We, at The Quilters Hall of Fame, are very excited about the progress being made on the Train Depot AKA The Arnold Savage Education Center.

We have been focusing on the exterior of the building and getting it sealed against the weather. A new roof was installed. Two new custom doors fashioned out of solid cherry wood to match the original doors have been installed. New gutters have been hung and additional windows are on site ready to be installed. Painted surfaces have received a new coat of paint and security lights have been installed. Here are some before and after photos:

On the interior lots has been happening too… we had a hazardous materials evaluation and remediation. The main rooms of the building received a white-wash coat of paint which really cleans up the look of the interior.

As we move forward, we are thankful that Indiana Historical Society has awarded us a Heritage Support Grant to help us with a new Heating, Ventilating, Air Conditioning system for the building. Heritage Support Grants are provided by the Indiana Historical Society and are made possible by Lilly Endowment, Inc.

Stay tuned for further progress!

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 1970, Bets Ramsey decided to go back to school and get a master’s degree in crafts from the University of Tennessee. She selected quilt making from a list of research topics, never imagining where it would lead her. She studied all the quilt books in the library. As
she interviewed relatives about he grandmother’s quilts, the past and the grandmother she had never known became very real. This was the beginning of a new career path, and she has followed it ever since: making quilts and wall hangings; writing, teaching, and lecturing
about quilts; and curating quilt exhibits.
In 1994, Bets decided to make her own artwork her priority. “Finally, I could see myself as an artist,” she says. “I began to understand that in the past I had refused to claim the title and take the responsibility for living it. Now I know that I am an artist and this is my work.
I will continue to curate exhibitions, to write articles, and give lectures because that is what I do, but my studio work comes first.”
Bets’ work is characterized by low key yet animated colors and patterns and careful attention to technique, reflecting both her formal training in design and her love of art. Many of her pieces are pieced of historic textiles, adding to the uniqueness and stories of the pieces.
We will have some of Bets’ pieces on display at The Quilters Hall of Fame February 22 – May 7, 2022. Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. To 4 p.m. We’d love to have you stop in to see them.

Deb Geyer

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 each home is fenced with ornamental iron. You can seethe park across the street, that private outdoor green space that gives relief in an area where buildings come down to the edge of the sidewalk. At the top, quilted smoke curls from the chimney pots.”

This quilt uses a variety of fabrics to allude to the textures without actually representing them. Exceptions are a brick patterned fabric used as surrounds for the doors and foliage patterned fabrics used for the trees. The arches over the doors are pieced of a dozen different pieces of fabric to achieve the arch. Windows use a blue and white shaded fabric that gives an impression of reflection. Steps are made of several different shades and patterns of grey fabric. Fences are created by enhancing checks or striped prints with black stitching and French knots. Panels of the doors are defined in outline stitch in colors matching the color of the door. Black hand rails, door knockers, door knobs and letter slots are embroidered and the sidewalk in front of the park has brown linear embroidery. A narrow pale green inner border defines the scene. The date “1999” is quilted near the proper left lower corner. The quilt is machine pieced and hand appliqued and embroidered. The hand quilting in a variety of patterns outlined for architectural elements, curve-linear for foliage, lines and rectangles for sidewalk, cross-hatch diamonds for the roof and clam shell for the sidewalk and roads. The quilting is in white thread at about eight stitches per inch.

The white muslin back is designed like a postcard. Hand embroidered in dark blue chain stitch in the address position is one line: “Sure, it’s a little bit of heaven!”. The stamp cancellation is the name, date and number of the quilt in a circle: “Dublin Nov 1984 XIII”. This is done in dark gray stem stitch. The stamp is an appliqued green shamrock with a green border inside a diagonally striped added border and dark gray cancellation lines in stem stitch across the stamp.

Helen Kelley was inducted into The Quilters Hall of Fame in 2008. See her biography at: https://quiltershalloffame.net/helen-kelley/

The Quilters Hall of Fame is currently working on a virtual tour of the Marie Webster House featuring quilts from the collection. This quilt will be included in the virtual tour, soon to be posted!

