Baltimore quilts

For centuries Baltimore Album Quilts were considered the epitome of American Quilts. Crafted in the middle 19th century, Baltimore Album Quilts (BAQs) were in many cases the creation of professional needle workers selling completed blocks, pre-cut, or pre-basted blocks. BAQs traditionally used red and green colors with touches of yellow and blue. A...

This is by far the most labor-intensive applique quilt I have ever seen and quilted! It is a 70" square quilt, and has more leaves and ber...

Last Thursday I went to the Quilt Show in Melbourne and here are some of the photos I took of quilts that impressed me. There was a Challenge also on to make a quilt from the Australian book The Fabric of Society by Annette Gero. The first 4 quilts were in the challenge. This one really caught my eye, as you will see I photographed both, of the same quilt, made by 2 different people. This is the Auntie Green quilt, the one I am making just now. and this was another one. It had one less…

My friend Ann makes beautiful appliqué quilts. Although she is also a talented hand quilter, she asked me to quilt her Baltimore Christmas Album quilt for her. As I worked on each block I was so im…

The City Sewers took a road trip to Arkansas the other day to the Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville. We went to hear Linda Eaton, Winterthur's Textile Curator, give a talk about quilts and folk art. More about that later in another post. Elsey A. Halstead, 1848 Collection of the American Folk Art Museum The special exhibit up now is American Made: Treasures from the American Folk Art Museum http://crystalbridges.org/exhibitions/american-made-treasures-from-the-american-folk-art-museum…

We run a number of different Workshops throughout the year including Foundation Paper Piecing, Applique, Painting on Fabric, Engish Paper Piecing and many more. Melbourne Australia

Last week I returned to work after a 2 week vacation AND had jury duty. So this week I'm catching up on my "daily" photo prompts. This is number 10 - Who inspires you? For me, it's those "Ladies of Baltimore." The ones who made the Baltimore album quilts. It's a mystery how/why there was such an explosion of elaborate quilts in the Baltimore area but it is very intriguing. It was those quilts (and Mimi Dietrich) that inspired me to finally work to master the art of applique, something I…

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This Baltimore album inspired quilt features adorable woodland creatures including an owl, fox, deer, skunk and bear along with a modern takes on some traditional Baltimore blocks. Includes 11 months of patterns with full-sized templates and easy to follow instructions. Finished size 80 x 80. BASIC