As you may have figured out, I am very fond of Ruth McDowell's work. The first pieces I saw were six small herb quilts in QNM March 1982 illustrating an article about Ruth written by Nancy Halpern (whose work also grabs me). Also in that issue was an article about members of the "The Quilter's Connection", including a picture of Ruth's amazing "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" quilt which measures 102"W x 140"L and was subsequently included as one of the "Twentieth Century's Best American Quilts", published in 1990. The quilt I am showing this week was the second Ruth McDowell quilt I purchased.
"Dressing Up" Ruth B. McDowell 1994
Showing Ruth's two daughters and a friend playing dress up. Ruth doesn't usually put features on people in her quilts, instead using plaids or printed cottons. I think it is a great idea because it focuses on the people and what they are doing. Besides, if the quilt owner doesn't even know the person there is no point in making it a "portrait". The plaid faces are one of the special touches in this quilt. Another special thing is that some of the fabrics were designed by Ruth for Kona Bay in 1993. The binding is the one of her fabrics that I never found, it must have been really popular. The center of the umbrella is from a print of trees with dots representing the leaves/fruit. The ruffled blouse on the left and the garment being held up by the girl on the right are both Ruth's designs. Of course, I was attracted by the hats - aren't they wonderful? The beret on the left is shaded just right, and the tulip hat in the middle is much like one I wore in the late 50s. But the best of all is the "Cat in the Hat" hat on the right - I would have worn one of those if I wasn't so conservative at the time. The jacket looks Chinese and reminds me of a Chinese robe in my Aunt Teff's dress up box - I loved wearing that exotic garment, but only inside Aunt Teff's house, of course.
Ruth's sense of body language always makes her 'people' quilts very special. She made a quilt for Doreen Speckman which shows her teaching students at Asilomar how to do the Electric Slide. Anyone who knew Doreen could recognize her image by the body language Ruth has shown. If you look on Ruth's website you will find several people quilts.
"Dressing Up", "The Twelve Dancing Princesses" and the Herb quilts are in Ruth's book "Art & Inspirations - Ruth B. McDowell". The Doreen Speckman quilt is in her book "A Fabric Journey".
Both were published by C&T Publishers
7 comments:
Thank you for sharing this wonderful quilt. I love it!
Masterful! So delightful to know all of this background. I never knew that Ruth designed fabrics. Wonderful post, Del.
Is there a Halpern in the TCQC?
Happy New Year!
joan
Del, Thank you so much for sharing another quilt by Ruth. I recently was given her book Patterns on Patterns -- again her use of fabrics was spectacular.
To you and yours, the best of the New Year.
Loretta
This quilt by Ruth is wonderful! Lucky you for owning it. Lucky us that you chose to share it with all of us in Blogland! Great insights and observations about the quilt as well. Thank you!
truly, Cathy W
Thanks for sharing all the information! I remember reading that article in QNM years ago, too. The Princess quilt was always a favorite of mine, and so is the beautiful quilt that you are so lucky to own. Ruth is truly a treasure. Taking a workshop from her was one of the highlights of my quilting education. She's a very special person, and an extraordinary artist.
That could be at my house! (The dress-up, not the quilt!)
I love this quilt! It is wonderful how she has captured the excitement of girls dressing up!
Thankyou for sharing it with us!
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