Civil War Era Quilts on Display

This year, as we celebrate the 150^th anniversary of the American Civil War, quilters will have a perhaps unique opportunity to learn about the quilts and quilters of that time. Exhibits are popping up all over the country.

Over Memorial Day weekend I had the chance to see an amazing exhibit at the Southern Illinois Art and Artisans Center at Rend Lake.  Naturally we were not allowed to do any flash photography of such rare and fragile textiles, so the only image is this one reproduced from their website.

Many of these quilts had never been exhibited before and each is accompanied with a story of the woman who made it and her family’s role in the war.

Only seventeen quilts are on display, which at first doesn’t seem like much of a collection. However, knowing that many Civil War era quilts went off with soldiers and were either worn to rags or used to bury the fallen, it is amazing that so many remain from the communities of central and southern Illinois.

The story of the quilting women of Illinois was one of mixed feelings and divided loyalties. Though Illinois regiments fought with the Union army of the North, many of the settlers of Illinois, especially of Southern Illinois, had come from Kentucky and other areas that supported the Confederacy. These stories made the quilts even more touching to view. Read more about the history of Civil War Quilts here.

The exhibit runs through October 30, 2011 so if you manage to be anywhere near Southern Illinois this summer or fall, I urge you to go. Find more information about the exhibit here.

As I mentioned, Illinois isn’t the only place to see amazing Civil War quilts. Every fall the astounding “Dear Jane” quilt , (made by Jane Sickle in 1863), is displayed at the Bennington Museum in Bennington, VT. Because of the fragility of this quilt it is only displayed for about six weeks each year, and I think it would be well worth the trip. Read more about the quilt here.

Is there a Civil War anniversary event focusing on textiles and quilts planned for your town? Leave a comment and let us all know about it.

Good Intentions

I had such good intentions for writing today. You see I’ve been summoned for jury duty. Based on past experience that means I will spend most of the day sitting in a large room with other grumpy citizens waiting to be called for voir dire. And, as we all know from “Law and Order” episodes, that is the part where the lawyers ask you a bunch of questions and you try to think of answers that will make you an unacceptable juror. In reality, we almost never get to that point. Either the miscreant … oops, sorry, accused, will take a plea deal, or he will simply fail to show up for court. In either case, at that point we will all be dismissed with the thanks of the court and sent home with a check for $25 dollars.

I thought these otherwise wasted hours would be a great time to write a few blog articles and patterns that have been stacking up on the desk. I dutifully makd sure I had art for everything I wanted to write about, loaded all of my files onto a thumb drive, borrowed Mark’s snazzy lightweight laptop and dug out the computer case that I used back when I lived in the corporate world and had to haul a computer around with me. I emptied out all of the ancient flash card readers that no longer fit any device known to man, and loaded up the bag with computer, jury summons, wallet, etc. and headed downtown.

After checking in and finding an uncomfy seat in the jury assembly room I pulled out the computer and freaked! Where is the thumb drive? Well apparently it’s sitting on the counter in the kitchen. Or maybe it’s on the sideboard in the dining room. My other purse? Who knows. All I know is that I don’t have the art I need to tell my stories. Ah well. The best laid plans...

Portrait Quilts

I’m really fascinated with making portrait quilts and am in the beginning stage of planning several. Take this photo

I need to decide how complex to make the face, so I’ve been playing with the cutout filter in Photoshop.

Should I simplify just a little bit?

A bit more?

Quilt a lot?

Or go so far that it’s only the suggestion of a face? That final image would certainly be easier to cut out and assemble, but is it pleasing?

I’ve also been playing with photos of our dog.

For "Lady at the Pond" I think this is about right. Five levels, with edge simplicity set at five, and edge fidelity set to one. Even at this simplistic a cutout, I may still need to  achieve some of the detail with thread painting rather than fabric.

And I may use the eye area from this 8 level version, as well as the tongue and teeth detail. 

If all this talk of cutouts and edge simplicity is making your head spin you might want to check out a wonderful publication called Quilting Arts. I have learned most of what I know about art quilt techniques from this magazine, and the writers regularly feature articles on how to leverage technology for better quilt-making. 

As for the projects I'm contemplating, I would love to hear what you think. We are headed off for a week at the beach in a few days, but one of these projects will be the first order of business when we return. Well, one of these, or another Ansel Adams tribute. We’ll see.

Excuses

How is it possible that I haven't posted anything this month? Well I could blame it on a houseful of company, which I thoroughly enjoyed, or too many neighborhood commitments, or spring cleaning, or...
The truth is I'm having a terrible time dragging myself out of the garden and back to the computer or sewing machine. How can I think about sitting still in a chair hand quilting, when I could be outside looking at the day to day changes of the Spring garden?

 On Saturday I mentioned to my brother that the Peonies (Paeonia) where about to pop.

This morning I was greeted by this.

The Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) really sets off the Azaleas.

Could this be any more dramatic? 

Oops. Look closely. The macro lens caught some bad actors at work.

Bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana) is in full bloom. 

Tickseed is such an unfitting name for this cheerful flower. I prefer Eared coreopsis (Coreopsis auriculata)

The False Indigo (Baptisia) is also just about to burst out. I have white (alba), blue and yellow varieties.

When this Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) blooms, it will be light yellow and the gray foliage is a great foil for the baptisia nearby.

American Snowbell (Styrax Americana) is so delicate, I keep expecting to hear those little bells chime as I walk past.

And the American Wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) will mingle it's gorgeous blooms with all the other plants it romps over and around.

So when will I head back into the house?

Maybe when pigs fly... but I will come back in with inspiration. So please bear with me. I'll be back to stitching and blogging about it soon.

Score!

Last week I wrote about Challenge week over at Amy's Creative Side. Well I'm a day late with my blog post, but I did meet the challenge. I had a dozen 12 x 12 inch quilt "sandwiches" ready to go along to Nashville with me on Friday morning.

As expected, the dog did prevent me from doing much quilting in the car, and the events of the weekend didn't leave much time either. But, the first square is nearly done. You may notice that the swirls in some of the fabrics I'm using gave inspiration to the quilt design. These curlicues are fun to work and random enough that no marking is required. I find that sort of quilting most relaxing - much like free-form embroidery. 

Hopefully I can devote some serious TV time to hand quilting the rest of the squares and joining them up. I'll try to remember to post a finished picture here when I finish.
Thanks to Amy for the challenge. This project has been trying to get started for a long time, so it feels good to have made even this much progress.