A "Crazy" Story

When we first started our blog and set up our Through the Needle's Eye website, our hope was to invite others with stories of their quilts to share. In fact, on the home page of our website, there is a form asking you to share stories you may have about your treasures. We were absolutely delighted to receive this email a few weeks ago from Kathleen Barden. Her story was so fascinating that we asked her permission to share it with you. She has kindly accepted our invitation, and thrilled us further by sending pictures. Thank you, Kathleen! And readers—enjoy!!

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The end of the story is that I have three exquisitely embroidered crazy quilt panels with four 12.5-inch blocks in each panel. Plus another four-block panel that lacks embroidery over the joined block seams. Plus eight more 12.5-inch embroidered crazy quilt blocks waiting to be sewn together. Plus two 21-inch blocks with some embroidery and theorem painting in the centers. I believe the blocks may date back to late Victorian times. I'm looking for information about how to honor the history of these blocks while creating a finished quilt. 

The middle of the story is that I have already spent approximately 15 hours removing the three intact, completed panels from a brown Velveteen dress made in the late 60's and worn in a high school student play. She was an excellent seamstress, making fashion forward clothing until a few weeks before she died. 

The beginning of the story is that, for helping a friend downsize her sewing room, she gave me three boxes of her favorite fabrics. She had owned an upscale fabric shop in an exclusive suburban area from the early 1960s to the mid 1990s. As I was in the midst of packing to move as well, I sealed, then labeled the boxes and put them with the others to be moved to my new guest/sewing room. Recently, anticipating overnight guests, I have been cleaning up my sewing room. Stored under the bed were those three boxes. One box contains her favorite blue and white batiks from her travels in Indonesia. Another box is full of glorious yards of jewel-toned silks, satins, taffetas, and velvets. The third box held that dress she'd made for her daughter from parts of a crazy quilt, and all the rest of the intact, leftover crazy quilt blocks. The next chapter is mine to write/sew.

Here are some pictures you might like to use, along with my story. 

One of the lessons learned from all my efforts with this project to date is the critical importance of documentation for everything I do and create. I had a habit of labeling my "really good stuff." Henceforth, everything is getting labeled!

Just in the last two weeks, I "unearthed" an address for one of my benefactor's daughters. She informed me that, also in the mid 1960s, her Mom made a brown velveteen skirt and a vest with crazy quilt blocks for her younger sister. Neither can remember what happened to those garments. They both believe that their Mom either won the blocks in an auction or purchased them in an antique store. Although their Mom had the ability, neither remember her adding any embroidery of her own to the blocks. 

I am more reluctant than I was, to add any details of my own; keeping all that I have original to that talented woman whose name I shall never know but whose work I want to honor. It's becoming an awesome responsibility to own these beautiful pieces of another woman's history. I'm thrilled that her lovely work will live on and be appreciated well after she is gone.

Thank you. I look forward to reading the comments that your followers will add and to learning more about crazy quilting in general.

 ~by Kathleen B. Barden

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If anyone has any information or suggestions for Kathleen as to how she can "honor the history of these blocks while creating a finished quilt," please give her some feedback in the comments below. We would all appreciate any suggestions you might have. Again, many thanks to Kathleen for sharing her story with us all; hopefully, our group effort here can offer her some ideas about how to preserve these treasures.

Teri's Travels: White Bluffs Quilt Museum

If you follow our blog, you know that I (Teri) have been sharing some of our quilty stops during our cross-country road trip in July. Often, when I travel with my husband, we make a deal: I go to a quilt shop and he gets to pick a BBQ restaurant. (It's a win-win for me!) One day, I scored a visit to a quilt museum as we drove through Washington state. What a fun stop that was! When I arrived at the White Bluffs Quilt Museum in Richland, Washington, I was greeted by Marlene Martin, who began showing me around. Before long, Jenny Treadway, the director, arrived to prepare to teach a class of children to make a quilt. I wandered while they worked, chatting with them and learning about their organization.

Marlene and Jenny

Jenny took the time to explain that the museum is a repository for the National Quilt Index; it is a location for documenting and photographing quilts and recording their history. This is a vital way to preserve and promote the art of quilting. White Bluffs Quilt Museum was founded in 2007—"Preserving and Teaching the Textile Arts." Indeed, Jenny told me that her focus is on teaching. She said that some of the kids that take classes there have been with them for years. It was clear as I was talking with these ladies that they could easily garner a following as they shared their passion for the needle crafts. 

The class they were preparing was to introduce children to machine sewing. Each child would get a packet with everything they would need, and at the end of the class, they each would receive a bag of fabric, so they could start a stash. Most of the kids who were coming had parents who didn't sew, so this way they would have some fabric to use to keep them sewing. What a brilliant idea!

Jenny said that the children must be at least eight years old to take the classes; they found that six is a bit too young. They have enough adults volunteering during the classes to have a ratio of 2 children to 1 adult, and all the kids use the same machine. Jenny stated that they enjoy teaching the kids. I'm sure that the kids enjoyed her class as well!

 

Exhibits of quilts and textile arts rotate on a regular basis. I saw a wide variety of needle artifacts, as well as many tools on display during my visit. Both of the above coverlets were made in 1846 by an itinerant weaver, who had a loom on the back of a wagon.

The handmade, silk, hooked rugs on the left date to the early 19th century.

 

Weaving skills are among the classes taught here.

 A display of spindles and other spinning tools 

Crazy quilt

Racks of quilts are available for purchase.

The library has over 1000 books about textile arts.

The large loom on the left is on the national registry. Jenny teaches weaving, and members are invited to use the on-site equipment, including the looms, spinning wheels, and sewing machines. 

Marlene explained that they get ends from the Pendleton looms to make rugs.

If I didn't live 3000 miles away, I might be tempted to add weaving to my skill set!

Items made by members were available for sale.

If you live near Richland, Washington, you might want to check out their Fiber Fest on October 18-19, with demonstrations, classes, and exhibits.

I so appreciated the time Marlene and Jenny spent chatting with me about this wonderful organization, especially as they were busy preparing for their class of kids. If those children feel their passion and caring as much as I did, we can be assured that we will have a whole new generation of quilters coming out of Washington!

Thank you, Jenny and Marlene, for sharing your love of needle arts with those in your community! I am honored to have had the opportunity to visit you and learn about all that you are doing to promote the textile and fiber arts.

What about you, Friends? Do you have a needle artists' resource near you? Please share in the comments below, so that we can all benefit from those places we may not know exist!

A Mysterious Quilt!

If you have been reading our blog for a while, you will know that Teri and I (Kara) have a obsession, fondness for antique quilts. We have assembled quite a collection between the two of us and we love sharing it in our lecture, The Stories in Our Quilts. Recently, we have picked up a few quilt gems that we will share with you over the coming months. 

When I look at potential quilts to add to my collection, I usually go for the unique ones that could have an interesting story or background. The quilt I just bought was listed as a "Patchwork Colliers Quilt". That was all the information available other than the pictures and I had never seen anything like it before. The front was made of what appears to be painted or colored blocks, outlined in black thread, and the back was very obviously made out of  feedsacks.

The patchwork Colliers quilt. Notice the interesting edging on only 3 sides. 

The back made with feed sacks. Washburn Crosby became General Mills in 1928
and wheat screenings were often used as poultry feed.

Colliers was a national, weekly, magazine that had quite a following and was known for it's artistic covers, however, I couldn't find any covers to match the illustrations of the quilt. Google provided very little information with the exception of one other quilt that was similar and can be seen here. It is definitely a little more refined but seems to made in a like fashion. Vintage and antique Facebook groups were unable to provide any hints as to where someone could have found prints like this and then colored and stitched them. Was it an enterprising artist that copied the covers onto fabric? My research has been by no means exhaustive, but I am hoping this blog post might help.

The time frame from the images seems to be around the 20's or 30's and the subjects are varied—geishas, pilgrims, transportation and daily life just to name a few. The work seems a bit primitive but it has such a charm to it, that I couldn't pass it up in spite of not knowing much about it. 

A nursery rhyme.

This lovely geisha appears twice in the quilt.

These singers also appear twice.

One of the transportation blocks.

A zeppelin!

Family life scene.

A kitty cuddler.

A German Shepherd maybe?

Some of the more interesting (odd) ones.

