An announcement was made that two of our members of our group, Dawn Heefner and Sue Reich, successfully passed their qualifying tests and are now quilt appraisers certified by the AQS. Congratulations to them both.

Judy Thompson's first place quilt from a previous year at Paducah is in the permanent collection of the quilt museum. An interview she gave about the quilt aired on the continuously running Quilt Channel several times during Quilt Week. Sue Reich saw it and reported it to us. Kudos to Judy!

Barb Garrett's segment on the TV show "Simply Quilts" with Alex Anderson has recently aired again. Barb and Nancy Roan have some of their quilts hung at the Schwenkfelder Museum for their special folk weekend.

After announcements and other business we got down to viewing quilts. There were so many that my descriptions will be brief.  All pictures are thumbnails.  Click on them to see them close up.  

1. Cigar Ribbon "crib sized" quilt with embroidery and ribbons as fringe. This quilt was mostly varying shades of gold with some red and pale blue. Herringone stitch in gold pearl cotton covered the fine seams. Color placement was very organized and the golds shaded from light to dark on the outside edges.

2. Red and white chimney sweep quilt possibly of World War I into the 30's era.  Wool bat.  We discussed the timings of straight grain versus bias binding, trends before and after 1900, then during the 1950's and 60's.

3. An indigo blue and white basket quilt was hung throughout the meeting . This quilt had a "purposeful" mistake in the handle of the basket in the 2nd block from the right, 2nd row from the top.

4. Grandmother's flower garden quilt with blue trails.  Unusual border treatment.  We discussed the question: is this a quadruple border or a pieced border?

5. A Pink and Green summer spread. Applique done in button hole stitch. Four large Rose-of-Sharon type flowers.  The picture on the right shows the extent of fading from one side to the other.

**************************************************************************** A question for QHL--------Is the term/concept "summer quilt/summer spread" an east coast thing? Are they found in the midwest, west or south?Is the same term used? **************************************************************************** 

6. Basket quilt from upstate NY. Cheddar sashing. 1870's - 1880's.

7. Pieced Baskets quilt. The very first whole quilt the owner ever bought. She calls this quilt "where it all began." Interesting set.  Note borders.

8. Strippie basket top - huge.

9. Scrap baskets top. Brown baskets and rust alternate blocks.  

10. Baskets with applique handles and cheater cloth used as alternate blocks.

11. Red/white/blue crib quilt with small baskets.

12. Vermont, 6 baskets, knotted crib comforter with a wool batt, from the early 20th century.

13. Very high applique handles on pieced baskets, red baskets crib quilt.

14. 1863, red baskets with green pieced spacer blocks in a crib quilt. Three pieced borders, 1 plain. Great study of greens changing color.

15. "Find the Baskets." Penna. An unusual setting with sashing the same fabric as the baskets, in rust, green, and butterscotch.

16. Sweet cactus baskets. Tiny baskets with faded double purple spacer blocks.

17. And 18. Two quilts made from old blocks.

19. Doll quilt top with 6 baskets.

20. Tiny pink baskets doll quilt with an edge of fine tatting. .

21. Nancy Kerns and Barb Garrett did a fabric study of a single yellow print, comparing the same print done in 1890, 1970's, by Marcus Brothers in the 1990's and Michael Miller in 2003.

22. Basket quilt from Maine. 1860, in browns and pinks. One basket is pieced from a political fabric. Fremont - Dayton in the election of 1856.

23. A reproduction Dear Jane quilt, complete with the triangular pieced border. The maker is at work on a second Dear Jane quilt, so that her children won't fight over them.

24. Applique reproduction Mary Simon Baltimore album blocks.

25. Pink and green cactus basket top.  In examining the piecing, we discovered it appeared the maker had sewn all the three piece sashing at once by machine then later cut it to size for the sashing and borders.

26. Pieces of yellow iris kit quilt which was partially completed. We were trying to figure out how the corner pieces would go on because there was no seam either straight or bias. Both sides of each corner were part of a big block.

