Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 20:49:56 -0600

From: Russell-Hill <russhill@ctesc.net>

To: Quilt Heritage List <QHL@cuenet.com>

Good evening everyone,

I am writting for a friend who lives in England and had asked me about 2

books and my thoughts on them and if I had any others that I could

suggest .  Well I sent my opinions on the 2 but I would like to ask you

all the same question.

She would like to get a book about quilts and the history of quilts

during the Civil War.  She asked about "Quilts of the Civil War" and

"Hidden in Plain View."  She also asked about recommandations of other

books I thought might be better.  That question I did not have an answer

to but thought that some one on this list would and would be willing to

also give their thoughts on the other two.

Thanks for your help.

Debbie

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 21:01:42 -0600

From: Russell-Hill <russhill@ctesc.net>

To: Barb Garrett <bgarrett@fast.net>

CC: QHL@cuenet.com

Subject: Re: QHL: PA German color combinations

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Barb Garrett wrote:

>

> Cinda and interested others -

>

> First, the Variable Star quilt in cheddar, poison green and rusty red

> sounds wonderful!.  Cinda asked if these color combinations are found

> anywhere else besides Southeastern PA.   Yes, they are found 1 other

> place.

>

>  She spoke about the very German quilts,

> with very "strange" combinations of fabrics, found in one part of North

>

Hello All,

I live in a german town in Texas call Fredericksburg.  Founded in 1846

and very German down to the colors.  there are many old houses that are

painted with the cheddar, poison green (maybe dark forest green more

than poison ) and rusty red.  These are definately German colors.  The

main color is the green and trimmed in cheddar and rusty red.  Iliked it

so much that when we built our house I painted it in those colors.

Williamsburg has their colors and Fredericksburg TX has theirs.

Debbie

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 21:11:05 -0600

From: Laura Hobby Syler <texas_quilt.co@mail.airmail.net

Hi Phyllis,

From the information that I have I agree with the '56 date as to the first

poly batts and then in pretty wide distribution in the '60's and praised by

every quiltmaker from coast to coast in the '70's and up to the late '80's

.  When I opened my quilt shop in 1980 we didn't even carry that "old nasty

stuff" <G> and I am paying for it now with the abrasion from the inside out

of all the wonderful 1890's tops that I had quilted up. The best thing to

remember is  that your client may be right.....the top may *have* been

pieced in '49 but not finished for several years.....of course none of my

desendants will have that problem dating my quilts.....they are *all* tops!

See ya in a couple of months!

Laura

At 03:05 PM 2/15/99 -0500, Phyllis Twigg wrote:

>Does anyone know the earliest dates for polyester batting? I have a baby

>quilt in question. The owner feels it was made in 1949 but it contains a

>polyester batt. According the the "Mountain Mist Blue Book of Quilts", the

>polyester batts were first marketed in 1956 in a twin size for the wholesale

>price of $ 3.40.  Barbara Brackman refers to poly batts as a clue to the

>1960's and later. Did any other company produce one earlier ?

>Thanks !

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 20:43:57 -0700

From: "Jeanne.Fetzer" <Jeanne.Fetzer@integrityonline3.com>

Did anyone see the Antiques Roadshow on Feb. 15 which included a red and =

green quilt from 1850?

I would be interested in your feelings about the price given to the =

owner.  I recognize that without seeing the quilt in person, it is =

difficult to pin down a price.  I'll try to describe it as best I can:

full size; never used

dated on back as 1850 - made by owner's grandmother

red and green princess feathers (at least four)

quilting was dense and seemed well executed from what I could see on the =

TV

The price range was $12,000 - 15,000.  My first reaction was that this =

was a quilt of museum quality.

any comments?  What do you think about the range.  I know I'm probably =

asking the impossible, but I would be interested in some reaction if =

someone else saw it.

Thanks! Jeanne.Fetzer@integrityonline.com=20

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 02:36:03 EST

From: WileneSmth@aol.com

re: QHL: underground railroad, from Cindy Honeycutt:

<< The discussion among the ladies in her church was exactly as I read on this

list: different quilt patterns meant different things, and even the way a

quilt was hanging outside meant something different. >>

Do you mean the ladies were talking about this WITHOUT reading Jackie and

Raymond's new book?  If so, I think we'd all like to hear more.  Their book,

by the way, is Hidden in Plain View by Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G.

Dobard.

re: QHL: Poppy quilt top, etc., from Cinda in Scranton.