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 to provide work for unemployed professionals in the theater during the Great Depression.

The quilt has a black satin background with fan blades made of various shades of red, yellow, blue, magenta, purple and pink, in satin, velvet and crepes. All fabrics are solids, no prints. The batting is a very thin sheet cotton. The quilt is pieced, appliqued and quilted by hand and has a straight grain binding of black satin attached by machine and sewn down by hand. The features, color scheme, and arrangement give the quilt an “Art Deco” flair.

For the quilting, there are feathered wreaths in large plain areas. Each fan blade has one line of quilting running through the center lengthwise. One row of stitching follows the shape of applique. On the triangular ground opposite the fans there are eight petal floral motifs. Heavily feathered vines fill the sashing.

Marguerite Ickis was inducted into The Quilters Hall of Fame in 1979. She loved to tell people, “I’ve led nine lives, and I’ve loved every one of them.” She was a botanist, worked for the Girl Scouts, was an editor, a dean, writer, quilter, researcher, an innkeeper, and upon retirement a painter.

The Quilters Hall of Fame is currently working on a virtual tour of the Marie Webster House featuring quilts from the collection. This quilt will be included in the virtual tour, soon to be posted!

I’ve been writing every week about Honorees of The Quilters Hall of Fame, but this time I’m going to switch up and write about people who haven’t been inducted—yet.

My inspiration, if you can call it that, was my sewing experience earlier today.  Did your mother ever say, “Don’t sew on Sunday or the Devil will make you pick out your stitches with your nose”?  Well, that’s what happened to me; seventeen seams in, all but four taken out.  But thank goodness for my seam ripper!  Or as I like to call it, the Mulligan Stick. (If you or your husband golf, you’ll recognize a Mulligan as an opportunity for a do-over.  My husband turns on a wood lathe, and he can’t correct his mistakes like I can, so I try to keep a cheerful attitude about un-sewing.) 

We all joke about seam rippers and the stitch removal process.  We use terms like frog stitching/ ribbit; reverse sewing, etc. I recently ordered some tools online that were called stitch fixers: same thing, but with a more positive spin. So, who invented the seam ripper, and why isn’t he in The Hall of Fame?

Here’s the answer to the first question, from Tenrandomfacts.com:

Seam rippers where probably invented sometime in the late 1800s, and one of the earliest patents for a similar tool was a thimble that had the addition of a small knife that was patented in the United States by W Miller in 1883, that was used to rip threads in a similar way; while a later patent exists for a tool designed for the sole purpose of ripping seams, in 1898 by John Fisher from Canada.

Fisher’s device was a piece of twisted metal with a small blade held between two pincer-like ends. The drawing with the patent doesn’t show up well here (a better view is in the link below the photo), but you can recognize this as an ancestor of what we use today.  The design evolved from the single slicer between tiny jaws into a curved blade by the 1950s, with a little knobby protector appearing later. We’ve come a long way and today we even have electric ripper scissors, but that’s too modern for me.

As an aside, I learned that I have been using my ripper incorrectly—or at least not as originally designed. Fisher prescribes the method of slashing along the seam line, but I insert the blade into every third to fifth stich on one side, and then pull up the uncut thread on the other side.  At the risk of starting something akin to the toilet paper role debate, I’ll ask, “Which way do you rip?”

I couldn’t sew without John Fisher’s invention, and there are many other tools that have changed quilting in a dramatic way. How about the rotary cutter and mat? Or all those specialty rulers we know and love?  And, of course, the invention with the biggest impact on our craft/art—the sewing machine.  I’m sure you’ve got some favorites too.  Why aren’t these inventors in the Quilters Hall of Fame?

And for that matter, why isn’t Jenny Doan of Missouri Star in?  Or someone from the Modern Quilt Guild? Or that fabric designer who always comes up with a new line for you to fall in love with?

