Memories, artistry at Monroe House quilt show
MOSES LAKE — The quilt hanging outside Imogene Greif’s apartment at Monroe House was made by her mother about 1940, from scraps of worn dresses and aprons. “Looking at the quilt brings back many memories,” she wrote on the label accompanying the display.
The quilt show at Monroe House, 1405 S. Monroe St., includes quilts from residents and their families along with Monroe House staff. Monroe House resident Clyde Owen pointed out the king-size quilt at the end of the hall, a star design made up of hundreds of individual rectangles. (It was purchased at a Menno Mennonite Country Auction, according to the label.) “Fantastic,” Owen said.
Quilts show evidence of meticulous planning, like the modern star quilt and the Rose Garden quilt dating from 1927. An unnamed relative of Margery Mullen carefully cut hexagons from worn clothes to get the effect she wanted.
Roylene Scoggin used trapunto on an elaborate quilt she called Midnight Dream. (Trapunto requires sewing a design, slicing it open from the back, adding extra stuffing, and sewing it closed.) “Designed one night when I couldn’t sleep,” she wrote.
Pam Lybbert entered two pieces of a massive project – a family member made individual quilts for six brothers and sisters, and when they’re all lined up together they “flow as one,” she wrote. “It is an amazing quilt.”
Quilts are old – the oldest one dates from 1905 – and new, one with a completion date on the label of Sept. 16, 2016.
“We never bought a blanket, always made,” Imogene wrote of a quilt dating from about 1945. She donated the 1905 quilt for display, wool and cotton flannel, pieced by her grandmother from discarded shirts, trousers and coats worn by her grandfather and uncles.
Betty Schwisow displayed the 1945 quilt made as a wedding gift for her parents by her grandmother, a design called Wedding Ring, also constructed from hundreds of rectangles. Her bright yellow quilt was a memento from childhood. “My maternal grandmother made this for me from scraps of dresses, et cetera, sewn by my mom,” she wrote. Members of the family of Al Dinsmore made a quilt for another family member, all flannel, mostly different shades of purple flannel, featuring coffee cups. The woman loved coffee, flannel and the color purple, the label said.
The show will on display through Nov. 18. Quilts can be viewed between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. People who want more information can contact Monroe House at 509-765-2200.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.