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The Midwest Fabric Study Group met on Sunday, February 6th at the Daisy Barrel in Fairborn, Ohio. The previously scheduled meeting was canceled due to our unpredictable Midwestern weather. We had a smaller contingent of twelve due in part we suspect to Super Bowl Sunday. Those who were unable to be with us sure missed some wonderful quilts!

Our topic for the day was “Finds and Favorites.” It was great to see what everyone brought to share. We started the day with a Hmong quilt that was purchased in the late 1990s. It featured wonderfully graphic green, gray and white reverse appliqué four square center separated by sashing with small square in a square patchwork. The overall design of the quilt was similar to that of the early medallion style quilts with its many “rounds” of boarders.

Another member brought an interesting bedspread believed to be from India. She posed the question to the group as to whether there might be a connection between palampores and vine appliqués?

She also brought a quilt from Missouri with the embroidered date of 1959-60 in the center. Above the date was a crown with the letters “F” “P” “L” “E” surrounding it. Think one quarter of an hourglass block, with the “F” to the left on a royal blue background, “P” on top on white, “L” to the left on red and “E” underneath on another white background all with the crown positioned in the middle. The letters and the details of the crown were worked using a small metallic gold ric rack braid. The names on the quilt were embroidered in black floss on a blue and white album style block. The titles next to some names were interesting such as “grand guard” and “O.P.” We believe this quilt might be from a ladies branch of a fraternal order. Any thoughts as to which one it might be?

Along that same line, we saw a signature quilt made from men’s ties. The names on the ties were all freehand machine embroidered in a white chain stitch. The quilt was purchased at a yard sale in Bloomington, Indiana. At one end of the quilt was an orange moiré fabric rectangle with royal blue horizontal soutache braid stripes with “Members International Typographical Union” and below it a black rectangle was the name “Frank Morrison 16” on it. After some research, it was discovered that the ITU was headquartered in Indianapolis and had many chapters across the states. All the ties had men’s names and a number after the name representing their chapter number. We learned the number 16 represented the Chicago chapter. Mr. Morrison, as well as several members who were listed on the quilt as ITU chapter presidents, was known to be instrumental in establishing the American Civil Liberties Union!

Just when you think things couldn’t get any more exciting, this same member showed us a wonderful gift she received from a coworker. It was a beautiful red, green, and chrome orange appliquéd quilt! Each of the eight blocks had an urn with a green base and red handles with a red scalloped top. The urns had four red and four chrome orange carnations blooming out of them. The quilting on it was the fabulous dense quilting you see mid-19th century featuring feather wreaths with cross hatched centers and chevron background quilting. We noticed that some of the flowers had a closely spaced white buttonhole stitch around just the petal part and some of the flowers did not. Also, the quilting lines ran right across the appliqués. The quilt was said to have come from near Union City, Indiana (which is above I-70 and right on the Indiana/Ohio line) and was made by a member of the Fitzmaurice family who emigrated from Ireland.

The “gasper” quilt of the day was a circa 1850 appliqué quilt from Boardman near Youngstown, Ohio. The family names associated with the quilt are Agnew on the paternal side and Cowden on the maternal side, both are of English decent. The quilt’s current owner isn’t sure it was a family quilt as it could have belonged to a local gentleman her grandmother cared for. The quilt featured nine delicious floral appliqués in the center surrounded by the most wonderful red and green “watermelon” style swag border with double pink bows between the swags. We found this quilt to have quite a profusion of green across its surface compared to most red, green, and gold quilts you see. Another fun feature was the tiny green piping along the white binding.

This same member also brought a sweet 1930s-40s pinwheel star. There were many of the usual 30s and 40s fabrics in the star points with the pinwheels meeting at the intersections done in a bubblegum pink. We surmised you could easily reproduce this quilt assembling the pieces into strips. The back was an unusual pink fabric that felt kind of slick almost like percale.

We then saw two different basket quilts owned by two different people. One was a turkey red and white (Brackman #650.3) with the name “Hattie E. Hostettler” quilted in block letters inside a flowing ribbon. The curious part about this was that the name was quilted in upside down from the orientation of the baskets. Almost like the maker wanted to admire her name as she slept underneath the quilt. The initials “H.E.H” and the date “1878” in the same style block letters were quilted in an arch inside one of the setting triangles. The quilt’s owner has done some preliminary research using online census records and discovered this quilt may have been made within 50 miles of where it was purchased in Illinois!

The second basket quilt we saw was a delightful scrappy (Brackman #650.2). It was tied with red yarn and had fabrics in it that spanned the decades from the turn of the century to the 1930s! It was a real treat to see how many different ones we could find.

This person also brought a couple scrap quilt tops that featured some great fabrics for study. One of my favorites was a rust colored background with a bluish grey squiggle with what appeared to be cones (think dunce caps) floating across the surface. Another fun discovery was leaf and bud piece of fabric that has been reproduced by In the Beginning Fabrics. Luck would have it that the Daisy Barrel had the repro so we could place it beside the original for comparison! The repro was exact in scale and some color placement but the original beat the repro hands down on detail and crispness of design! What fun to be able to see them side by side. Only meeting in a quilt shop could afford such an opportunity!

We also saw a really fun eye popping orange quilt with royal blue and white polka dot flower pot blocks (Brackman #732). The quilt was purchased in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. This quilt just read happy to me. What a bold lady she must have been. I can only imagine her friends saying “You are going to use what color in that quilt?”

This same person also brought a 1936 Bucilla kit quilt numbered 8644. It has a center of appliquéd light and dark peach flowers with light and dark 30s green leaves all with black, white and brown embroidery stitches. It was purchased as an unfinished kit it in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. It came with the original instructions, embroidery floss and blue binding. All the appliqué and embroidery were completed all it needed was the quilting and binding. The quilt’s new owner exquisitely completed the quilting and expertly attached the binding. It is truly a beautiful quilt. It looks like it was just made yesterday.

The final quilt we saw was a sweet crib sized blue and white single Irish chain. This quilt had gorgeous double quilting around feathered wreaths in the white spaces. We all marveled at how such a simple design could be set off by such time consuming quilting!

We rounded out our day with some shopping in the store and set off to enjoy the rest of the mild sunny weather! Our next meeting will be on March 12th in Indiana at Jonathan Bird’s Cafeteria in Greenwood. Cindy Claycamp is making the reservation, and will email directions. The topic for the day will be “Tools & Toys.” We should bring sewing/quilting tools, toys (includes toy sewing machines), and related, be prepared to talk about what you bring.

Respectfully submitted,

Lisa Portwood