February 19 – 28, 2001
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These restored messages come from the Quilt History List, an online forum where quilt historians, collectors, researchers, appraisers, and enthusiasts discussed antique quilts and related textiles. The archive dates from 1996 through approximately 2016 and is being restored gradually. Sign up in the form at the bottom of the page if you want to know when a new page is added. Original spelling, opinions, formatting, and inactive links may remain unchanged.
Primary topics of this QHL Digest:
- Remembering Quilt Historian Lucy Hilty — News of Lucy Hilty’s death brings tributes from several members who studied or worked alongside her.
- Gear and Technique for Oral History Interviews — A request for tape recorder recommendations for field interviews turns into a detailed exchange on recording and transcribing equipment, plus practical interview tips.
- Skepticism About Underground Railroad Quilt Codes — A member raises concerns about claims linking specific quilt patterns to Underground Railroad signaling, questioning the evidentiary basis of the theory. (see the article on Underground Railroad quilts)
- Study Groups, Shows, and Museum Resources — Members compare notes on their local antique-quilt study groups and point each other to museum collections and reference sites, from the Valentine Museum to the Smithsonian’s online quilt holdings. (see the article on quilt study groups)
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 10:03:45 -0500 | From: “Lynne Humphries-Russ” <lynnehr@>
I’m responding to the query regarding tape recording and transcribing instruments from Karen Alexander. I’m posting to the entire list because there may be others doing filed interviews who can use the information. Besides being a novice quilter and quilt historian, I’m the membership Secretary for Oral History in the Mid-Atlantic Region, a regional non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the education of current and future oral historians in Delaware, the District of Columbia, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. I’m currently involved in two major oral history projects myself as the oral historian. Any tape recorder you have is good so long as you can hear it if you are not interested in preserving the tapes. If you want to be able to hear EASILY and preserve the tapes for inclusion in a collection, then you will need to spend about $400 for a good quality regular sized tape recorder with a good table microphone. Any brand is fine; I use a Sony. The transcribing machine needs to be one with a foot pedal. You will drive yourself to distraction if it doesn’t have one. It also should have a counter and head phones for ease. Again, any brand and I use a Sony, primarily because that’s what I could find quickly when I needed these machines. They have served well. I highly recommend using a professional transcriber. I can recommend several should anyone need them. Transcribing is an art. Anyone can have the tools to be an artist; using those tools proficiently requires practice, as we all well know in the quilting community! There is a lot of debate within the oral history community about digital recording. There are still a lot of unknowns about it. The general consensus is to stick with the easiest and least intrusive for your interviewee. If you are going to put your oral histories on the web, hoever, you have to have it in a format that will easily translate digitally. You can go on to the Oral History Association’s web page at www.dickinson.edu/organizations/OHA. This group is the national organization which governs the standards for oral history in the United States. You can download a lot of extremely useful information from that site. If anyone needs more information or for a bibliography, feel free to contact me. If I see the need, I will post to the list. Otherwise, I’ll respond privately. Take care. In soon to be snowy Central Maryland, Lynne Humphries-Russ
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 09:02:55 -0500 | From: “Jeff Lesh” <jefflesh@>
The print from Concord that we’ve all bought is a medium-size crowded floral print and at last market, Concord still printed it in a brown and a navy ground. A Concord salesman once told me that print had gotten a Coty award–it was the first cotton print to have over a million yards printed.
Coming out of lurksvilIe to respond to this interesting thread about quilting fabric designers, etc. I think I know what fabric this is that you are referring to Pepper, but wondered if someone would scan it and put on a website, so I can see it, so I am sure. I probably have a piece of it, do you think? 🙂 Sheri From the cold, tundra, Iowa
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 16:45:34 -0500 | From: “John Cawley” <cawley@>
Fran’s Vintage Friends met on Monday to feast on food and quilts–an unbeatable combination. I’ll actually be able to give you a couple of references to pictures of things we saw. On p. 48 of the Adams County book (The Hands That Made Them–if you don’t have this book you are missing out on a gallery of some of the most colorful quilts ever made) is a quilt called Virginia Star with Flying Geese. The quilt came to FVF and the picture doesn’t begin to do it justice. It is pristine. The stars are pieced of several different turkey reds and one buff and blue print which appears yellow in the picture. The background fabric is as white and crisp as new. The quilting is lavish. We counted 8-9 stitches per inch which may not sound like much, but believe me it was perfect. We dated the quilt c. 1830; the maker married in 1831 and this is certainly special enough to have been her wedding quilt.