Where's Sunbonnet Sue?

This one is open to interpretation.

These pilgrims look skeptical.

A blacksmith relaxing.

As I mentioned before the coloring and embroidery are a bit primitive but the artist (or maybe artists), was very detailed with their coloring.

This quilt is quite a mystery and I am sure that it was a treasure for someone—they certainly must have spent a lot of time making it. Now it will be treasured and researched by me and hopefully I will be able to find out more information about the subject matter, the techniques, and maybe even the maker. Have you ever see a quilt or technique like this? If so, any help in my research would be most welcome! Maybe some of the mystery behind it will be solved with your help, but for now I am grateful that this gem has found it's home in my collection.

Aloha from Germany!

Since arriving in Germany this past June, I (Kara) have jumped into a number of quilt guilds and groups. One group that I have joined is called the Baltimore Beauties. Many of the ladies there were once a part of a group that made a Baltimore Album quilt based on Mimi Dietrich's patterns; thus the name. The group has stuck together and now meets monthly to quilt, knit, or just to help develop their skills in English or German. Most of the ladies are German, but the love of quilting overcomes any language barriers. Their English is hands-down, way better than my German, and they graciously correct my inept pronunciations. Their willingness to teach even extends to cooking, as one of the ladies is going to teach a few of us how to make spaetzle, the traditional Swabian way.

Spaetzle: A staple around here. Click here for the recipe

On my very first visit to this group, Daniela, the organizer, mentioned that one of the local museums in Stuttgart was going to be presenting an exhibit about Hawaii. Somehow the idea of a sew-in of Hawaiian quilts was brought up, and our group was asked to stitch Hawaiian quilt blocks at the museum. Many agreed to participate, so for the next few months, we prepped and started our blocks. I purchased a few books with patterns; Amazon had a great deal on three books which I rationalized gave me more blocks to choose from! I chose to back-baste my block instead of constructing it in the traditional, Hawaiian way and found that it was the perfect method for this style of appliqué.

Three for $20! How could I pass it up?

The front.

The back.

A quarter of the way finished

As you can see, I haven't finished my block yet, but I needed something to stitch on for the sew-in (that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it). I forgot how much I enjoyed needle-turning batik fabric. Unfortunately, that block has been relegated down on the priority list, but I will finish it.

At the exhibit entrance.

Our sew-in day was November 29, and before we sat down to stitch, we were able to get a private tour with the curator of the exhibit. The items in the exhibit were gathered from all parts of the world, and surprisingly, most of the collections came from other European countries. 

The curator explaining how this particular textile was made.

The focus of the exhibit was about the tumultuous history of Hawaii and its colonization, so there was only one quilt in the exhibit; not in the traditional style, but made to share a political opinion. Of course, I was most interested in the textiles, so that is primarily what I will show you here.

A quilt made about the British rule.

A traditional kapa cloth made  of bark fibers

Kapa cloth detail

Most kapa cloth was used for clothing; the plain for the common man
and the patterned for the high-ranking families.

Kapa was also used for blankets.

Kapa was traditionally made by women using the fibres
of the wauke or Paper Mulberry. 

Since the 1980s, the forgotten tradition of making kapa
has been revived as a part of Hawaiian, textile. artistry.

Other textiles in this exhibit involved feathers—and a lot of them! The feathered cloaks and headdresses were considered sacred and worn as symbols of power.

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All made of feathers attached to a web-like structure.

A close up of the feathers.

More feathered detail

This feathered cloak and helmet were designed to protect the head and spine,
which were thought to be sacred.

Helmet detail

"My! What big teeth you have!"

After our tour of these amazing artifacts, it was our turn to sit and stitch.  We had quite a few visitors stop by to watch us as we needle-turned our blocks. A couple of our ladies had already finished their blocks and were beginning to quilt them.

German and American quilters stitching Hawaiian appliqué!
You can't make this stuff up!

Beautiful, bright, tropical, colors!

We all had such a lovely time, and it was a wonderful opportunity on so many levels. It was so kind of the museum to invite us to share our appliqué passion with the museum goers. Have you tried Hawaiian appliqué? If so, we'd love to hear about your experience. 

Until next time, Aloha!