What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

YES -- I also learned machine quilting from Harriet. She was a fantastic teacher, and I loved her accent. She didn't wash fabrics—she WORSHED them. Her accent was great!!

I find the modern history of quilting fascinating, and I have a few more pictures to share today. It needs to be documented somewhere, and I feel that posting it here is a start.

Let's look at some quilting styles. Who remembers the sampler quilt? Well, it's still a popular way to learn different techniques, but it was HUGE back in the day. And don't you love ...

For those people who have started quilting recently, or let's say in the last ten years, there's a whole history of quilting out there! And supplies, machines, tools, and much, much more. The first instances of quilting making date back to the 13th Century in Sicily. Quilting was brought to America in the late 17th century. 

But I'm talking about the young history of quilting, and how we got from templates to rotary cutters and other technological changes. Like everything in the world, the changes we've seen in quilting technology have been massive in the last ...

Hand quilting a wool eighteenth century quilt in a flat frame.

I quilt in a flat frame. It is a technique that seems to invite a curious fascination, carrying as it does, a lot of historical baggage. This blog post aims to answer some of the questions that I regularly receive, and also to address some of the common misconceptions that those reactions are often based… Continue reading Hand Quilting in a Frame

North country strippy quilt from before 1850. Antique British quilts made modern. Hand quilting.

I'm composing this post on the computer while my iPad is tuned into a Zoom committee meeting.  Though we gripe about the screen time, Zoom is an easier way to meet than a conference call. (My first experience with conference calls was the White House Conference on Library and Information Sciences Task Force back in the early 1990's.  A dozen people on a phone call meant prefacing comments with your name, and a lot of pauses while people tried to figure out who should talk next.) 

I attended two quilt programs by Zoom this week. 

If you’re interested in quilts and their history, you won’t want to miss this event! Tammy Reid, Head Coach of the Head Coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, is a passionate quilt collector and in her talk “Every Quilt Has a Story”, she is sharing stories of the quilts she has collected over the years. 

In this fun, interactive talk, the three panelists, Tammy Reid, Dakota Redford (the Director of the Missouri Quilt Museum, housed here in Hamilton), and Christine Pembrook (a ...

Quilt historians have postulated that the graphic modern shapes and rich woollen colours of antique Welsh quilts are the origin for the much vaunted modernist quilts that went on to be made by the American Amish. Certainly, non-conformist religious migrant communities are documented as having stopped off in South Wales to restock ships as they… Continue reading Deconstructed Welsh Quilt

Nestled in the Northwest corner of the Kansas City metropolitan area is the town of Hamilton, Missouri. The tiny town of 1,809 residents has long been known as the birthplace of American businessman James Cash Penney who would go on to revolutionize the retail market with his self-named department store chain, J C Penney. Until just a decade ago, Hamilton remained a quiet rural community similar to many in the Northwest Missouri area. Businesses came and went and generations of residents continued to call ...

When I first read the story of the Hawick quilter Janet Pow (1884-1962) the fact that jumped out at me was that she lived in a mill town, and she came from an extended family of textile workers. Of course, she was also a quilter. I was already fascinated by the quilts she helped to… Continue reading My Lilliesleaf *Hawick* Quilt

As we begin to celebrate National Quilting Month, it is important to look back upon our history and appreciate how the art of quilting has evolved throughout our past. Each of us has a special responsibility as a quilter (whether you realize it or not!); we are tasked with keeping an ancient art form alive and well and with every stitch of fabric, we’re sewing the threads of the craft’s future. Whether you learned how to quilt in the traditional way of having the skill passed down from previous ...

                                      Welcome to block 10.

The photo above is a detail of

A Scant History of Patchwork and Quilting in The British Isles.