Pennsylvania is blessed with an abundance of quilting, between the Amish, Mennonites and the Pennsylvania Dutch. My husband’s grandmother was a quilter and quilt patterns have inspired my mosaic work. The solid color fabrics in jewel tones of the Amish make for abstraction that fits in with much mid-century modern art. We make a practice of going to quilt shows whenever we can.
Left: Lone Star, (detail) ca. 1930. Lapp family, Smoketown, Pennsylvania. Cotton, wool, and synthetic fiber. Right: Double Nine Patch,ca. 1930. Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Wool
The variety of quilts can be overwhelming, but there are many resources for the collector, including Collector’s Weekly, Mennonite Heritage Center, Lancaster Quilt and Textile Museum, State Museum of PA, and The Quilt Index. Quilting continues to thrive in PA, and below are some photos of contemporary quilt artists, Christine Shamborsky, Carol Heisler, BJ Titus and Becky Weiland. It was enjoyable to hear Carol Heisler speak at a meeting of the Bucks County Guild of Craftsmen, and discover that she is the woman behind Lorac Designs, as we have seen many quilts at shows designed and pieced by one person and then machine quilted by the mysterious Lorac.
Saturday Sampler Quilt 2007 by Christine Shamborsky. Photo by Wayne Stratz.
Passion for Paisley Quilt by Carol Heisler
Shokado Quilt by Carol Heisler
Nocturnal Iridescence Quilt by B.J. Titus. Photo by Wayne Stratz.
Pennsylvania German, quilt by Becky Weiland. Photo by Wayne Stratz.
Detail of Pennsylvania German by Becky Weiland. Photo by Wayne Stratz.
Becky Weiland’s work gives a taste of future HiP Passions posts, as her quilt is reminiscent of several other PA crafts: Scherenschnitte(paper cutting), Fraktur(illuminated calligraphic designs), and Hex Signs.
I’ve created a board on Pinterest for HiP Passions, with lots of photos. Come by and check it out and say hello. If you aren’t already on Pinterest, you are in for a visual treat!
Margaret makes glass mosaics to catch the eye and delight the soul. She works from a one-bedroom-two-studio rowhouse in Lansdale, with her husband Wayne Stratz, and together they are Nutmeg Designs: Fine Glass Craft. Discover her blog, etsy shop and tweet @margaretalmon.
i love all these quilts, my favorite is Becky Weiland’s birds.
The birds are definitely a favorite of mine too.
I got 2 of Carol Heisler’s quilts at the PA Guild fair in Wilmington over the summer. They are beautiful, and the ones I got were small, so they are easy to use in my home decorating. AND Carol is lovely! An added bonus :)
That is so exciting that you have 2 of Carol Heisler’s quilts!
[...] found this photo while working on a post for my HiP Passions Column, about quilters of Pennsylvania, and was blown away by the orange intensity. Stratoz and I saw [...]
[...] An Abundance of Quilts from the Keystone State: Pennsylvania …Oct 18, 2011 … Passion for Paisley Quilt by Carol Heisler. Shokado Quilt by Carol Heisler. Nocturnal Iridescence Quilt by B.J. Titus. Photo by Wayne Stratz. [...]