What could be better than touring New York in the Fall with a lot of friends and antique quilts? Not much! Once again I had the pleasure of attending the Annual Seminar of the American Quilt Study Group (AQSG), (americanquiltstudygroup.org) just after Labor Day in early September. This year’s seminar took place in Tarrytown, NY, home of Sleepy Hollow and the Headless Horseman (more about him next month). A beautiful, wooded area along the scenic Hudson River. It is a lovely rural location but very close to New York City and many other wonders and neighboring states.

Fall Seminar is the annual meeting of AQSG, and it rotates locations around the United States. Changing venues each year allows for small group tours of the unique collections of local museums and historical societies. These tours permit visiting quilt scholars to view seldom-seen quilts and share their knowledge honed by years of studying fabrics and patterns in quilts with the museums – a true win-win experience for all. I was able to visit the Historical Society of Rockland County, New York’s Museum on the other side of the Hudson River Valley, which now has an amazing exhibition: ”When This You See, Remember Me: Inscribed Quilts of Rockland County”; the exhibit displays 1850s Signature Quilts (my favorite). The museum also had a bed-turning of quilts from its collection, which included wonderful treasures. Additionally, there was an onsite home from 1832 to visit. On another tour we visited nearby Connecticut, with stops at the Museum of Darien (founded in 1640), paired with a wonderful saltbox house built in 1736. The second stop on that tour was the Fairfield Museum and History Center in historic Fairfield. It was like walking back in time. At both museums we were treated to showings of historic regional quilts led by Connecticut scholar Sue Reich, and we all exchanged information with the museums.

And if that was not enough, I also had the pleasure of visiting New York City on a special tour. This tour fea-tured a visit to the world-famous Metropolitan Museum of Art – yes, THE MET! We were treated to a close viewing of eight masterpiece antique quilts from their collection, cream-of-the-crop quilts. And then we had time to run around the museum. I was thrilled to visit the Temple of Dendur, a real Egyptian temple that was dismantled in Egypt and rebuilt in the museum. The other half of the tour was an afternoon with collectors and dealers Jane Lury and David Hupert sharing treasures from their collection in their Manhattan home overlooking Central Park. It was a truly magical day.

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