Friday, February 5, 2010

Herbert Hoover Musuem Exhibit - Patterns of the Past: A Century of American Quilting



January 23-March 21, 2010

The Herbert Hoover Museum of West Branch, Iowa has a new exhibit which will highlight quilts (and patterns) from 1850 to 1940. Quilt collector Nancy Pfutzenreuter has "selected 24 favorite quilts from her outstanding collection of 100 quilts for display at the museum from January 23 – March 21, 2010."

According to the museum web site, "This exceptional exhibition will focus on three distinct quilt traditions: Amish and Mennonite designs; Classic Appliqué designs; and the Unique and Unusual quilts – these will round out the exhibit. Two examples of her unusual quilts are a handkerchief quilt and a quilt from the 1933 world’s fair."

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum
210 Parkside Drive
West Branch, IA 52358
319-643-5301

The museum is open seven days a week from 9-5 and is located just off I-80 at Exit 254 in West Branch, Iowa.

Web Site:
http://hoover.archives.gov/

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Feedsack Secrets: Fashion from Hard Times by Gloria Nixon


I appreciate 19th century quilts, but my area of interest in quilt history has always been the 20th century. I am drawn over and over again to quilts created between the 1920s-1976 - a time span that takes in my grandmothers, my mother, and my generation of women because they touch something deep inside my soul.

I was DELIGHTED when I opened my mailbox and found Gloria Nixon's book Feedsack Secrets: Fashion from Hard Times inside. I grabbed a cup of tea, a few chocolate kisses, and settled down in my family room in my favorite rocker, near our woodburner, to read it.

Well researched and written in a voice and tone to please my Midwestern heart, there is a lot of feedsack information inside this gem. I have read it, I enjoyed it, learned a lot about feedsacks and their history that I did not know before, and I would recommend it to my fellow 20th Century quilt lovers.

This is the type of book presentation my group of quilt history friends love and hope to see more of in the future.

Well done Gloria Nixon for writing it and well done Kansas City Star Books for publishing it.

Interested in getting a copy for yourself:

Call:

StarInfo:
816-234-4636 (Say "Operator")
Kansas City Star Books

or

Order Online:

Web site:
http://www.pickledish.com/
Put: Feedsack Secrets: Fashion from Hard Times in the Search box.