Antique Quilt Study

This spring I taught an in depth antique quilt study workshop on 19th century quilts and did appraisals at Elaines Quilt Block in Salt Lake City. Here is the shop display showing two circa 1890 quilts from my collection. On the left is honeycomb or hexagon patchwork (earlier version of grandmother's flower garden) and it features the red and blue fabrics so often seen in the late 19th century quilts including one bit of a mill engraved horse. And speaking of novelty fabric, the blazing star quilt has several equine fabrics and other conversation prints. These fabrics are excellent clues to dating to the late 19th century, 1880's and 90's. Be sure to click on the photo to take a closer look. You'll see 2 red horseshoe fabrics, a simple one and a detailed version with horseshoe, riding crop and jockey or riding helmet. By the way, if you are ever in Salt Lake make a point to visit Elaines, they have a great selection of fabrics, including reproduction fabrics.

Crazy Quilt Challenge

What I'm working on --a crazy quilt for this year's Alliance for American Quilts challenge. They are currently accepting entries/donations of 'crazy quilts' which will be auctioned this fall on eBay to help with their mission of preserving American Quilts and quilt history. In honor of their 16th year, the quilts are 16 inches square and must be postmarked by June 1, 2009. If you are a quick worker, there is still time to join in and "there's room for all kinds of crazy". Anyone can buy a quilt on eBay to help support the Alliance. I'll post when it is time to vote for your favorite and again when it is time to starting bidding.

I'm taking the theme literally and spelling it out, as you can see in the sneak peek block. Drafting paper pieced letters in a log cabin, cq format with strong graphic appeal of black and white and hot pink/fuchsia. What a lot of fun for a great cause. If you haven't visited the Alliance yet, finish reading my posts and then hurry on over to their site where you will find many treasures including the Quilt Index one of the best quilt research resources.

Favorite antique quilts- Virtual Quilt Festival

I just posted on my contemporary quilt blog about the favorite quilt I've made as part of the 1st annual virtual quilt show hosted by Amy- Park City Girl blog and then decided to post about my favorite antique quilt too. I couldn't decide on just one, so I'm showing my favorite red and green quilts. The 3 quilts and one top, are all from the civil war era, c. 1865, shown left to right- Rose of Sharon or Whig Rose, Oak Leaf, King David's Crown (top) and Princess or Prince's Feather. You can see more about the two hanging quilts by scrolling down about 2 posts. If I had to pick only one -- it would be the whig rose. It is so bright and cheerful and has excellent workmanship in both applique and the triple rod quilting (3 lines close together). I can't help but smile each time I look at it.

Thanks for visiting, please leave a comment. Also let me know if you would be interested in participating in a virtual antique show quilt. After seeing the success of Amy's show, I'm thinking it would be very fun and educational.

There are over 220 people participating in the current virtual quilt show which is an alternative show for those of us who are unable to go to IQA Spring Quilt Festival in Chicago.
Please go to Amy's blog to see the show by following the links.

Guest Blogger

I'm a guest blogger on quilting gallery and I've written about my quilt appraising and collecting and quilt history along with photos. I also discuss my own quilt history, my new quilts and classes plus a bit about me and my family. Click on guest blogger above or on the guest blogger logo block to the right.

There is also a give away on the gallery; two people who leave comments there will win one of my patterns so please go read and comment and then come right back. To see some of my designs click on PATTERNS. And don't forget to see my art/contemporary quilt blog

Red and Green 1860's Oakleaf Quilt

Here is the other quilt purchased with the whig rose quilt shown below. Right now I am recreating one block in a smaller scale for a project with fellow AQS certified quilt appraiser Pam Weeks. Duplicating old quilts does help one feel a kinship with earlier quilters. I can now really appreciate the amount of time it took to quilt an entire quilt with the 3/8 to 1/2" diagonal quilting this quilter did on this quilt as it is a lot of work on just a 9 inch block. It is hand appliqued and hand quilted, circa 1860.