<< Wilene can you help? >>

Cinda, I'm not as "up" on 20th century appliques as some others are even

though I'm trying to enter as many as possible in my database along with their

numbers, if known.  I did a search for the number, 2477, and didn't come up

with anything for you, and "poppy" has so many entries as to be nearly useless

in a search.  Hope someone else will know more.

re: QHL: Thoughts on an old quilt?, from Jenni Dobson, UK.

<< The quilt was labelled "Skyscrapers" and "40s / 50s fabrics" & that it came

from Ontario. Through contact with Barbara Brackman the block is actually

already identified as one in her Encyclopedia called Monument, (# 889). She

says it was published in the Ohio Farmer magazine in 1890, and is a mourning

pattern. >>

There are two similar patterns (#888 and #889 in Barbara's Encyclopedia) that

seem to commemorate the death of President James A. Garfield, 20th U. S.

President, assassinated July 2, 1881, died Sept. 19, 1881, so it seems safe to

assume that the patterns most probably originated after this date.  You

mentioned that your quilt came from Ontario (I assume in Canada?) and, after

seeing it, question that it might be earlier than the 1940s or 1950s as it was

represented.  If the fabrics turn out to be a lot earlier (like the 1880s

maybe?), then it seems rather safe to assume that it was probably made in the

states.

Design #888 was published in Farm and Fireside magazine in the 1880s (exact

date unknown) and was identified as Garfield's Monument.  A pattern of this

name was offered by a reader of Good Housekeeping magazine in the October 26,

1889, issue, but it was not illustrated in the magazine.  Then Ladies Art

included it in their catalog beginning about 1895 as their No. 136, calling it

by the same name but superimposing a capital G on the base.

#888 seems to be the more common design of the two, although quilts of either

design are uncommon.  One is pictured on p. 68 of Marsha MacDowell's (et al.)

Michigan Quilts (1987); another one is on p. 9 of Victoria Hoffman's catalog,

Quilts:  A Window to the Past (North Andover, MA: Museum of American Textile

History, 1991); and I lucked into one in near mint condition made with 1880s

prints at an estate sale a couple of years ago.  I'd often wondered if women

actually made any quilts using this strange design, and now I know that at

least a few did. 

Volume 2 (revised in 1987) of Barbara's Encyclopedia indicates that Design

#889 was published in the Ohio Farmer magazine, ca. 1890, and called The

Monument.  It's made from pieced strips laid horizontally and, from a

distance, looks quite similar to #888.  So far, I've not found an original

clipping of this one for my records.

re: polyester batting -- I'll try to look into this tomorrow and see what the

date is on the earliest Mountain Mist ad in my records that mentions

polyester.  --Wilene

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 08:45:24 -0500

From: "jawhite@courant.infi.net" <jawhite@courant.infi.net

Just to add my $.02 to this discussion - I have a poison green/chrome

yellow (which today is called cheddar) polkadot (the yellow has black

dots) drunkard's path that I got at Brimfield, MA several years ago.

The dealer was not a quilt person. She had picked this up at an estate

sale in Maine.  The quilt had a small hole in it and the backing didn't

go with the front.  It had been stored in a bag with a fabric softener

and smelled to high heaven so I took it home, took off the back, threw

out the middle and tossed the top and back in the wash.  The quilt had

been put together with several different kinds and colors of thread

including blue embroidery thread and something akin to buttonhole

twist.  So when I took it out of the washer, the borders came off like

they had been put on with a zipper which was okay because I needed to

use some of that fabric to repair the hole.  I have always called this

my quilt with a growth because, even though the dealer I bought it from

wasn't a quilter, she knew that quilts were stuffed and that's she had

repaired the hole - by making a little stuffed patch and sewing it over

the hole.  I kept that little patch because it is so cute.  Anyhow, I

now have this wonderful top which has been dated by a reputable quilt

person to around 1865 and I have repaired it quite nicely and will hand

quilt it.  Does anyone know if this color combination was indigenous to

Maine and did it migrate to other parts of the US? 

Judy White - CT

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 08:56:42 EST

From: JQuilt@aol.com

I remember a quilt show on Simply Quilts...with Roberta Horton and Mary

Mashuta....Alex Anderson picked out the combination of orange, red and green

and

Roberta saying they were those being the colors of the German "1860 quilt"

jean

jquilt@aol.com

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 09:19:23 EST

From: Qltldy10@aol.com

To: qhl@cuenet.com

Subject: QHL: the Antiques Roadshow Quilt....

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... was red, green, and orange!  I don't remember where they were- Michigan?

