Every year the National Quilt Museum issues a challenge to quilters to create a quilt from a specific “old favorite pattern.”  The winners of the challenge are featured in the current exhibition at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah. After that, the exhibition will travel. 

The National Quilt Museum, which has no antique quilts in its permanent collection, borrows antique quilts from other museums and collections to exhibit with the challenge quilts. New Quilts From
an Old Favorite 2012: Baskets and Antique Basket Quilts, on view from April 6 through July 10 at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, includes five basket quilts borrowed from the New England Quilt Museum.
                 
 A c1885 Mini-Basket Quilt [1991.34] has 306 3 ½ inch basket blocks!  It was donated to the New England Quilt Museum by the Binney Family and can be seen at  http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=21-41-55 . Another piece from our Permanent collection, Folk Art Flowers [1995.07], is a 1925 hand applique quilt made by John H. Yerger of Sanatoga, PA. It was a gift from Robert and Mary Lou Sutter and can be seen at   http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=21-41-F1. Another of our quilts on loan is a c1850 Basket Quilt [1998.08] made by Delia Birdsey Crocker and is one of nine quilts in the Reese Family Collection donated by John R. Reese.  (For more information about another  Reese Family quilt see the blog entry dated April 10, 2012.)  This quilt can be seen at  http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=21-41-86. Another piece is a c1870 Basket Quilt [1999.13] from Pennsylvania donated by the Gail Binney. It is pictured in the May/June issue of Quiltmaker Magazine along with a pattern to make the quilt. It is also pictured at http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=21-41-6E . We also loaned a lovely Red and White Basket Quilt [2004.11] donated by Matha Sabin. This c1860 quilt can seen at http://www.quiltindex.org/fulldisplay.php?kid=21-41-7A  

Four of these quilts (all except 1995.07) were on display at NEQM in the Donahue Permanent Collection Gallery during Fall 2011.


~ Laura P. Lane, NEQM Collections Manager

The generosity of many donors has allowed the New England Quilt Museum to amass a collection of more than 400 quilts. Large museums often have dedicated funds for purchasing objects to enhance their collections. As a smaller museum with
limited resources, the NEQM has not until now had that luxury.
 
An opportunity has just arisen, however, to acquire a piece with an amazing link to other quilts in the Permanent Collection. We are therefore establishing a fund to raise the money to purchase and conserve this just-discovered gem, as well as other extraordinary pieces that may from time to time become available but only for purchase.
 
The first piece we hope to acquire has an extraordinary link to a group of quilts already in the Permanent Collection.

Between 1999 and 2002, Jack Reese donated nine family quilts to the New England Quilt Museum. The Reese Collection includes quilts made by five quilt-makers, spanning four generations from his family tree. The oldest of these was made by Jack’s great-great-grandmother, Thankful Hall Miller. It is a Single Irish Chain pieced with deep blue indigo and off-white cottons, and was perhaps made at the  time of her marriage in the early 1820’s. Thankful’s daughter, Vincey Ann Miller Birdsey, made two of the other quilts Jack donated. Vincey’s daughter   Lillian married Lewis E. Frost, and the collection includes quilts made in the 1880s by him and his mother, Adeline Lewis. Several of these quilts have attached paper labels with information about the quilt-makers, written in a distinctive hand.
 
It was a rare and remarkable gift—nine quilts from the same family, with the family history included. Some of these quilts will be included in the NEQM exhibition slated to open in October 2012: Great Quilts, Great Stories.

While doing online research in preparation for the exhibition, I discovered another quilt by Thankful Hall Miller
offered for sale by an antique dealer. The label sewn to it contains the same provenance as the Reese Collection quilts already owned by the museum. Obviously, we would love to acquire this newly-discovered quilt.
 
We are asking you to be part of this remarkable story. Please consider a donation to our new Acquisition Fund to ensure that this quilt is brought home to join its sisters in our collection.

You can donate securely online by visiting the Donations page on our website. Or, if you prefer, mail a check today to: NEQM Acquisition Fund, 18 Shattuck Street, Lowell, MA 01852. 
 
