Vintage/Historic Quilt Top - Now What?
12-10-2018, 05:51 AM
#12
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Horse Country, FL
Posts: 7,341
My sympathy to you for the loss of such a good friend. Friends like that are hard to find. Anyway, you'be been given good ideas here for you to ponder. Please let us know which way you decide to go. I'm thinking that a museum would want it in as close to the original condition as possible, which would necessitate not finishing it. What do you think your friend would want? Would love to see a photo of it.
12-10-2018, 05:58 AM
#13
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 4,783
I'm with coopah, do not finish the quilt top. I would leave it exactly as is, and probably enjoy having it myself for a while, then donate it along with it's story to a museum that will cherish it and care for it properly. I have collected quilt tops that I have no plan to finish. A finished quilt in the hands of someone who is ignorant of it's value can end up on the garage floor with black motor oil on it, or muddy and in tatters outside in a dog house, while an unfinished top never will meet that end.
12-10-2018, 06:41 AM
#14
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2018
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 2,414
How very kind you are in taking proper care of your friend's treasure. I'm with the others and think this is a story to be told and a museum would be the best place for it... back in England would be ideal. The story needs to be told and England is the best place to tell it. It's so easy for historic items to be lost and this is certainly one. God bless you for taking the care, time and trouble to do the right thing.
12-10-2018, 09:33 AM
#15
Super Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Texas
Posts: 2,369
What about finishing the quilt and offering it to a museum in London? It was made during a time in their history. It would be shared with families who have been thru that time period.
I'm sure its beautiful. It would be a tribute to your friend for keeping it all these years and to her grandmother who made it.
I'm sure its beautiful. It would be a tribute to your friend for keeping it all these years and to her grandmother who made it.
The story of how it came to be is part of this historical quilt. I think a WW2 museum, here or in London, would love to have this quilt on loan to display with a card telling the story of the how the woman pieced it while sheltering in the Underground. That's the stuff of legend. When you finish it, you might make inquiries to museum curators here and abroad. You have become the keeper of a treasure; I understand that it's a heavy responsibility. You're to be commended for it.
12-10-2018, 10:45 AM
#16
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Central Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA
Posts: 7,695
I am so sorry for your loss of a dear friend. I am very much of the opinion that storing a quilt is a waste, and just plain sad. I think, given it's history, I would be tempted to hang the finished top as a showpiece, or perhaps even offer to loan it to a quilt museum, but in the end I would quilt it and use it--not every day, but when I needed a pick-me-up. I think wrapping myself in a quilt like that would be like getting a hug from a dear friend who is no longer around to give one.
12-11-2018, 03:45 AM
#18
Junior Member
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Lincolnshire, UK
Posts: 175
If you want to loan/donate to a museum here in the UK, I would suggest you contact the following in this order
The Imperial War Museum https://www.iwm.org.uk/
The Museum of London https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/
American Museum in Bath https://americanmuseum.org/
The Imperial War Museum would be the best place as War in their primary focus.
I work in the museum services here in the UK. If you want to send me a PM, I will be happy to help
HettyB
The Imperial War Museum https://www.iwm.org.uk/
The Museum of London https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/
American Museum in Bath https://americanmuseum.org/
The Imperial War Museum would be the best place as War in their primary focus.
I work in the museum services here in the UK. If you want to send me a PM, I will be happy to help
HettyB
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