Anyway, my thoughts are that these guys are quoting Christy's kind of prices,

and yes, I thought the quilt was worth exctly what he said.  It's just that

you and I don't usually shop at *major* auctions.  In York, Maine, there is a

very nice antique multi dealer shop- first table, teacup size, on the way in,

is $7,000.  A few months back they had a visiting dealer, a beautiful

Baltimore album (personally, I thought is may have been Pa), priced at

$29,5000.  Was ca 1849, and while I decided not to write a check  =8-0 I

fugured it was priced so someone would buy it.  this dealership, by the way,

does not take credit cards.  To me, it means they are selling to folks with

larger cash flows then I tend to have.....

      Beth in Maine

       qltldy10@aol.com 

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 08:38:53 -0600 (CST)

From: "Karen Benson"  <benson@mailbox.mail.umn.edu>

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 14:13:24 -0000

From: "Jenny Couper" <jennycouper@lineone.net

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 10:00:29 EST

From: JQuilt@aol.com

in the year 2,099....can you imagine some quilt appraiser/restorer...trying to

figure out what year the quilt was made by looking at the batting...

in 1999 there was poly/cotton, cotton, silk,wool  and poly batting

available...

jean

jquilt@aol.com

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 10:29:57 EST

From: JQuilt@aol.com

sounds like the antique dealer in York Maine, who doesn't take credit cards

and sells $29,000 quilts...has an clientele of Colombian drug lords. Or maybe

York Maine is #1 on the pickpockets top 10 list.

jean

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 08:09:28 -0800

From: Kathy Tavares <kmtavare@uci.edu

Did any of you happend to see Antiques Road Show on Monday, February 15?

My DH and I watch this weekly whenever we can.  Anyway last night they had

a quilt which they valued at auction to be $12,000 to $15,000.  It was

1850's and as far as we could tell from what they showed on TV, in

excellent condition.  They woman who owned it kept it stored in a cedar

chest and never has displayed it, so the color was not faded at all.  I

don't know if I could have something like that and not be able to display

it.

Kathy T

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 12:18:17 EST

From: KareQuilt@aol.com

To: QHL@cuenet.com

Subject: QHL: Quilts of the Future

Message-ID: <9d32b484.36c9a859@aol.com>

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Forgive me if this has been posted before. Can't remember <g>. the gray matter

is getting mushier with every grandchild that is born <g>.

NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN IN THE ARTS - "Quilts of the Future"--a day-long

symposium in Washington, DC, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, co-

sponsored by NMWA and Art Quilt, Network, New York (with artists from AQN-NY

presenting slides of their work) will be held on January 22, 2000. Speakers

are Rebecca Stevens (Textile Museum), Stacy Hollander (Museum of American Folk

Art), and Cathy Rasmussen (Exec. Dir. of Studio At Quilt Associates).  Topics

are quilts in museum collections, traditional quiltmakers who have become

quilt artists, and professionally trained artists who have become quilt

artists. Tickets will be available from NMWA in the fall.  More to come much

later, but mark your calendars if you are at all interested. 202-783-5000,

1250 New York Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20005

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 12:46:51 +0000

From: Shirley McElderry <tigersoup@lisco.net>

To: QHL@cuenet.com

Subject: QHL: Poppy quilt

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Cinda: I found your poppy quilt top pictured in a Herrschner's 1963-64

catalog. It is called "Majestic Poppy" and is described as: "For

applique! Sunny California inspired design! Quilt top stamped with

applique and quilting pattern on type 128 white sheeting. Washfast

appliques, poppy colors with green leaves. 7-2477  Poppy Quilt Top

$6.59." By the way, one could order a "finishing kit" consisting of

Mountain Mist seamless cotton quilt batting, white percale quilt

backing, a quilting needle and 3 spools of quilting thread for $4.98. Or

the quilt top kit and the finishing kit both for $10.98.

Since your top has the Herrschner's number stamped on it, I'm going to

go waayy out on a limb here and suggest it may have been a special order

from a company. I know that Herrschner's did retail Homeneedlecraft

kits, because I have found those kits offered in their catalogs. I think

there were some Progress kits offered, too. And it seems--here I go on

another limb--that the original quilt kit manufacturers offered kits for

quite a while before they were ever advertised in Herrschner's, so I am

wondering if perhaps Herrschner's simply bought out the discontinued

kits? Xenia, or Bev D. what do you think?

