On to the circles; there were some really weird ones: a Spider Web on peach; a Maze with a snake through all the blocks dated 1969; a 1950's New york Beauty set as a Snake; a really weird quilt made of two sizes of circles with red and green spokes (9" and 5") circa 1900; a 1940 "impossible to piece" pattern (shades of Hubert Ver Mehren and the Home Art Studio--read Uncoverings 2000) and an identical pattern in the clarets and cadet blues of the 1890s; also from the 1940s a lovely pieced Circle of Tulips in response to which Hazel whipped out a nearly identical top peiced by her mother with a Lemoyne Star in the center of the circle; a scrap Sunflower, c. 1900, with triple sashing, probably from North Carolina; a c. 1890 New York Beauty variation also with triple sashing and this time with 9-Patch cornerstones and finally a fabulous Ver Mehren multicolor Giant Dahlia (a kit, no doubt) of red, peach, orange, green, yellow, lavendaer and blue solids with an Art Deco border (Ver Mehren designed the Giant Dahlia in the 1930s, again see Uncovering 2000--even before I joined AQSG I invested in a complete set of Uncoverings and am I glad I did!). 

In a departure from the theme we saw a scrappy 1000 Pyramids, last quarter 19th century, with big triangles including one that says "Let Us Have Peace U. S. Grant). We heard the story of asking a neighbor to bid on two Mariner's Compass quilts and ending up with a Coxcomb variation top (c. 1890) in orange, green and red turned to tan, but with a border that alone justified the price: green eagles alternating with pots of flowers! Back to circles, curves, etc. with an Art Deco Rainbow appliqued in bias strips (see Vintage Quilts, Bobbie Aug et al, p. 45); a 1930-40s Fan, 1950s flowers made of rick rack circles appliqued with leaves. 

We went from the ridiculous to the sublime with a c. 1850 Reel in a single fondu blue with a second blue for the sashing (it's pictured in the Quilt Engagement Calendar 1984, plate 10) and a beautifully quilted 1830s Snow Ball pieced of a single dark blue floral print. There just isn't anything more elegant than blue and white! The 1st quarter was represented by a crib quilt from Lancaster County, PA with the chintz basket of fruit in a floral circle framed by several borders of brown triangles printed with blue and beige circles. We saw an amazing top, a collection quarter circles of turkey reds on green backgrounds and a wild green yellow and blue plaid border (1840s). 

Farmer's Fancy is an unusual circular design with three rings of narrow triangles surrounding a diamond-pieced star. The pattern is associated with the Shenandoah Valley of VA and the mountain valleys of eastern West VA (see West Virginia Quilts and Quiltmakers by Fawn Valentine). We saw an 1860 example and a set of blocks. There was a Mariner's Compass from Rochester, NY in red, blue and orange solids (maybe 1860, maybe not) and an elegant Compass from Frederick Co., MD in what had to be one of the ugliest green fabrics printed circa 1850 ("regurgitation green" might give you an idea of the color). 

There was a sort of hands All Around variation, also from Frederick, with stuffed feathered wreath quilting. The afternoon had to end and it did with a bang: a 4-block Rose (PA circa 1850) with bunches of huge (3") grapes, a graceful leaf and vine border less successfully adapted to form sashing and topped off with a tiny orange piping (see The Art of the Needle, p. 70 for a similar block). I was stunned to find that while we'd been looking at quilts it had hailed, thundered, snowed and rained. 

Ah, the first day of spring in Washington. Cinda on the Eastern Shore