<img align=”left” border=”0″ height=”140″ src=”http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1571200339.01.MZZZZZZZ.gif” width=”107″/>A Vintage Friend from West Virginia brought a scrap top that was a gold mine of 1860s fabrics. Go to Brackman’s Quilts of the Civil War p. 19 to see a crib quilt (from Kimberly Wulfert’s collection) containing a Civil War commemorative fabric. There’s a detail on p. 30. The top we saw contains this fabric. We saw an elegant small quilt made of cigarette silks (tied, no batting) with beautifully printed designs of flags, girls in various national costumes, portraits of minor royalty of the early 20th century (King George of Greece) and, my favorites, a Cornell hockey player and a Harvard hurdler. There was a quilt from Maine made for a poster bed (T-shaped as Jeanette Lasansky calls them) which contains a variety of chintzes (glaze intact), Prussian blues, the famous pheasant fabric (say that fast five times!). You could teach a class on dating early 19th century fabrics from this quilt. It has suffered the attack of mice who chewed five or six holes, but it still remains beautiful. Anyone of us would take it in a heartbeat, but its owner loves it too. Cinda on the Eastern Shore where it is snowing for the first time this winter and my daffodils are just about to bloom!
Hi Everyone: I sure hope I have my “plain text” setting correct. AOL 6.0 sure can mess up my emails to lists. Hopefully this will arrive to you correctly. Barbara Brackman has a new pattern out called “Underground Railroad.” It is a well done pattern and inside the package is a good historical explanation of how the quilt pattern got its name. Buying the pattern is worth it even if you are just interested in her perspective on whether quilts were used as “signs” in the underground railroad system. She gives an explanation on how the underground railroad quilt myth got started and why these quilts/patterns are not from the pre-Civil War era. The pattern is published by the Sunflower Pattern Co-operative in Lawrence, Kansas (785-843-9233). I saw the pattern today in a quilt shop — it is fairly new on the market but is available. It is something you could share with schools, etc., who are promoting inaccurate quilt history on the subject. Kathy in Ozark
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 13:13:02 -0500 | From: “John Cawley” <cawley@>
I forgot something very interesting. The Friends were making fun of me because I actually took notes on this. We saw a “Crockmeter,” a device for testing a textile’s color fastness to rubbing. It was a wooden device with pins for attaching fabric to a piece of wood; a second piece was attached by a kind of accordian hinge operated by a handle which when turned rubs the top piece against the fabric anchored by the pins. We put a piece of bleached muslin down first and then a sample of hand-dyed fabric over it (no crocking). The tool had a metal label from “The American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists, Lowell Textile Institute” and a U.S. patent #. It was well made, but we had the feeling that it had not been mass-produced. Perhaps only enough were made for use by students at the Lowell Textile Institute. Curious. Cinda on the Eastern Shore where yesterdays snow is melting very fast.