As always, THANK YOU for your support of the New England Quilt Museum!

~ Pam Weeks, Curator

_ As we celebrate our Silver Anniversary in 2012, we are offering free admission to the New England Quilt Museum on the 25th of each month (when we are open on that day).  On those “free” days we will be showing episodes of the nine-part series Why Quilts Matter, produced and hosted by Shelly Zegart.The series includes images of eleven quilts from the permanent collection of the New England Quilt Museum. For more information about the series, there is an excellent website: www.whyquiltsmatter.org. Information about all of the images shown in the episodes is in the “Resources” section of the website. 

Episode 2, which the museum will be showing on Saturday, February 25th, has images of three quilts in the NEQM collection.  School House in a Garden Maze (NEQM 1991.11) is a c.1900 quilt donated by the Binney Family.  Basket Quilt (NEQM 1999.13), a c.1870 quilt also donated by the Binney Family, was featured in the May/June 2011 issue of Quiltmaker magazine along with the pattern to make it.  Flag Central Medallion Charm Quilt (NEQM 2005.14) was donated by Deborah Conant Kennedy. This c.1876 quilt is currently hanging in the Donahue Permanent Collection Gallery as part of the Campaigns and Commemoratives exhibit.

The DVD of Why Quilts Matter is available for sale in the New England Quilt Museum shop.


~ Laura Lane, NEQM Collections Manager

This week, a quilt from the New England quilt Museum permanent  collection is on display in Tokyo, Japan!  Martha Washington’s Flower Garden (NEQM 1989.06T) is on display at Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival 2012 in a special exhibit of hexagon quilts assembled by guest curator Shelly Zegart. 

It all started last summer when Shelly put out a call to museums and private collectors for hexagon quilts. I sent Shelly a list of seven of our collection quilts, along with photos, for consideration.  She chose NEQM 1989.06T for the exhibit. In late October, the quilt was boxed up and shipped to Shelly in Kentucky.

NEQM 1989.06T is an un-quilted top. It was constructed using the English paper-piecing method, where the fabric is basted around a paper template, then the hexagons are whip-stitched together. This top still has all of its paper foundations, which were cut from magazines. In the exhibit photo, a corner of the top is pinned up to reveal the foundations on the back. The maker is unknown, but the top is c 1930 and was discovered in an attic in Barre, Vermont. The top was donated to the New England Quilt Museum by the Lamoille County (Vermont) Quilters Guild.

The Martha Washington’s Flower Garden pattern features hexagons arranged into large diamond shapes. The pattern was no doubt named after our original First Lady. Although quilts were made from hexagons in Martha Washington’s day using the English paper-piecing method, the pattern was probably not named for her until the colonial revival period in the early twentieth century. There is currently a Martha Washington’s Flower Garden quilt on display in the Depression Era Bedroom at NEQM in conjunction with the exhibit Campaigns and Commemoratives: Quilts for Presidents.

~ Laura Lane, Collections Manager

Join us this Saturday for a book-signing with Salley Mavor, author/illustrator of Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes.

It took Salley ten years to develop her own fabric relief techniques. She embroiders and sews illustrations, each scene taking nearly a month to complete. In this book, she renders a new and visionary nursery rhyme world with precision and intricacy that generations of your family will treasure for years and years to come.

We're especially thrilled to have her here this year, since we're planning to exhibit her wonderful, whimsical scenes in a very special exhibit as part of our 2012 holiday celebrations.

Come do your holiday shopping at our one-day 20% OFF sale in the museum gift shop. Enjoy holiday refreshments, visit the Holiday Express model train and quilted village (children admitted FREE on Saturday) and have Salley Mavor autograph one of these wonderful books for that special child on your gift list.

ALSO ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10th:

Our exclusive cotton blend blanket, based on an 1850s feathered star quilt in the Permanent Collection, is specially priced for one day only: $75.

A generous 60" x 80", this fully-reverisible, machine-washable blanket makes a fabulous holiday gift!