Quilter's Legacy question - what would you do?
 

Hello everyone - bit of a read here, but please bear with me, I really need some ideas/advice...
Last year an older friend who was a master quilter, with many years experience passed away.
She taught for many years as well. Like many of us, she had multiple machines, lots of fabric and supplies, a few UFO's.
Her husband wanted nothing to do with anything quilt related of hers, he didn't care what happened to her quilts or supplies or anything. He wanted the stuff gone ASAP.
Another friend and I cleaned out her sewing room, organized the fabrics, notions, machines etc and managed to sell much to most of this stuff to various other quilters. Her husband was pleased to receive the money, and he was pleased the room got cleaned out as he intended to make it a spare room.
None of her family (a couple sisters, a son, a step son, a few grandchildren etc) were equally disinterested in anything quilted of hers. She had given all of them many quilts, table runners, placemats etc over the years.
The main items remaining are her quilt log binders - this woman completed a page or two for every quilt she made with a picture of the finished quilt, samples of the fabrics, details of the quilt - size, who quilted it, who it was gifted to or sold to, how big etc. This was a very important thing to my friend, and she felt so many quilts were undocumented and lost to history.
Now, almost a year later, there are 20 binders filled with these records that no one wants. Initially we thought the family might want them after the dust settled a bit. That has not happened. We don't know what to do with them, and neither of us can keep them, as we don't have room to store them, and they really do not belong to us.

What can we do? It seems harsh to just throw them in the garbage....

Would a quilt shop be interested in them, to use as inspiration for quilters taking classes? I know the LQS's are disappearing, but perhaps there is one near you? It sounds like this lady was very prolific and if she has 20 binders there has got to be lots of inspiration there, especially since she was a master quilter.

You could have the files scanned and either keep it as a souvenir or
set up a website with her name. Maybe her family will want to look
at it at a later date. Maybe a grandkid with the quilt gene. You never
know. But I'm sure a lot of quilters would be interested.

Quilt museum?

Museum or at least a quilt guild??

I think it would be an awful mistake to just throw this away!
Call a quilt museum or several.
Also check this out,
https://quiltindex.org/
I would bet they could be a big help with advise.
What a wonderful tribute to your friend. I am so glad you are taking the time to honor her

The work involved I know nothing about, but the idea of a website (where other quilters could leave comments) would be awesome. Maybe a quilt museum or guild could help with this. I personally would donate to such an endeavor.

About 15 years ago I bought a house to 'flip'. The lady died and husband wanted nothing to do with the house nor any items in it He only took some clothes then moved to Florida. This was a lady that did every craft imaginable, and did beautiful work. Oil paintings, crocheted and knitted items, quilts, fabric, machines, albums of every vacation documented, rock collections, recipes from generations back and I know I'm leaving some out. I contacted her only son - he wanted none of it because he lived in a trailer and didn't have room. I still have a heavy heart about this situation because I felt I was getting rid of an unknown me. I had an estate sale and sadly I still had lots left. i filled a dumpster to the brim, cried and had to leave the house when they came to pick it up. I know this will be a replay of me.

A couple years ago I cleaned out a room for a lady in our homeschool group. They had already sold her machines and anything they could make $ on which left a lot of binders, patterns, and fabric. I filled the back seat of a crew cab truck and the bed up. It was sad. I let a friend go through and take whatever she wanted, we donated some, and some of it was just trash....parts of patterns and old pins, and such. I felt awful throwing away the notes she had made on quilts she was making. And yes it will be many of us......sadly.

This is going to sound harsh, so grab the tomatoes to throw...

Many of us bemoan the "stuff" we have around us, whether it is quilting related or other - myself included. Our home is full of it! We have things ranging from small to very large (an aluminum canoe that was my father-in-law's) that will never, ever be used. My husband is unable to let anything that came to him through family go. That canoe has not been used in 30 years, yet it hangs in the garage. I've suggested donating it to a local camp, selling it for scrap metal, giving it away... All were met with a firm "no".

My quilts and fabrics will not likely be wanted by family members. We have a very small family and those who wanted them have been given one or more quilts already. They are all also feeling the pressure of "stuff". The antiques that were our grandparents, and our great-grandparents are not anything that our children want, either.

I am completely okay with things that have no useful value being disposed of. The drawings my children, or grandchildren, have done would be an example. Fabrics will be offered to a couple of sewing friends first, then to my guilds/charity groups. Quilts can be donated to whoever or whatever organization would like them. When I am gone, the enjoyment I got from these things will be done. Just because it had meaning to me doesn't mean that it will - or should - have meaning to anyone else.

Those notebooks might be of interest to a museum or historical society. If not, and the family doesn't want them, either, then they need to be recycled - without guilt.