QUILTS & FABRIC: PAST & PRESENT


Friday, June 29, 2018

Past Perfect: Froncie Quinn

Bias Pomegranate reproduction quilt
by Froncie Quinn

Froncie and her Sarah Johnson repro

June's Past Perfect pick is Froncie Quinn who publishes reproduction quilt patterns through her Hoopla Pattern Company. She began working with the Shelburne Museum in 1996 to pattern quilts in their collection.


Your copy of Enduring Grace, one of the Shelburne catalogs, may not have Froncie's name on the cover but she's the artist who drew the patterns for five of the quilts. She gets credit in later printings of the book.


Her patterns for Hoopla are meticulous. The Sarah Johnson Quilt included hand and machine piecing instructions plus quilting stencils.


 This is a time-consuming quilt to make but the pattern is so well done that a remarkable numbers of quilters were inspired to start a Sarah Johnson quilt...

Barb Perrin's Prize-winning Sarah Johnson quilt took ten years.

...And finish it.

Here's a description of the pattern for the Clarissa Moore Quilt from Old Sturbridge Village:
"includes interesting 19th-century diary excerpts on homemade fabric dye, and brief historical information regarding the Eight Point Star and early stenciling. The 14 painting stencils included have been authentically reproduced and maintain the integrity of the 19th-century originals. Hand and quick-piecing dimensions are given along with instructions for a " T" -shaped or more modern square quilt."
Froncie makes small interpretations of the original,
so she can show many in her trunk show.

In an interview with Kimberly Wulfert Froncie explained her modus operandi, saying she
"was passionate about providing instructions for the antique quilts that were as true to the original as possible. I was insistent about including the hand instructions along with the machine instructions as too many patterns ignore the hand piecer....I've also wanted to provide patterns that document the quilts and offer the quilter glimpses into the history and, sometimes, the 'story' of the quilt. I want to be your eyes to quilts you may never see in person."

Calico Garden 

Hoopla's most popular pattern is the Calico Garden,
drawn from Florence Peto's original in the Shelburne collection.

Calico Garden by Florence Peto, 1950
49" x 39"

The applique patterns for the Calico Garden are printed on freezer paper.
Genius!
I recently got to spend a day with Froncie, who now lives in New Hampshire, and took this
picture of a detail of her quilt.

One of her latest projects is Posey Packets®, patterns on freezer paper
for 3" blocks with the background fabric, packaged in a seed packet.
Perfect gifts for your stitch group.

Froncie's also designed several reproduction fabric collections. This one
is In Time of Toile.

And here's a great repro made by the quilter at Every Stitch from the
fabric and pattern.


The fabrics are out of print but Froncie's patterns are available:

1891 Redwork Quilt

Below a few more reproduction quilts made from Froncie's patterns:

From a Shelburne quilt
The Shelburne Museum is sending a traveling show to Omaha's Joslyn Museum
this fall. I certainly am looking forward to seeing some of their quilts. Hope this
one is there.

Judy Brenneman's Emily Munroe quilt. The original is
in the New England Quilt Museum.

Tom Miner's version.

Theresa Tiburzi's Peony, another prize winner from the Shelburne pattern.

Read the interview with Kimberly Wulfert here:
http://www.antiquequiltdating.com/Froncie_Quinn.html

Froncie & Judy Severson last month, totally engrossed in quilts.

Monday, June 25, 2018

Antique Quilt Exhibits: Summer & Fall 2018


Grab a friend and go to a show of antique quilts this summer and fall.


Alabama, Birmingham
Birmingham Museum of Art. The Original Makers: Folk Art from the Cargo Collection, an exhibition featuring more than 160 outstanding works of folk art from the Museum’s permanent collection. Through December 30, 2018.
https://artsbma.org/exhibition/original-makers-folk-art-from-the-cargo-collection/


Buzz Saw by Docella Johnson

Arkansas, Little Rock
The Old State House Museum. A Piece of My Soul: Quilts by Black Arkansans. Years ago the late Cuesta Benberry curated this exhibit of quilts from the collection, now rehung and up through Fall, 2019.



