Continuing my new tradition of doing a fun thing every week–because I make my own schedule now!–I went with friends to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Pioneer Memorial Museum yesterday afternoon.
I would say it’s less of a “museum” and more of a “clearinghouse for anything old that people want to get rid of” and also a “textile conservationist’s nightmare”…but they had quilts. Quilts that were just sadly folded in glass cases, getting unevenly faded, without a ton of context and not being able to be admired, but quilts nonetheless.
This is the one I most wanted to see in full and learn more about. There wasn’t even a typewritten card for it, but look at those tiny hand stitches:
This isn’t a quilt, but I was so struck by the “used for 50 years” part of its catalog note. It looks amazing for being 250ish years old!
I loved the colors in this one. No date on when it was “brought across plains” but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This one just made me glad for modern medicine. Also, that hand quilting is still tiny for someone losing vision quality:
Do I recommend the DUP Museum as a real museum experience, with organized exhibits and history and context? Not really! Is it fun to just poke around and see what there is? Absolutely! Do I want to call the American Quilter’s Society and get all the quilts rescued? You know it.