Monday, October 20, 2014

A Day at the Wisconsin Quilt Museum

On a bright and breezy autumn day in early October, Norm and I took a little road trip to the Wisconsin Quilt Museum.  I wanted to catch the "Trends and Traditions" exhibit before it was due to close the following week.  

It included a number of beautiful quilts by Victoria Findlay Wolfe, and I didn't want to miss the chance to get up close and personal with her colorful and inspirational work.

Right off the bat, as we came through the main door of the quilt museum, these bright star quilts were there to greet us.


Summer of Stars by Victoria Findlay Wolfe
They were breathtaking!


True North by Victoria Findlay Wolfe
Close-up of quilting (by Shannon Baker) on True North by Victoria Findlay Wolfe
Quilters Play Manhattan by Victoria Findlay Wolfe
In the main part of the quilt museum were the remainder of the quilts for "Trends and Traditions."  These included awe-inspiring double wedding ring variation quilts by Victoria Findlay Wolfe, as well as traditional quilts by Mary McElwain, an important Walworth, Wisconsin quilt designer and quilt store owner from the early part of the twentieth century.  I'll cover those quilts in a separate post.  I loved that exhibit as well, and did equal ooh-ing and aah-ing over both the "trends" and "traditions" genres.


Double-Edged Love by Victoria Findlay Wolfe
Close-up of quilting (by Lisa Sipes) on Double-Edged Love
There were so many unique iterations of these quilts!


A Summer's Day by Victoria Findlay Wolfe
I loved this one (below) named Farm Girl.  The quilting on it, by Karen McTavish, was exquisite.


Farm Girl by Victoria Findlay Wolfe


Close-ups of quilting (by Karen McTavish) on Farm Girl by Victoria Findlay Wolfe
Iris By Night by Victoria Findlay Wolfe
A smaller quilt based on the same pattern, the name of which I forgot to note:


By Victoria Findlay Wolfe
A quilting closeup of another striking DWR quilt:


By Victoria Findlay Wolfe
The polyester quilt (below) pays homage to her grandmother Elda Wolfe's influence.  There were several of Elda's quilts on display as well, which illustrated the connection Victoria has to her quilting roots.

Retro Poly Mod by Victoria Findlay Wolfe
Who knew there could be so many interesting variations on a theme!

Leona by Victoria Findlay Wolfe
I really enjoyed this exhibit.  You can appreciate a quilt on a blog or in a book, but to see the colors and details in person is a wonderful experience. 


By Victoria Findlay Wolfe
As I mentioned, the traditional quilts on display were every bit as captivating! Stay tuned for those in part two of A Day at the Wisconsin Quilt Museum.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

What amazing quilts and a fabulous post! Thank you for sharing! xxx

Quiltdivajulie said...

Breathtaking, indeed -- THANK YOU for sharing your photos with us! And I completely agree about photos in a book vs. seeing the quilt in person.

Hazel said...

I am so very amazed by the intricacy of the machine quilting that is enhancing the quilt design!

Kevin the Quilter said...

Thank you SO much for sharing these beautiful works by VFW! I wish I could have made it up there to see these in person! I completely agree with all of your sentiments!

Shay said...

Love her use of colour – its stunning. And the quilting on some of those quilts is utterly amazing.

Retro Poly Mod is a beauty . Who would have thought poly could look so good !

Anonymous said...

Amazing work! I will have to take a trip to Wisconsin! I took a class with Victoria in July. She is so full of cool ideas. Truly a creative genius!

Empty Closet Quilting said...

OOOOOH, I am so happy you shared these photos. What gorgeous work.