Margaret Hauser Marion's Quilt

When Margaret Marion's granddaughter brought this quilt for the North Carolina project to record

in 1985 she had no name for it and neither did the documentors. See a picture in 

They thought it might be from the 1850-1875 quarter but now that we have seen many more quilts we'd have to guess that the fabric, solid colors of blue, red, green, brown and chrome orange, are typical of Upland Southern quilts from about 1880-1930.

The extravaganza may have been one of Margaret's later quilts

as she died in 1914

Margaret, called Peggy, lived her life in Shoals township in Surry County,

North Carolina up by the Virginia border. Surry County is in the Piedmont,

the mountainous area that was relatively isolated and home to so many unusual quilts.

She and husband Richard Elwell Marion (1826-1916) built this house after their marriage about 1845

and raised many children here. One of them enlarged it and modernized it in the early 20th century.

Family at the Sink home, Surry County. 

The woman may have a quilt in

her lap under the baby. Their house would have looked more like this

when the older Marions lived there.

Richard and Margaret on the porch in 1912.

She is in her mid 80s, dressed as she might

have been when she was forty.

From their farm you could see Pilot Mountain it is said.

Pilot Mountain is now a state park.

You can undoubtedly see this stone knob from most farms in the area.

Surry County's other claim to fame is that actor Andy Griffith was born in nearby

Mt. Airy, a town on which he based the television series about Mayberry, North Carolina.

From the Surry County Historical Society

Peggy Marion was of an earlier generation, perhaps Opie's great-grandmother's acquaintance.

Oh wait, I forgot. Opie is a fictional character.

The women are piecing a top with plaid sashing.

The 1910 census found Peggy and husband living with daughter Mary Alice (1859-1943) whose husband had died the year before and Jane Whitaker, a 68-year old servant. Mary Alice, called Alice, apparently had no children. Peggy's descendant who owned the quilt believed it to have been made for Alice and that Peggy Marion made a special quilt for each child.

That would be many quilts as Peggy's Find-A-Grave site lists 11 long-lived children, born between 1846 and 1872: 7 girls and 4 boys.

Like many of her neighbors Peggy seems to have been

fond of spiky triangles.

It would indeed be wonderful to see quilts made for Alice's siblings as hers is so extraordinary.

First there is the block...

A circles of spiky diamonds with what looks to be iris flowers in the corners.

In the center what may be a bird---some blocks have an eye.

Or is it a thistle?

And a few dots to fill up space.

The nine blocks are sashed with triple strips pieced of spiky triangles.

Color varies in the photos but I imagine the triangles are brownish

as the documenters noted a brown fabric that seems to have faded from red.

Or maybe it was always oxblood brown.

The sashing is very much like sashing you might see in a Rocky Mountain design,

a popular design in the same Appalachian region.

And in the cornerstones between the spiky pieced points

an appliqued rose of the common Whig Rose or Rose of Sharon variety.

The cornerstone blocks are just a little bit smaller than the wheel blocks,

definitely an unusual set.

Bill Volckening bought this quilt from Mark French who had little information about it. See Bill's  posts here:

I'd guess it was from somewhere in the North Carolina Piedmont

Where some pretty amazing things went on.