Sunday, October 24, 2010

Six month countdown....

After a couple of suggestions from other bloggers I am going to try and keep this blog going again. It also came to my attention that the AQS test is just 6 months away (yikes!) and that I could use this blog to help keep me organized.(Wool and cotton log cabin on point, Penn. circa 1880)

Back in July I got the letter telling me I was "accepted for testing in 2011." I have to admit that written application had kept me at bay for several years. I love quilts and love to write so the first draft of my application was around 15 pages...I don't think that is what they were looking for! After taking the class at Paducha last year I was able to focus my answers a bit more...it still ended up around 10 pages but better...
(Blue and white strippy quilt circa 1920)

Overall I think I do pretty well on antique and vintage quilts. I've spent a lot of time in antique malls the past few years and my valuation is generally within 10-20%. (I have been collecting quilts since 1990 so I better have a handle on this!)

So for the next month or so I want to focus on reproduction and art quilts. Reproduction would be how much it would cost to have a similar quilt made to replace the one being valued. This method is only used on quilts made in the past 10 or even 20 years. A good example of this would be a quilt I am appraising now for a quilter because she is mailing the quilt to a show on the West Coast. It is her own design and uses multiple techniques so it would be impossible to purchase a replacement.Art Quilts are a real challenge for me. I have been reading several books on modern quilts and attended several lectures to develop the vocabulary. Also I have been on many websites to get a feel for valuations. This is the area I think I still need the most work. But I have six months...lots of time, right?!

Now, just for fun, a photo of a redwork quilttop I picked up years ago in Pennsylvania. The workmanship on the embroidery is wonderful - even more so when you realize she was stitching on this very loose sugar-sack fabric.

1 comment: