Brenda P and Dear Jane in Bennington Vermont

Brenda Papadakis gave an informative and entertaining talk of Friday evening at the Bennington Museum in Bennington Vermont. She described how she had come across the now famous Dear Jane quilt and how she ended up drafting the designs for the blocks found in the quilt. After her talk we had the opportunity to see the original quilt. I was amazed by its condition (excellent) and the depth of colour that was still present after 150 years. Yes this is the 150th anniversary of the quilt.
I often wonder  how my work will stand up after 20 years let alone 150. It would appear that the Dear Jane quilt wasn't actually used. There is a lot that is unknown about the quilt and its maker and this allows one to speculate and fill in the blanks on your own.

This is one section of the quilt. You could not stand back far enough to capture the full quilt in one shot. The Museum puts it on display for 6 weeks a year and we were there during that time.
On Saturday I attended a workshop given by Brenda. We first introduced ourselves and I was surprised to see that four people in attendance had come from Calgary and another attendee was from Australia. We did a couple of the more challenging blocks. It was so much fun to get out and do some serious sewing with like minded people. One woman at the workshop had completed one Dear Jane quilt in traditional colours and was now working on one in modern brights. Quite a contrast.
Piecefully, Joanne