Well, the number one reason someone doesn’t get in to the Hall of Fame is that they haven’t been nominated. Yes, everyone agrees that Elias Howe and Isaac Singer made invaluable contributions to the world of quilting, but unless someone puts those names forward, they won’t be honored.  There is no group at the Hall of Fame whose job it is to cast their collective mind around the quilting world and see who is worthy. Instead, the Selection Committee relies on you—actual quilters, quilt enthusiasts, scholars and historians — to present a name for consideration. It’s a way to ensure that the Committee doesn’t play favorites or skew the decision to their own ideas, but it doesn’t work unless you give them something to work with.

The process is quite simple; you can find the nomination form and instructions on the Hall of Fame website (link below). But essentially, all you have to do is “Tell how he/she has made outstanding contributions to the world of quilting.”, and provide some back up info.  The website doesn’t tell you, but there are two categories of inductees, one for contemporary nominees, and the other for persons who lived/quilted 50 years ago or are deceased (Heritage Honorees).  

One caution: nominations close on August 30^th for selection/ announcement at following Celebration. So, you either need to get organized quickly for a 2020 submission/ 2021 decision/ 2022 induction, or take your time knowing, that the earliest your nominee would be honored would be 2023. Either way, it’s worth doing.

I submitted a nomination last year, proposing a woman from my hometown, Chicago, who had begun her quilting career around the time of the 1933 World’s Fair.  The process was enjoyable and gave me the opportunity to get acquainted with my quilter’s descendants, learn more about quilting and the Century of Progress, and practice using the Quilt Index. If you go this route, you’ll soon become an expert in your area.  If you propose a current quilter, you can rely on your own experiences (maybe your nominee gave a lecture or workshop at your guild), you’ll find it easy to gather data from the internet, and you may even make a connection with your nominee. Please consider making a nomination.

Next week, I’ll be back to writing about actual Honorees. Don’t ask yourself why that person was chosen.  Ask why you haven’t made your choice known. (Channeling JFK here—sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

You’ve been very attentive to all this narrative, and I know that Fourth of July is coming up, so here are some photos of my Patient Piecers Bee group and our patriotic projects. The first two are a round robin started with some unusual (read: ugly; Americana prints don’t often have that coppery green) fabric, and the second is Quilts of Valor.  Have a good Fourth!

Your quilting friend,
Anna

Suggested Links:

http://tenrandomfacts.com/seam-ripper/

https://quiltershalloffame.net/honoree-nomination/

I often think that, had I enjoyed a wider world view when I was young, I would have come to quilts much earlier than I did. As a 1950s child of the steel mill area of Chicago’s South Side, I knew no one who had quilts—it was chenille spreads for us .  And I certainly had no idea that it was possible to study textiles or to get academic training as a museum curator. I wouldn’t say my youth was wasted (my English major gave me the life-long pleasures of reading and writing) but I look with a little envy at people like Honoree Gail van der Hoof whose lives took a very different direction.

Gail is known in the quilt world as the partner of another Honoree, Jonathan Holstein; in 1971 they co-curated a ground-breaking exhibit of quilts at the Whitney Museum of American Art.  They are credited with changing the perspective of quilts as home goods/decorative arts into “real” art to be hung on walls. The 50^th anniversary of that exhibit is coming up and I’ll write more about it later, but here are some images of quilts in the exhibit;  they were collected by van der Hoof and Holstein and are all now at the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, NE. 

For today though, I’d like to explore a more intimate aspect of this Honoree.  First, take a few minutes to read the biography on the Hall of Fame website, and we can compare notes. https://quiltershalloffame.net/gail-van-der-hoof/

OK.  Here’s one thing that struck a chord with me:  Gail never became a quilter, but she had an over-arching interest in textiles. Imagine taking the Orient Express to Turkey to explore textiles!   Can’t you see her in a market looking at rugs? I wonder if she haggled for her purchases?  Probably so, if her introspective assessment gives us a clue.  “I must have been a rag picker in my last life. I have always haunted thrift shops or used clothes markets and can always find something good.”  How many of you can relate to that?

