La Cañada Quilters, Collectors Display Heirlooms at Lanterman House

Forty family and heirloom quilts hand crafted by a dozen La Cañada women are on view at Lanterman House during a show that opened this week and continues through Dec. 22.

For several of the exhibitors, quilting has been a family tradition. Peggy Barber’s grandmother sewed for the 13 children she raised on a Texas cotton farm. Some of the quilts and the sun bonnets were passed down to Barber and used by her children during their early years.

“Grandmother started this quilt in 1930,” Barber explains, holding up a bright flower patterned quilt. “I took it up in 1980 and finished it.” A lifelong sewer, she took a class “to have something to do in the evening.” Since 1980 she has made each of her 12 grandchildren “at least one or two” quilts.

Jeanne Edwards took up quilting about 15 years ago. “My daughter Jody and I took a class at a fabric store and I have made more than a dozen baby quilts for family and friends, including quilts for a set of twins with their names in embroidery.”

Edwards is exhibiting a family heirloom Amish-style ‘crazy quilt’ at Lanterman House.

“It’s hand-pieced and stitched from an assortment of scraps, including taffetas, brocades, velvets, men’s shirtings and feed sacks.”

She points out her quilt is unfinished, but just lacks backing and a border to be complete.

When Carol Brown began to furnish the family’s country style house, she turned to antiques, including old quilts purchased to adorn her children’s beds. She has a collection of six quilts dating back to the 1870s, including one that still shows the pattern prominently traced in pencil on the fabric, allowing work to be done by candle light.

“These quilts were used by the family,” Brown said. “You can see where the worn places were patched with other old shirt material.”

A treasure loaned by Lanterman Historical Museum Foundation President Joy Gifford was crafted right here in La Cañada in 1941 by longtime resident Helen Nasal. For many years a seamstress and now living at Mountview Retirement Residence in Montrose, Nasal created an original design that included embroidery on applique. “I saw it and loved it,” says Gifford, “I bought it for my daughter’s room.”

Other quilters showing their works are Anne Bagne, Lisa Burroughs, Kay Bahrami, Gretchen Caister and Mary Ann Andrews, who also x teaches quilting locally. Merrily Hake, Christy Schober and Eileen Ferber are exhibiting heirlooms from their collections, along with a set of quilting lap tools.

In conjunction with the quilt show, Faye Walcher, a conservator of fine fabrics, will present a practical lecture entitled “How to Care for Your Heirloom Quilts?” Sunday, Nov. 6, at 1 p.m. in the Lanterman House Visitors Center, 4420 Encinas Drive, La Cañada Flintridge. Tickets are $10 for foundation members and $15 for general admission.

The quilt show will be open during museum hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays and the first and third Sundays of the month. For information, call the Visitors center at 790-1421.