Museum Inspiration

Museums have always been a source of inspiration for Teri and me. We have been to many together; like our trip to the Lovely Lane Museum and the road trip we took to the Virginia Quilt Museum. Other times we have gone to them separately, such as the time Teri attended the crazy quilt exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art, or when I visited the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum just outside of Denver. Together or separately, both of us seek out inspiration in any museum we visit. Here in Europe, there are so many museums to choose from, and I know it will be hard to fit them all in; however, in the past two months, I have been able to visit two of the biggies: The Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Louvre in Paris. 

For this week's post, I thought I would share a photo log of the inspirational things in both museums that captured my attention. Hopefully you will find some inspiration as well!

The Victoria and Albert Museum

The detail of the flowers is stunning!

I fell in love with this coat!

Cotton or wool appliqué? Either would be beautiful.

Put a bird on it!

This cotton coverlet had so much in the way of
botanical inspiration.

This twill-weave bedcover in cotton and linen was made in India
for the European market, circa 1725-1750.

The vase was based on European engravings from the early 18th century.

The colors are still so vivid!

I can almost guarantee you will see this flower
in one of our future designs.

These chintz bonnets were so charming!

This Mughal rug from the mid 17th century has an inspiring floral design.

This Indian floorspread from the 1700s was made of cotton and was embroidered
with silk and metal-wrapped threads. I see some lovely appliqué flowers in this one.

Wouldn't this tile make a lovely medallion center?

English paper piecing anyone?

The vine is a lovely, curved, complement to the angles in the flowers.

Can you believe this gorgeous, appliqué wall hanging dates from the 1500s?
It is made of felted wool with silk appliqué.

I would have dearly loved to have seen a quilt exhibit at the Victoria and Albert museum, but alas, there was none. While we were not able to see the entire museum, my husband and I searched for at least one quilt. Can you guess who finally found it? My husband—the force is strong in this one! I was thrilled to say the least that he found the mother of all whole cloth quilts!

It was hard to get a good picture because, as you can see, the quilt is huge!
The quilt was made in Florence, Italy, between 1360 and 1400.

This quilt tells the story of King Tristan—a popular story in medieval, romance, literature.

In the quilt, there are 14 different stories of King Tristan's adventures.

I love this floral detail!

Such tiny stitching!

As we wrapped up our tour of the museum, we came across this appliquéd wall hanging.
Once again, Tristan makes an appearance with the story of his ill-fated love for Isolde.

The happy—or not so happy—couple

While this hanging looks to be quite worn, consider that it was likely created in the late 1300s.

The Louvre

Our trip to Paris and the Louvre was timed well, because if we had gone a week later, we would not have been able to visit the museum, due to widespread flooding in downtown Paris. This museum, by far, is my absolute favorite. Half a day was not nearly enough time to see everything, but that just means we will have to go again. We didn't see much in the way of textiles, but what we did see was inspirational nonetheless.

This Roman mosaic border would certainly make a lovely quilt border.

It boggles the mind that a sculptor could so stunningly create the look
of draped fabric out of stone.

I can already imagine recreating this ancient owl in wool and stitches.

Mere words can't describe the beauty of this ceiling!

The Winged Victory of Samothrace or the Winged Nike was one of my favorite sculptures.
It was amazing how the sculptor captured the look of a sheer garment out of stone. 

The artist captured a sweetness in the woman and
a slightly mischievous look in the child. 

The colors in this painting are still so vibrant, which is why it caught my eye.

What would this post be without pictures of two of the most famous, ladies in the Louvre—Venus and Mona. Many people said to lower our expectations in anticipation of seeing the Mona Lisa, so we were pleasantly surprised at how much we enjoyed viewing this painting.

The Venus de Milo

This lady needs no introduction.

I hope you have enjoyed this very small tour of two of the most famous museums in the world and the inspiration I found in each.  Whether it is a painting, sculpture, or ancient textile, all can inspire our stitching. Have you been to a museum that inspires you? We would love to hear about it!

Zooming in for a Closer Look

Last week, Kara shared the story of the Album quilt that we made and presented to our dear friend, Bette. This week, I (Teri) would like to share some details of that quilt with you, along with a few more detailed stories of our making of the quilt. So put on your glasses; we have a lot of beauty to behold!

