Documenting your quilts

The Oregon Quilt Project will soon launch its new web site, and one of the major changes will be the online availability of the forms used to document quilts. This addition will allow quiltmakers and owners the ability to document quilts. These quilts be part of a database of quilts on The Quilt Index, and we anticipate the project will eventually generate exhibitions and publications.

The forms are step-by-step documentation guides

By adding these documentation forms, we hope to extend our reach across the state of Oregon. It's fun to document quilts, and you don't need to be an expert to get started. It's all about filling out the forms, getting pictures, and sending in the results.

The two forms we use are the "Physical Data" form and the "History" form. The Physical Data form is used to record physical characteristics of the quilt- color, fabrics, pattern, quilting design, binding, etc. The History form is used to record related information, such as family histories, exhibitions and publications, awards, and any other pertinent information that doesn't fall under physical characteristics.

If you make quilts, nobody knows more about those quilts than you. So, when we release the forms online, we hope to attract many quiltmakers. We also hope to attract owners of antique and vintage quilts. There are many knowledgeable people across the state who are already fully qualified to document quilts, and for those who don't know how to ID older quilts, we can help.

While the survey is underway, we anticipate a growing interest in learning more about quilts and quilt history, and we will be working with the Columbia Willamette Quilt Study Group to provide educational opportunities through quilt study days. We are currently seeking venues and topic ideas for 2013 meetings.

The basic set-up involves a stand and some method of attaching the quilt

The web site and blog will include tips about how to do the photography. Having a quilt stand is helpful, and many local quilt groups have their own. If you're in the Portland area and don't have a place or the equipment to photograph quilts, we can also help with that in most cases.

We should be rolling by the beginning of 2013, but we wanted to share the news about what we've been planning. While we're wrapping up the behind-the-scenes details, we want you to get excited about documenting your quilts. It's something every quiltmaker and quilt owner should do!

Web Redesign Underway, Seeking Bloggers

Home page design ready, and making progress on the site redesign

It's been a while since we've posted news, and there's been a lot of behind the scenes work going on lately. We're in the middle of redesigning our web site, and looking forward to making all the information available to anyone who wants to document quilts. The forms will be available, as will links to our social media- Facebook, Blogger and Twitter.

This blog will be a place where people can post news and announcement about documenting quilts in Oregon, including event dates, quilts discovered, and related news. We're looking for a few good bloggers to join our team. Bloggers will have access to the blog site, where they can broadcast information to all readers. The more contributors there are, the better! 

Good Press!

An article about the Oregon Quilt Project appears in the May issue of Country Pleasures Magazine. The article, by Liz Windust, offers the perspective of a quilt owner participating in the recent Oregon Quilt Project documentation at the Willamette Heritage Center and Mission Mill Museum. Thank you, Liz, for the good press! To enlarge the article, just click on the image. 

Thank You, Martha

For those who haven't heard the news, Oregon Quilt Project Coordinator Martha Spark has moved to Oklahoma, where her husband, Don, recently took a new job. Martha has been a driving force behind our project during the first year. She conducted documentation training sessions for volunteers in Eugene, drafted documentation forms, organized documentation events, verified information about quilts following each documentation event, maintained project supplies, helped prepare mailings, and did a number of presentations to promote the project. 

Martha is a quilt restorer and Victorian costume and textiles specialist. Prior to moving to Oregon she was Collections Manager at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden, Colorado, and Chair of the Historic Costume committee at the Avery House Historic District in Fort Collins, Colorado. Martha is a longtime member of the American Quilt Study Group and former member of the Rocky Mountain Quilt Study Group, and has conducted many workshops on preserving antique quilts and textiles. As facilitator of the Columbia-Willamette Quilt Study Group, Martha organized meetings at various locations around the state. Each meeting included a special presentation and show-and-tell. Following each meeting, Martha distributed e-newsletters to members with highlights and pictures from the meeting, and information about future events.

The Oregon Quilt Project and the Columbia-Willamette Quilt Study Group would like to thank Martha for all her efforts, and we wish her well in all her future endeavors.

Willamette Heritage Center Doc Day

The Oregon Quilt Project held a big documentation day yesterday at the Willamette Heritage Center in Salem, and we saw dozens of wonderful quilts, old and new. Oregon Quilt Project would like to extand a big thank you to the Willamette Heritage Center and Mission Mill Museum, local volunteer coordinator Vickie Simpson, and all the local volunteers. While we're working on the new picture gallery, we thought you'd enjoy pictures of a few of the many outstanding quilts we saw yesterday.

The photos in this blog are for viewing purposes only, all rights reserved, and may not be reproduced without express written permission from the Oregon Quilt Project.