MESSAGE FROM MAY 2026
Our spring meeting was held at the Rock County Historical Society stone house in Janesville, WI. Eighteen members were in attendance. Our treasurer, Diane Galarneau, attended a presentation of the quilts from the Lincoln-Tallman House Museum through her local guild and recognized that it would be very interesting to our group of collectors and quilt study enthusiasts. She worked with museum volunteers, Karla Keller and Diane Hoops, to host a historical quilt bed turning for our group. Our member, Rhonda Streich, helped Karla select quilts of historical interest and conducted some research. There was much enthusiasm about the quilts shown, the collection’s inclusion of over 700 quilts, and the possibility of a visit by the documentation group from the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts. We were also treated to a viewing of quilts that a friend donated to Bill Hoernke. Bill is relying on Rhonda’s skills to find good homes for the quilts. And our very own Carol Pilgrim also had some recent acquisition quilts to share which is always a treat.
An optional tour of the Lincoln-Tallman House to learn its history was also available for an extra fee. We received a thorough tour where we learned the fascinating history of the Rock County area, the family that owned the house and the visit of Abraham Lincoln. The docent mentioned several fun upcoming events at the Tallman House related to suffragist and temperance reformer Frances Willard, and a car show. It’s really a wonderful museum campus and huge thanks to Diane, the program was met with a lot of interest.
After the quilt bed turning, a short business meeting was held. The Coordinator position is still open. We do have several volunteers who have stepped forward so that our planned 2026 activities can continue. Our next meeting is Saturday July 18 at 10AM at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilt and Fiber Arts in Cedarburg. Anne Hodgkins will present red, white and blue bicentennial quilts.
Other business: Carol Pilgrim secured well known speaker, Mary Kerr, of northern Virginia, as our retreat speaker for our October 16-18 retreat. She will present on southern quilts. More information and sign-ups will be available in July.
Lori Rhode is interested in starting a book club. More details will be forthcoming. Lori did an excellent job with volunteers for the Winter Quilt Show working with Bonnie and securing display items and volunteers.
Diane gave a treasurer report. We had an extremely successful silent auction at the last retreat, largely due to Lois Wilheim’s donation of a book collection and the purchases by a scrapbooking group at Mt. Morris when we were there. Thanks to Rhonda for inviting them! And thank you, Diane, for continuing in your role as treasurer!
Carol Butzke brought her book from the current WMQFA exhibit, “Warmth, Comfort, Style, Fashion and Fine Art: Quilts from the Pilgrim/Roy Collection” and urged everyone to attend before closing May 31. Gerald Roy is a longtime colleague of Carol’s from their work together in Paducah. Many of these quilts were exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston so it is thrilling to see them at our local treasure of a museum. The book includes a memorial tribute to Paul Pilgrim and an outstanding introduction, “Collecting as Art,” by Emily Schlemowitz, Senior Curator WMQFA. Both Carol Pilgrim and Betsy Krakauer had the pleasure of attending the panel discussion with Emily, Sarah Scheper (Education & Collections Manager, WMQFA), Dr, Sophie Pitman (UW Madison Nancy M Bruce Center for Design and Material Culture), and our very own Allison Rainboth, AQSG Quilt Appraisal Program chair.
Respectfully submitted,
Betsy Krakauer, member
MESSAGE FROM JULY 2025
Our July meeting met at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts. Twenty-six people were in attendance. We began the meeting with a continuation of studying some regional styles with a presentation on Amish and Mennonite quilts by Carol Butzke, which included viewing some quilts from both Carol’s collection and the museum’s collection. Thank you Carol, for another very informative presentation!
This was followed by a business meeting, where several items were discussed. Some details were finalized for our upcoming retreat in October, and registration was available to members. If we don’t fill the retreat with members, we will open it up to non-members at a later date. We also put our 2026 meeting dates on the calendar.
Membership was reminded I will be stepping down as Coordinator after the retreat. As of this meeting no one has stepped forward to take over the role of coordinating the group, so the 2026 schedule and the future of the group will have to be discussed if a solution isn’t found by the new year.
I think that about wraps it up!
