Saturday, April 6, 2013

Appliqued Sampler Quilt

There are 3
stunning vintage quilts by
Edith Shoppell
hanging right behind the front counter
at  the
Art of Quilting Show 
 at the Gilbert Museum
*going on now through the end of May
 These quilts are shared by 
Mike Shoppell
in tribute to his mother.
 Appliqued Sampler (1964)
Edith Shoppell
West Lawn, Pennsylvania
Hand Appliqued 
Hand Quilted
I loved the stories the family shared
with each quilt, and felt a
comfort and longing 
for an era now past.
 A grand daughter wrote:
"A lot of her work was influenced
by the Pennsylvania Dutch background
in which she was raised."
" A lot of the motifs she used were
traditional folk art. 
Others were her own design
as seen in this sampler quilt. "
 "She loved what she did, but never thought of her work
as being anything special.  
She was a very simple, humble woman
and this was her love and her gift to us."
Edith made two of these quilts 
with each square different.
No two of her quilts were ever the same.
 Her son Mike wrote:
"My favorite memory of my mother quilting
is of my parents sitting in the front room
with Dad controlling the TV,
always watching sports,
and mom in her chair with her
TV tray in front of her 
piled high with 
quilting-in-progress
and design papers."
Wouldn't it have been wonderful to sit next to Edith
and learn from her?
What kind of stories would she tell?
And it also made me wonder 
what kind of  memories will
our families share when
our quilts are viewed 
years from now?

4 comments:

dream quilt create said...

What a sweet tribute to a sweet lady :). Her quilts are really beautiful!

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

ouch - I hope 1964 doesn't indicate antique! in a way it doesn't' seem that long ago :) it sure is a pretty quilt

fiberchick said...

What exquisite work!

Karen said...

What an interesting sampler quilt. I am very interested in sampler quilts and am working on a couple.