The American Quilt - 18 Jun 2026

The Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, CA, currently has an exhibit called: “The American Quilt: Cloth and Commerce” (May23 –August 30, 2026).  It outlines the 250 year history of quilting in America showing it’s link to industry, politics and global trade. Beautiful and educational it is well worth the visit. 

This exhibit shows how commerce, science, technology, and politics influenced how American quilts were made.  

1850-1890s, Silk was imported from China, Japan and Europe.  Luxury material became popular for making crazy quilts. 

Other quilts of 1850-1890’s: 

This is my favorite pattern: 

All types of cloths were used, such as handkerchiefs, tobacco silks, feed & flour sacks, and old clothing.

 

These chromolithographic cards were used promote thread brands:  

 

The 1^st American sewing machine was invented by Walter Hunt in 1832.  Isaac Singer improved the design in 1851 and introduced the 1^st US electric models in 1889.  The Bowers did not have any Singers on display. 1909 fabric label:

Thanks to rural mail delivery, the turn of the 20^th century, mail order quilt patterns became popular. 

1950 to 1980s gave rise to synthetic Fabrics. 

A few more images:  

There are over 11 Million active Quilt makers in the United States.  If you've been to a quilt show you more likely have see most of these historic patters still in use.

Here’s a modern quilt filled with contemporary images. 

  Looks like a 'Crazy Quilt' to me. 

Happy Juneteenth

In June of 2011 I visited Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park in Tulare County, CA. Founded in 1908 it was the only town in California to be founded, financed and governed by African Americans. 

Here are a few of the town's notables:

 

 

 

 

Check out my 2011 images of the town: Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park 

Seed Art - MN State Fair Aug 2024

I'm taking a virtual tour of The Minnesota State Fair Seed Art via The Minnesota Star Tribune. Re-posting the images from the article "Top 10 Funniest Crop Artworks at the Minnesota State Fair" by Alicia Eler. 

Not in any order:

There were three walls of Crop Art, that's 354 seed art pieces.

When I moved to California, I thought corn dogs were just a different name for Pronto Pups. But it turns out they are two different types where corn dogs are made with a sweet cornmeal batter, Pronto Pups use a flour pancake batter that is thinner and more savory.

Above is a homage to Keith Haring.

New words I can use instead of swearing.

Looks like this method works...he actually won third place.

This Humpback anglerfish reminds me of "Little Shop of Horrors".

Love this! Didn't know you could make a political statement with seeds.

Is it no longer junk food if it's made from seeds?

Nod to Tim Walz.

Minnesotans don't know how to zipper-merge...I've got news for you, neither do Californians.

Guo Pei: Art of Couture - 18 NOV 2022

I visited the Bowers Museum (Santa Ana, CA) to see their special exhibit entitled: Guo Pei: Art of Couture (running Nov 12, 2022 to May 14, 2023).

I have no interest in fashion, so at first it felt like when I was a child and visited a ‘Freak Show’ at the state fair…but then I got into the beauty of the craft and the splendor of the outlandishness.

The exhibit was divided into four sections: Dreams, Devotion, Love and Faith with a seamless transition from one section to the next.

For me it was all fantasy.

Guo Pei is an internationally renowned designer who is Chinese and interweaves her childhood memories into her fantastical designs. 

She is the first born-and-raised Asian designer to be invited to become a guest member of the Chambre Synbdicale de la Haute Couture.

Many of them listed Swarovski crystals, rhinestones, sequins, this one and another also had metal accents.

Swarovski crystals have a higher refraction index as compared to real crystal and is more like a diamond.

I learned about the embroidery techniques that were used:

There were also lots of ostrich feathers...

Although I can remember wearing platform shoes in the 70’s, mine did not have a 3-4” arch on top of the 3-4” platform.

The accessories were as fantastical as the gowns, such as these rings:

There were several video presentations showing some of the gowns on the runway.

I thought it was interesting that this older model had two stunning escorts. Then I learned Carman Dell’Orefice (85 in this image) is the world’s oldest working supermodel.

And she did it wearing these: