Amish Quilts-what a treat!

Wow-you never know what might be going on around here! Last Saturday August 23, Connie and Jim Thompson from Trinity, NC made their way to our patch of the coast. The Thompsons gave a PowerPoint plus show-n-tell presentation about their collection of antique Amish quilts to fascinated members of local quilt guilds. After the presentation, you could come up and view the quilts closely. Since I was one of the white-glovers who held up the quilts for viewing, I was in heaven!

Connie herself is a quilter (even Jim has tried his hand at it!) and thus they appreciate, from both a technical and artistic viewpoint, what goes into making a quilt. Understandably, the Thompsons' collection morphed from an earlier interest in modern art, particularly the color work of Josef Albers, to antique Amish quilts and has stayed on course with quilts for over 20 years.

Beyond the pow! impact of the color of the old quilts, the hand stitching took your breath away. Here members of the audience are examining an Indiana Amish quilt, c.1930, with great interest.
And in the close-up you can see what they're so excited about...it's the quilting!



Tiny little stitches, all done in contrasting black thread, make for quite a dramatic effect. The border, a maple leaf design, is especially nice.

The Thompson collection also included a worn comforter from Ohio. Made in a narrow size called a "hired man's quilt," this piece, with its comfy blues and browns, reminded me of old Japanese textiles where every remnant of cloth is treasured. This was the one that made me want to tuck it under my arm and bolt for the exit!









It was an excellent presentation and a great way to spend the afternoon-oh throw me into the brier patch! Let's root around in old quilts.....

If you'd like to contact the Thompsons for a program for your group. their email is jkthompson@northstate.net.

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.