After years of talking about it, I finally got to the Bennington Museum, Bennington, VT while Jane Stickle's quilt was on display, which is every September and October. What a thrill! When I first spotted it, it looked a little smaller than I expected. It's 80" x 80" so it's no "shrimp" in the world of quilts. No matter the size, tears came to my eyes.
Mysteries Revealed
This is a short posting. I have to get to bed, but will follow up with more comments later this week. As I made my Dear Jane blocks, a few of them had me stumped. It was nice to look closely at those blocks and determine how Jane Stickle made them. It appears at least one block was made entirely with cheater cloth. Can you guess which one?
Hanging with Jane
I took photos and then kept hanging around. I just wanted to talk with someone about being there! I would offer information: "This is a very famous quilt. It was made during the Civil War. Thousands of quilter all over the world have made replicas of it." Some suggested I could be a docent. I think one other Janiac showed up while I was there. The rest of the visitors appeared to have no knowledge of this quilt.
I saw one visitor try to turn over an edge to look at the back and quickly told her: "You can't do that. The oils from your skin will damage the quilt." Still, I wondered what the other side looked like. I'll tell you this, the quilt is very thin.
Eventually, I had to leave, but I do hope to return in the coming years.
3 comments:
Lucky you, how wonderful to get to visit the quilt in person . I hope the revelations don't see you wanting to remake any of your blocks.
I am going to have go back and check for the cheater block, can't think off the top of my head
Sheila,
Don't worry. I plan to keep that block just the way it is. I'm thinking Jane is having a good laugh watching up make it, that's all! It's not a hard block, but still, I believe she simply cut out a square of cheater cloth for this one block! LOL!
I think I know the block, I'll have to go and check my book though. I remember looking at it and thinking it looked too perfect.
How lovely to be able to see the quilt in the flesh, so to speak. It's on my bucket list.
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