Our Quilts to International Quilt Museum

Block from War & Pieces

designed by Barbara Brackman and Karla Menaugh,

stitched by Karla, hand quilted by Anne Thomas 1998-1999

 
Karla Menaugh & I are thrilled to announce that the International Quilt Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, will be accessioning eight quilts that served as models for our Sunflower Pattern Co-operative pattern company, which we began in the late 1990s. 

War & Pieces

Cactus & Cottonwood

Designed by Barbara Brackman, Machine pieced and appliqued by Karla Menaugh,

Machine quilted by Lori Kukuk, 2004

We employed about a dozen Kansas City area quilters and designers in our updated cottage industry, reviving a traditional economic model crafted by KC companies such as Aunt Martha's Studios, Ruby Short McKim Studios, and Workbasket magazine in the 1930s. 

Those entrepreneurs formalized the age-old system of women earning a living in cottage industries with sewing and needlework. Our Sunflower stitchers included mothers of young children, part-time workers looking for more income, and innovative people who loved to sew.

Primitive Paradise Designed by Barbara Brackman, 

Machine pieced and appliqued by Karla Menaugh,

Machine quilted by Sharyn Rigg, 2000

Sunflower style was retro with a twist. We looked back at antique quilts for inspiration, updating the look with new color schemes, innovative layouts, and stylized redrafts of typical patterns like vines and stars. Sunflower Pattern Co-op’s patterns and books were popular, aided by my fabric design work for United Notions/Moda fabrics with quilts stitched in the same season that new collections of cotton prints were released.

Detail of Primitive Paradise

We designed many of the quilts with Barbara's Moda fabric line available at the time and commissioned needlewomen such as Pam Mayfield, Shauna Christensen, Jean Stanclift, and Shirlene Wedd to stitch designs or create their own patterns. Tops went to machine quilters Lori Kukuk, Jeanne Zyck, and Rosie Mayhew plus an occasional hand quilter like Anne Thomas. 

Oriental Poppy, Designed & hand appliqued by Barbara Brackman, 

Pieced and machine quilted by Pamela Mayfield, 2010

Sweet Harmony Designed by Barbara Brackman, 

Machine pieced & appliqued by Karla Menaugh & Jean Stanclift.

Machine quilted by Lori Kukuk, 2002

We offered several crib size quilts based on antique examples.

Midnight Garden Designed by Barbara Brackman, 

Machine appliqued by Karla Menaugh

Machine quilted by Lori Kukuk, 2003

The quilts going to the International Quilt Museum represent several eras in United States history. Some, like our War & Pieces sampler and Midnight Garden, reflect themes found in Civil War quilts. Others were inspired by the 1876 U.S. Centennial and the work of Emporia, Kansas, designer Rose Kretsinger and her neighbors in the mid-twentieth century. 

Oriental Poppy Pattern inspired by Rose Kretsinger's in the 

Helen F. Spencer Museum of  Art at the University of Kansas

New Century Garden Designed by Barbara Brackman, 

Machine appliqued by Karla Menaugh

Machine quilted by Lori Kukuk, 2002

New Century Garden is a teaching tool for machine appliqué, starting with an easy to-sew block and continuing with more challenging motifs.

New Century Garden

Juniper & Mistletoe

Juniper & Mistletoe, Designed by Karla Menaugh & Barbara Brackman, 

Machine appliqued by Karla Menaugh.

Machine quilted by Lori Kukuk 2006

And Juniper & Mistletoe was just for fun as we love the variety of trees and birds we see in antique quilts---a forest of light hearted inspiration. We are pleased to keep this small collection of quilts together as a reflection of the contemporary home sewing industry, an important thread of needlework in women’s history.