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 13:34:51 -0500 | From: “John Cawley” <cawley@>
Ever since I saw the exhibit of politically inspired quilts at the Brandywine Museum I’ve been desperate to continue the tradition by commemorating the 2000 Presidential election with a quilt. The problem is that I have been unable to locate any suitable fabric for such a project. In the old days there were campaign ribbons, cotton bunting, handkerchiefs and bandanas. Now it seems the only political textiles are T-shirts and I don’t want to deal with a stretchy poly-cotton fabric. Anybody have any ideas about where I might find something suitable? I don’t care if its Gore/Lieberman or Bush/Cheyney just so it’s election 2000. Cinda on the Eastern Shore
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 15:50:49 -0600 | From: Xenia Cord <xecord@>
Cinda laments the lack of political textiles associated with the recent election. I concur, and on the eve of the inauguration my DH and I were invited to a very political party, by our very political friends. Problem is, I am one of maybe 3 registered Democrats in our county, and the host and hostess are hip deep in Republican politics. Sooo…with the help of a friend who has a machine that embroiders letters, I created several bits of fabric lettered “hanging chad,” “dimpled chad,” “pregnant chad.” I worked these into a crazy quilt style vest made from my collection of patriotic and political fabrics. Since we were invited to dress “Texan” or in “Florida mall chic,” I wore the vest with a red silk broomstick skirt and matching shirt, and red boots! Sort of a kick a– outfit! Later I gave the vest to a friend who collects political items, for use in an exhibit next year. So, Cinda – in the absence of appropriate fabrics, make your own! Xeniaate: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 20:13:18 -0800 From: “M. Geiss-Mooney” <mgmooney@> The CrockMeter is actually a tool used for the crocking standard test for the American Association of Textile Chemists & Colorists (AATCC) to this day – it and the standard are used extensively in the textile industry world-wide even to this day! (And yes, I am a member of AATCC!) Margaret Geiss-Mooney Textile Conservator
Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 08:23:38 -0500 | From: “Marlene O’Bryant-Seabrook” <marlobs@>
Cuesta, I have not seen the Barbara Brackman Underground Railroad pattern/information, but, I have concern about the following two lines in the post that I read this morning . She gives an explanation on how the underground railroad quilt myth got started … It is something you could share with schools, etc., who are promoting inaccurate quilt history on the subject. Myths are very much like the “passing the secret” games that I played as a child. They are, also, almost impossible to trace to an absolute starting point. Much of the history which involved African Americans was transmitted orally. What documented proof is there on HOW the myth got started? I have spent the greater portion of my life as an educator and I personally asked Jacqueline Tobin to always inform her audiences that the Ozella Williams story was “a” family’s story, not “the” African American story. Now, I ask that teachers who present the Barbara Brackman information state that this is very likely the way that the myth started or something of that nature which is less absolute. No one knows for certain, “HOW”. Marlene O’Bryant-Seabrook
Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 18:32:18 -0600 | From: Gail Ingram <GIngram@>
A lot of our foremothers did, in fact, use scraps from clothing construction to make tops for quilts that were utilitarian as well as attractive. Growing up in Central Louisiana in the late forties and fifties, I knew women who never purchased fabric for quiltmaking. Every piece, including the backing (usually from the printed feedsacks in which the feed for farm chickens and cattle came), was “saved.” Only the batts were purchasedand sometimes those were worn-out quilts, recycled. My mother and others, who had grown up using quilts and preferred them to blankets for warmth but did not quilt themselves, purchased quilts for bedcovers from these women. I can recall my mother purchasing muslin (“yellow domestic” is the term everyone used for it) to give to a woman who was making some quilts for her so there would be a little more artistry in them. When my mother returned to making quilt tops after her children were grown and I had determined to make quilts as coverlets for my home’s beds, she turned to a well-stocked scrap bag. And when it came time to put away all those flared and gathered skirts I had worn in the late fifties and early sixties, I carefully cut them up to save for the quilt tops I had always dreamed of making. The general aftermath of the Civil War for the southern states was poverty. Although most did not conceive of themselves as “poor,” most were. Economy was practiced assiduously. Scraps from homesewing were prized, passed down (My mother inherited her grandmother’s scrap bag), and exchanged. As I look at the quilts I have inherited from several generations of “foremothers,” I take great pride in the ingenuity with which they manipulated remnants from their sewing to make scrap quilts that were both practical and beautiful. My own daughter will be able to remember the dresses I sewed for her when she was a child from the quilts I made during those child-rearing days, when I had more time than money at my disposal. My own love of scrap quilts is linked to the sense of scraps and economy as a valued part of quiltmaking I picked up from sleeping under all those “utility” scrap quilts in childhood. That is not to say