My new business goal is to focus on getting my lectures out to more and more audiences. To that end, I am updating and expanding my lecture list. Read on to see some slides and ideas from upcoming lectures.
Quilters of the 1800s: American Women Creating Art at Home
I have been updating a lecture I wrote long ago, adding new ideas and info from all the virtual lectures I have been going to these last few years. That’s one exciting and actually happy thing I can definitely put to living during a pandemic. It’s been like having a wonderful quilt university that comes right into my house!
Historically, a woman's expression of her artistic talents were confined mostly to the home and often to the needlearts. This lecture begins by exploring quiltmaking in the context of the family, of groups of women, and of society as a whole.
The embroidered text reads “Harriet Louisa Young’s quilt - Aged 22 yrs - S. Venice N.Y. - 1842”
Then, since the 1970s, antique quilts took on a new role as they began to be hung on the wall and appreciated as art objects. The talents of usually anonymous quiltmakers of the 1800s are discussed in this context in terms of color, balance, design, etc.
Tree of Life - Blocks placed side by side stop being trees, and create an overall geometric pattern.
String Star - Basic block creates a new pattern and rhythm by use of color placement in the block, sashing, and cornerstones.
Saving History One Quilt at a Time
I also have been creating a new lecture that highlights a name-inscribed quilt that came to me for repairs, and ended up staying with me as a quilt history project. I learned that the quilt was made in the late 1890s near Boston, in Melrose, MA.
I have lots of tales to tell:
Interesting stories about the people named on the quilt - Eunice B. Phinney was married to the town doctor. The marriage was his second and her first. They were nearly 20 years apart in age. Her niece and a brother and sister lived in Melrose, too.
The repairs I made to the quilt. The damage was mostly wear like this around the edges. Happily none of inscribed pieces have this kind of damage.
The journey the quilt and I have had from having it gifted to me to being part of a weekend gala bringing the quilt to the back to its home. This is the house where Eunice Phinney’s sister Sarah Lavender lived with her daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren.
I will speak about all sorts of things about the society, daily life, politics, economics, etc., etc., of the late 1890s that I learned through this research.
A complete list of lecture topics is on my website.
————— Announcements —————
• Gaia 2026 - Virtual art show with our home planet as the theme. My quilt “Gaia Speaks” is included. A blog post that describes the process of making the quilt.
• Preserving Our Quilt Legacy Virtual Workshop - send an email to sign up for the interest list and receive notifications
• Something From Nothing - A series of small quilts made from decorator fabric samples
• Quiltations - monthly fun from my friend and quilt appraiser Charleen Richtsmeier - A potpourri of quilt news and events, recipes, jokes, quilt and fabric history, words to the wise, etc., etc.
Write Charleen to subscribe
————— The Fine Print —————
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Want more quilt-y content?
• introductory video
• quilt repair book
• website
• blog
• instagram
• facebook
• my in-depth quilt restoration and conservation workshop
• programs for guilds
• Create Whimsy - an interview with me