Program of Mary Kerr: "Preserving Our Treasures"

Perhaps Mary Kerr learned to treasure old quilts from her great-grandmothers and grandmothers who quilted. She did not realize that most people used blankets, on their beds because she was lucky enough to always have quilts to keep her warm.

A large, old quilt purchased in Kansas and in need of much repair helped to form Mary's philosophy of quilt restoration. While that project has never been finished because it is so overwhelming, she has developed five guidelines for old quilts in need of help.

First, repair includes stitching down seams to avoid further damage to the quilt.

Restore means to appliqué age appropriate fabric on top of worn fabric. For example Mary has a 30's - 40's quilt of salmon and green; she found the same salmon in another quilt and a matching green from an old apron to provide the needed fabric.

Rescue is a general term that Mary uses, meaning to save parts of something, for example, a small quilt made from a larger quilt with extensive damage.

Pieces with seams work best for small sections. She does not remove the under patch of old material when she adds additional fabric. Sometimes, the restoration requires that similar batting must be used to make the new appliquéd piece lie smoothly. One can complete quilting stitches or keep them blank to show the repair. Documentation of the restoration can be done by sketching the design and placement of repair. Tracing paper helps to show an accurate repair.

At times Mary will use one old piece to restore another.

Restored quilt

Conservation is not restoration. It is using methods to stop damage. Mary uses tulle or bridal veiling to cover areas that are loose. The more fragile fabric needs finer tulle. Polyester tulle can be abrasive to fragile fabric; silk tulle is preferable

Appreciation sometimes is the best thing to do with antique quilts. She showed a large quilt with red appliqué that appeared to be just red circles and shapes - all the green had disappeared, but the beautiful quilting remained. To treasure its age and quilting is the best remedy. Poor repairs have ruined lovely old quilts

Damaged quilt

Some old quilt tops are too fragile to be quilted and should remain tops; others need only the binding stabilized. It is possible to cut away old binding and restore with age appropriate fabric to keep the seams from further damage. Also, sewing another fabric on top of the quilt top and turning it inside out like a pillow case may be the best method of preservation. Sometimes just folding the quilt to show its best parts and covering its problems for display is the answer. Some old quilts should be kept just as a design source.

Finally one should ask several questions before beginning a repair project: Do I have the talent to fix it? Do I have the time? How much money can be spent to pay others for the best repair? And finally, what will I do with this quilt?

Mary left us all with a greater respect for the thousands of quilts that have been made and loved and perhaps partially destroyed in the use of them.

Feature: Ann Christy

Perhaps Ann Christy has more quilting experience in terms of time than anyone else in BAS. She made her first quilt when she was eight years old: a Bow Tie design on a treadle machine at her grandmother's house in Johnson County, North Carolina, where she often stayed with her "Mammy" because her Dad was in the Navy. She didn't realize that in the Bow Tie there were hearts inside the design with difficult points - it all went very well, however, showing Ann's early quilting proficiency. The quilt was made out of the colorful feed sacks that were popular in rural areas. It took three feed sacks to make a dress, and Ann tells of women going to church with feed sacks in their pocketbooks, meeting immediately after church for an exchange to get three sacks of the same color, a good fashion show. Her grandmother drew her patterns on oatmeal box tops in this tobacco-farming community. After she and her grandmother pieced together a quilt top, they would take it to the church quilting where women would gather on Wednesdays from early morning until noon to complete quilts for the Harvest Day Sale fundraiser. There was the frame, four smooth boards with clamps placed on ladder back chairs, for the women to gather around. If it sounds like American folk history, it is.

In high school Ann used her love of geometry to making geometric designs in piecing and appliqué. She made her own clothes, and her full skirts over a crinoline had colorfully pieced and appliquéd quilted borders. She always made practical things for her mother and grandmother. As a camp counselor she would sit and quilt white on white chair cushions, and the quilting set the atmosphere in which teenagers could come and talk to her about their lives. Quilting was quite basic then. She used a wooden yardstick, and paper mats to cut the patterns and fabric.

In 1954 after college in Nashville, Ann and her husband came to Laurel, MD, to live in the house that she still lives in. She, of course, sewed clothes for her two daughters - the younger one, Meg, likes to quilt as her mother does. Ann's first formal classes were with Nancy Devlin in 1972 or 1973, still with no rotary cutters.

Ann is an eclectic quilter. She enjoys both machine and hand quilting. Howard County Fair had to make a new category to show her quilt with the "in-the ditch" sewing machine seams and decorative hand quilting that won a blue ribbon. Today, Ann's life is filled with quilting: she belong to the Annapolis, Milltown, and, of course, BAS guilds; she teaches both appliqué and machine quilting classes; she helped trace the patterns for the Samuel Williams' quilt; helped repair a Crazy Quilt for Catonsville Historical Society, made blocks for the first BAS quilt show at the Culinary Institute; and now has drawn patterns and made kits for the new BAS project for Lovely Lane Museum.

Her primary technique is "to see if you can" and it works well for her. She experimented with the color wash - dark on the bottom to light on top of a nine-square quilt before that design became popular. She likes many different colors in a quilt; her favorite "may be my Eleanor Burn’s Grandmother’s Garden with its 60+ colors." Her open attitude toward piecing and appliquéing carries over to techniques. "Sometimes I use freezer paper on the bottom, sometimes on top, whatever seems to work best." And that openness makes her an ideal teacher. Her preference is her eight-week class, A to Z of Quilting, that takes beginners from how to hold the needle to how to bind with perfect corners.

When I visited Ann to pick up some pictures, I was totally unprepared for the roomful of quilts. I did not have my camera or I would show you the "bow-legged bed" with a mound of quilts of all colors and techniques

Black and white mathematical balance

Her creativity, sense of humor and romantic spirit are demonstrated in her quilts: "Stars in My Eyes" for the 50th anniversary of her first date with Tom; the quilt of frogs, both in appliqué and in the quilting; the little quilt of a longed legged creature with eyes looking up and down and sideways; the optical illusions; the perfect Celtic design; and the masses of flowers, and stars, each with perfect points.

Ann Christy with one of her quilts

Cats in all positions inspired by her own pets

Ann Christy's Celtic Quilt

Colors of purple, lavendar, yellow, greens, pink and reds

We are fortunate to have Ann Christy as one of our leaders in BAS' new quilting project for the Lovely Lane Museum. We can be sure that the patterns are accurately traced and kits made, in addition to finished little details, and it will all be done with her beautiful smile, light humor and gracious demeanor.

Show and Tell

"Dubya" by Jaydee Price of Sequim, WA. She wants to donate this quilt to President Bush's future library

Caren Fitzpatrick's applique

Polly Mello's Calendar

MaryLou McDonald's Redwork