there were not quilts that were planned and executed with fabrics selected specifically for the quilt, but those were the “best” quilts, the ones kept in storage and brought out for ceremonial occasions or laid on the guest bed in a room where shades were drawn against the damaging effects of sun. And where I grew up, there were not many of those. I remember being shocked in the mid-80’s when a friend who is a folklife researcher and I curated a quilt show to find so many of these “best” quilts. As we talked with their owners, nearly every one told the same story: the quilt was singular and atypical in their family’s histories. On several quilt-looking trips to the Midwest, I have been surprised at the number of vintage “everyday” quilts which were made completely from new cloth. My personal experience is that one could never find so many in the Deep South. Now, having said all that, I say this: a gulf yawns between the attitudes of all those makers of scrap quilts and the “so fun” attitude of the article. But maybe the woman who spent a day in upscale shops purchasing ingredients for the soaps she spent a day making will develop a greater appreciation for the product. Still, I wonder: reckon she had a maid doing the cooking while she shopped and made soap? from the hills of North Louisiana, where the daffodils, oriental magnolias, and pear trees are gorgeous
Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 20:36:22 EST | From: Trimble4@
In a message dated 2/24/01 7:34:57 PM Eastern Standard Time, GIngram@ writes: << I remember being shocked in the mid-80’s when a friend who is a folklife researcher and I curated a quilt show to find so many of these “best” quilts. As we talked with their owners, nearly every one told the same story: the quilt was singular and atypical in their family’s histories. >> Hello all, I’m new to your group, so I hope I won’t be out of line in responding to the current thread. My grandmother was a quilter (my teacher) who did make her share of utility quilts and “best” quilts. She worked for years and years in a shirt factory and collected the scraps of plaids for her quilts. Many of her “made-up” quilts are those that I remember being most beautiful (a Lone Star out of bright, vibrant plaids, for example). Sadly, they are not the quilts that survived, except in my memory. Each of my siblings and I received one of her “best” quilts, and I wouldn’t trade mine for anything. But what wouldn’t I give to recover one of those “less best” quilts? To my eye, the utility quilt may not be the best example of a quilter’s artistry, but it is the best clue to the quilter herself. Sometimes we show our grace in the simple art of everyday survival, and it is this that touches me most. When I find the old, barely salvageable quilt stuffed in a barrel in a shop (or worse), I am saddened to think that what I consider the “meat” of the quilter’s life has been so casually tossed aside. And yet, it is the utility quilt that is most loved and used. Just something that interests me… Lori Still covered with snow in Massachusetts
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 09:08:26 -0500 | From: “Kris Driessen” <krisdriessen@>
> >From: “Dr. Elizabeth A. Richards” <Elizabeth.Richards@> > >A crockmeter is used in physical testing of textiles (as opposed to chemical >testing) to tell if fabrics will be fast to dry crocking, wet crocking and >dry cleaning solvents. The test used is a standard textile test, either a >Canadian General Standards Board test or the American Association of Textile >Chemists and Colorists test. A manufacturer would use it to see if his >textiles met standards for care labelling. A fabric that crocks will stain >the muslin test piece and the stain is measured by the grey scale, the >lightness or darkness on the muslin test piece. Ideally textiles shouldn’t >crock. > >A textile testing lab would have this equipment as a standard piece of >equipment. Students who would be using this would be learning about >physical testing of textiles. Our first year students learn to use this >equipment – and we have a stock of textiles that crock badly so they can see >”good” results. It is simple to use and a quick test for color fastness to >rubbing. > >Textiles that are pigment printed may be fast to crocking when wet but the >adhesive used in setting the pigments on to the fabric may dissolve in dry >cleaning solvent. The white muslin test print will then show staining from >the pigment removed. This is probably the most common problem I have seen >when crock testing. Sometimes blue jeans that haven’t been washed prior to >sale (i.e. not stone washed jeans) will crock – both dry and wet – for a few >launderings. >
> > Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 13:13:02 -0500 >From: “John Cawley” <cawley@> > > I forgot something very interesting. The Friends were making fun of me >because I actually took notes on this. We saw a “Crockmeter,” a device for >testing a textile’s color fastness to rubbing. It was a wooden device with >pins for attaching fabric to a piece of wood; a second piece was attached by >a kind of accordian hinge operated by a handle which when turned rubs the >top piece against the fabric anchored by the pins. We put a piece of >bleached muslin down first and then a sample of hand-dyed fabric over it (no >crocking). The tool had a metal label from “The American Association of >Textile Chemists and Colorists, Lowell Textile Institute” and a U.S. patent >#. It was well made, but we had the feeling that it had not been >mass-produced. Perhaps only enough were made for use by students at the >Lowell Textile Institute. Curious. >Cinda on the Eastern Shore where yesterdays snow is melting very fast.
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 10:28:59 -0500 | From: Judy White <jawhite@>
A friend who is not on the QHL list sent me this because she cannot post to the list. This site is so interesting, but be sure you have a great block of time because there are a lot of quilts to see and read about – if you are not interested in the makers, just look at the photos.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/qlthtml/qlthome.html Of largest interest to my quilting friends was this one, “Quilts and Quiltmaking in America: 1978-1996”. While there are beautiful people and works, this is real world quilting, the kind most like what most of us like to engage in. There may be areas that are different from this, but this is real home quilting both stories in audio, and really, stories in pictures. To quote from this site, http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/qlthtml/qlthome.html ………………… Quilts and Quiltmaking in America showcases materials from two American Folklife Center collections, the Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project Collection (1978) and the “All-American Quilt Contest” sponsored by Coming Home, a division of Lands’ End, and Good Housekeeping. Together these collections provide a glimpse into America’s diverse quilting traditions. The quilt documentation from the Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project, an ethnographic field project conducted by the American Folklife Center in cooperation with the National Park Service, includes 229 photographs and 181 recorded interviews with six quiltmakers in Appalachian North Carolina and Virginia. These materials document quilts and quilting within the context of daily life and reflect a range of backgrounds, motivations, and aesthetic sensibilities. The materials presented from the Lands’ End All-American Quilt Contest collection include images of approximately 180 winning quilts from across the United States. The collection represents a wide range of quiltmaking, from highly traditional to innovative, and the quilts pictured exhibit excellent design and technical skill in a variety of styles and materials. Judy White
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 08:48:03 -0800 | From: “Laurette Carroll” <Robert.J.Carroll@>
Hello! Since Cinda has so generously shared her meetings with FVF, I thought I would share about our quilt study group, Repiecers of the Past, meeting here in So. California. Our quilt study group meets in Irvine, in Orange Co., and we have members from many miles around, some who drive more than an hour every month to our meetings. There are about 18 members with about 10-12 at the meetings. Right now we meet at a church, in a large meeting room. We meet once a month, on a Sat. We schedule a topic for every meeting. Last month the topic was the actual quilting designs in quilts. Several of us studied up and came prepared to share what we had learned. Those of us that collect quilts bring any that are relevant to our study. Those that don’t have old quilts, bring new quilts or books or ephemera, etc. We encourage everyone to share and participate. Next month we will be studying quilts made in PA. Some of us have volunteered to take one of the books on PA. quilts and study it and give a review. We did this program last year and we found that we needed to spend additional time on it. One year we did a study on quilts made in certain eras, with a different era every month.We started in January with quilts from before 1840, February was quilts 1840-65, and so forth during the year. That was a great year of study. We have had a couple of speakers, Barbara Brackman (I talked her into coming once when she was out here in our area), Julie Silber, who brought the most beautiful Amish quilts and was very generous with her time and knowledge, and Sandy White with a wonderful collection of children’s quilts. I would like to hear about quilt study groups that any of you might belong to. Anyone who lives in the area and wants more information on our quilt study group, Repiecers, is welcome to email me. Laurette Carroll So. California Robert.J.Carroll@ Look To The Future With Hope
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 16:36:51 -0000 | From: “Sally Ward” <Sally.D.Ward@>
The following query came to the British Quilt List and I offered to post it to QHL as it is very much more your territory. If anyone can help this lady her email addy is below. Sally Ward > A friend here in the UK asked me to help her research a quilt made entirely from American Masonic Ribbons, this seems to be unknown here and knowing nothing about Masons I am doubly in the dark. > Does anyone know anything about this sort of Quilt? > > Thank you, > Diana in Hampshire,UK > diana.baker@>
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 16:45:14 -0800 | From: “Maureen Flanagan” <flanagan@>
Hi all: There was some discussion on h-quilts about the 1978 set of 4 basket quilt blocks and the upcoming 2001 commemoratives featuring Amish quilts. If you are involved with a quilt event this year, such as a show or exhibit, you might want to ask the US Postal Service to create a special cancellation for you that could be used in conjunction with the stamp at your event. The special cancellation typically has some drawing or diagram, and also text related to the event. There is some lead time required, and some guidelines for the artwork that you can use. Also, the cancel can only be used for a limited window before it is destroyed. The Post Office will generally send out a postal worker to staff a table where the public can get cancellations and buy postal souveniers. So, you can use it as a money raiser too, by creating a postcard or cover (illustrated envelope) for the event that would be sold and taken to the Post Office table for a free cancel. There is no charge to have the post office create the cancel or to staff the table at your event. It is really great publicity, something different, a lot of fun, and draws in another group (philatelists) to your event. A year or two there was new library commemorative stamp, and throughout the year libraries all over the country organized special cancels for their events. It was great fun to collect these cancellations. You can get more information on special cancellations at your local post office, and also consult the USPS web site. In the search window, enter Philatelic Services and you will retrieve .pdf and .txt documents on Pictorial Cancellations. If you have any specific questions, I’d be happy to answer them off list. Maureen.
