In July 2008 The Quilters Hall of Fame presented a very special Quilt Challenge to celebrate its Honorees and its Triple Anniversary. To participate in the this Challenge, quilters were to select one of the Honorees of The Quilters Hall of Fame who had influenced her/him in some special way and were to interpret this influence in a new work. The entry was to be no larger than 160” total of all four sides and to consist of three layers of textiles stitched together. Photo and narrative were to accompany the entry.
Each participant was encouraged to review the biographies of the TQHF HONOREES for ideas or to purchase the book “The Quilters Hall of Fame” which contains a story of each Honoree. The book is a three-ring binder format to which one can add the additional supplements about each new Inductee. Supplements are published every other year and are available through the TQHF Museum Shop.
A Founder’s Purchase Award of $500 was to go to the quilt that best exemplified the theme of the Challenge. The winning quilt will now become a memento of TQHF's Triple Anniversary year and will become a part of the permanent TQHF education collection.
"Marie's Roses" by Rose Marie Werner
TQHF is pleased to announce that Rose Marie Werner of Dundas, Minnesota won the Founder's Award for her beautiful rendition of Marie's Roses. Those readers who attended Celebration 2008 will recognize Rosie, as she is known to her friends, as the one who lead a kit quilt workshop and presented a lecture on Ruby McKim last year. Rosie is also a member of the American Quilt Study Group (AQSG).
The artist statement that accompanied Rosie's entry read as follows:
"Marie's Roses is a compilation of Marie Websters' six patterns that featured roses. Reading clockwise, starting on the top left are blocks from Wreath of Roses, Cluster of Roses, American Beauty Rose, and Wayside Roses. The small center block is from Cherokee Roses and the border comes from Magpie Rose. While researching the patterns of early 20th Century designers, I developed a great admiration for Marie Webster, her wonderful sense of design, and her entrepreneurial skills. Actually making her patterns only deepened my respect for this artist."
But we all know there is always more story to the making of every quilt, so we asked Roseie to write a little more about the making of her winning quilt.
"Last year, at TQHF Celebration, I saw a quilt hanging in the Webster house that was a compilation of Mountain Mist patterns. (I wish I had noted who made that quilt, as it inspired me to make Marie's Roses. Perhaps someone at TQHF would know whose quilt it was.) At the time I thought that TQHF needed a similar quilt with Marie's designs. When I suggested it to Rosalind Perry she commented that maybe I should make it. The announcement of the Triple Anniversary Challenge gave me the opportunity to do so.
Cluster of Roses (left)
Wreath of Roses (below)
But with the size restrictions, I knew that there were too many patterns and everything would have to be minituarized and would be an impossible task. So I gave up the idea. However, it nagged at the back of my mind for months and in early March I began to wonder how many rose quilts Marie had designed. When I saw that it was 6, I thought it was something I could do. So during March I designed the quilt, reduced the size of the patterns, and cut out the pieces. During April I worked on the applique every spare minute and
during May I hand quilted it - again, working every spare minute I had, despite my dear husband's complaints of being neglected.
I'm very proud to have the quilt hang at TQHF, though it was difficult to part with it."
Cherokee Rose (right)
Magpie Rose Border (below)
Congratulations, Rosie!