Whig Rose or Rose of Sharon Quilt

I usually try to be objective but I'm loving this new (to me) quilt, circa 1860. This lady sure didn't understand negative space as every inch is covered with applique and triple line quilting-fabulous. While this pattern tends to be very formal, this example is quite folky. One of the cheeriest quilts with a great floral basket border. Circa 1860, 9 block whig rose, rose of sharon or democrat rose quilt.

1876 centennial cheater fabric

This is the newest piece in my antique fabric collection, the 1876 cheater (pre-printed patchwork) fabric. This is the red version, the madder orange/brown version can be seen on page 75 of Trestain's Dating Fabrics: 1800-1960. I won the fabric in the silent auction at the American Quilt Study Group seminar in Columbus, Ohio earlier this month. It was generously donated by Pat Nickols.
I have a log cabin featuring the orange version which will be shown in my next post. If you click on the photo you can see the dates1776 on the Liberty Bell and 1876 on the Peace shield. The fabric was made in honor of the United States Centennial in 1876.

Squirrel quilt

There's been a discussion about quilts depicting possum's on Quilthistory list but here is a quilt* actually made from real squirrel pelts. Yes it is a dead squirrel quilt. Part of the Jean and Boyd Christensen quilt collection at This Is The Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City, Utah. The back is very soft deerskin. From Boyd's visit to our quilt appraisal course in 2006, it seems to be his favorite quilt in the collection. They found it in New York and were told it was made by an 11 year old girl. *For purists, it is tied not quilted so it is technically a comfort not a quilt.

log cabin

My Pennsylvania log cabin quilt has a snazzy ferret or fox wearing a hat fabric that enchanted me. The back is strip pieced 'strippy' often found in PA. The maker took care to fussy cut the large variety of prints to showcase them and she obviously liked the ferret/fox fabric as she used it in a number of blocks. Small scale blocks, c. 1890.

chintz star quilt

This chintz variable/evening star quilt c. 1830 is one of my favorites and probably my best internet/auction house buy. Brown, pink and red prints (many glazed) and carefully arranged by maker who had access to (and money for) a lot of fabric including enough for one background fabric. It serves as a reminder that not all early quilts are scrap quilts. It is a large quilt, an indicator of early date. Probably made in Pennsylvania. Picture taken while it was being appraised at Quilts Etc. in Sandy, Utah.

It is Official: I'm a Certified Quilt Appraiser

Great news, read on. In April, I traveled to Paducah, Kentucky for the American Quilter's Society Appraiser certification classes and testing. It was quite a stressful and exhausting and wonderful experience and I am now the first AQS certified quilt appraiser in Central/southern Utah (one of the first two in Utah) . There are about 92 in the entire United States. I am very honored to join this highly esteemed group and very excited about where this will take me in my quilt appraising life.

I want to publicly thank my family for all their support, especially my sister who traveled with me and made sure things went smoothly in Paducah. Thanks for the power lunch of deep fried Snickers bar.

Preview of coming attractions

I posted these photos on my other blog as a teaser of my antique quilt collection and thought I should post them here too so you'll have a taste of quilts to come.
Circa 1840 Hickory leaf or reel, c. 1885 blazing star, early 1900's redwork


I'll show quilts from early 1800's to vintage 1930's and 40's and everything in between. Below is another sneak preview. From left to right: c. 1830 strippy flying geese with c. 1800 copperplate toile, c. 1830 9 patch, and c. 1830 strippy star quilt.

mystery men

Help, who are these mystery menfolk figures? They are quite funky. I'm guessing they are known cartoon characters of the era as I've since found the first figure (police man?) in another redwork quilt.
UPDATE:  these figures are called Brownies and created by Palmer Cox.  Quite popular in the early 20th century, 1900's.




The quilt also has a boy scout leader insignia from the 1910's (above left) so I'd date it c. 1920. This quilt has a variety of figures and blocks of different sizes not the uniform sized blocks of later redwork. Note the above block has the boy scout insignia, the small dutch couple and large floral basket (the entire quilt is full of these unusual combinations). Please post if you have any ideas on these characters.

Heart Quilt

Here is a detail photo of my red, white and blue applique heart quilt. 14 1/2" blocks set 4 x 5. Red, white and blue polka dot backing. Hand embroidered PURE BLOOD APPLIED LOYALTY TO GOD. From the differing quality of workmanship it is clearly a group quilt with numerous makers. Found in Cincinnati/Kentucky area and that is all the information I have about it.