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 23:20:12 -0500 | From: “Linda Jacks” <ljacks@>
Are there any quilt study groups in the Northern VA area? I’ve never checked with the guilds. Linda Jacks ljacks@
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 11:50:08 EST | From: KareQuilt@
From the Quilters Unlimited (VA) electronic newsletter 24 Feb:
5. VALENTINE MUSEUM – Not far from Northern Virginia is the Valentine Museum in Richmond. This museum has some wonderful quilt exhibits. Check out the “Better Choose Me: Collecting and Creating with Tobacco Fabric Novelties 1880-1920” exhibit, which ends on April 29, 2001. Or how about the “Fashion Recycled” exhibit on display through September 3, 2001. It examines the creative ways quilts and costumes have been reused, remade, revived, and reclaimed from the late 1700s to the present. In addition, “women of Taste: A Collaboration Celebrating Quilt Artists and Chefs” runs from June 8 to November 11, 2001. This unique exhibit from the Smithsonian pairs national quilt artists with leading chefs resulting in one-of-a-kind quilts with a food related focus. It also features the collaborations of five Richmond chefs and quilters. The Valentine is located at 1015 E. Clay Street in Richmond. For information, call 804-649-0711.
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 16:09:18 EST | From: KareQuilt@
It is exciting to learn how many others have formed similar grass roots vintage fabric and antique quilt study groups! In the summer of 1995 Hazel Carter and Eileen Jordon (Bunny to her friends) came up with a similar idea here in Northern Virginia, and quilters have been gathering at The Quilt Patch in Fairfax every other month ever since. We call ourselves “The Fabric Dating Club” or simply “The Dating Club” for short. (More than one husband has raised his eyebrow when he saw “Dating Club” penciled in on a calendar!) There seems to be a core group of about a dozen enthusiastic participants, but attendance can sometimes range as high as 18-20 with each participant bringing between 3 & 5 items to share (some of them borrowed). A little preplanning and organization has been attempted by stating a theme for each meeting (color themes: blue quilts, red quilts, double pinks, greens, yellows, black, red & green; chintz, crib, crazy, etc.), thus giving everyone a chance to do some preparation, if they so desire. Hazel or Bunnie usually give us a brief synopsis of the theme at the beginning of each meeting based on reading she has done since the last gathering, and then anyone else who wants to add something jumps in. We then go around the circle and let each one show and share. We also talk about any new books we have learned about or acquired, and occasionally plan a museum or show outing together. IMHO, a steady diet of viewing and handling a variety of old quilts and fabrics is a fantastic way to learn how to date quilts! At the least it gives one a chance to see examples of some fine (and sometimes not so fine) period pieces and to ask questions, though one only occasionally receives a complete or “final answer” to the questions raised. As a group we are quite aware that there is ALWAYS room for further research! The enthusiastic sharing of what knowledge we do have, however, is exhilarating, stimulating, and very encouraging to those who want to press on and do more in-depth research on their own. And of course, we always hope they will bring their findings with them to the next Dating Club gathering. We also have a growing collection of “photo study pieces” resulting from this 5 year gathering. Karen Alexander Northern Virginia
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 00:37:40 EST | From: JQuilt@
you can learn more about the Valentine Museum in VA by going to http://www.valentinemuseum.com/ jean
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 12:20:20 -0500 | From: Vivien Lee Sayre <vsayre@>
Sally, The Museum Of Our National Heritage in Lexington, Massachusetts is a museum devoted to the Masonic culture. They just had a quilt exhibit of their Masonic quilts. To contact them have your friend use one of the following: Write them at: The Museum of Our National Heritage 33 Marrett Road Lexington, MA 02421 Phone them at: (781) 861-6559 or (781) 861-3991 E-mail them at: info@ Web site: www.mnh.org
Hope this is helpful, Vivien
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 10:02:51 -0800 | From: quilter@
