The Year of the Quilt – American Folk Art Museum.

So there you go folks….

I finally got to flap my eyes on quilts yesterday.

Cheryl, buddy, Di Mill and I visited the Year of the Quilt exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum. in New York.

There was nothing there I hadn't seen before in quilts, but it was just lovely to re-visit the ambiance and it was all new for Cheryl who isn't a quilter but appreciates art and beautiful things.

Quilt makers have always used the influences of the world around them to create amazing images in fabric. There is a diversity in this exhibition that warmed my heart, with just a little taste of each genre.

“Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum” anchors the Year of the Quilt, the museum’s celebration of a glorious American art form and the creative contributions of three centuries of talented women. Highlighting textile masterpieces in the collection, the exhibitions include recent gifts, bedcovers that have rarely been on view, and important cornerstones of the museum’s comprehensive quilt holdings. Given the rarity of the fabrics used in most of the museum’s historic quilts, the fine workmanship, and the quilts’ well preserved condition, it is clear that they are examples of “best” bedcovers, saved for use on special occasions or when company visited. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when quilts no longer needed to be made for mere warmth, quiltmakers used the art form to express their creativity within the confines of popular decorating trends. Most recently, contemporary fiber artists have taken the opportunity to transcend time and place, using the historical concept of a quilt as a starting point for their artistic, and often social and political, statements.

I will be doing a program on it so keep tuned.

This is a small section of a quilt on show that made my heart beat just a little faster.

It's a quilt, possibly made by soldiers and I thought I had located most of them in the world…. but up pops another one.

Inevitably made by men and possibly during a time of war the soldier quilts were made of wool, sewing each section from the back to create a "carpet" effect.

The wool is very closely woven and almost "felted" and there were many quilts made by soldiers from the wool used in their uniforms hence the diversity of color.