Kathleen McCrady, 98, a great friend and supporter of quilting, of International Quilt Festival, and of the two of us over many years, passed away this week.
(Scroll over images for titles, and click to view larger!)
Kathleen had a lifelong commitment primarily to traditional quilts and any project she tackled, she did with precision and detail, producing a legacy of beautiful quilts. Along the way, she mentored and taught many new quilters.
She belonged to the “lost generation” of quilters, women who after World War II decided to buy blankets from Sears rather than making quilts. Fortunately, Kathleen, who grew up quilting, continued, calling herself a “closet quilter” because no one she knew quilted.
6 x 6 Comes Up Roses (87” x 101″) by Kathleen McCrady
The inspiration for this quilt came from a circa 1800 quilt owned by the Long Island Historical Society and called the Obadiah Smith Quilt. An acquaintance of McCrady’s worked on the conservation of this quilt and shared a black and white photograph with her. After studying the six-pointed star design for a lengthy time before coming up with the finished quilt design. The quilt has won numerous honors since its completion in the early 1990’s.
Our association with her goes back decades to when, with Kathleen and Suzanne Labry we formed the Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association to see that the artistic and cultural contributions of Texas women through the predominately female art of quilting should be recognized during the state’s 150th birthday.
Planning that began in 1980 resulted in two years of Texas Quilt Search Days, followed by a four-day Quilt Conservation Seminar. It culminated in a laboratory conducted by a professional textile conservator ably assisted by Kathleen with her deep quiltmaking expertise. That lab prepared quilts for an historic touring exhibition to Texas museums.
Sawtooth X (72″ x 86.5″) by Kathleen McCrady
This quilt has a story more than 130 years old—or at least that’s how old the quilt was McCrady used a block from and which inspired this effort. After McCrady, a quilt historian, could not find a name for the block, she dubbed it Sawtooth X. And thus, this quilt is both old and new at the same time!
In the years since, Festival has displayed many superb quilts made by Kathleen, and we are honored to have several in our collection. There is so much more we could say about Kathleen, but we think her quilts say it best.
Karey Patterson Bresenhan & Nancy O’Bryant Puentes
President/CEO & Executive Vice President
Quilts, Inc.
Read about Kathleen McCrady in this 2009 “Suzy’s Fancy” column by Suzanne Labry.
Read Kathleen’s complete obituary from the Austin American-Statesman HERE.
