M is for Museums of Quilts

Antique quilt

Quilts often give us a chance to travel back in time. Imagine wrapping a quilt made by your mother, grandmother, aunt, or even great-grandmother. My friend and fellow author, Deborah has a quilt made by her mother-in-law, just for Deborah.

The quilt is across the bottom of her bed, for looks. However, on bad days, or when Deborah is ill she wants that quilt to wrap around her. It gives her the feeling of having her mother-in-law’s arms wrap around her. A feeling she enjoys since her mother-in-law died several years ago.

We don’t have to wrap a quilt around us to visit the past and feel the emotions of those long ago quilters. We can visit quilt museums. No, we can’t wrap up in those quilts, but just seeing them touches our hearts.

On my list of quilty places to visit is the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden Colorado. As a bonus, until the end of April that museum has a special exhibit by male (another “m” word) quilters.  While I won’t make it to the Colorado museum this month, it is on my list of places to see.

Quilt museums are like a permanent quilt show, giving guests the opportunity to see a variety of quilts over a longer period of time. The museums also offer visitors a chance to see special displays, such as the  round-up of men’s quilts available at the Rocky Mountain Quilt museum.

You don’t have to go to a quilt museum though. Other museums often offer a peek into the past with quilt displays. The quilt show above was made in 1850 and is on display in a museum in  Dodge City Kansas.

Do you have a quilt museum in your state?

Have you ever visited a quilt museum?

Do you own a quilt made by a relative, or loved one no longer with us?

The complete story of Deborah’s quilt is in Devoted to Quilting 2. Join us on Facebook at, A Patchwork Life.

Joining the fun bloggers at the A to Z challenge. Check them out for more great blogs.

Improv Quilts

IMPROV QUILTS

Whoo-hoo I’m finally in style!  Back when I second started making quilts (the first attempt ended in the trash) I made Improv quilts.

Except, I didn’t call them Improv. I called them, functional, utility, thrown-together quilts. I didn’t buy fabric for them, instead I used what I had. These were usually fairly large chucks from other projects, or fabric given to me.

I’d lay the fabric out on the bed, moving it and fitting it together like a puzzle. Once I had a pleasing arrangement I’d sew them together, then do it all again and sew those two together. The process was repeated a few more times, to get the top long enough to drape over the end of the bed, and to make a reverse side to the quilt.

Once everything was sewn I’d sandwich and old blanket between the two “quilt” tops and sew the whole sandwich together.

They weren’t especially pretty, although the colors used did compliment each other. My children loved them and used them for years, until they wore out.

Now, quilts of that type are called “Improv” and they’re a popular style. I must admit, the Improv quilts I make today use smaller scraps, and are built a block at a time.

Yippee!! I’m in style.

So much in style that I’m teaching a class in making an Improv quilt.

Have you ever sewn an improve? Have you used improv elsewhere in your life?

While I’m finally in style, I’m still late. This post was scheduled for Wed. Better late than not at all though, right?

Linking up with The Ultimate Blog  and A to Z blog challenge.

Learning from Others

Stories are all around us. Stories of quilts, of love, endurance, pain, stories are everywhere. On Tuesday’s this blog is supposed to be about stories, either stories of quilts or reviews of books (longer stories) I enjoyed, and hope you will find interesting.  Wednesday’s are about God’s word.

I know. There was no story yesterday. So today, I’m posting a link to my friend Lorelei’s blog, The Whimsical Mermaid. Loralei is a quilter, sewist, blogger and just plain fun. You can check out her story here. I hope you enjoy her story of a quilt that helped heal a riff, and build a relationship. While you’re there you might want to check out some of her other posts.

And, since today is Wednesday, a day when I normally post a (hopeful) inspirational post, here is one I found inspirational, and hope you do too. It was written by Linda Apple, speaker, author, and OWFI President.

Enjoy the posts. Tomorrow will be tutorial Thursday, and yes, it will be links of tutorials other talented people have generously posted. Enjoy your Wednesday.