>>>>

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Great Lakes Quilt Collection, Part 1!

MI_Nov2012 058

Three times through the System Restore ---what a pain! I’m sending this post in safe mode and then doing a system restore after sending all my photos to my website server via safe-mode=with-networking.  Aren’t computers the worst pain when they are not behaving right?  Goodness! 

But let’s get on to posting some pictures from my Great Lakes Quilt Collection Experience…

Special thanks to Rosemary and to Beth Donaldson, who gave her time to show us not only a special selection of quilts –but also took time to give us a private tour of the archives ----we saw vintage clothing, furniture, and even old sewing machine s--- the museum holds so much more than you can ever see at one time….I felt like we’d hit the jackpot in “oh so cool!”.

The drawers behind me hold quilt collections.  And no, they are NOT wrapped in plastic --- that is breathable acid-free nylon.  And the quilts are not on cardboard tools --- they are actually made out of cotton rag ---they take the utmost care of the quilts here, the best I’ve seen anywhere!

MI_Nov2012 027

Can you imagine the quilts these cabinets hold?!

MI_Nov2012 019


Beth picked 4 quilts she thought that I would especially like.  And she is right!  This top one has an appliqued posie in the center of each block.  And though the blocks look alike --- they are NOT identical.  There are even a few cheddar posies in between all the other solid red ones!  I love the way the red sashings look like they are floating around and in between the blocks.  Let’s take a close up, shall we?

MI_Nov2012 021

Not a single intact point to be found!  LOVE IT!

Many of the blocks had 3 matching triangles per side….but not always.  In the case of this one, the bottom row has a different center triangle.  FUN!

MI_Nov2012 022

Scraps Scrambled!

I love how she was a bit symmetrical here --- center cheddar triangles top and bottom, and center pink triangles side by side…and even mirror image placement with some of the triangles….can you find htem?  Directly across from each other?



MI_Nov2012 024

Great fabrics here…and she didn’t care how much she used that one corner stone print – it takes over the whole block.

MI_Nov2012 025

Striped Posey!

3 sides have matching triangles, one side kept with the green color way but was scrappy.  According to Beth, this quilt is from about 1860.

MI_Nov2012 026

Another view of those sashings looking almost 3 D!

MI_Nov2012 023

Rosemary getting as close as she was allowed without touching!

I didn’t think of doing this video until we had the quilt folding well under way ---but just to give you the feel of our private tour, here is Beth instructing Rosemary ((white gloved!)) on the ins and outs of removing this quilt off the top of the stack and over to the side so we could view the next one under it:
It was a great day!

There is so much more to share, but with the computer hiccups I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to do until I get the computer looked at.  I’m torn between just working it in safe mode with networking until I get home….or do that system restore?  UGH!

19 comments:

  1. Thanks for the clarification on the nylon... If all of those cabinets are full of quilts... I'm sure the experience was amazing! Can't wait to see more.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love how the triangles do not have perfect points! It makes the quilt/quilter seem like a real person to me, as My quilting can be that off as well....err often. Quilting is my stress reliever!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm amazed at the color and variety of cotton prints that were available in 1860! I just assumed, especially because of the Civil War tat the fabrics were a lot less vibrant.

    And Bonnie, Sometimes I wonder if those upgrades that our laptops do automatically are really an improvement. :)


    Gail

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Amen, Gail, AMEN!! Seems I have more problems and "lose" more information AFTER an upgrade than before. Program conflicts, etc. UGH!! Linda

      Delete
  4. enjoyed the lesson and getting to look at the quilt. Hope the computer upset will not upset you tooooooo much. enjoy your time there. Thanks for all your updates. always so interesting

    ReplyDelete
  5. That quilt was fantastic. Lots of great ideas. I can't wait to see the rest.

    ReplyDelete
  6. no matching points? this is good news indeed. who knew i was far ahead of the pack....LOL

    ReplyDelete
  7. 2 Orca Bay tops completed...come check them out at http://scraps-and-quilts.blogspot.com posted on 11/17/2012. One is red/blue/black/white and the other is red/yellow/black/white.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Do you think the blocks were made by different quilters, since there is so much variation in the placement of fabrics? I know you felt like you were in Quilt Heaven!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I am happy to see that we aren't all supposed to match each and every time. There has to be some room to be human, lol. Thanks for the article and the video. It's all very informative. We are blessed to be able to view quilts left by our fore bearers. I sometimes wonder if there will be anything left of us? Lol...sorry to be so serious. Thanks for all you do, Bonnie and I look forward to next week!!!

    hugz
    Pam

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a gorgeous quilt! And I like that sashing effect! It's wonderful and so different. Great blocks, too!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Quilty fun & computer hell....what a day!! I set my computers up with the HD partitioned into C: drive & D: drive, with ALL my data on the D: partition. Windows 7 makes it very easy to do this. The partitioning program is built in. If the C: drive, where the operating system and programs are gets wonky, I can reinstall Windows with no loss of data. Reinstalling all the programs takes time & is a pain but at least the irreplaceable stuff is safer. I also keep all the data backed up to an external HD and back up all my genealogy stuff, bookmarks and blog to Dropbox. Can one ever be too safe???

    ReplyDelete
  12. Lovely quilt! Is that a peachy colored border?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you so much for sharing the pictures of this quilt. What an inspiration Bonnie and you are so lucky that you have seen it in person. WOW!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Ooooh, I cannot wait to see more of that pineapple!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I LOVE it!! Thanks so much for sharing these. Wouldn't you just love to meet the quilter! The sashing is so unique. I can't wait to see the others :0)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Block would be great for "addicted to scraps" feature in the future! Would be fun to do it ourselves!

    ReplyDelete
  17. thanks for sharing. But how could you stop at only 4?

    ReplyDelete
  18. What an adorable block! I'm not normally a big fan of applique, but I could see those triangles around some kind of simple star in the center of the block. And the sashes are a lot of fun, too. Thanks for sharing with us.

    ReplyDelete

If you are commenting as "anonymous" please leave your name at the end of your comment.

Did you know that ad space on this blog provides for all of the free patterns and free mysteries and challenges at no cost to you? Without ads, this blog would not be possible.

Thank you for understanding the many hours that go into this blog 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year. :)