Today we visited
the quilt and textile museum in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It is in the centre of town in what used to be a bank. The spiritual quilts inside made it feel like a church.
These photos highlight the two most important, and for me influential, design elements. Unusual colour combinations and intense hand stitching. The pieces shown here were made between 1910 and 1940.
These are details of 'center diamond' quilts. The large shapes used give serenity and a space to contemplate to both maker and viewer. I appreciated seeing the wool twill fabric and the tiny stitches made with black thread.
The ideals of the Amish people appeal to me. A retreat from this hectic world, a focus on what is really important in life.
an aesthetic of simplicity
Today we visited the quilt and textile museum in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It is in the centre of town in what used to be a bank. The spiritual quilts inside made it feel like a church. 
These photos highlight the two most important, and for me influential, design elements. Unusual colour combinations and intense hand stitching. The pieces shown here were made between 1910 and 1940. 
These are details of 'center diamond' quilts. The large shapes used give serenity and a space to contemplate to both maker and viewer. I appreciated seeing the wool twill fabric and the tiny stitches made with black thread. 
The ideals of the Amish people appeal to me. A retreat from this hectic world, a focus on what is really important in life. 
an aesthetic of simplicity
8 comments:
thanks for educating me about Amish quilts - they are unusual colour combinations ... but they work!
'The aesthetic of simplicity'. A beautiful expression and my goal in all areas of life. How fortunate you are to have seen these quilts. Gilly
wonderful collection and very unusual, the simplicity is lovely...
when my son was little we used to visit my amish friends the yoders. once francis and the girls invited me to quilt with them, and encouraged my rowdy boy to play under the quilt in the frame. as we stitched, he poked up and sent the spools awry, and they all giggled and teased him.
Thank you for sharing these pictures. I hadn't realised there was so much fancy quilting on Amish quilts. I think the pictures I've seen before were from a distance.
I see you visited my neck of the woods. I like your pictures, they are pretty. Next time you are this way you'll have to visit my website www.pa-dutch-travel.com
Lovely and soothing to see your beautiful, stimulating and affirming post dear Judy, I send my love and appreciation as always and thank you. xxxxxxx
I saw the Esprit collection in San Francisco with my sister in the'90's - super to see them up close and how the cloth vibrates with colour.
I also have enjoyed reading "Plain and Simple" by Sue Bender, a California artist who lived with them for a few months. For them "Time was full and generous. It was as if they had uncovered a way to be in time, to be part of time, to have a harmonious relation to time."
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