Before I get started on this day I would like to send you over to two podcasts. Quilter on Fire Episode 48 with Victoria Findlay Wolfe and Quilt N Tell Podcast Back to the Beginner Brain Episode 64. I have thoughts on both podcasts and how they are related to one another.
There are more Quilt Festival and Quilted Features posts coming however I want to share with you part one of the experience at the Texas Quilt Museum in La Grange, TX. We left Houston in the morning, making sure that we stopped at several Buc-ee’s along the way because Brandy needed that one item to take home to Canada with her, and breakfast, and I needed coffee and a “not all who wander are lost” quote for the wall heading up to my sewing studio.
Shortly after we arrived I sent a text to the media office asking if Brandy and I would be able to obtain permission to take images and/or video for our websites. Total props to one of the white glove volunteers who made sure to have a conversation with me about taking photos! The Museum has a strict no photos policy. All photos are taken with permission of Quilts, Inc and may not be shared without written consent. With permission, and camera in hand I set about getting images as Brandy interviewed one of the staff members. Check out Brandy’s Quilt Festival posts here and here.
The Museum hosts two curated exhibits that change roughly quarterly. In this postlude I’ll cover the first, an exhibit of miniature quilts pieced and quilted by Kumiko Frydl.
From the Museum website:
Japanese designer Kumiko Frydl settled in Houston after residing in Canada and Great Britain. With a background in commercial art and dressmaking, she began quilting in 1987 after she moved to Canada. Her first projects were quilted garments, and then she moved on to medium-sized quilts.
But because her husband’s job required her to relocate frequently, Frydl began to concentrate mainly on miniature quilts, which are easy to transport.
Quilters are adaptable people with a penchant for finding that way to dive into our art in a way that makes the most sense, allowing us to practice, to make quilts that are at once practical, and beautiful. Mrs. Frydl did just that, adapting her skillset to make intricately pieced quilts, that are as intricately and thoughtfully quilted as the piecing.
From Left to right:
Tempest – 2014
I’m Still Sane – 2001
Bouquets with Tudor Rose – 2012
Mission: Impeccable -2010
It is often said that quilters are patient in the ability to do the intricate work we aspire to, and yet there is, with some of us, an inherent level of impatience and a sense of being driven to accomplish our quilt goals. It takes as much time to piece a small quilt, with thousands of pieces as it does a larger quilt. These quilts take a level of precision, concentration, commitment and drive to finish as their larger counterparts.
Whole cloth quilting brings in a different level of design and commitment to quilting. The use of shadow trapunto adds to the motion of the feathers swirling into and out from the center of the quilt. Mrs. Frydl’s use of different styles of feathers adds to the movement of the quilt, drawing our eyes across the surface, bringing them back to the center.
Each quilt from Secret in the Garden (above) to Rose Mandala (below) shows an attention to detail, for a little slip here or there will make a big difference in the overall look of the quilt.
The use of a single color has the potential for a dynamic look. Each of these quilts is a unique, one of a kind treasure. Visiting the Museum is well worth the trip for these quilts alone.
In the next Postlude quilts from the second Exhibits.
May your quilting be every joy filled.
Teri
