Saturday, November 01, 2008

Textile and Quilt History


I have loved textiles, colors and design since I was a small child. I remember being about age 5-6 and wanting to wear a pink dress with red tights... my mom had other ideas! I loved designing houses - and did so, starting about age 7. I actually understood 3-dimension and floor plans and I created fantastic home designs. I also loved paperdolls and fashion design, spending hours with paper and pencil creating the most fantastic outfits... Instead of spending my money on candy, etc. I used to beg my parents to take me to this little office supply store where they had a drafting/architecture section. I would buy triangles, scales, protractors, and such!
Ok, I was odd. I knew I wanted to be an architect and went through high school and three years of college with this in mind. However, things change - I did not end up being a designer - though I worked in that field for a few years! Now I get my design/textile fix buying fabrics, perusing interior design stores and creating small quilties and crafts.
I had the opportunity the other night to attend a Quilt/Textile Study Group at the Museum of the Rockies. Wow. Words cannot express the experience! If you are a lover of such things you would have been overjoyed. We got to go down to the storage space of the museum and look at over 20 antique quilts - some that have never been seen by the public (just by the former owners). Some of them dated back to the 1700's! I didn't think to bring a camera, but a few others did, so I might be able to share photos at a later date~ one of the attendees is a very knowledgable women who owns a local reproduction fabric store! What a wealth of information she is. Please check out her online store and website! If you click on the Dargate Book on her site you will find the story behind this little treasure seen above (photo by Margo Kramer of Reproduction Fabrics) ~ the curator at the museum was very interesting as well~ I feel truly fortunate to have been able to participate!

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