Marcus Brothers fabrics
The first night of Seminar we all have a formal dinner together and listen to a keynote speaker. These were the favors at each person's place setting. I couldn't believe they were so generous! I see the makings of a small quilt here.
After dinner and the speaker, we usually end the evening's festivities with Show & Tell. You never know who is going to dig what out to share. This year did not disappoint.
In my local quilt guild the ones that take your breath away or get the most gasps for air from the audience are know as "gasper quilts." We saw several. Here they are in no particular order.
Red and green pieced stars on pink backgrounds
Early 1800's Palampore
Just a quick note about palampore, a palampore is a hand printed cloth that was made in India for the export market during the eighteenth century and very early nineteenth century. They usually feature a central tree design often referred to as a "tree of life." You will usually also find various birds, vines, and flowers. They are very hard to come by and are considered to be quite rare. I will caution, during the 1960's these were cheaply reproduced for wall hangings. Often they were sold on college campuses. Buyer beware.
Mid 1800's pomegranate applique quilt
Medallion style quilt with "gasper" vine quilting
This quilt is an early medallion style quilt. You may also hear this style called frame style. This style of quilt design originates in Great Britain and is often found in New England. This example has some wonderful quilting in it. Definitely a "gasper" in my book. If you want to learn more about this style go check out this website.
Sunflower quilt
This quilt's block is called sunflower. It is a variation on the Mariner's compass block. This particular quilt is unusual in that it has a green background! Oddly enough, this really is an old quilt.
Oak leaf and reel applique
The blocks in this quilt are known as oak leaf and reel. What is special about this one is its borders. They remind me of designs you would see in a woven coverlet. The colors are similar to traditional coverlet colors too.
Applique with trapunto quilt
Close-up showing the trapunto relief
This one was really fun to look at close-up because of all the trapunto on it. Here's a very good definition of trapunto from Wikipedia:
"Trapunto, from the Italian for "to embroider," is a method of quilting that is also called "stuffed technique." A puffy, decorative feature, trapunto utilizes at least two layers, the underside of which is slit and padded, producing a raised surface on the quilt."
As a side note, you will also find a stuffed work quilting tradition in Provence known as Boutis. These quilts are traditionally worked as whole cloth in a solid color and most often white. Their entire surface is stuffed not just individual motifs.
As you can tell from the pictures we saw some awesome quilts that night. We Midwestern quilt historians often joke that in New England you can go to the corner store for a gallon of milk and an 1830's quilt. Needless to say, we don't often find quilts that old just laying around here.
I hope you've enjoyed the show & tell quilts. I always love seeing antique quilts up close and hearing the stories that go with them.
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Thanks for stopping by today. I'll share more next week. I'm hosting Jenny at my house all weekend. We are going to the Lucet class with Sherri Jones tomorrow morning and then Jenny has the Hare Pyns class on Sunday. I foresee lots of stitching, gabbing, eating, and staying up way later than we should. I know we are going to have a ball.
More later,
The Inspired Stitcher
