased on eBay. Well, it arrived, and I can share it with you. First off, it cleared up a misconception I had: Hall actually had two, not one, periods of doll dressing.  I wrote about her latter-day making of historical dolls, but she had an earlier period of making fashion clothes for 27-inch mannequins.  I’m not sure whether/ how she used these dolls to promote her couture business, but they coincide with her dress-making career.

The magazine article is written by a doll collector who won several of Madam Hall’s creation at an auction. Before the auction, the author read up on Carrie Hall; he learned all the facts I told you plus he found a weak clue that Hall had designed clothes for Susan B. Anthony.  At the auction, he chose to bid on dolls that he thought were most representative of the fashion trends that Hall had written about in her book “From Hoopskirts to Nudity”.  Here’s what he came away with (remember, these are 27 inches):

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Some week, I want to take a side trip into the connection between fashion and quilting, but right now it’s time to move on to Mary Schafer.  You can read her bio at the link below. You can also learn more from someone who knew and worked with Mary through these books, available on Amazon and many other sites.

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Although Mary was trained in needle arts as a child, she didn’t take up quilting until her forties.  She bought a quilt kit (design unknown), but was daunted and returned it to the store. A few years later, she decided to try again, and made a Rhodendron quilt similar to this top (which I would have found daunting as well, but she persevered):

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But Mary’s real journey into the world of quilting and quilt history for which she is famous, came from restoring and then replicating an old quilt that her son had used at a beach party. That set her on the path of researching old quilt patterns and making copies of them. For example, Mary discovered a picture of this quilt in Florence Peto’s “Historic Quilts” and she made a copy as a tribute to her. Peto wrote back (they were regular correspondents, and Mary also exchanged letters with Hall of Fame Honorees Joyce Gross and Lenice Bacon)  saying, “Do you know I have never seen another ‘Lobster’ quilt since the one pictured in “Historic Quilts”; I am happy to know you are keeping the design alive.” I, too, have never seen another “Lobster”, so I question whether the design is still alive.  Does anyone out there want to revive it?

I usually include more photos from the Quilt Index when I write, but there are too many to choose from, so I’ll suggest that you browse on the link below.  Some of the quilts are made by Mary, some are ones she finished, largely with blocks and tops made by her pen pal, Betty Harriman, and some that Mary collected herself. Here’s a photo from the Alliance for American Quilts showing Mary working on some of the odds and ends she preserved.

Michigan State University Museum acquired part of her collection–developed over a period of 40 years–of more than 200 quilts plus quilt tops, fabrics, and quilt blocks representative of most quilt styles and periods in American history. They have a traveling exhibit available for a fee if your guild is interested.  The exhibit was shown at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA a few years back, and it was visited by several bloggers (not me, sadly); check out their sites—links below–  for some good views of Mary’s work.

The Quilters Hall of Fame has over a dozen blocks that are the result of Mary’s very active round robin participation, two quilts finished by Schafer and an unfinished partial quilt top.  You can see these at the link below, but I also want to show you this quilt that Mary called “Single Chain and Knot.

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Our Collections description says of the knot: “This design resembles a Pennsylvania Dutch fylfot.”  It could also be called a lauburu or Basque cross, a traditional celtic hooked cross with four comma- -shaped heads. Today, Lauburu is a symbol of the Basque region; it is also associated with Celtic peoples, most notably Galicians and Asturians. 

If there’s one thing that got Mary Schafer into the Hall of Fame, I think it must have been her message of quilting as being worthy of respect. She started making, collecting, studying and talking about quilts in that doldrums period after World War II and the Whitney Museum exhibit. She quietly (but publicly) went about the business of telling us that we should honor our work.  She lived by the words of Marie Webster in “Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them” : “To raise in popular esteem the most worthy products of home industry, to add to the appreciation of their history and traditions, to give added interest to the hours of labor which their construction involves….” I don’t know about you, but sometimes that message gets lost for me—like when I’m bored from making 96 half square triangles—so it’s good to have Mary Schafer to remind me that I’m engaged in a meritorious pursuit.  Others will talk about the beauty of quilts (and Mary did as well) or the creativity involved, but sometimes it’s enough to think about diligence and competence in the process.  Yes! Thanks for that, Mary Schafer.

Your quilting friend,

Anna

Bio https://quiltershalloffame.net/mary-schafer/

Mercer Museum exhibit photos on Dawn’s blog http://collectorwithaneedle.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-mary-schafer-collection.html

Mercer exhibit on Triplett’s blog https://www.quiltandtextilecollections.com/blog/the-mary-schafer-collection-a-legacy-of-quilt-history

More Mercer photos http://www.quiltyhabit.com/2017/07/visit-to-mercer-museum-mary-schafer.html

Quilt Index, Mary Schafer Collection https://quiltindex.org/view/?type=specialcolls&kid=12-91-471

Hall of Fame Schafer Collection https://quiltershalloffame.pastperfectonline.com/webobject?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search_criteria=%22Mary+Schafer%22&searchButton=Search

While doing some research today, I came across this story in Ruth Finley’s book, Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them. While discussing antiques and their ability to defy age, wear, and tear, Ruth writes about her Aunt Thankful’s sheets.

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There is scattered among the members of my family a set of twenty-four sheets, discolored but unworn, spun and woven from flax grown in the Connecticut hills. The pair that belongs to me is marked No. 12. Under the numbers are embroidered a heart and the initials T. S. The whole marking is so delicate that it covers, in the upper right hand corner of each sheet, less than a square half-inch of space. It is executed in cross-stitch done in a woman’s hair.

