Meet Laura Hendrickson of the National Quilt Museum

This week I’m chatting with Laura Hendrickson, the registrar from the National Quilt Museum! We talked about what that job is like – taking care of lots of quilts, planning exhibits, and keeping track of all the quilts that are traveling to different places around the world. I hope you enjoy learning more about the behind the scenes of the National Quilt Museum:

You can also listen to the show or download it to your computer using this player:

Jump to time stamp: 16:14 to get straight to the interview with Laura!

News from Around the House

This interview was supposed to go up last week in time for the AQS Paducah show which was LAST weekend. But Josh and I caught some strange flu which made us both so sleepy and achy we couldn’t get out of bed. I had a bit of a brain lapse thinking the show was this weekend so ignore that in the introduction!

It was a rough week, but we’re both feeling better now, thank goodness! I got my lasted goddess quilt basted with the first layer of batting and am happy to have some time to clip the batting away for trapunto. You can learn more about this technique in the Heart and Feather Wholecloth Workshop.

Cut and Sew Ms. Bunny!

I also finally got the edits done for Ms. Bunny’s Spoonflower panel! You can buy this 1 yard panel and have everything you need to make a Ms. Bunny doll, dress, and panties. Click Here to check it out.

I can’t wait to cut and sew this Ms. Bunny!

I recommend printing this cut and sew panel on the new Petal Cotton or Kona Cotton Ultra. Yes, I know Spoonflower is expensive per yard, but it’s the only way I can upload something this weekend and have it ready for you to purchase this week!

Traditional fabric manufacturing takes YEARS and it’s extremely wasteful and bad for the environment. With print-on-demand options like Spoonflower, the fabric is only printed, and the ink only used for panels that are ordered.

But I do understand that this isn’t for everyone. You can also find the sewing pattern right here, along with tutorials on how to sew Ms. Bunny’s body, dress, and panties!

I also included an ad in the podcast for Quilt Fantastic! The official date is June 22nd at the Meadowview Convention Center. Click Here to contact Bob Bolton for more info and tickets to attend!

Meet Laura Hendrickson

I was connected with Laura through Frank Bennett, the CEO of the National Quilt Museum. Click Here to find Frank’s podcast so you can get to know him as well!

Laura is the quilt museum registrar and her job is to keep track of all the quilts in the collection and where they are going. They have multiple exhibits going on at the museum, plus they have increased the number of traveling exhibits. So at any time quilts are being boxed up and shipped out, returning to the museum, being hung in the gallery, or being put back into the vault.

Laura’s has been in this position for two years and at the museum for five. She definitely has favorite quilts in the collection that she enjoys seeing every time they come out of their boxes. There are also a few quilts (maybe more) that are a bit of a beast to pull out because they are so big, so heavy, or so fiddly because of the embellishments like crystals.

Crystals were something we talked about a lot in this episode! I remember that being a big thing around 5 years ago, but it seems like that trend has tapered off. What do you think? Do you still see crystals and bling as popular as it was in 2012, or less?

What do you think is the current trends in quilting?

What Materials Wear Well?

We also chatted about the materials and chemicals that can be used to construct quilts. Of course there is the current myth that starch is bad for quilts (which I absolutely don’t agree with!) I asked Laura if she’d ever noticed any wear issues in quilts that had starch used in the construction process.

She said first, she would not know if a quilter used starch to prepare the fabric and has not seen any adverse effects. We also discussed fusible web and paint too, and they are not showing any noticeable sign of wear, but this is something she plans to learn more about in the coming years.

The main issue is most of the quilts within the National Quilt Museum are very young. It will take time to see how the funky materials we use in quilts (like copper wire!) effect their longevity.

The key is taking great care of our quilts so however they were made and whatever techniques are involved, they last as long as possible. This means storing quilts properly. Laura advises keeping quilts in the part of your home you like to be in – get them out of the attic and basement! Don’t store quilts in cedar chests or damp or hot places.

Click Here to find Laura’s video on packing up a quilt for storage.

That’s it for this week! I hope you’ve enjoyed the two podcasts I’ve shared from the National Quilt Museum. If you’re driving through Paducah, Kentucky, make sure to stop by and check it out.

Let’s go quilt,

Leah Day

More Hello My Quilting Friends Podcast Episodes:

• #102 – Do You Ever Sleep?
• #101 – Quit Gaming and Start Quilting with Luann Fischer
• #100 – Happy Episode 100!
• #99 – Overcome the Fear so You Can Create
• #98 – Permission to Make What You MOST Need to Create
• #97 – Running the National Quilt Museum with Frank Bennett
• #96 – Creative Ways to Beat the Winter Blues
• #95 – From Fire Fighter to Fiber Artist with Brandy Maslowski
• #94 – Cleaning Up to Be Creative
• #93 – Fixing Quilting Mistakes with Beth Collins
• #92 – Rising to Unexpected Challenges
• #91 – Quilt Blogging in 2019 with Vicki Holloway
• #90 – Tracing a New Goddess Quilt
• #89 – My Word of the Year for 2019