We were very lucky to have two really great programs at guild this month. The presenter at the night guild was a local man by the name of Steve Albright. He is a retired city planner. When he worked, he usually had to travel quite a bit and early on he began visiting antique stores and flea markets, etc. He quickly realized that if he bought textiles, they were much easier to pack in his suitcase than say, china figurines. So he began collecting old quilts and quilt tops and fabric. He is now an expert in old fabrics and restoration. He admits he does something a bit controversial. He hand-quilts many of his old tops and finally makes them into a finished quilt. He hand-quilts beautifully. Anyway, he brought a trunk show for us. AND HE LET US HANDLE THE QUILTS!!!
He began by saying that he normally finds most quilters to be really happy people. (I had never thought about that, but really--it is true!) He said quilters really like to eat and usually have great food, too. Finally, he said since most quilters are women, he never has a line for the restroom. He said none of that ever happened at his realjob!
Anyway, enough chit chat--lets get to the eye candy!
That being said, these first two are antique tops that he won't ever finish and couldn't be passed around as they are too fragile. I believe he said the brown one above was from the 1840s. Look at the chevron border!
You can never go wrong with nine-patch, can you?
Look at this one! Do you see the problem towards the bottom? Sigh... red and white.
This one was just the blocks when he bought them, and he put them together with the double-pink. In this case, the double-pink is the old fabric, not a repro. He found yards of it!
Look at this double T
Now they are coming around to me so I could get closeups.
This is that red and white one. Look at the black polka dot fabric! I love how far apart the dots are.
Here is the detail of the strippy one. That red fabric looks exactly like one from Minick and Simpson! I have some of it! Steve quilted lovely leaves in the background.
He had several "kit quilts." I'm in love with this dogwood one!
Here are the closeup pics.
The brown bits look just like chocolate chips, don't they? Lots of applique!
Details of the quilting. And below is the backing. It is a reproduction, from the period of the quilt, which is 1930s, of course.
Closeups and the back of the flying geese one.
Pickle Dish. In yellow. Be still my heart!
If I'm remembering correctly, he found this as a pair and quilted them both--one with yellow thread, and one with white.
Another spectacular kit quilt! The applique is amazing.
Did you notice the cool scalloped borders? It reminds me of another picture that I saw on facebook.
JoAnne
WOW ... what an incredible presentation. As the VP of my guild it's my responsibility to line up presentations for our monthly meetings. At times it's a stretch ... having this opportunity was definitely a gift and SO interesting! Thanks for sharing ... LOVE those quilts, too! Linda
ReplyDeleteVery interesting-------what a guy!
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a lovely evening - I love the Dogwood one.
ReplyDeleteI also see Darlene is your 100th Follower - Congratulations on your milestone!
Fabulous quilts! What a great night that must have been! My favorites are the two pickle dish quilts and that fantastic flying geese strippy! Thanks for sharing that great cartoon, too! So funny!
ReplyDeleteWhat a collection! And, the pickle dish . . . absolutely breath taking. Quilters are happy people, I've discovered that, too.
ReplyDelete