27. Assorted basket blocks and Carolina lily blocks.

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Somewhere about this time we broke for lunch. Pizza was delivered and we were able to eat outside on the deck. In addition, Donna brought a spinach salad with a magic dressing. Nancy S. brought a fruit salad - (will summer ever arrive?). Judy Thompson brought incredible cinnamon chip cookies from the Judy Martin book, half with nuts, half without. Nancy Hahn brought a wonderful coconut cake with strawberries and whipped cream. We ate very well, all agreed it could have been nap time, but then we went back to the studio for more quilts, forgoing sleep for more excitement..

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28. Applique 4 baskets top. Buttonhole stitches. Folksy, cottagy, '40's.

29. A collection of dressmaker trims from England, done in tambour work on fine net. probably 1930's.

30. Grandmother's flower garden top.

31. Unusual basket quilt, apparently made using feedsacks.  Note the "big stitch" quilting accents using perle cotton.

32. Bias tape Carolina Lilies in a basket, summer spread with an attached ruffle. Constructed on 4 feedsacks, with joining seams hidden by bias tape. The flowers and basket were traditional in shape and style, but were constructed using machine applied bias tape. The original writing on the sacks, though no doubt washed out by the quilter, were reappearing as ghost-like images.

33. Whole cloth summer spread with appliqued tulips.

34. 1930's appliqued bowl of flowers quilt, with buttonhole stitch accents.

35. Cheater grandmother's flower garden quilt , plus a feedsack in the same print and coloring but a more coarse weave.

36. Tulip in pot quilt top. Made as a copy of a picture on E-bay of a 1930's quilt.

37. Flowers in brown pots from the midwest. 1930's.

38. Nancy Page vintage birds/flowers in orchid vases with squared off handles, quilt top. The newspaper patterns used to construct the top were with it.

39. Reproduction applique quilt in progress, using African Indigos.

40. Poppy kit quilt.

41. Dogwood kit quilt.

42. Pieced baskets quilt. Very pastel, using pink quilting thread.

43. 1900 dated redwork crib quilt.

44. Pieced baskets top in indigos and black/white prints, with white print sashing, circa 1915 . Baskets go every which way.

45. Nosegay or Bride's Bouquet quilt. Bought as a top from the 1930's, outer yellow border added, and then hand quilted.

46. Pieced Sunflowers top bought in Colorado. Not blocks construction, and with many set-in seams. Some outer elongated hexagons had to be added to complete the top.  Note what a difference the alternate fabric in the fan makes. (thumbnail to the right)

47. Pieced top from the early 1940's of tiny stars with green paths.

48. Old business (last meetings emphasis was green) - cheddar and green pieced top, using two greens and two cheddars. Since it is mine, I can assure you that it is singularly UGLY!

49. Summer spread, wholecloth, with buttonhole stitch applique, flowers in an urn and butterflies. Design at pillow top as well. bound in blue bias. Probably 1940's or 1950's.

50. Nine-patch top from third quarter 19th century, sashed with red print, with enough of the red as yardage for the backing.

51. 30's wheel of fortune.  Appears to be quilted over a blanket.  

52. Pastels wedding ring.

53. Red and green drunkard's path.

54. Other assorted quilts for sale.  

Can you believe we saw over 50 quilts? What an incredible day!

Thanks to Barb for being our note taker! I don't know how she could tear her eyes away from the quilts to write her notes!

I mentioned that the studio isn't air conditioned and perhaps we might have to skip the July meeting. But, I heard a lot of "oh, no's" and a few alternate suggestions were thrown out, so one way or another we will probably have our meeting. Since the house is air conditioned we could meet there, but obviously neither the dining room or the living room is large enough to accommodate 15 or so people and large quilts. So, the suggestion has been made that we only bring very small quilts and sewing notions and accessories that we can pass around. I really like that idea.

However, if this weather pattern keeps up, we probably won't have to worry about air conditioning until well into August! I had to dig out a winter sweater today. Brrrr!

I am also going to look into seeing if we can meet at a small local museum to view their quilts. I don't have high hopes for that happening -- I've been turned down for that once before. But, I'll try again.

So, the next meeting will be Tuesday, July 15th, here or someplace else. Mark your calendars, and don't plan to be away on vacation.

I'll be in touch.

Judy in Ringoes, NJ