And that question opens the way for more questions.  Do you love finding bargains?  And what do you do with them?  Are you like Gail and wear what you find, or are you shopping for fabric there? I know there are women who find old aprons and dresses to use for repair of vintage quilts, and I have read articles that suggest treasure hunting at the thrift shops for flannel shirts and hankies (for “masculine” and “feminine quilts”). 

If you are a quilter, do you ever mix textiles, or do you stick with cotton?  I tried using silk once and found it to ravel more than I expected—I probably should have used a stabilizer—but it catches the light in a way that makes the quilt more interesting.   I’m going to have to “up” my technique if I ever get around to making a piece from my husband’s old neckties, and I have an idea for using some of my no-longer-worn scarves.  But that’s about as far as I dare to go. The biography also mentions Gail’s other travels, to Holland, England, other parts of Europe, and to West Africa. All of those places have a significant and distinct textile history, and I wonder how much of that Gail explored on her trips? I’ve been to the Toile Museum in Jouy, France, and to the mills in Lowell, Massachusetts. I enjoyed seeing the swatch books of 19^th century fabrics at the museum in Manchester, New Hampshire. 

(There aren’t enough photos of Gail, so I’ve added my vacation pics.)

But all of that was just “spectator sport”.  What would it have been like if I had studied textiles in college as Gail did? I don’t think I would have enjoyed it any more, but I certainly would have been better able to put it all in context.

So, I think that’s what makes Gail van der Hoof a Hall of Fame Honoree: the ability to have brought her academic training and work experience to see quilts from a different perspective. First, as something worth collecting, and then as something worth appreciating for art’s sake.  She deserves her place and I’ll try not to be too envious of her career path.

Your quilting friend,

Anna

It’s that time of year when a quilter’s fancy turns to thoughts of THE quilt show in Paducah.  Even if you’re not going, you want to go someday, or you’ve been at least once, or you know someone who is going.  It’s THE BIG SHOW.  But not this year! Sadly, QuiltWeek is another Corona Casualty. (Don’t worry; QuiltWeek has been postponed, and other events are still planned for Lancaster, Grand Rapids, and Charleston.)

Despite those alternatives, we’re all going to mourn the loss of the annual week-long extravaganza that has become so much a part of our quilting psyche.    So, while we’re all sheltering in place and feeling like our foundations are being rocked, it’s a good time to look behind the scenes and learn about the prime mover for this iconic event: Hall of Fame honoree, Meredith Schroeder.

Usually when I blog, I tell a little about the Honoree and then refer you to the Hall of Fame website, but today, I’m sending you straight there. Go to https://quiltershalloffame.net/meredith-schroeder/ to learn about Meredith’s career.  The reason I’m short-cutting is twofold: first, because there isn’t much written about Schroeder—in fact, the Hall of Fame has no publications by her, and no artifacts or objects related to her.  And second, because I want to write a lot about the events and organization spearheaded by this very private woman which made her an inductee.

I say private, but that’s not quite right.  By all accounts, Meredith Schroeder is, for all her standing in the quilt industry, a very approachable person.  It’s said that you don’t have to go through layers of corporate bureaucracy to reach her.  (I didn’t try, but I believe it.) In my research, I found one article about how she gave tips to a local guild about setting up their quilt show.  And there are hundreds of articles linked to her name as awarding prizes (yes, big cash awards which she solicited from sponsors before anyone else had the idea). None of those articles headline Schroeder; they are all along the lines of “Local quilter wins at international quilt show”. 

