Quilts at the Art Institute of Chicago

 

 

The exhibit this past winter-spring in the textile galleries at the Art Institute of Chicago was spectacular.  So spectacular that I went twice!  Going once was just not enough time to soak up the beauty and history of the pieces from their great collection.  I craved another chance to breathe the rarefied air of these wonderful quilts!

And here they are, in no particular order, so all of you who don't live near Chicago get to enjoy them, too.  (I missed a couple of them, due to "too much" chatting, but this is most of them.)

Treat Time!

I decided, since I now have two vintage Bernina 830's, and since this model seems to be a perennial favorite, that I'd best step up my machine knowledge and caretaking.

So I "splurged", which is way too big a word for this, and bought 3 packs of real Bernina bobbins.  Using generics is not good for the precision working of the machine, and though the difference between bobbins is tiny, it is truly visible.

So while I was at it, I replaced my seam ripper which has been broken for probably about 4 years now.  You can see from this discussion so far that I am a total penny pincher.  I admit it.

And now, here comes the actual splurge - though again it's way too big a word.  I bought a variety pack of little tweezers.  They might come in handy for slipping patches under tears during quilt repair.  They might come in handy threading needles in tight places.  And besides, don't they look like fun!

Beaded 1940s Hat

Here's another vintage clothing repair tale.

I've talked several times before about my button collection, what fun it is, and how one can never have enough buttons.  There is always, always the chance of having just the perfect replacement for a missing button!

It's exactly the same story for beads!  I also buy these at estate sales.