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Di Ford & Miss Porter & Me

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Miss Porter's Quilt by Di Ford, 66" x 66"

You can find the pattern for this terrific interpretation of an 18th-century quilt in Di's 2013 book Primarily Quilts...19th Century Inspirations published by Quiltmania.

It's not a copy of an antique quilt
but rather an interpretation.

 R. Porter's quilt, 177_, Collection of the American Museum in Bath



The original inspiration is a quilt in Britain's American Museum signed in damaged cross stitch  "R...Porter 177x." The star quilt is one of the earliest dated American quilts. Ms. Porter combined piecing and applique done in limited fabrics, the type of prints that might have been available to an
American quiltmaker in the decade of our Revolution. The dyes seem to be the old reliables: indigos and madders, producing shades of blue and reddish-brown.


Di used the field of stars to frame a larger feathered star block. She echoed the natural dyes but shifted the browns from reddish brown to a bluish-gray brown.

I recognized some of the prints,

Hampton Roads from my 1862 Battle Hymn collection for Moda  came in gray-brown and reddish-brown.


For some of the alternate unpieced blocks she used one of my favorites. In the top center here is a tan on white, medium-scale print from the first line Terry Thompson and I designed, Floral Trails, in 1999.

Di must own a heck of a scrapbag. 

See about buying her must-have book here:


I did a post a few years ago on the borders on this quilt

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