QUILTS & FABRIC: PAST & PRESENT


Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Waste Not, Want Not at the Iowa Quilt Museum

A string quilt based on triangles pieced into diamonds.

From Virginia Berger's collection



Hodge Podge quilt by the Hutton Valley Quilters in Missouri.


Deb and I did a quilt road trip last week to Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. The Waste Not, Want Not exhibit at the Iowa Quilt Museum in Winterset was a real treat for two people who love wacky scrap quilts. 


One side of a two-sided quilt from about 1880-1910.

The front is a quiet nine-patch.

Virginia Berger curated the show, exhibiting some of her own collection and asking friends to loan some terrific examples of the theme:
"Resourceful quilters have a long history of making artistic quilts utilizing the smallest scraps and efficient piecing methods—adhering to the philosophy of  'waste not, want not.' "

I'd guess there were 25 quilts in the large gallery.

Upstairs Virginia showed a tile top she owns.

And Bobbi Finley's updated tile quilt
Starry Orange Peel was one of the new quilts.


Waste Not, Want Not is up through January 27, 2019.

Florence McConnell owns this Economy Patch from about 1900...

With some very small pieces.

Another of Florence's, a postage stamp

A sampler from about 1900 with blocks that appeared in the magazine
Ohio Farmer. Wilene Smith owns this one.







Betty Beck did this quilt in the 1980s

Detail of a quilt in Teddy Pruett's collection.
She calls it a confetti quilt.



It's also two-sided.
It's hard to visualize here, very small blocks layered like
we would fuse scraps---but they aren't fused.

Sacks for Pax

Teddy showed one of her own quilts made from vintage fabrics and blocks 
and other leftover.


You'd better get to Iowa this month.

http://iowaquiltmuseum.org/current-exhibit/

10 comments:

  1. Oh how I wish I could see this one. I love Teddy's quilt! Perhaps that is why I love the potholder method, it helps sooth my mental deficiencies or at least me soul. Thanks for sharing these!

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  2. It looks like a super fun exhibit to see!! Love that theme!!

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  3. Wow! Several of those quilts look like what contemporary quilters are doing now. I love the cyclical nature of quiltmaking. Each evolution builds on the narrative of quilter making and quilters. Thank you Barbara.

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  4. Wow! Happy dancing here. These are the great collection. I'm especially fond of "Hodge Podge." Thanks for showing them!

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  5. Thanks Barbara - some more beauties there!

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  6. Thank you for allowing me to visit these far-away quilts. I'm hoping for snow tomorrow so I can sew.

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  7. I love the Ohio Farmer Sampler. I think it is the medallion in the center that appeals to me. So different from the other blocks but it just works!

    Thanks for sharing your trip. Wish I could go.

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  8. These are my kind of quilts!

    I had never thought of late 19th and early 20th Century samplers as showcasing block designs published in periodicals of the time, but that makes a whole lot of sense. They're a precursor of our block of the month programs and classes.

    Thank you so much for sharing these!

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  9. Note the label of the confetti quilt - I think we ALL make quilts as "therapy"!

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  10. An amazing collection of quilts, real treasures and thank you so much for sharing. There are three here which I would to create with my left over scraps or strips.

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