I'll start with a block that Kara made. She really likes birds, and she tends to want to put a bird on everything. (Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit!) But I thought it was a bit humorous that of the four blocks Kara picked at random, two of them had birds. Bet you can guess which ones she chose to make! I think she was pretty happy when she got to the bird after all those acorns.

Kara's bird in an oak wreath

Almost every week, Kara and I got together with our friend, Jo Ann, to stitch and work on our blocks. It was wonderful to be able to encourage and inspire each other. Jo is incredibly creative and not afraid to try anything, so she gave us a lot of courage to attempt some new techniques. Watching her work on this monument was a thrill. She set the bar high, pushing me (maybe both of us) to expand my horizons and take risks.

Jo Ann's monument block with birds made of ultra suede

We had quite a discussion about what these were supposed to be. Jo made them cactus flowers, with blooms made of hand-dyed velvet. This design is also in my cornucopia block, but I made them strawberries, since it was filled with fruit.

Jo's ruched flowers are stunning!

If you look closely at the picture above, you will see a little bee flying above the top flower. Jo had the idea that we should put bees on our blocks, because Bette was our Queen Bee, leading us all as we worked at the Appliqué Academy. Kara and I loved the idea and proceeded to place bees on our blocks as well. You can see Kara's bee at the base of the wreath on her bird block above.

My first block was a basic wreath with leaves and buds. I am not sure what kind of leaves or buds they are supposed to be; I'm certain the leaves aren't rose leaves, but my buds are rather rose-like. The calyxes are made with wool to add interest. To make the wreath, I braided three bias strips of fabric, appliquéd it down, and used a fly stitch on top. Each bud is tacked with a bead.

My wreath of leaves and buds

With Jo's guidance, I tried stumpwork for the first time to make the wings on my bee.

Jo Ann's sister, Jan Vaine, has also been quite an inspiration for both Kara and me over the years. She taught us her method of Perfect Placement appliqué, and we have been hooked on a back-basting type of appliqué ever since. While I was venturing into the unknown making my bee's wings, Jan was using stumpwork embroidery to make the petals of her flowers. Her work is exquisite!

Jan's urn with doves and floral heart block

Detail of Jan's dimensional flowers

Last week, we showed you one of Bette's blocks, with her teeny tiny stems, for which she is well-known. Bette is the master of minute detail, and her work is amazing, as you will affirm when you examine her other block. She is truly an artist who strives to better her needle skills with every new piece she stitches.

Bette's block, depicting the end of the Civil War

Detail: date appliquéd with ultra suede

Detail: photo transfer on urn

Detail: flower crocheted with fine thread

Detail: padded acorns with knotted caps

Kara had fun creating the variety of flowers in this block. With all the birds in these patterns, I'm not sure how I didn't get one at all!

Kara's urn of flowers...with a bird, of course!

Detail: A bee and a flower made of wool and ribbon

My second block was a cornucopia, which I shared in November, here. This block offered so much more variety and was lots of fun. As I was planning what fabrics I would use to make each fruit, I decided to include a lime. It seemed appropriate to place a coconut next to it, though by scale, it is a bit too small. By the time I finished that block, we were tired of having the song "The Lime in the Coconut" stuck in our heads. (It may have been sung a few times in our stitching sessions.) If you'd like the song stuck in your head, take a listen by clicking here.

Detail: my lime and the coconut, surrounded by plums, a peach, and apples.

There were ten of us stitching blocks for this lovely quilt, from six states across the U.S. Bette was so kind as to send it to us for a lecture we gave in the fall for the Baltimore Appliqué Society. While it was here, I took some photos of some of the blocks. Here is a representation of the other stitchers in our group of friends.

Doris's block, so bright and cheery

Kathy's lyre block, with her ruffled ribbon rose

Lou's block, with dimensional pineapples—Lou made four blocks for the quilt and is Jan and Jo's mom.
She certainly passed down her talent to her daughters!

Megan's flower block, perhaps geraniums 

DeeDee's dove and anchor block, with lovely folded rosebuds and calyxes

We hope you have enjoyed exploring this Baltimore album-style beauty with us. The patterns were all created by the Baltimore Appliqué Society from the 1847 Samuel Williams Quilt, which resides at the Baltimore Museum of Art. I hope you have found some inspiration from these blocks. And we also hope that you, too, have found a group of stitching sisters, tied together by your love of needle and thread.