Thanks,
Bonnie
MESSAGE FROM MAY 2025
We had a great turnout of 26 people at our May meeting. It started off with an informative presentation by Jan Sprecher Bruski on the subject of Doll Quilts, Miniatures and Doll House Quilts, which included lots of hands-on examples. We followed that up with a treasurer’s report and some more discussion on possible subjects for our October retreat, with a goal of having a retreat schedule confirmed by our July meeting. The group also agreed to have an information booth again at the Winter Quilt Show in 2026.
After a lunch break, which included some shopping time to support our meeting location, Blue Bar Quilts, attendees shared doll and crib quilts from their own collections. It was fun and interesting to see the variety of styles covering a wide timespan.
More information about future meetings can be found on the “meetings” tab on our website. We hope you can join us!
That’s it for now,
Bonnie and Diane
MESSAGE FROM JANUARY 2025
We had a great turnout and a very informative Zoom meeting on January 15th. Anna Harkin shared lots of useful information about Pennsylvania style quilts. We had originally planned to also have Allison Rainboth present information on Southern style quilts but decided to reschedule the second half of the meeting to a later date. Allison will now share that information on March 5th at 7 pm. A reminder email with the link will be sent out closer to the date.
We also had a brief business meeting to remind everyone that we will have a booth at the Winter Quilt Show at the Washington county fair grounds on February 8th and to ask for volunteers to be present in the booth to provide information about our group. We touched on upcoming meeting dates and topics, which can all be found on our website under the “meetings” tab. Our last bit of business was to talk a bit about our October retreat. We will be relying on our members to offer to share their knowledge and experience with attendees and asked for members to start thinking about possible topics. We will be talking more about this at future meetings.
I think that about wraps things up!
Bonnie and Diane
.
MESSAGE FROM NOVEMBER 2024
Our 2024 Retreat was fantastic! Even the weather cooperated as 20 of us gathered at Mount Morris in mid-October. How lucky can we be to have our presenter Carol Butzke as part of our group?! Carol brought a wealth of fabric & quilts and presented them in quarter centuries starting in 1825 and going up to 1950. Besides the material treasures, Carol provided us with written copies of the history and trends from each of the quarter centuries. To quote attendee Ebie Morris, “It’s comparable to going to multiple museums and seeing several centuries of …great textiles.”
In between we had a colorful and interesting Show & Tell, a successful auction that netted over $500 for WQSG and, of course, some time for visiting and hiking and, oh yes, snacking. Thanks to all the participants who made the weekend a joyful and memorable learning experience!
Our next meeting will be a Zoom meeting on January 15th at 7:00pm. Allison Rainboth and Anna Harkins will present Pennsylvania and Southern regional quilt styles. The Zoom link will be sent out a few days before the meeting via email.
Also, please keep in mind that volunteers will be needed at our WQSG table at the Winter Quilt Show on February 8th, 2025. It’s a great opportunity to meet other quilters and see their eyes sparkle when they learn that they can learn about quilt history through WQSG as well as continue making quilts.
Thanks to Bonnie Eales and Diane Galarneau who will continue to coordinate WQSG activities and to Jayne Steffens who is stepping aside but will continue to be a member of our group.
Bonnie, Diane and Jayne
We encourage members to post pictures and information about quilt related events on our Facebook page. Search Facebook for WQSG, Wisconsin Quilt Study Group
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069271276510
MESSAGE FROM AUGUST 2024
We’re very excited about our programs for 2025 and hope you are too. Be sure to check out the “Meetings” tab and mark your calendars so you can join us.
We’ll send out a reminder before each meeting and a summary of the meeting soon after. By now, you should have received an accounting of our fabulous July meeting at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts (WMQFA). Special thanks to Carol Butzke for her interesting presentation on Whitework Quilts.
Good news…we have almost 50 members! Members that quilt, collect, and read everything about quilting and quilt history. Members that are nationally recognized as teachers, judges and appraisers. Members that are just interested in quilts. Members that are trying to figure out what their grandmother’s quilts are all about. What we all have in common is curiosity and a desire to learn.
Someone requested a history of WQSG. It is interesting that we love history about quilts and then neglect our own journey. We will definitely look into that and share WQSG history with you in the future.
Bonnie, Diane and Jayne
Because every quilt tells a story
Wisconsin Quilt Study Group 