When Nancy Watts and I visited the Latimer Quilt & Textile Center before Ocean Waves Quilt Camp, (see last blog), we discovered that if we gathered together a group of six people, we could have a guided tour through the climate-controlled repository. We decided that we would easily persuade six people at Quilt Camp to come the morning we were all to head for home at the end of Camp, so we went ahead and made the arrangements with the Center. Over 20 people from Camp came so we had two shifts for the tour of the repository where there are over 160 quilts and quilt tops stored along with vintage fabric collections and antique textiles of all kinds.

The quilts and quilt tops are all stored in acid-free boxes carefully numbered and labelled with a picture for ease of identification. There are a series of huge shelving units that roll on a system of rails and everything is very well organized. They also have a bed with some antique quilts stored flat and we were privy to a bed turning.

The woven cover dates from the 1850s. This beautiful Crown of Thorns quilt was hand pieced and hand quilted by Ella Jones, aged 16, in 1883. Here’s a spectacular crazy quilt from 1898. The embroidery was wonderful and as we looked, we kept seeing more delightful details.

This mosaic quilt came from the Lamb family and was made in the 1890s

Here’s a Pineapple quilt, again from the late 1800’s

Finally, a beautiful applique quilt with fine hand quilting.