Tillamook!!

What a great day!  Ten of us ventured forth yesterday morning on a "field trip" to Tillamook, Oregon.  We took two rigs and caravanned down to the coast in beautiful weather and through gorgeous scenery.

We landed at La Tea Da's and had a fabulous lunch at one of the most delightful tea rooms in my experience. I think I can speak for the group that it was a wonderful experience for all of us.  We met a couple of other friends there, too, who enjoyed eating with us.

Twelve of us around the tea table.

The food was beautiful!

Above, our friend, Ruth Peterson,
with whom you will most likely soon become acquainted.

Jessie's close friend, Emily, who lives on the coast and came to join us.

After tea, we headed out to the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center to view part of their collection of antique quilts.  Here is a little history lesson about the Latimer from Jeannie Austin:

"Latimers were early settlers.  I think Mr. Latimer was a teacher.  They used a corner of their farm and built a school for all the children in the area.  There was a far-in-the-future stipulation in their will that the place could be owned and used by the Tillamook School District as long as they needed it, then it would go back to the Latimer heirs.  The school there now was built in the 1930's.  It was in disrepair, covered in berry vines, rotting floors, etc. when it was offered to the Historical Society by the Latimers.  The people in that area worked and worked to get the building and grounds to be useable.  When you walk in that old schoolhouse, you are going to see a pristine building with quilting, spinning and weaving rooms, research library, bathrooms, kitchen, gift store.  A recent addition is a climate controlled storage building toward the back.  I hope they can take you in there.  They are able to have a very nice collection of textiles and other things.  That building just reeks of history. The textile groups in that area use it for their meetings, so it's a busy, well used, vibrant place.  I hope your schedule is relaxed enough that you can spend some time there.

Ask to see the Baltimore Album Admiration Society quilt.  I designed it, we all sewed and quilted. The copyright was given to the Latimer so they can sell the patterns.  I haven't been there for a long time, so I don't know if they are still selling patterns.  They have a nice gift shop.  Hand made, high quality."

Jeannie did a great job of describing the Latimer.  When we arrived, we took a look around the Center, investigating their textile room, weaving room and special exhibit room.

There were knitters meeting in the textile room while we were there.

The weaving room is spectacular.  Maggie was delighted to be there.

She's a spinner and weaver as well as a quilter.

Here are some pictures of the woven textiles on display in the weaving room.

We got pictures of their double wedding ring quilt collection

and a couple of other antiques quilts, as well.

 Then we headed out to the repository for a bed turning

of some of the amazing antique quilts in their collection.  Wow!

Jessie took notes on the quilts while I took pictures.

Here is our collaborative effort to share these beauties with you.

This is a crib quilt and we missed the date on it, but think it was mid 1850s.

Crazy Quilt from 1898.
The detail was amazing.

Pineapple Pattern, below.
As we know, the quilts are dated by the newest fabrics used.
She told us that this one has fabrics from 1865-1893.

Fun story here.  The blocks in the quilt above are made from the fabric used to wrap cigar  bundles.

The yellow/gold pieced block to the right is made from the individual ribbons that wrapped each cigar.  They are dated 1890-1905.

Above is a spiderweb star dated 1898.

Above, Tumbling Blocks dated in the 1940s.

Indigo and White Texas Star from the 1850s.  One section of the binding was done in a red print, while the rest was of a blue print.

The label on the back says "Martha Logan 1853"

Below is New York Beauty, also known as

Rocky Mountain and Crown of Thorns,

here done in red, white and blue.

The label reads "Ella Hall  1883,"

and was made when she was 16 years of age.

Here is a postage stamp-type quilt made in 1881.

Nautical themed embroidered quilt made in 1925.

The patterns came out in the newspaper and were collected for use.

The Latimer has copies of all the boats and compasses.

Beautiful star, but missed the dating.

Below are Hexies to the max!  This quilt has 25,715 pieces

and is said to have been made in 1970.

The fussy cutting is amazing.

Red and green applique.  The white spots on the red flowers are where the fabric has been worn away.
Dating on this is 1847.

Below is an amazing Candle-wicking bedspread made in 1785!

You can barely see that it was woven in three pieces.

The detail is phenomenal.  And the lace edging is fabulous.

This is the Baltimore Album Admiration Society quilt designed by Jeannie Austin.

Very lovely.  We asked to see it and they went and got it for us.

This quilt is from the 1800s and was given to the Latimer Center by a family who said

there was no one to pass it down to, or at least no one who would appreciate it.

Hard to imagine, isn't it?!?

And this is all of us who were privileged to be there to see these wonderful pieces,
all of them preserved so well and cared for so impeccably in the repository facility.

The repository is a wonderfully organized place with hundreds of textiles cataloged and boxed, then stored on moveable units in acid free boxes and tissue paper.  Every box has a picture of what it contains.  We got a mini-tour of the rest of their collection just by looking at the pictures on the boxes!

After leaving the Latimer, we headed north on 101 and stopped in Wheeler at a quaint quilt shop there and some of us  rummaged through their scrap bins and stuffed our bags full, others bought a few pieces of reproduction fabrics, conversation prints and batiks, and someone also bought some tube-top material in sparkling white.  Better not go there!

We had dinner in Manzanita at The Wave and then toddled on home.

Awesome day!  Wish you all could have gone with us!