Saturday, February 21, 2009

For the love of old quilts...

I just love old quilts. I love the feeling these special textiles give when you see them. So I arranged to go to a quilt exhibition with some of my quilting friends this past week. There is even something here for stitchers so keep on reading...


Imagine our shock at seeing this color, among others you will see later, as a backdrop to these incredible pieces of history! I must admit I would like to see them all over again simply because I see that I was so distracted by the walls and the way they were hung. More on that with the next photo! I hope you will be able to enjoy that photos regardless and remember that they can be enlarged by clicking on them. I have purposely left them as is instead of cropping the walls away. Get ready for a clashing colorful ride...


This wall 'hit' us as the first thing when we walked in the room. We were all horrified that they hung these quilts so high. You had the urge to want to pull them all down again to wear a normal human being could see them. I felt like I could not make contact with them even visually.

I felt like Little Sprout from the Jolly Green Giant commercials but still loved seeing what I could of these beauties. These are my kind of muted colors in a quilt!


This looks very Amish ~ a log cabin quilt in the Barn Raising setting.

A blended quilt as those that inspired the books by Marsha McCloskey and Sharon Evans Yenter.

This one is similar to my wash day quilt.

This was a sweet display of little samples and an early fabric sample book.

A pretty sampler from an early day. Have you put on your sunglasses yet to hide from those walls? *grins*

I will be sharing more of the dresses this week over on my other blog but this one was set up so cute right in front of the pretty hourglass quilt. Can't you just imagine the little girl who wore this dress?

In the medallion center of the hoursglass quilt were the stitched initials and date of the quilter. The label becomes part of the quilt. Not only does this add to the intrigue of the quilt's history, I pondered how I get upset with myself if my points are not just right. I am redoing a block I just did as I noticed on the photo that I had it sewn poorly in the points. But this quilt is simply a labor of love and not perfection. And I find this utterly charming!

I only took two photos of the modern quilts in this room. I am never drawn to modern quilts. I do admire their workmanship. One of my friends loved this quilt and I wanted to be sure to try and get a photo for her in case hers did not come out. We were rightly not able to use a flash and it was difficult to get clear photos.

This modern quilt really does appeal to me as it combines the old and the new together.

I will continue sharing the quilt show with you later this coming week. I hope you enjoyed looking closely as some pretty old quilt!

20 comments:

Tammy said...

Oh my! that wall color, yikes!
The quilts are beautiful though, a very nice collection of antique quilts, the best I have seen lately and very inspiring...thanks for sharing :D

Linda said...

What a wonderful show, the quilts are amazing and so beautiful. I loved to know the history of each one. Was there any information on them? If only the one from 1848 could talk...I bet it would have an interesting story....hugs, Linda

Sonja said...

I can understand that you don't like the background color. But the quilts are beautiful. (although I prefer your style of quilting!!

Anonymous said...

Geen idee hoe ik jouw log belande maar je hebt prachtige foto's van de tentoonstelling en een leuk weblog.
Groet Martine

Rhonda said...

those quilts are so nice. Like you, I am drawn to the the old style ones, especially the earth tone ones.

but those walls, yikes!
how ever do the people that work there every day stand it?

mainely stitching said...

Um. That's actually the color of one my living room walls. Seriously. LOL.

Love the amazing quilts. Wow.

hazel c UK said...

What a lovely tour of some very pretty quilts. To think they were stitched so many years ago. Thank you for sharing,
Hugs, Hazel (UK)

Nancy said...

It would have been great to see these quilts, but oh my, they sure did hang them way too high on the YELLOW walls.
The little dress is very cute.
Love you, Mom

Carolien said...

Nice quilts, horrible background!

Hugs, Carolien

Nanny Ree said...

Beautiful quilts Heidi thanks for sharing. I love the The Barn raising Quilt & Grandma's flower garden especially. Marie x

Susan in SC said...

How sad that the wall colors overpowered these beautiful quilts!

DonnaTN said...

Was there a big sale on yellow paint? Wow, that is an eyeopening color. I am more drawn to traditional quilts too. The Amish log cabin is amazing.

Anonymous said...

Hé,heerlijk om weer even terug te zijn...genieten daar in Leeuwarden hé?

Elizabethd said...

Heidi, what a terrible background for those gentle soft quilts! How could they?
I did love the little dress, and would love to know more.

Karen said...

WHOA - those quilts are hung way to high to really be able to appreciate the beauty of them - and YIKES that color - I'm pretty sure I would have needed sunglasses. Those quilt are beautiful by the way - what a wonderful display.

Hugs - Karen

Brigitte said...

Those quilts are real treaqsures. It's a pity that they were hung so high. When I visit a quilt show I want to stand right in front of the quilt and look at it from far for the overall impression and from near to see all the wonderful details that quilts do show. I also prefer the traditional patterns. The log cabin quilt is such a beauty ...

Tracy said...

Such GORGEOUS quilts & textiles...But the backdrop color of acid yellow does nothing to enhance the textiles--very distracting and almost hurts the eyes--LOL! I wonder who thought that would be a great color for an exhibit of old quilts?! Where you eyes hurting after you left?--LOL! Thanks for taking us along, Heidi :o) ((HUGS))

Ginny Worden said...

Good Morning Heidi, I just found your blog, and love it. Thanks for sharing those beautiful quilt with us. I love them, beautiful, muted drabs, that tug at the heart, and creative juices. Thanks so much.

Lynne said...

Love the quilts, they are gorgeous. What a pity not to have displayed them properly. Hexagons are a favourite of mine and there is a particularly interesting one there. I think the quilting on it is very effective.

angelasweby said...

Goodness heidi,
That colour is enough to unsettle even the strogest tummy. It reminds me of the phrase cowdy custard...haha!
Thankfully some of the quilts are large enough to fill the walls. I can imagine your frustration though on not being able to see the ones attached up high. I loved the display, thank you so much. The little dress was so sweet and the hour glass quilt lovely. I also loved the 'wash day' quilt and the little samplers.
Warm hugs Angela