"This piece, made by many different hands, illustrates some of the pleasures of crazy quilting. The makers discarded the rules of geometry and symmetry, instead layering color, texture, and pattern to create the design. Embellishing the surface with fancy silk embroidery stitches, narrow trims, paint, and beads added even more scope for individual creativity. \nCrazy quilting became a fad in the late 19th century, fueled by the availability of plain and patterned American-made silk fabrics, competition within the silk thread industry, and the lessons learned from exposure to Japanese aesthetics, which valued asymmetry and spontaneity." . "June 17 - September 18, 2005" . "This quilt artist has explored optical color mixing in both the overall composition of opposed light and dark diagonals and in the makeup of the individual cells, in which she mixes solid colored and checked fabrics. The glowing silk fabrics make the play of light across the surface of the quilt a compelling part of the design." . . "The eye-dazzling effects of the ziggurat shapes in this quilt are intensified by the placement of plain and patterned fabrics throughout the individual cells. Although each cell is symmetrically patterned, color alternation creates channels and swirls of color that impart a restless motion to the overall design. The contrast between the symmetry of the piecing and the symmetry breaking in the color use contributes to a balanced but not static composition." . "This quilt artist has explored optical color mixing in both the overall composition of opposed light and dark diagonals and in the makeup of the individual cells, in which she mixes solid colored and checked fabrics. The glowing silk fabrics make the play of light across the surface of the quilt a compelling part of the design." . "This crazy quilt was a collaborative project. No attempt was made to limit what the contributors used or how they composed their individual square units. The end result is an expressionist explosion of color and texture, created from 33 separate blocks. \nThe Women's Relief Corps was an auxiliary to the organization of the Grand Army of the Republic, serving veterans and descendants of veterans who fought during the American Civil War as members of the North's armies." . "Exhibition" . . . "June 17 - September 18, 2005" . "This piece, made by many different hands, illustrates some of the pleasures of crazy quilting. The makers discarded the rules of geometry and symmetry, instead layering color, texture, and pattern to create the design. Embellishing the surface with fancy silk embroidery stitches, narrow trims, paint, and beads added even more scope for individual creativity. \nCrazy quilting became a fad in the late 19th century, fueled by the availability of plain and patterned American-made silk fabrics, competition within the silk thread industry, and the lessons learned from exposure to Japanese aesthetics, which valued asymmetry and spontaneity." . "Infinite Variety" . . . "Fabrics made of silk became more available to middle class American consumers in the 1880s, when tariff laws encouraged the expansion of silk fabric manufacturing in New England and the middle-Atlantic states. The brilliant colors and attractive textures of silk fabrics gave the quilter a new set of options to consider in her work. Compare the different qualities of the ombre graded silk squares in this example with the similar use of color gradation in the cotton calico Boston Common patterned quilt in this room." . . "Infinite Variety" . "The eye-dazzling effects of the ziggurat shapes in this quilt are intensified by the placement of plain and patterned fabrics throughout the individual cells. Although each cell is symmetrically patterned, color alternation creates channels and swirls of color that impart a restless motion to the overall design. The contrast between the symmetry of the piecing and the symmetry breaking in the color use contributes to a balanced but not static composition." . "This crazy quilt was a collaborative project. No attempt was made to limit what the contributors used or how they composed their individual square units. The end result is an expressionist explosion of color and texture, created from 33 separate blocks. \nThe Women's Relief Corps was an auxiliary to the organization of the Grand Army of the Republic, serving veterans and descendants of veterans who fought during the American Civil War as members of the North's armies." . "Fabrics made of silk became more available to middle class American consumers in the 1880s, when tariff laws encouraged the expansion of silk fabric manufacturing in New England and the middle-Atlantic states. The brilliant colors and attractive textures of silk fabrics gave the quilter a new set of options to consider in her work. Compare the different qualities of the ombre graded silk squares in this example with the similar use of color gradation in the cotton calico Boston Common patterned quilt in this room." . .