Quilt Discovery Day in Jacksonville FL

Last Saturday the All Star Quilters Guild, Inc., hosted a Quilt Discovery Day for the public.
We invited people to bring their quilts to be documented for the Florida Quilt Project, which will be online as part of the Quilt Index by the end of the year.
With renting space and making lots of copies, there are some costs involved...so we got a grant from the Sunshine State Quilters Association to help out. Three other groups also received grants for hosting a QDD.

First the stations had to be set up, and we were fortunate to have so much space to work in!

When people arrived, they were welcomed and given the 10-page form on a clipboard.
Not to worry! The form seems long because it has lots of lists so you can just check things off, and questions to answer are mostly to jog somebody's memory.
So if you don't know who made the quilt, it doesn't take too long to fill in the form. As you move through the stations of the Quilt Discovery Day  the writing is done by the workers. All the quilt owners needed to fill in was their own contact information.

The next station is where an official number was given to each quilt to be sure the form can be matched up to the correct photo. There is also a release form to allow the pictures to be used online.

Then comes Photography.
The quilts are carefully attached to several pants hangers (the clip kind), and the number on a small sign is attached. Then the quilt is raised up on a stand so a full-length photo can be made.

Sometimes closeups are taken, or an extra picture is made if the back has something of interest.

This one is especially interesting to me because it was made by my great-great grandmother, sometime between 1850 and 1880.

Next comes Description, where the quilt is measured and carefully examined.

One of the items on the form is how many blocks...I am glad we did not have to count how many diamonds are this beautiful Broken Star!
Also at this station the quilt pattern and name have to be determined. We had a laptop computer running Block Base to help us, along with some books about patterns and fabric dating.

Only pencils are used around the quilts!

The next station is History, where the quilt owner can give the name and story of the maker, if known, as well as how they acquired the quilt...gift, purchase, inheritance, or self-made!

Each person is so excited to be able to talk about their cherished quilt with quilters who share that love! We also had Nan Moore, a quilt appraiser, working with us to help get the dates straight. 
Last is the Exit station, where the form was checked to be sure all sections had been looked at (even if there was nothing to record). A small label was given to each quilt saying that it is now part of the Florida Quilt Project.

We did put out a donation jar, because sometimes happy people want to say "Thank-you" with a few dollars. The money will go to continuing documentation of more quilts!

As usual, I was far too busy to pay attention to making a complete photo record of the event and all the wonderful quilts. I'd like to close with just a few more pictures, to give you a taste of what treasures are seen at one of these Quilt Discovery Days! Maybe your group would like to host one sometime. It's both educational and fun!

Beautiful embroidery from the 20's or 30's...I'd love to know the name of the designer!

There's always at least one Yo-Yo Quilt! This one has a pretty diamond & sashing arrangement.

Not sure of the date on this well-preserved scrap quilt, but that's the famous color called "Cheddar"!

Yes, I DO like scrap quilts! This one is almost too much.

A real find...this unfinished top is a piece of real folk art from the 1930's, portraying the maker's homestead and some lyrics from "The Old Oaken Bucket".

So beautiful....so very Southern!. These starburst styles were more often made in the South, despite the magazine-created name of New York Beauty.

Amazing quilt made by a freed slave in Newberry, So. Carolina. Even though it was passed along in the family, some of the story has been lost...but it still has enough clues that we my learn more yet!