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Eastern Shore Quilt Study Group
The topic for Wednesday's meeting of the Eastern Shore Quilt
Study Group was orange, a favorite color of many of us (especially those
who collect Pennsylvania quilts).
We started with a two-sided crib
quilt: one side an 1880s Hour Glass, the reverse a Square in Square
stripy from the 1840s. The later top had been quilted over the 1840s
quilt. One of the contenders for the "orange prize" was a
scrappy 1940 Lemoyne Star on orange background with green sashes and red
cornerstones. A circa 1930 quilt from Kentucky (complete with beard
guard) had string pieced sashes around solid orange squares. The back
was a charming circus print
A lovely collection of late 19th century
blocks (Carolina Lily, Snow Crystal) were made of a single soft orange
polka dot. As we were admiring the fabric Nancy Hahn whipped out a York
Co. (PA) Star medallion baby quilt top with the same fabric. From the
Eastern Shore there was a collection of 1940s 9-Patches nobody wanted.
The owner received a homework assignment to "do something with
them."
Also from the ES was a quilt in a quilt. The outside was
made from an assortment of circa 1900 blocks (Churn Dash, 9-Patch,
Square in a Square) joined in strips tied over another quilt which
appears to be of about the same age. The owner of that one has promised
to untie the quilt. The top really is nice and we think it will be
happier liberated from its heavy, grungy filling.
Big surprises
sometimes come to light when family homes are emptied. An exquisite
(very worn) Prince's Feather, circa 1860, was found in the attic. The
blocks have red and green plumes alternating with branches of tulips
emerging from a rose center and a sway and bud border. The colors are
orange, red and pink; the quilting is lovely. We were really enthused
about the Primitive Hall-type quilt that was found in Easton, MD. I
suspect it's of Delaware Valley origin. The complex geometric blocks
contain signatures and sentiments that indicate the recipient was going
away, perhaps as a missionary. Several of us have volunteered to
reproduce the blocks if the owner provides patterns.
One of our members
had already done her homework. She put a collection of embroidered
blocks with children's motifs together with sashes of various 1930s
greens and scrappy 9-Patch cornerstones. Nancy Hahn has been working her
magic with old blocks. She framed 15 Album blocks (1850-60) with green
repro fabric so she could trim them to uniform size, added cheddar
sashing, green cornerstones and a Broken Dishes border. Another set of
25 Album blocks in various browns from Binghamton, NY she finished with
antique fabric. An orange on indigo print Carpenter's Wheel, circa 1880,
prompted an comparison with an earlier orange/indigo. The later design
was much more closely packed.
A pieced giant Tulip bought on eBay was
listed as Pennsylvania. No way! Checkout the North Carolina
book, pp.
68-69 to see what we were discussing. A similar quilt is on the cover of
Laurel Horton's Mary Black's
Quilts. So many people think that any use
of orange means PA. We saw two Basket quilts from Franklin County, PA in
which orange was the neutral. A third Basket of red, green and yellow on
orange had an inner border of oxblood and chrome yellow half-square
triangles. Love those PA Germans!.
Another Franklin Co. quilt had
4-Patches set on a rusty orange with a half-square triangle border. A
Zinnia Border (Mountain Mist #67) looked like giant lollipops. We saw
Roses Are Red which is on pp.116-120 of the Oxmoor House book, Mountain
Mist Quilt Favorites, 1998; it looks like an Anne Orr design. I was
especially delighted by a collection of turkey red Baskets on various
orange backgrounds, circa 1850. They were put together with a much
later, totally inappropriate fabric. The orange prize went to a 1970s
Improved 9-Patch top with orange melons. It is actually very well-made
and lies flat (not many of that pattern do).
The star of the day was an
1840 Mathematical Star (the Maryland version of the Lone Star) from
1840. Cut chintz appliqué decorates the spaces between the star points.
You can see it on p. 12 of A Maryland
Album. It was quilted in 1953 by
the present owners mother who did a beautiful job. Fortunately she did
the quilting before the advent of polyester batts so the quilt is not
puffy. While we all agreed that it would be better if it had not been
quilted some felt that the quilting helped to preserve the quilt by
stabilizing it. I never expected such an abundance of orange!
Cinda on the Eastern Shore
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