IRVINGTON — Mary Jane Teeter-Eichacker-Kaufman will give a talk on the art of crazy quilts at the Bona Thompson Memorial Center, 5350 University Ave. on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 2 p.m. MJ has experience as Curator of Social History at the Indiana State Museum, and has a long history of sharing her expertise on historic textiles with the Benton House costume collection.
The talk will be about the crazy quilt currently on display, made by Mary Pruitt Thompson, mother of Bona Thompson. Bona was a student at Butler College, and her parents lived just across the street from where the Memorial Center is located. She graduated from Butler in 1897, but passed away in 1899 from typhoid fever. Her parents gave over $40,000 in cash and land for the construction of a library in her memory. Her mother, Mary Pruitt, was the daughter of Johnson County pioneers. MJ will discuss what the quilt tells us about the mother and the daughter.
Crazy quilts are one-of-a-kind pieces, distinguished by not having repeated patterns like other quilts. The fabric pieces are often irregular and taken from scraps — sometimes with exotic fabrics such as satin or velvet. Crazy quilts became popular in the late 1800s.
Attendees at the talk may bring their own crazy quilts to show.
Admission is free, but a donation to the upkeep of the Bona is encouraged.