That reminded me of a meme I’ve seen about how successful women build each other up. And that’s exactly what Meredith Schroeder has done over the past thirty-five years. She has created and sustained a platform for all of us to strive, dream and maybe even achieve in our quilting efforts. I remember seeing a nine-patch quilt at one of the Paducah shows I went to and wondered how it fit with the hyper-embellishments, precision piecing, true-to life pictorials and other spectacular quilts at the show.  I was told that the show organizers felt it was important to display all levels of skill so that all attendees would learn something or have something to aspire to.  Could you be more inclusive than that? Thanks, Meredith Schroeder, for reaching us all!

If you’re ready for a break and some eye candy, here’s a link to all the wonderful Best in Show quilts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHWyhRxDjV0 Of course, there are several other things to thank Meredith Schroeder for: American Quilter’s Society (membership info here: https://www.americanquilter.com/promos/join_aqs_original/  )  and The National Quilt Museum (not open now, but there are some very cool virtual “shows” up on the website), and the Certified Appraiser program (I took classes in 2012 and 2013—photos below–, and although I wasn’t certified, I learned a ton, and they started me on my quilt history road, so I’m grateful.)

The American Quilter’s Society also offers online quilt classes on their ‘iquilt’ platform, and is currently providing a free online code to preview on of their classes. The code is IQUILTFREE and can be redeemed until June 30, 2020. Perfect timing, since we’re not going anywhere soon.

Well, that’s it for Paducah, AQS, the Museum and Meredith Schroeder.  Except to say that her birthday is coming up on April 21^st.  If you enjoyed reading this, or have enjoyed any of the quilting events/sites started by her, drop in to the AQS Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/AQSonline/  ) and leave her a birthday message. And think about building up someone; be like Meredith.

Your quilting friend,

Anna

I was going to try to write something with an Easter/Passover theme, but even with 50+ Honorees, I couldn’t make the stretch.  But, not to worry; I stumbled across something that led me to Florence Peto.  I’ll tell you what I found after I introduce her.

Florence Peto was an East Coast gal (New York and New Jersey), and she was active in promoting quilting by participating at fairs and quilt expos, collecting quilts, writing for magazines, lecturing in person and talking on radio stations there. She also touched the mid-century quilt world by corresponding with quilters around the country and was a “Pen Pal” to several other Hall of Fame Honorees, and to Emma Andres, who isn’t in yet (but who produced some iconic quilts). It’s hard to tell who inspired whom in their letters.  She is famous for writing American Quilts and Coverlets (a book in every quilt historian’s library) and Historic Quilts (a book that is now too pricey for many, listing at upwards of $350 used). Here she is showing off some quilts. My Bee is working on Round Robins, and I think I can get some ideas from the one in her hands.

Read more about Florence Peto here https://quiltershalloffame.net/florence-peto/

Peto was an excellent needleworker too.  She made samples of quilt blocks to use as visual aids for her lectures. If you want to see her in action, go to https://www.cah.utexas.edu/db/dmr/image_lg.php?variable=di_07292  And here’s a broderie perse block from the Quilters Hall of Fame Collection. (That technique is next on my list to try; I doubt mine will look as good.) Next to it is another of Peto’s applique pieces from TQHF’s Collection.

But what fascinates me about Florence is how she continues to be an “influencer” to this day. What lead me to write about her was that I discovered “she” has a Facebook page.  Imagine:  born in 1881, died 50 years ago, and still active on social media!  How “Back to the Future” is that?  Ok, she doesn’t write it herself, but there is so much of her eye candy, it’s almost like she does. Check it out. https://www.facebook.com/Historic-Quilts-by-Florence-Peto-1971106299806491/ 

And if you’re a quilter yourself, you might be interested in trying to recreate one of Peto’s designs.  There is a website where you can purchase patterns for four of her designs and even some reproduction fabric taken from or inspired by her quilts.  (You can also find these on Etsy.) Here’s the site, and no, the Hall of Fame and I have no connection to it. https://www.hooplapatterns.com/shop/Florence-Peto-patterns.htm  But since I’m giving them a free plug, they shouldn’t mind if I show you a picture or two.  This is from the “Calico Garden Crib Quilt” (49″ x 39″) by Florence Peto,1950. Pieced, appliqued, and quilted cotton. Shelburne Museum permanent collection.  The original has some fabulous old fabric.

