Iowa-Illinois Quilt Study Group

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The sidewalk was lined with pink roses as the IIQSG participants entered the Grout Church at the Kalona Historical Village Aug. 6, 2005. The beauty of the antique quilts was just as lovely and in some cases more so. 

The show and tell began with a Wild Rose quilt, Merikay Waldvogel found the kit quilt ad in a 1932 "Woman's World" magazine. The kit sold for $3.75, a similar quilt was listed for sale for $950 at the antiquequitsource.com! 

Clinton's North Carolina Lily quilt was purchased at an auction. The red, white, and green lily quilt was complimented by a vine with birds border. One half-inch diagonal quilting went through the lilies; open space had pineapples in the quilting. 

A small quilt with only three flower garden motifs appliqued to the eighteen inch square with machine quilting, was thought to be Karan's father's baby quilt. A Colonial salt sack from Akron, OH was the backing. This is Karan's only family piece. 

Donna showed a great auction find. The tourqoise pink and brown Boston Commons was quilted with a four petaled flower in the squares. There was a good discussion about dating the plain colors, with dates ranging from 1890 to 1900 to 1950, with the 1950 date decided. 

Why buy ugly scrap quilts? To study the variety of one-patch fabrics from last quarter of 19th century. More surprising was the backing made with wonderful pieced baskets made at a later time. This quilt was registered in Florida. Now makes it's home with Marilyn. 

The jewel of the day was an early chintz Sunflower Quilt. Many wonderful chintzes were used in the flowers. The border used two different chintzes, sides of one chintz and a different chintz in the corners. This auction find was said to be originally from New Jersey. Barbara C. shared her multicolored Trip around the World baby quilt. Barbara's grandmother made the quilt for her doll bed. Barbara recommended the book Legacy: The Story of Talula Gilbert Bottoms and Her Quilts by Nancilu B. Burdick as a favorite quilt history book. 

The red, white, and blue one-patch baby quilt of Glenda's lead to a discussion if this quilt was actually cut down from a larger quilt. The paisley backing was used as binding on two sides and the squares on the side a different size convinced most that it was cut from a larger quilt. 

Sisters Char and Emily brought their family quilt. This red and white Double Irish Chain quilt (documented in Johnson County) was made by their grandmother. Leah Niffenigger Yoder used the quilt for all her children before giving it to Char. Emily has been the caretaker for several years. 

Our Shirley always astonishes us with her quilts. This meeting found her unveiling a Hubert Van Hehren. The cotton sateen shades of pink diamonds made a wonderful star quilt. This quilt designer from the 30's ran his company out of Des Moines, IA. Hubert started the trend of graduated colors. The yellow to orange was his most popular kit sold. (Read more in Susan Price Miller's paper in the 2000 "Uncoverings" Journal Vol. 21, published by AQSG). She also showed a needleworked "tambour." Worked with an anchored hoop and a special type of crochet needle. Some Redwork LOOKS like tambour, but is, instead, an embroidery chain stitch. On the embroidered -with- a -regular-needle pieces, the chains do not overlap on the top. On the tambour pieces, they do. 

Greene County, Jefferson, Iowa invited all to come and see their barn quilts. Shannon shared this information along with an appliquéd tulip quilt with a scalloped border. A friend of Shannon's Grand-mother-in-law did the lovely wreath quilting. Also, a pink, blue, green, and white Shoofly with checker board sashing was rescued by Shannon at an auction when the fellow also bidding wanted the quilt for a dog blanket! 

In the 1940's Lena Glover stitched a Birds in the Air, Hummingbird, Periwinkle quilt (no one thought to bring Brackman's encyclopedia!). Tiny outline, cross hatch, and improved 9-patch quilting added to the beauty. A Kitty in the Corner was purchased at the Meredith, "Better Homes and Gardens" sale. The quilt was featured in "Great Patchwork Collection." Elizabeth was the bidder that got the muslin, brown, blue, and gold chintz quilt, measuring 90" by 105" from the middle of the 1800's. 

What to do about stains was the challenge of the morning. Melva brought in a 48 State Flower and Bird quilt. The quilt came with Melva's and Bill's AZ home had a brown stain. The suggestion of the day was to follow Xenia Cord's advice to sit down and wait for the washing idea to go away.

1850's were the date decided on for Barbara E.'s Tulip quilt. The red, green and white showed the effects of aging with the green turning to tan. In the red print fabric minute holes now show the batting where chemicals in the dye or lye soap have damaged the pattern. The original binding was found underneath a 1930's one. 

The how come? was question came from Virginia's quilt top. Late 19th century fabric pieces were appliqued on a muslin background resulting in a stained glass window effect. Several of the pieces were missing and others patricianly removed. 

Jane's Great grandma stitched a red, white and fugitive green tulip quilt that was most likely made after 1903. Grandma quilted for others charging by the spool. This quilt showed her expertise with feathered wreaths. 

Pat L. saved antique blocks from the 1980's. The maybe Railroad Crossing blocks corner triangles were missing. The grays, blues and shirtings are strong enough for Pat to take them apart making several more stars for a small quilt. 

Zoe rescued a Geese, Rambling Rose, or Railroad quilt containing chintz centers. Family members found the quilt in the home of Stella Johnson (1915-1984). Love will take care of the condition issues. 

Keota IA library shared a pink and green Dresden Plate signature quilt made by the Rebecca Lodges from the community during the 1930's. 

Illinois' Vyki found a quilt at auction that came from an antique dealer in Ashton, IL. 

The red and white box lunches matched the afternoon study session on "Redwork." The Kalona Quilt and Textile Museum's exhibit of Two-Color quilts made an vibrant place to study "Redwork." The embroidered quilts shared the displays (walls, beds and antique spool cabinets) with Red and White pieced quilts. 

Special words of thanks go to Cindy Brick and Rissa Peace Root for allowing us to use their copyrighted material of "Redwork Revisited" and "A Redwork Embroidery Primer." 

The numerous quilts shared fit into the categories of: animals, flowers, birds, toys, holidays, calendar, famous people-places-buildings and events, advertisements, Japanese-inspired, Kate Greenaway characters, Biblical characters/verses, stained glass, contemporary art and architecture, and album and mixed patterns. 

Our next meeting is March 31, 2006 in Kalona, IA starting 7pm with a Basket quilt lecture. April 1, 2006 in Kalona, IA show and tell am basket quilts pm. Cathy Litwinow