My question is what group made it and why? Was it made by a religious group, a political group, patriotic group; made as a fundraiser, for a special event? There are no dates or signatures.

I have shown the quilt to a number of noted quilt authorities including appraisers and dealers with vast experience, and so far no one has seen this pattern before. I showed the quilt at AQSG seminar in 2007 with no luck. I have also gotten quite a range on dating it, from 1915 to 1976. The dating clues point towards World War I or II and more likely c. 1945. The top is all solids and the back is a small scale polka dot, nothing distinctive. Please comment or email if you have any information/thoughts on the origin of the quilt.

Flying Geese Copperplate Toile Quilt

Strippy Flying Geese/Bird Toile Quilt 72 w X 85 h. English blue/white cotton copperplate printed toile with 36 inch high repeat. To show scale, the first picture showing the pair of ducks is an 8.5 X 11 scan.
It was hard to see any detail from auction photo so it was quite wonderful to visit with my new feathered friends when they flew in. I have to wonder if the quiltmaker had a sense of humor pairing flying geese strips with the bird toile? The toile is in good/very good condition but the flying geese are suffering from the usual early brown mordant damage. Backing is cotton, dark blue/white small scale woven check.

This toile was printed from about 1780 to 1820. See Art of the Needle, Quilts from the Shelburne Museum, page 30-31 for their 'Pheasant and Mandarin Duck Motif' whole cloth quilt dated 1810 made from the same toile. You can really see the toile as the whole quilt is shown and a full page detail photo. If anyone has more information on this fabric, please let me know.

Lowell Mass

In October I traveled to Lowell, Massachusetts (near Boston) for the annual seminar of the American Quilt Study Group It was a wonderful experience, my second seminar, I met a lot of new friends, learned a lot, saw a lot of antique quilts and soaked up a lot of history. Living in the West, you forget about the history of the eastern seaboard, loved the cobblestone streets in Lowell. I spent a delightful afternoon with Linda Laird and Pat Nickols visiting the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, the Mill Girls boardinghouse and the immigrant museum. We also stopped by the Merrimack Historical Society and I asked if they had any textiles, they scared up a textile sample sheet and an original label from the Merrimack Manufacturing Co. still on a small butterscotch plaid. They graciously let us make a photocopy which is pictured here.

More 1830's top

I'm so glad I pulled this top out to scan images, as I'm having a great time visiting with all the prints. This block shows the indigo resist, more block prints. Note the whipstitching. The center square is a twill type weave. Note how many squares have several pieces. Click on photo for larger image.

Banner Quilt

In my banner (top of blog page) you'll see one of my earliest quilt purchases and one of my earliest/oldest textiles. It is a large segment of hand sewn 4 patch quilt top c.1830 (rows/strips were later joined together by machine). It is pieced by overcast/whipstitch and running stitch. Fabrics range from 1790 (linen floral) to 1830's; there are block prints, indigo resists and an early preprinted patchwork (aka cheater cloth shown in the banner above) to name a few. As a top it is a useful printing technique study piece since I can view both sides of the fabric. Purchased from eBay for $70, it was sold as a segment of 1880's quilt so it was a very pleasant surprise.

Rocky Road to Kansas

Collections have been discussed this week on QuiltArt, prompting people to post photos of their stuff so I'll play too. I collect quilts and this 1930's Rocky Road to Kansas quilt was made by my great grandma Isabella Rogers. I love purple and scrappy quilts and this is one of my favorites. The back is purple home dyed flour sacks. The quilt is being held by AQS appraisers/instructors Bobbie Aug and Gerald Roy at our quilt appraisal classes in Idaho Falls in May 2005. I'll be posting more photos of my collection but you can see a few more on my June 07 posting http://starleyquilts.blogspot.com/2007/06/st-george-quilt-appraisals.html

First post

This is my new blog, I decided to separate quilt appraising and my vintage/antique quilt collection from my own art quilting and contemporary art quilt collection. See Sandra's art to view my art quilts. Enjoy.