http://www.theredmill.org/visit.html 

The museum's curator of collections, Jean Daley, had set up two double tables for us, covered them with sheets, gave us white gloves, pointed out the huge roll of acid free tissue and left us to pull their boxes of quilts out of storage, empty them of their lovely contents, spread them out on the tables to study, and then refold them with new tissue to go back into storage . When I made the arrangements for the group Jean said that refolding the quilts had never taken more than 2 hours. It took us twice that and then some.

Among the items of interest were two fundraising redwork signature quilt tops, one red and white brickwork, the other a pink embroidered flower of 11 petals with names embroidered in all the petals. A group from the local quilt shop, Kindred Quilts, is reproducing this quilt in red and white as a fundraiser to support the collection. Many of our names will appear on this new quilt.

We saw three log cabin quilts, one in a streak of lightening set, one a straight furrows, and one in a large and very graphic "X", all from the late 19th century. A lovely flying goose strippy had the vertical sashes of a late 19th century paisley stripe.

We all Oohed and Aahed over a crib quilt top of 30 blocks in the Kansas Dugout pattern with 4-patch corner blocks in the red sashing. The blocks were not more than 4" square and the workmanship was supurb. Each block used 3 different fabrics, one for the squares, and two others for the elongated hexagons. What wasn't apparent (to me) immediately until I studied my photo was that the maker had arranged the blocks so that there were definite diagonal stripes of the darkest fabrics running across the quilt.

Two Irish chains were in the collection, one a red and white from the first half of the 19th century whose red fabrics had almost entirely lost their dark figures so that from afar the fabric looked looked like a red and white check. The other Irish Chain had a border around three sides of Oak Leaf and Reel blocks. The only other quilt with applique was a lovely green and red "Poke Berries" with a vine border, from the 1850's, the red fabric worn to missing in places.

The magical quilt of the day wasn't quilted at all. It was a tied comforter, whole cloth, the same fabric front and back. And what a fabric! It was a blue and white pillar print with an eagle. It still had its glaze and was in excellent condition, in contrast to many other of the quilts in the collection.

Many of the 40 quilts saved and conserved by this little local museum were no more than ordinary, and were well worn and well loved. They may not see the light of day very often, and many wouldn't be able to be hung and exhibited because of condition. But they are being preserved for future generations by a community which obviously reveres its past. As study tools they are invaluable.

How many hundreds of other small museums have collections like this one? How many historic societies are just waiting for you to knock on their doors and ask to study their collection? How fortunate we were that it was time to refold the quilts at the Red Mill Museum!

Judy, now in Flemington NJ aka The Ringoes Kid judygrow@patmedia.net