Subject: The Dating Cl;ub From: "Lucinda Cawley"

Before I forget all the great stuff (it's been a busy week) I'll tell you about Halloween with Bunnie and Hazel. The theme was "Quilts for Halloween.' This was loosely defined. One of the most appropriate was a candlewick spread (dated 1823!!!!) with pumpkins in the border. A super Crazy was embroidered with larger than life bugs: a roach, a beetle and an amazing spider. 

I don't know how to describe an 1890s curved pieced spiderweb. It's far more sophisticated than the string pieced variety and had a great graphic impact when viewed from across the room. It seems most of us consider an orange quilt appropriate for Halloween, for instance a Lancaster County Streak of Lightening strippy alternating green, orange and oxblood. there was also a wonderfully typical Amish Trip Around the World and what I guess you'd have to call a Bowmansville Squares (like a Bowmansville Star made of tiny squares). 

We some great baby quilts. My favorite was a two-sided quilt circa 1840 with a One Patch back and a Four Patch strippy set on the front (lots of fabulous fabrics and pristine!). An 1860 baby Ocean Waves has a pieced diamond border. A framed center baby quilt with tape binding (1st quarter) came from the Ball estate (descendants of G. Washington's uncle) in Northern VA. 

Mary Lou McDonald from BAS brought her reproduction of the Mary Simon quilt in the DAR collection. The Baltimore ladies who made the original Album quilts would have joined us in giving Mary Lou a standing ovation. Her work is amazing! 

One of the most unusual quilts we saw was a framed center surrounded by crazy patch blocks with occasional small appliques (ears of corn, tassels). The fabrics were all cotton and looked (except for an 1880s border) to date from the 1840s. The strip back is definitely 1840s. Very curious. This quilt prompted the most interesting discussion of the day (that sophisticated design and technical precision do not occur in chronological order) and led to the realization (it happens so often) that the more we know the less we're sure of. 

We saw some wonderful Maryland quilts. A framed center Sunburst (circa 1820) from Frederick was surrounded by a zigzag, flying geese, a solid strip, 2 rows of 4" stars, more flying geese, 2 rows of 8" stars, geese again and a lovely pink and beige stripe border. Another Sunburst (circa 1840) had 25 blocks. Another quilt had setting blocks and borders of an 1840 robin's egg blue chintz that we agreed we would have thought to be 1940s if seen out of context. 

A stunning 1840s Carolina Lily had not only wonderful quilting but used pistachio green for the stems and leaves, turkey red and chrome yellow for the flowers. An 1850s President's Wreath with red sashing and borders came out of the same pillowcases. We really saw fewer PA quilts than usual but an 1890 Ocean Waves in double pink, chrome yellow and double blue helped to keep us from feeling deprived. 

Last but certainly not least was a 1926 outline stitched quilt (black embroidery floss) with borders of every animal you can imagine in different scales and no apparent order. Cinda on the Eastern Shore