Crazy Quilt with Hot Air Balloon, Lillian Hutter

Exhibition Label: “Quilting Time and Space,” Jun-2010, Natalie Svacina Crazy quilts are composed of different shaped, varicolored, and patterned fabrics that are pieced together seemingly haphazardly. The central panel depicts a sun and a hot-air balloon. Modern technology, such as the hot-air balloon, was celebrated as a way to move on from the past to a new machine-based future. Inexpensive silks and renewed interest in embroidery allowed for the creation of purely decorative quilts. Like the embroidered images of owls on this quilt, creatures associated with the night often decorate crazy quilts. Some quilters preferred to paint on flowers and insects due to the fact they believed painting was not only quicker than embroidery but also more beautiful. This quilt includes both embroidered owls and flowers and painted insects and flowers. This type of quilt, first known as “Japanese” quilts, became popular in the United States after Americans had the opportunity to see a wide variety of Japanese arts and crafts at the 1876 Centennial International Exhibition, held in Philadelphia. An American flag perhaps is included to commemorate the recent centennial anniversary, which was viewed by many as a way to unite the nation after the Civil War.