Quilt & Stitchery Exhibit Opening May 14
The work of three talented seamstresses will be featured in a new exhibit at the Madison County History Museum, 715 N. Main Street, Edwardsville, Illinois, beginning May 14 through the end of July. In addition to pieces they’ve created, the women are also needlework and quilt collectors and will include some of those pieces.
Donna Caban Bisset, Mary Grose, and Candace Ladd, each found their way to quilting in different ways.
Bisset, a native of Edwardsville, was surrounded by her mother and two sisters who were outstanding seamstresses. Feeling a bit intimidated, she didn’t take up sewing until the early 1970s when she received a Singer Sewing Machine for Christmas. “Mary (her sister) came for a week,” Bisset said, “and taught me how to lay pattern, baste, and pin material. I finished two blouses - that I liked and actually wore.” She regularly sewed for her family, then expanded her needlework to include crewel, and counted cross-stitch, as well as returning to embroidery which she had learned as a girl in 4-H. Remembering the remarkable quilts made by her Grandma Augsburger, she decided to learn how to make them. “I signed up for a six week/12-hour course on quilting and ended up with a wall hanging of four different blocks, all from scratch,” said Bisset. She continued, “I loved the freedom of quilt making; choosing my own patterns, colors, sizes.” She says she makes quilts of all sizes and for all occasions.
Candace Ladd began stitching embroidery designs when she was only 7 years old. “My grandmother, Freida Klenke Ladd, helped my sister, Toni, and me pick out some simple iron-on transfer animal designs and taught us how to stitch them. My younger sister was two at the time and I think Grandma was helping to keep us busy and out of Mother’s hair.” Regardless of the original intention, the project created a life-long love of needlework for Ladd. After she and her sister had completed six squares, her grandmother pieced a quilt for each of them using the blocks, and Ladd’s great-grandmother quilted them. This example of children’s handwork is included in the exhibit. Like Bisset, Ladd first learned to sew clothing and worked on crewel embroidery. In the early 1980s she began piecing quilts, finding the work satisfying, and the results both practical as well as attractive.
Mary Grose was in middle school when she learned to sew on an old Singer Sewing machine, the kind with a leg control lever. “I continued to sew clothes for myself off and on for many years,” she said. When Grose and her husband, Jeffrey, moved to Edwardsville from Los Angeles in 1987, she discovered a quilt shop at Cottonwood Mall that offered classes. She made her first sampler quilt there. “My first real quilt was for our daughter Hana’s first birthday,” said Grose. “Like all the quilts since then, Jeffrey has been my in-house artistic consultant. He has chosen some of the fabric, made designs, and helped me with color choices.” Like many quilters, Grose has had most of her fabrics for decades and can select from her stash. “I am drawn to old quilts and Amish and Gee’s Bend designs,” said Grose. “I appreciate quilts that are made from necessity and from fabrics that are at hand.”
The museum will be closed April 27-May 13 so that recent exhibits can be removed and the new exhibit installed. Beginning May 14, the quilt exhibit will be open during regular museum hours (Wed.-Fri. noon-4 p.m. or Sun., 1-4 p.m.) or by appointment for groups. Admission is free although donations are appreciated. For further information, call 618-656-7569.