Indiana, Goshen
Goshen College. Amish Arts 1900 – 1940: from the Pottinger Collection.  Good Library Gallery, September 23 through November 18.



Illinois, Springfield
Illinois State Museum. Bicentennial and Beyond! The Illinois Legacy Collection includes at least two quilts, one a G.A.R. fundraiser, the other Albert Small's 120,000 piece hexagon quilt. Through February 3, 2019.
http://www.illinoisstatemuseum.org/content/bicentennial-and-beyond-illinois-legacy-collection

Iowa, Winterset
Iowa Quilt Museum. Waste Not, Want Not, curated by Virginia Berger. Through January 27, 2019
http://iowaquiltmuseum.org/


Kansas, North Newton
Bethel College, Kauffman Museum, Better Choose Me: Collecting and Creating with Tobacco Fabric Novelties, 1880-1920. Through January 20, 2019.



Kentucky, Bowling Green

Western Kentucky University Museum. Kaleidoscope. Thirty quilts from the collection. Through December, 2018.


Kentucky, Paducah
National Quilt Museum. Kansas City Star Quilts from Edie McGinnis's collection. September 7 – December 4, 2018
https://quiltmuseum.org/visit/


Massachusetts, Sturbridge
Old Sturbridge Village. Early New England Quilts: Repurposed, Refashioned, and Recycled. Highlighting some of the ingenious ways women reused, re-purposed, and refashioned materials into quilts. Through February, 2019.

Nebraska, Lincoln
International Quilt Study Center & Museum/Quilt House.
https://www.quiltstudy.org/exhibitions

Color and Contour: Provencal Quilts and Domestic Objects from Kathryn Berenson's Collection.
Through October 28, 2018
Mark Dunn Collection. Through January 10, 2019


Cheddar Quilts from the Joanna S. Rose Collection
Through  February 3, 2019


5 Southern Quilts From the Kathlyn Sullivan Collection. Through February 17, 2019.


Nebraska History Museum, Color Quest. Quilts from the collection. Through January 5, 2019. https://history.nebraska.gov/color-quest



Nebraska, Omaha
Joslyn Museum. Pattern and Purpose: American Quilts from the Shelburne Museum. October 6, 2018 - January 6, 2019.
https://www.joslyn.org/

New Jersey, Morristown
Morris Museum. Stitch by Stitch: Quilts and Coverlets from the Permanent Collection. "Get cozy with the Morris Museum’s expansive collection of quilts and coverlets, many exhibited for the first time." Through December 9, 2018.
http://morrismuseum.org/

Ohio, Cincinnati
Cincinnati Art Museum. The Fabric of India, handmade textiles, exhibit from the Victoria & Albert Museum. October 19-January 6, 2019. Travels to Sarasota, Florida in 2019.
http://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org/fabricofindia


Pennsylvania, Bedford
National Museum of the American Coverlet. Comfortable Cousins: Related Quilts & Coverlets from a Golden Age. Catalog available. Through spring, 2019.
http://www.coverletmuseum.org/exhibitions.htm

Pennsylvania, Pennsburg
Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center. Perkiomen Valley Quilts, a show of antiques from the collection and contemporary versions of the split nine patch. Through November 16, 2018.
http://schwenkfelder.com/


Virginia, Harrisonburg
Virginia Quilt Museum.
Mountain Mist Quilts: 20th Century Favorites, examples of early patterns and 21st century versions. Color catalog available.

Treasures From the Vault: This is my Name, curated by Gloria Comstock. Signature quilts.
Through December 20, 2018. .http://www.vaquiltmuseum.org/


Virginia, Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum
Printed Fashions: Textiles for Clothing and the Home, 1700-1820 includes a few quilts (one with a John Hewson panel) and a lot of early fabric. Through 2018.
.https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/do/art-museums/rockefeller-museum/century-of-quilts/




France, Paris
America as Patchwork. Quilts in the United States. Salle Capitant, 21 Place Du PanthĂ©on. Quilts from the collection of Charles-Edouard de Broin, curated by Professor GĂ©raldine Chouard of Paris-Dauphine University, November 20 through December 1, 2018.

Friday, June 22, 2018

Summer Colors