QUILTS & FABRIC: PAST & PRESENT


Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Childress Collection at QuiltCon Nashville

Housetops quilt, Mid-20th Century
Collection of Marjorie Childress

Merikay Waldvogel on the left with Marjorie. 

I didn't get to go to QuiltCon but field reporter Merikay sent photos of the special show of Marjorie's fabulous collection. (She has 300---this is the tip of the glorious iceberg.)


Several of them are astounding in their geometry. I'd guess many were
Southern, made from factory cutaways, shapes leftover from cutting clothing.

Hat brims?

The one below is satins---all those long triangular shapes---the kind of thing you could buy by the pound at an underwear factory.



A tile quilt. Shapes used just as they came out of the scrap bag,
appliqued to a white background.


This one's more conventional with shapes trimmed to patchwork sized triangles.

No piece too small/What about no piece too large?

Signed Merry Christmas, Elizabeth, Grandma Davis, 1978
  
Merikay liked this one. It's a linsey quilt
made of the coarse wool/cotton combination fabrics
popular for sturdy 19th century clothing.


Quite a contrast to the looser/improvisational pieces.

Orpha Scott Campbell, Kentucky

Half a log



About 1900


Nice bunch of quilts, Marjorie!
And thanks, Merikay, for taking the photos.

7 comments:

  1. What a wonderful array of different quilts!

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  2. Love these, especially the crazy-pants scrappy ones! :)

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  3. Thanks so much for sharing. Makes me wonder if the creator was just slapping pieces together as fast as she could or if the arrangement took a lot of thought and trial and error. Probably both . . . The tile quilt really made me smile.

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  4. Wow, reading your blog is like reading a chapter in a history book! I used to hate history back in high school and college but for some reason it has become very fascinating to me. I am starting to collect fabrics that look like they are from that era. Do you have a source that you like to use? Or do you only deal with legitimate civil war era fabric?

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  5. Thank you for this lovely post, so kind! Quiltcon was great fun, and it was such a pleasure to meet and visit with Merikay. The quilt you two made is fabulous.

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