i was reading with interest the posts about artists’ names printed on the selvedges, especially the story about hoffman (fabrics printed for oriental wives) since i was heading up to their company soon and had heard a much different story. while there i asked about the beginnings of the company and was told (as i had heard before) that mr. hoffman is a dedicated surfer who opened his company there because of its proximity to the ocean. there are surfboards hanging in the warehouse, and a beautiful one crafted from different woods in the lobby beside a blown-up picture of surfers, one of which is either him or his son. he did then and still does deal with hawaiian type surfer prints and his brother handles the other designs of the company. i specifically asked if their designers are ever credited on the selvedge and was told they aren’t. so for what it’s worth, i thot i’d add this information to the list. patti in san diego
Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2001 13:26:18 EST | From: QultFrFn@
Patti — Quilt shops in the very early 80’s certainly bought a lot of the Hoffman ‘surfer’ prints and early batiks. The Oriental ‘housewife’ fabrics I talked about earlier were, yet, another of their lines…medium florals on wonderful grounds smaller prints. The depth of color and color variations in those earlier prints must have been very expensive to produce. Hoffman’s printed in the last ten years are still beautiful, but no where match those very early florals for rich detail and color variation. Nancy in lovely, sunny, AZ
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 07:27:27 -0600 | From: “Susan Wildemuth” <ksandbcw@>
I am looking for contact information for Helen Ericson of Mrs. Danner’s Quilts Fame of Emporia, Kansas. I just aquired some old and newish Mrs. Danner paper items and I’d like to talk with her a little about them. Does she belong to this list? If so please contact me. I have all of Averil Colby’s quilt/quilt related books, but I am wondering if there is a book that deals with her background history/life and how she became interested in quilts. I know she has passed so I know I cannot contact her to ask these questions myself. Maybe one of the QHL members from England could help with this request or could point me in a direction. Thanks — Sue
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 08:57:25 EST | From: JQuilt@
fun place to go for some historical quilts http://americanhistory.si.edu/quilts/index.htm jean
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 09:08:08 EST | From: JQuilt@
if you go to http://www.ksu.edu/bma/ksquilts/contents.html it’s a site of A Guide to Publicly Held Quilt Collections in the State of Kansas you could get lost there for hours.. jean
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 14:07:03 -0500 | From: “J. G. Row” <Judygrow@>
Recrently Michael Mrowka posted to the Quilt Art list bragging about his wife, Debra Lunn. I have his permission to forward the post to our QHL. This should be of interest to anyone writing about the last 25 years of quilting! His post to me included an invitation to anyone interested in interviewing Debra for more information to call their 800 number. Judy in Ringoes, NJ judygrow@ > Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2001 10:30:03 -0500 From: “Lunn Fabrics Ltd” <redant@> Subject: Re: Computers First Used in Art Quilts Hi all, With all this talk of computers and quilts I wanted to mention/brag on my wife Debra Lunn (aka debra millard from a past life) Debra was the first quiltmaker to use computers in her quilts 20 years ago. She used punched cards and no monitor was even possible. The printer printed 4 values of black plus the paper white for a total of 5 value steps. Debra hand dyed 64 colors and used the computer to help her rotate blocks. She still had to color in grids by hand.. Here are a few of those early quilts.. circa 1980 http://www.lunnfabri@/pgeof.htm http://www.lunnfabri@/pgeo2.htm http://www.lunnfabri@/pso.htm If you look carefully you can see the “block” beneath the other “color” information. These quilts are 2-3 layers of information intersecting on 1 plane. The computer did the rudimentary job of rotating and repeating patterns faster than Debra could experiment by hand. When she found block/rotation sequences that pleased her she added color with her hand dyes. Interesting that years later with the faster computers and printers with colorfast pigment/dyes we have moved back to hand production. Michael Mrowka for Lunn Fabrics
