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Quilters Who Don't Think Like We Do
Mid 20th-century?Mid-19thWe are, perhaps, overly concerned with symmetry today.Late 19th century.I left the ducks all in a row in the bottom of the photoas the blocks are not quite so well...
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Pi: Southern Style
Four block quilt, probably Southern US, 1875-1920Tomorrow 3-14 is the day to celebrate π. Pi is a mathematical constant: the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.Around and...
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Needlework at the Bazaar: Horribly Uninteresting
Fair in Philadelphia, 1864Knitted and crocheted blankets hanging in the fancy work area.Here's why you don't take some 17 year olds to needlework shows:Julia Rosa Newberry (1853-1876)Â about the time of...
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Past Perfect: Sandy Klop
Wagon Wheels by Sandy KlopThe Past Perfect feature for March is about Sandy Klopof American Jane Patterns.Wagon Wheels Repro QuiltPerhaps inspired by this antique top from the late 19th century.Every...
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Fat Quarter Fancy Work
Buttonwood Basket by Karla Menaugh32" x 44-1/2"Background pieced from fat quarters.Fat Quarters are cut 18" x 22".Fat quarters are easy to buy, easy to store and they seem inexpensive enough that we...
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Quaker Album Quilts
A pretty block in an album dated 1843 in the collection of Conner Prairie Museum in Indiana. I noticed it because of the brown & white excentric print. It's signed by Ella Maria Deacon.Quaker Album...
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Quaker Design Workbooks
Block (one-of-a-kind?) from a Quaker Album Sampler fromNew Jersey. A rotating wheel-type applique cut from red, green & yellow calico.In the last post I discussed the style characteristics of early...
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Smithsonian Quilt & Textile Collection Online
1899 Lydia FinnellShow QuiltCollection of the Smithsonian InstitutionOur National Museum, the Smithsonian, has many of their quilts and textiles accessible in an online...
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Cowboys, Dude!
Ride 'Em Cowboy by Karla Menaugh39" x 45"There was a time around here when we were Cowboy Crazy.Inspired by the Alice Brooks newspaper pattern Cowboy & Horse, we stitchers at the Sunflower Pattern...
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DeLaines & Prussian Blue
Mouse in the mousseline delainePrussian blue cottons in a top from my collection.At the recent conference on Printed Fashions at Colonial Williamsburg two speakers focused on a related topics: Prussian...
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Two (3) Golden Ages of Applique
Mathematical Star quilt, Maryland's eastern shore, 1850sCollector and quilt historian Deborah Cooney has curatedan exhibit at the Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonville.Two Golden Ages of Applique:...
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Cheater Cloth - Geometrical Chintz
Printed patchwork, about 1880.Probably from the Cacheco Mills.Wholecloth quilt. Note the diagonal seam.This was a very successful print at a timewhen "patchwork prints" were the fashion.A business...
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Western Sun
Here's one of the great American quilts. It's from Julie Silber's & Linda Reuther's collectionat Mary Strickler's Quilt Shop long ago---a mid-19th-century crib quilt.Karen at the Log  Cabin Quilter...
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Past Perfect: Di Ford Hall
Giggleswick Mill by Di Ford HallEach month in 2017 I am featuring a quiltmaker who specializes in reproduction quilts, drawing inspiration from quilts of the past. Center of the Ann Dagg Quilt by Di...
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Tree of Liberty
Detail from Shenandoah Valley Botanical Album Quilt, 1859, Esther Matthews (1776-1866), Virginia Quilt Museum. The tree is labeled "Tree of Liberty & United States." Thirty-five circles may...
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1841 Quilt for a Methodist Minister
I've been sorting pictures of quilts dated in the early 1840s.This one caught my eye for many reasons. I recognized the chintz inthe edge triangles as one in my collection.Years ago Terry Thompson and...
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Before They Invented the Design Wall
They had the design floor.Which is the way I usually work.I found this picture on eBay. Â Perhaps one person started itand another person decided to sell the whole mess.It seems to be pieced of...
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May Day Baskets
Midnight Garden by Françoise LietaertMade from our pattern in Butternut & Blue.I hope you are planning to surprise your neighbors with May Baskets tomorrow. The little girls in my neighborhood used...
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Clarissa Moore: Where are the Eagles?
Quilt date-inscribed 1837 by Clarissa Moore HolmanCollection of Old Sturbridge VillageSee a great photo of it...
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The Classic Early American Quilt
Nine Patch quilt dated 1806 by Charlotte Roe,Virgil, New York.Smithsonian InstitutionOur patchwork quilt traditions derive from Europe, particularly England and the Netherlands. With many unsigned...
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