Shirley Mc from where winter is back again in Iowa.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 01:48:41 -0500

From: "susanlk" <susanlk@erols.com>

To: <QHL@cuenet.com>

Subject: QHL: vintage quilts

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I just came from an antique show and saw a vendor, Lin's Quilts, from

Connecticut. She's been around for several years and has a beautiful and

large selection of vintage quilts. She also sells individual and packages of

vintage blocks, and tops. As for her quilts, they are all in perfect or near

perfect condition; mostly dating from 1860-1890 or so with a very few

earlier and some few from the 1920s-1940s. I have noticed several factors

about her quilts: 1) at every show I see her, the inventory she has is many

times larger than anyone else's 2)her quality is superb; most other quilts

have more condition problems 3)I do see some quilts time after time. This

last factor could suggest the market is softening; on the other hand, I've

noticed fewer and fewer of her quilts are priced below $1000. Where a couple

years ago a quilt marked $1800 seemed high to me, now there are several at

that price and a few between $2000 and $3000. So the fact that some quilts

are still there from year to year, and only one or two have been marked

down, and there are many new additions to her inventory, and the prices are

as described, all tells me that she's buying more than ever, holding some

for a long time, but ($64000question) must be selling enough to justify a

busy schedule travelling around doing show after show. And there's no doubt

that the average price I see at her booth is UP over recent years. I would

not be surprised to find quilts at general antique dealers who may have an

entire estate which included a few quilts to have all kinds of different

prices since as non-specialists in quilts, they'll be more likely to accept

an offer just to turn over their goods.

As for the auction information, one single event, one single quilt, none of

these defines a trend. To be valid a large number of instances has to be

tracked for any credible result. Finally, I've heard more than once that

value is definitely geographic which makes perfectly good sense. If "new"

quilts are coming to market in locations where vintage quilts are likely to

be found, and the "money" looking for such quilts is elsewhere, the value

will be higher where the money is and lower where the quilts are, to

oversimplify the question. I have been told by appraisers that certain parts

of the country will bring better prices than in other parts of the country.

If you believe the "Antiques Road Show" appraisers, they reiterate

frequently that an item will be worth "even more" when local to the place

where it was made, as early furniture for example has a more enthusiastic

following in the region where it was made.  SusanLK

------------------------------

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 17:27:29 -0600

From: Russell-Hill <russhill@ctesc.net

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 22:07:41 +0300

From: "John Ordway" <ordway@glas.apc.org

I went silk shopping today.

Silk is not that readily available here and you have to know which stores

carry it.  A nearby store has a great selection, but it mostly for

dressmaking purposes.  I found the weight I wanted -- I'm not sure what it's

called -- it's raw silk that is heavy, almost of a brocade weight.  My first

trip to the store was very disappointing -- no way was the woman going to

cut me any small amounts -- it would interfere with her reading her

newspaper!  I went back later in the afternoon and succumbed to a meter each

of three different colors for baby blocks at 130 cm width -- at $20 a meter.

Don't gasp.  I have no idea whether it's a lot or money or not,<g>  but it's

gorgeous.

The saleswoman said it was from Liechtenstein.  So much for getting romantic

and getting Russian silk!

Q:  I  want to handpiece baby blocks -- does anyone have any suggestions on

whether I would need to paper piece these -- the silk is heavy and would

definitely hold up on it's own with piecing.  Does anyone have any

experience with looking at antique silk quilts:  are they paper-backed?

The other fun thing  was finding silk thread -- 23 different colors.  They

were on very old cardboard spools that said 50k (50 kopek) which even in the

old days at other exchange rates was not very much (in the 1980's it would

have been $.80).  God knows what warehouse they've been sitting in for

years.   They were 6 rubles today (about 27 cents) for 100 meters -- not

huge amounts.   I'll now have to match the colors with the fabric I bought

and go back and buy more -- otherwise I'll probably never see it again!

Maryjo in Moscow

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999 19:40:32 EST

From: SudaNim@aol.com

I've used the heavy, nubby "raw silk" for a quilt...triple Irish chain as a

wedding present. I've been collecting it for years through thrift stores.

Whenever I'm in a second-hand store, I scan the women's suit-and-dress rack.

There's a lot of raw silk outfits out there that are pitted out, or stained,

or sun-faded just on one spot. They're really cheap then.

I made a 3x5 foot all-silk quilt, and probably paid about $20 total for all

the fabric. I think the cotton batting was the biggest expense. 

Silk is definitely balkier than cotton (bulkier, too *rim shot*). It shifts

around as you assemble the top. I just pinned the holy heck out of it; didn't

use foundation paper, and it went fine.  But paper sure wouldn't hurt.

Especially if you're doing a more complicated pattern.

  [ 99047 ]