Saturday, June 18, 2016

STORING THE QUILTS

My real passion for quilt making began in the 1970s.  My first intention was to just make enough quilts to cover the beds in our home.  But, that is not where it ended.  Soon, I was asked to teach some classes which required some class samples.  More quilts were needed when I began publishing patterns in magazines.  Then came the writing of books, trunk shows, lectures, and gallery shows --- all requiring more quilts.  All along the way, I held onto all the quilts because you can't do lectures and shows without quilts to view in person!
My most asked question is where do I store them????

This is my favorite: An antique wardrobe with glass doors in my dining room that holds 63 of my smaller (under 60" square) favorites.
 I'm so familiar with each and everyone of them, I can see just parts and visualize the full quilt enjoying them each day.
 We have UV protected windows in our house, so I don't worry about fading.  I try every six months or so to refold and rearrange the quilts in the cupboard.

And, here is the UGLY storage; the quilt closet that stores the large quilts, the antique quilts, the family quilts, the utility quilts, and the manuscripts for my books.  I'm thinking I can get rid of the book manuscripts and stack more boxes of quilts.
 Only one bed in the house currently has a quilt on it.  My mother-in-law hand quilted this whole-cloth quilt for us in the 1980s.
My favorite antique log cabin quilt hangs on the wall in another bedroom. 

This is not the end of the storage issue -- I haven't shown the sewing room which has the 'stash/scraps' closet.  Plus, there are baskets full of UNQUILTED tops, which are much easier to store.  That's my lame excuse for not getting around to quilting them!  Oh, and I forgot the buffet that holds numerous quilted table runners.

Do you have quilt storage problems, too?

I'm joining the following:
Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making
Cooking Up Quilts for Main Crush Monday
Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday
Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social Wednesday
Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday
Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday

4 comments:

Kate said...

Yes, I have storage problems and I've only been at this for 15 years. My Guy tells me any new quilt finishes have to be given away as I've exceeded my closet space. You have some beautiful quilts in the glass cabinet.

Lynn said...

Oh your quilts look wonderful in that glass fronted cabinet. I remember once being told that opened up (as in on a bed) is the best way to store a quilt. While I've made over a hundred, when I counted up how many were in our place I was surprised to find I only got 20. I knew that I make them for other people, but didn't quite realise how many I've given away - I get such pleasure in the making. Thanks for your display.

Beth @ Cooking Up Quilts said...

Mine are folded in a closet in our guest bedroom, with a couple on the beds in our house. That cabinet is a lovely way to display and store your quilts, and I imagine would be a great conversation starter with guests! Thank you for sharing this on Main Crush Monday; it was so fun to see the peeks of your beautiful collection!

Rebecca Grace said...

Oh, my. I am SO FAR from having this kind of storage problem that it isn't even funny! I made my first quilt in 2002 and I have only completed a total of 13 quilts in the past 14 years. Two are folded up in the closet (the baby and little boy quilts), two are on my sons' beds currently (the teenager quilt and the big boy quilt). One is a lap quilt that is in the family room. But all of the others are gone, one a raffle quilt for a school fundraiser and the rest gifts. Two of the gifted baby quilts were LITERALLY loved to shreds, beloved and dragged around by toddlers even once the batting was falling out through holes where the fabric had worn away. I have a few quilts in progress right now that are for me, but they are all still a long way from completion!