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Alarming Trends
Recent Sunbonnet Sue sightings in online auctions have noted an increase in spontaneous mutations.Exceptionally problematic are arms and handsThe arm should sprout from beneath thebonnet towards the...
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Cotton Boll or Anthemion
A crib quilt (40" x 36") for sale in an online auction last year.It looks to be from the mid-20th century.The pattern is distinctive,I'd call it a Cotton Boll variation.Here are two relatives.Another...
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A Ridiculously Popular Pillar Print
Nine patch with a pillar print border. Collection of the National Museum of American HistorySmithsonian Institution# 75.6381TE.T17326.000Pillar print with a range of colors on"a fancy trellis ground...
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Past Perfect: Judy Martin
Colorado Log Cabin by Judy Martin about 1983August's Past Perfect Quilt Star is Judy Martin, my old friend from Quilters' Newsletter.We worked together at the magazine in the eighties. She lived in...
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Happy Hour
From the Reiter Baltimore Album in the collectionof the Museum of American Folk Art.Around here everybody else's autumn sedum looks like this.Mine looks like this.Last year I thought it might be deer...
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More Thoughts on the Tree of Liberty Block
A couple of months ago I did a post on the 1859 Tree of Liberty quilt block from Esther Blair Matthews's "Shenandoah Valley Botanical Album Quilt" in the collection of the Virginia Quilt...
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Path of Totality
Today's the big day under the Path of Totality.We are miles southwest of the path but looking forward to some strange eclipsean things around here about 1:00 today.Inspired by this circa 1900 quilt...
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Stories in the Stitches: East Tennessee Historical Society Quilts
Detail of a quilt by Iora Almina Philo Pool (1855-1903), Rugby, Tennessee.East Tennessee Historical Society Now that the heavenly bodies are back where they should be it's time to get back to antique...
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1821: An Outlier
Quilt signed Mary Ann Manwaring,Dated  "1821,20-Oct"in the quilting. Perhaps made in Indiana.I had this in my picture files of dated quilts.The star quilt is in the collection of the InternationalQuilt...
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Stars without a Center or a Name
Here's a pattern without a name or a number.  I hadn't seen it publishedwhen I wrote my Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns years ago.And I probably didn't even notice it.... Classifying it with...
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Another Ubiquitous Basket Chintz
Quilt advertised in The Clarion in 1989,Estimated date 1830-1850If one were going to make a cut-out chintz floral quilt sometime between 1825 and 1850, one could design her own container to hold the...
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Squares Running Riot
This might make a good hand-piecing project.I do have a lot of 2" squaresMaybe a Trip Around the World Or one of theseBut then again there is so much that can go wrong...MiscountingLooks like she just...
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Past Perfect: Kathie Ratcliffe
Star of Bethlehem by Kathie RatcliffeNine Patch Studio.About 8 inches square.Oak Leaf 9-1/4" x 9-1/4"This month's Past Perfect post features miniaturist Kathie Ratcliffe.Kathie working ona John Hewson...
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Quilts Dated 1850---Border Styles
Quilt date-inscribed "August 29, 1850C..P..Davis"From an online auction.I've been posting my pictures of quilts date-inscribed 1850 to my Pinterest...
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Bettina's Morris Hexathon Blocks at AQSG Auction 2017
Every year at the American Quilt Study Group Seminarwe have an auction of quilt-related stuff to support the organization.I am confident I will have the best donation in New Hampshire in October,...
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Solomon's Crown
Quilt for Lucy Ann Torbet Hill Nicholsondated 1850, Jennings County, IndianaIndiana project & the Quilt Index.Martha Wooton Tanner did us a great favor with her needle. Along the edge of this quilt...
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How Old Is This Quilt?
A friend of a friend recently scored big in buying this quilt.How old is it, she asked.O-L-D!!!I've been thinking a lot about early quilt styles in the U.S. so I was glad to have a puzzle to figure...
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Tiny Feet
The Colonial Lady disturbs me.I don't care for historically inaccurate costuming,or a nostalgic look at decorative women.But mostly it's the tiny feet.A nostalgia for bound feet perhaps.Take off your...
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Calla Lilies, Tulips and Mexican Shell Flowers
Quilt from the Massachusetts Project and the Quilt Index,private collection.The chintz in the corners of this elegant star quilt is familiarto fans of large-scale floral prints.The documenters at...
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Chintzes from the Portuguese 1
Quilter Margaret Mew posted this photo on Instagram of a lovely pieceof vintage fabric she bought in Portugal in April.It caught my eye right away as I have been building a picture file of these...
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