Thankful Smith was the twin sister of a greatly removed grandmother. The two girls each spun, wove and marked for their dower chests twelve pairs of linen sheets, while waiting for their lovers to come back from war. The betrothed of the twin who was my ancestress came home. She was married; and her children and her children’s children wore out her dower sheets. But Thankful’s lover never returned. Visiting among the family households as the patient drudge that was the role of the spinsters of her day, Thankful had no need for the domestic linen of a home. The dower sheets she had marked with bridal hearts in her own hair were never used. They are today as smooth and fine and strong as the day they left her loom.

Finley, Ruth E. Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them. Philadephia: J.B. Lippincott, 1929. Reprint 1970, pp 24.

If you would like to read more about Ruth Finley her biography is here: https://quiltershalloffame.net/ruth-finley/

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In looking for material for this week’s post, I noted an article in American Quilter titled “Thread Witch: The Magic Artistry of Ruth B. McDowell.” I was unable to locate and read the article, but the label for this Honoree stayed with me as I looked at her work. She really cast a spell on me, and I think you will be enchanted as well.

As a professional artist, all of Ruth’s art quilts as shown on her web site and in this article are unique one-of-a-kind pieces. They may not be copied, reproduced, or reprinted without specific written permission from Ruth. No patterns for these quilts are available. You may not attempt to make your own pattern from these images. This is exactly the same copyright as in the world of paintings.

Ruth McDowell is a trained artist with a Massachusetts Institute of Technology B.S. in Art and Design and a brief stint as a technical illustrator in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She started quilting with traditional blocks, and her first books follow this theme.

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But then she found Ruby Short McKim (another Hall of Fame Honoree who published quilt designs during the Depression).  Or, at least that’s what Ruth says: “I was fascinated with the designs I found in Ruby McKim’s 1931 book, 101 Patchwork Patterns. Her original blocks based on poppy, iris, rose and trumpet vine were graphically interesting, botanically recognizable, and straightforward to piece with traditional methods…. The trumpet vine I found especially fascinating.”

Well, I wondered about that, because the line from McKim’s designs to McDowell’s quilts is anything but a straight one. Look at these three side-by-side comparisons and tell me if you see any connection.

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Yes, in both versions the Daffs nod, the Nasturtium leaves retain the pentangle veins, and the Poppies have tall stems.  But McDowell has taken McKim’s simple shapes and turned them into something completely different.  And if that isn’t witchcraft, I don’t know what is.

Like most magic-workers, McDowell has some secrets up her sleeves.  But they aren’t really secrets; she has shared her methods in ten books.  I own Fabric Journey: An Inside Look at the Quilts of Ruth B. McDowell, and although I’ll probably never make a McDowell-style quilt, the text is perhaps the most self-revealing I’ve run across in the quilting world.  And this openness seems typical of McDowell; for example, many of the photos on her website (link below) are accompanied by a personal comment, a tip, a little story about her inspiration source, etc. You don’t ever need to ask “What was she thinking?”—Ruth will tell you!

And, in addition to the wonderful quilt pictures and artist’s commentary, Fabric Journey gives me a little insight to the McKim/McDowell connections. I can look at McDowell’s line drawings in the book and see the similarity to the stylized McKim flowers. Phew!  I’m relieved: it’s not witchcraft, but it’s still bewitching.

Of course there’s more to a McDowell quilt than the initial sketches, and you’ll find information about fabric selection, piecing considerations, and border choices for each quilt in the book.

Here are some of Ruth McDowell’s other books. 

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All of Ruth’s quilts are pieced, right-sides-together, with templates. This is a very particular technique, which has an enormous impact on her imagery. That is the technique that she teaches in her books. Also, as you see, nature plays heavily in McDowell’s choice of subjects, and I think you’ll enjoy seeing a few quilts on that theme.  All of the photos, unless noted, are from McDowell’s website—a virtual show in itself.

“Witch Hazel Jelena”. International Quilt Museum Object Number 2006.011.0001  (See more IQM quilts at the link below).

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I chose these two because I have rudbeckia in my garden, but I am having no success in establishing the Solomon’s Seal. And the one below, Rue, is a plant that was reputed to repel evil spirits (not that I would want to repel “The Thread Witch”, but I did grow rue at one time).

Farm life seems to be another area of interest for McDowell. It’s one thing to capture a leaf in a line drawing and turn it into a quilt, but quite another to capture muscle, movement and personality. McDowell can do it! 

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She can also do architecture—which should be no surprise given her skill with line drawing and her background as a technical illustrator. But these quilts aren’t just blueprints in fabric; I can smell the mustiness and feel the age of the wood.

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If you’re not already impressed with Ruth McDowell, let me tell you a few other things. She has had numerous solo exhibits in the US, and has been featured in invitational art quilt exhibitions in this country, Japan and Germany. Like several other Honorees, she was chosen for inclusion in “The 100 Best American Quilts of the Twentieth Century”, but in her case, it’s for two quilts, not just one. She has quilts in the permanent collections of many museums, and her work is also in corporate and private collections. You can read more about her life and achievements on the Hall of Fame website.

I’m going to leave you with one more McDowell image.  This one is perfect for this time of year.  And there’s nothing witchy about it.

“Sunshine and Shadow: Maple Leaves”. International Quilt Museum. Object Number 2008.040.0228. Byron and Sara Rhodes Dillow Collection

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Your quilting friend,

Anna

International Quilt Museum McDowell quilts: https://www.internationalquiltmuseum.org/search/node/Ruth%20B.%20McDowell

McDowell’s quilts for sale: http://www.ruthbmcdowell.com/clients/rbm/catalog.cfm  Navigate from here to other parts of the website to see more quilts.

More bio information: https://quiltershalloffame.net/ruth-b-mcdowell/

Even more quilts on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ruth-B-McDowell-303778260912