Florence Peto’s influence doesn’t stop here.  So many people have written about her, including Virginia Avery, who was the topic of last week’s post, and Hazel Carter, who is one of the founders of The Quilters Hall of Fame. And, like so many Honorees, she’s been the topic of a Quilt Show episode.  Quilt Historian, Joyce Gross wrote about her, and later donated several Peto-made or related quilts to the Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin: Winedale Quilt Collection, Florence Peto Collection; you can see some of these quilts on The Quilt Index.  And if you weren’t in quarantine, you’d find Florence Peto quilts held by the Shelburne Museum in Vermont, the Henry Ford, the Newark Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

So, taking a cue from Florence Peto, who do you think is an influencer today, worthy of becoming an Honoree of the Quilters Hall of Fame? There must be writers and quiltmakers out there who are reaching a wide audience and having an impact on the quilting world. If you can identify someone, why not nominate her or him?  The process isn’t hard (I’ve done it, and will tell you about my experience in a later post), and the form to get started is here https://quiltershalloffame.net/honoree-nomination/ .

That’s it for this week. Wishing everybody Dayenu for Passover, or an Alleluia for Easter; and if you don’t celebrate, just wishing you good health.

Your Quilting Friend,

Anna

I’ve been sewing masks this week, as many of you have, and it got me to thinking about my days of garment sewing (BQ—before quilting).  I didn’t learn quilting from my mother or gran, but I did make a lot of clothes in high school and the early years of my marriage. And no, I’m not sharing a photo of my home-made prom dress, but I will say that the sprigged voile sleeves were difficult.

I wonder how many current quilters followed the same route, from garments to quilts?

Someone who did was Hall of Fame honoree Virginia Avery. But Jinny, as she was known, took it to a whole new level and pioneered what we now call “wearable art”. She taught herself to sew clothes– without a pattern– at age twelve, and then, when the Bicentennial quilt craze came along, she started teaching others to quilt, even though she herself wasn’t really a quilter.  This can-do attitude carried her through life, and maybe explains why she wore a signature rhinestone pin that spelled, “It’s OK”.  Words to live by these days.

Avery seemed to love not only rhinestones, but all things flashy and improvisational.  Her quilted jackets were made in sumptuous fabrics like Thai silk, African cotton and gold moiré. One jacket, a tribute to New York City, had subway tokens stitched into it.

It’s hard to imagine in these quarantine times having a place to wear fancy garments, but it’s still nice to dream.  Or think about taking your socially-distance walk wearing this cape that Avery made. 

This is “Of Thee I Sing Baby”, a circular cape made as an invitational piece for the birthday of the Statue of Liberty, sponsored by the Museum of American Folk Art in New York City, 1986 – from March 1998 issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine.

These book covers, from the Hall of Fame library or available on Amazon and sometimes e-Bay, give you another taste of Avery’s fashion flair.  She wrote three other books, all of them “outside the box”.

How did she come to be so creative? “We are all surrounded by designs every day of our lives,” is her answer to where her inspiration came from. “We just have to learn to open our eyes and see.” The coat on the cover of Wonderful Wearables was inspired by Avery’s own life.  I won’t say what the connection was in this post;  you can read more , and see her modeling the piano coat here: https://quiltershalloffame.net/virginia-avery/ .

So, my takeaway from Virginia Avery is that I can use this externally-imposed and internally-accepted quiet time to open my eyes.  I don’t see myself ever going totally free-form, but maybe I’ll find an architectural detail that will become a shape for a quilt block. But even if all I see is a different way to look at color combinations, “It’s OK”.

And I’ll close with a picture of my own wearable art, Covid-19 style. Look close, it has horses (because as we learned from Dr. Dunton in last week’s post, and we saw with Virginia Avery, you should have more than one hobby.) Stay well, and be creative!

Your quilting friend,

Anna