First Flap Report

I apologize for not posting about the Quilt Flap promptly. The very next morning after the Flap on June 21, I left for Missouri to do book research and today's the first day back at the computer.

Here's the short version of what happened at the Flap: lots more than we hoped for! Interesting and gorgeous quilts spilled out of bags and pillow cases, a lot of coffee and several dozen cookies were devoured, and we all made new friends. Forty three people registered at the door and they came from all over--both North and South Carolina, from Georgia, and even from Virginia.

We started at 10 AM with introductions and a little show-n-tell and then morphed into "the orange thing" which is generally me showing off my old cheddar and orange quilts. The old golden beauties couldn't have had a more appreciative audience! Lynn Gorges, game despite a bum knee, gave a presentation on Alamance plaids, those common workaday plaids woven right here in our state of North Carolina, and showed some of her extensive collection of plaid quilts. Lynn runs a textile preservation studio in New Bern. NC.

After lunch, Janice Pope (aka 'the quilt doctor') showed us a wonderful find from the Durham area. A small German community church, now simply called Brick Church, seems to have been ground zero for an unusual applique pattern. Janice has located thirteen quilts made with this pattern. Her find is the left picture. The rick-rack like edging on the applique motif is quite unusual. Another one of the Brick Church quilts was brought to the Flap by Kathy Sullivan of Raleigh (picture right).

There will be more pictures from the Flap but these will kick off the first report nicely-enjoy the eye candy! PS-if you attended the Flap, please send me some pictures!

Flap, Flap!

A week from today we should be up to our ears in old quilts. Ah--go ahead, throw me into the brier patch.......nothing I'd rather do than root around in old textiles. The Quilt Flap is on at the History Place in downtown Morehead City NC on Saturday, June 21. See the sidebar for the short version of the invite. I've been getting emails and calls and yes, there's still room for you!

What can you expect to see at the Flap? Likely some wonderful contemporary quilts will walk in since quilters can't resist showing off their work. Like this gorgeous Hexagon Medallion by Becki Bucci that came to our local guild's Day of Sharing event a year ago. Isn't this a beauty? Hand made every bit! This should refute any nay-sayer who says the only great quilts are antique quilts.

Those quilts kept in chests and boxes that haven't seen daylight in a generation are what we're hoping to see next Saturday. Maybe even ephemera (paper stuff) like this Depression-era photo from the Library of Congress archives that shows a proud quilter (identified as Mrs. Bill Staggs) displaying her embroidered State Flower quilt. The design was by Ruby McKim, a well-known quilt designer in the 1930s whose work was syndicated in many newspapers.

Because the craft of quilting is known for people sharing their knowledge in groups, the Quilt Flap is right in that traditional style. Show it and they will come. Since quilters often work in solitary splendor at home, they thrive on encouragement from others. And people who have treasured their beloved family quilts might want information as to how to take care of them. Since this area of North Carolina has an abundance of quilts, we hope people will get those heirlooms out and bring them to the Flap.

Here's a picture from Quilt Appreciation Day at the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum on Harker's Island last year. Jan Willis, Lynn's sister-in-law Vickie, and Lynn Gorges are researching the pattern of this vintage quilt.

You're bound to hear someone say, "Wow, I wanted to learn to quilt but I didn't think anyone still did it!" Be assured: quilting is alive and well and oh boy, are you in for a treat!

You're Invited!

All right friends-in three short weeks, the Great North Carolina Quilt Flap is on. Right here, in eastern coastal North Carolina, Morehead City NC to be exact. This is the event this blog was named for and hopefully, this Flap is the first of many. What's a Quilt Flap? It's a show-n-tell, an informal airing of the quilts, it's a "Let's talk all about that quilt and crazy Great-Aunt Minny who made it" day. In the tradition of Southern hospitality, coffee and light refreshments will be served in the morning and a good time will be had by all.

Your Invitation to the Great North Carolina Quilt Flap

When: Saturday, June 21, 2008. Registration and morning tea and coffee starts at 8:30 am. The Quilt Flap commences at 10 sharp. Lunch noon-1 pm. Afternoon session: 1-5 pm or until they kick us out.

Where: Auditorium of The History Place, 1008 Arendell Street, Morehead City, North Carolina 28557.

Directions: come into downtown Morehead on Route 70 and just as the speed limit drops to 20 mph (no kidding) the History Place is on your left. Turn left on 10^th Street before the building, go past the Tea Clipper door, and come around into the parking lot behind the building from Bridges Street.

What do I bring? Yourself, your camera, an open mind, and show-n-tell…old quilts of course!

Who is going to be there? Folks just like you who are crazy about old quilts. Some museum people, quilt collectors, quiltmakers, historians, and the just plain curious.

What’s going to happen at the Flap? It’s sure to be a glorious display of old quilts. We plan three short informative presentations:

Lynn Gorges (Historic Textiles Studio in New Bern,NC

http://www.textilepreservation.com will speak on Alamance plaids and museum work with old textiles.

Pepper Cory, The Quilt Studio in Morehead City www.peppercory.com will show her strange cheddar quilts.

Janice Pope (aka The Quilt Doctor from Cary, NC) will talk about the challenges of repairing old quilts.

We hope there will be round tables on various topics and would love to hear from some volunteers who might lead discussions at these tables. Plenty of time for show-n-tell but we might have to limit that to four (4) quilts per person or we’ll be there all night.

What the Quilt Flap is not: This event is not an appraisal fair or a selling and buying show. We’re gathering to celebrate the art of the quilt but please leave the money thing for another day.

What about lunch? You’re on your own from noon till 1 pm. There are lots of restaurants in downtown Morehead. You can even bring a sack lunch if you’ll pick up after yourself.

And if I get lost? You can’t because there’s only one road in and out of downtown Morehead City. You can call the History Place (252) 247-7533 but the best thing to do is Google The History Place, Morehead City, NC and up pops their website www.thehistoryplace.org and a handy map.

Does the Quilt Flap cost anything? Depends on how many quilt shops you stop at along the way! This event is free. However, we do ask that

1)you call or register beforehand so we can plan the seating and the morning coffee time and, if you are able,

2) we’ll pass the basket for a donation toward the cost of the janitor’s pay, the printing of information, and the morning refreshments.

Any other questions? Email Pepper Cory (pepcory@gmail.com) to register. Lynn Gorges (palampore@aol.com) is also available for questions. We’ll try our best. Please understand that we both occasionally are on safari working but will get back to you as soon as we can.

Silly Season

A short posting today. The season comes in like a lion! It's very bright and windy here at the North Carolina coast and there's even a gale blowing. The two local rivers, the Neuse and the New River, have white-caps today. No one in their right mind is fishing!

The Easter Bunny/Kitty pictured here is a Web-pic from a fairly obscure site where someone's cat named Sammy has his own gallery. The black-n-white fur color is right. One night coming home the evening of Saturday, Easter eve, a large black-n-white lop-earred rabbit hopped out from the bushes beside the garage. So now I'm positive that I do know what the Easter Bunny really looks like!

The quilt, on the other hand, is an unusual antique Amish quilt from the state of Illinois. In the picture, the quilt looks pinker than its true-to-life version, seen in the excellent book Illinois Amish Quilts by Jan Wass. This Log Cabin pattern, with a piano keys border, is a crib quilt made from wools and cotton sateens. Dating from the 1890s, its probable maker was Lydia Yoder Diener.

I admire the Illinois Amish quilts. They have a special earthiness and often display subtle and unusual color combinations. Long after most 19th century American quilters were working completely with cottons, these folks continued to use wools, probably because there were three woolen mills in the Arthur, Illinois area.

When the quilts from this book were exhibited at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX, I went back time after time to look at them. They are everything I love about old quilts: creative, individualistic to the point of being quirky, beautiful, and bold.

Great Quilt News From Across the Pond

The Quilters Guild of the British Isles has sent out a press release that its new museum is almost up and running. Any chance you're planning a trip to England this summer? Every quilt nut going to Merry Olde now has another 'must see' spot! The new facility is in a historic building in the city of York, a city you won't want to miss anyway with its gorgeous cathedrals.

And just think, York is on the rail line that takes you north to Durham where you can also check out the beautiful quilts at the Beamish Museum...

From the Guild's February 6 press release: Europe's only museum dedicated to quilting and textile arts opens its new facility on 7 June 2008, in historic Yorks medieval St Anthonys Hall. The Quilt Museum and Gallery will become the national headquarters of the Quilters' Guild of the British Isles and its world-famous Heritage Collection. The earliest known signed and dated patchwork, the colourful 1718 patchwork coverlet, is among some 600 quilts in the Guild's Heritage Collection etc.

Below is a photo of what the 1718 coverlet. Like many early English pieces, it was sewn in the over-paper template manner.
Isn't it exquisite? Congratulations to the UK Quilt Guild and I'll be campaigning for an English vacation in the near future. May 2009 is what I'm aiming for. I love England in May!

Quilt Flap Details

There's been a bit of confusion about the Quilt Flap. It is neither a strictly academic happening with papers being read etc., nor is it simply a quilt show. Rather the Quilt Flap is a hybrid event--part show-n-tell, part information about antique quilts, and lots of socializing and, of course, it being the South, refreshments will be served. Right now our date is June 21 and our meeting place is in the auditorium at The History Place, a museum in downtown Morehead City, North Carolina devoted to local history of this area. Their website is here www.thehistoryplace.org and the map is pictured to the above right.

At this time, we envision the Flap as a glorious one-day event but there will likely be other happenings as well.For instance, I'll offer quilt classes at The Quilt Studio on Thursday and Friday (June 19 and 20) prior to the Flap. Lynn Gorges will have her conservation studio www.textilepreservation.com open in New Bern, NC (45 west of Morehead City on Highway 70). I'll be talking to local quilt shops as well and we'll see what other trouble we can stir up! More will be revealed....

What's the flap about quilts?

A few like-minded friends are starting this blog to see and hear more about antique quilts. We collect them and treasure them. Sometimes they're old and ratty and the smell makes you sneeze. Other times you find a mint-condition quilt that's been tucked away in a trunk for the last half-century! You never know. Lynn Gorges from New Bern and I decided quilt fanciers in this area (coastal eastern North Carolina) needed a reason to get together and have a big show and tell session. We called the idea a "quilt flap." This blog seems like a good place to start. In the future we want to hold a confab, a meeting here on the coast, where all "quilt flappers" could get together and ooh and ah over each other's quilts. We're thinking mid-summer, around June 21st.

I'll kick it off with one of my most interesting quilts, (detail upper left) sniffed out at an antique shop. The quilt had been on display for less than 48 hours. When I saw it, I turned red, then white, and my husband Rod said, "Breathe, Pepper, breathe," as we hauled the quilt down from the wall --it was tucked in one of those silly display rings-- and I ran to the register. The pattern looks to be some home-grown version of Mariner's Compass. I love the great folk-y hearts and spade shapes appliqued between the spokes of the wheel. And the colors! My favorite shade of Prussian blue, oxblood brown, and of course, the golden-orange collectors call cheddar.