More from the American Folk Art Museum....

I'd love to share a few more of the wonderful quilts we saw at the American Folk Art Museum with you today. Again, flash photography was prohibited so the colors are not quite true...
Naturally this old Crazy Quilt caught my eye. I do not recall the date of the quilt, or if it was even dated, but I'm quite sure it was before 1900. It was in very good shape overall, with very few patches showing age/wear. The stitching was elaborate and varied and there were many embroidered motifs. When I look at a quilt such as this one, I can't help but wonder about the maker - I'd love to know her story. Where did she get her fabrics - were they remnants from her own fancy gowns and family's clothing? Or did she gather/trade scraps from friends, dressmakers or send away for dress swatch samples? Wouldn't she be amazed at the wonderful fabrics and threads we have available to us today, not to mention the books, patterns and designs for embroidery? You have to wonder if ladies back then got together (in a "Bee"? a sewing circle?) to teach each other stitches, or did they just make up new ones as they went? Did they get together for an afternoon in the parlour to stitch on their "fancy work"? There certainly is lots of variety in the stitching on this quilt - look closely and see how many different stitches you can count..








Two others which caught my eye were this star quilt (there is an entirely separate show of Star quilts, called "Superstars" being held at the Lincoln Square branch of the AFAM, running until Sept 25, 2011) which also exhibited very fine hand quilting, and this contemporary quilt/wallhanging (below). I loved the use of color in this piece- it was very well done.









I was saddened to hear, a few weeks after our return, that the 53rd St. AFAM building is now closed, and for sale, due to financial difficulties. Upon checking the AFAM website, it looks like this is indeed true (and it appears that this particular exhibit is also finished, cut short.) I am glad we got there when we did- it was such a short walk from our hotel.
Tomorrow I'll tell you a little more about our trip to NYC, the city that never sleeps. Have I told you how much I love NYC??? If only one could buy a new pair of feet while there.. man, you could just go forever.... That's the only thing that slows me down...my feet just can't handle much more than three days of pounding that hot pavement....
(I've had a small problem with Blogger today- when I added these photos, it would only post them in the vertical format, even though they were originally horizontal... has anyone else had that problem? This is a first for me...???)


Piece,
Linda

"Color brings a little bit of joy into our lives." ~ Vera Neumann