Amish Quilts -- 2001 Commemorative Issue

"The Amish quilt is a uniquely American folk art form, and Amish quilting traditions vary from region to region. These quilts display the saturated colors, bold geometric patterns and central design motifs characteristic of those made in Lancaster County, Pa., in the first half of the 20th century. Four Amish quilts are reproduced in a repeating, rhythmic, quilt-like pattern to create this pane of 20 stamps, the first in the American Treasures series."

Noted for their unexpected color combinations, bold patterns, and improvised designs, the quilts of Gee's Bend are also remarkable for the humble materials with which they are made and the humbler circumstances in which they are born. Until recently, necessity limited the quilters to fabric from everyday items such as flour sacks, old dresses, and worn-out denim and flannel work clothes. Stains, mended holes and tears, faded patches, and seams all became integral parts of a quilt's design and ensured that the materials, as well as the quilts, told the story of Gee's Bend.

Today outside interest in the quilts of Gee's Bend is growing. Art historian William Arnett and his son Matt began collecting the quilts in 1997. Their collection-which has been exhibited in museums around the U.S.-resides with Tinwood Alliance, a nonprofit foundation in Atlanta, Georgia, that supports African-American vernacular art. The renewed attention has had a positive social and economic impact on the lives of the quilters and other residents of Gee's Bend. In 2003 the women of Gee's Bend, with the help of Tinwood Alliance, formed the Gee's Bend Quilters Collective."

-- USPS Website

Men's Neckties

• Neckwear by AFlusser
• K.N.O.T.

Some day I'll make a quilt of ties

• The Quilt Projects: 15 Years Later, by Shelly Zegart
• American Quilt Study Group
• Quilt History
• Alliance for American Quilts
• International Quilt Study Center
• Hawaii Quilt Documentation Project
• Massachusetts Quilt Documentation Project
• New Hampshire Quilt Documentation Project
• Wisconsin Quilt History Project
• Southern Quilting History, by Jamie Leigh Undergraduate Student, American Studies Program, University of Virginia (2000)
• Quilts and Quiltmaking in America, 1978-1996, from the American Memory Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress