Judith Shuey, director of the Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg, paid a visit to SSC last week, loaded down with an armful of Depression-era quilts.
Shuey told us a little bit about the mission of the Museum, which is to preserve old quilts. Her program, called Stories Through Quilts, was very interesting and fascinating as she focused on the quilts that had either been made during the Great Depression or the tops of the quilts had been made then, put away, and then finished by another person in the 1970s for example.
Each quilt did hold a story as Shuey tried to decipher from observing the piece of work something about the maker. She could tell if the woman had some money or if she was very poor by the pieces of material which had been chosen for the quilt. It was interesting to note that the women picked brightly colored fabric for their quilts then in order to cheer themselves and others during the hard Depression years. There were certain colors that were used often (a green and a pink), and there was special fabric chosen for children as these were times when the importance of children was being recognized more.
There were so many interesting facts about quilts during this time and also the Civil War and Revolutionary War eras that they cannot all be contained in this one announcement! If you are curious to learn more, we suggest you contact Judy to make a visit to your center; wintertime would be a wonderful time to cozy up and learn more about the history behind quilts! Shuey only whetted our appetites to visit the Museum at some point as we sat around the table soaking in her knowledge and stories.
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