Plain Geometry Amish Quilts Exhibit

Friday evening, I went to see a small exhibition of Amish Quilts at the International Folk Art Museum.

Although I could argue with some of the information provided as educational facts by the curator, I enjoyed the quilts very much.

I thought this 1950's quilt, identified as "Windows,"  from Indiana was quite modern looking.

I especially liked the asymmetric placement of the colored bars and the detail of how the design was continued into the outer border. 

I think I liked this wool, monochrome log cabin made in Lancaster County, PA, c. 1885,  mostly because I have never seen anything like it. 

The quilter in me wonders about just how boring making all those blocks from one fabric would be ... but I like the effect. It is also meticulously hand quilted along every one of those seams. 

I rarely add plain borders to my quilts, but I loved the effect and the proportions of this one, on a Trip Around the World quilt made in 1935 in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania. 

As you might expect, there is some lovely quilting in that wide border, too. 

Another border detail that made me smile was on this Drunkard's Path quilt, made in Holmes County, Ohio, c. 1928. 

The appliquéd shapes are the quarter-circles left after the drunkard's path pattern was cut from the fabric.  What a great way to use all those small scraps.

Although I never found the hexagons in the quilt below, labelled "Bowties and Hexagons," made in Pennsylvania, c. 1932 from wool and cotton, I loved the way the quilter played with color and value in this quilt ... and the secondary pattern of 8-sided OCTAGONS was pretty cool, too. 

I couldn't figure out how to embed a Flickr photoset as a slide show into this post, but you can click over to Plain Geometry Amish Quilts Exhibit, a set on Flickr, to see detail photos of these five quilts, as well as my photos of the rest of the exhibit.  Note that the names of the quilts are as they were identified by the curator.  You might disagree with a few of them (I know I did ;-)

If you are in the area, the exhibit continues through September 2.

As this is how I spent my Friday night–not exactly stitching, but definitely being inspired to stitch ... I'm joining Friday Night with Friends. Maybe some of my friends will be inspired, too.