Twelve Quilts of Christmas 2019 – #3
Nine Patch on Point, Illinois, c. 1850-1870, 66″ x 79″, possibly made by Catherine Beachy Kauffman. From the collection of the Illinois State Museum Fine and Decorative Arts Collection.
In this early Illinois Amish wool quilt, she made lots of colour substitutions, working with what I imagine she had on hand as she made it. What I find interesting is that she would have had enough of the darker pink to make all the outer corners of another nine patch like the one in the upper left corner but she didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I love how she handled the composition of the nine patches, just curious about her construction and thinking and design process. How exactly did she go about deciding on the placement of the pieces in those nine patches and arranging all the blocks for top? Did she lay out all the blocks and then put it together or pieced together the top as she finished blocks?
The setting triangles that border the centre are wonderfully balanced in their colour placement and that small triangle in the upper left was such a good decision. Without a doubt she had an artistic eye.
I love the simplicity of the three concentric circles of quilting in the setting blocks and the organic nature of the quilting of the chevrons in the borders. She alternated the direction of the straight line quilting in the pieced blocks for interest. That blue binding is the back brought around to the front and stitched down.
And I haven’t mentioned yet that superb border with it’s make do piecing and that wonderful dark bit in the bottom border. I like it! Would you be brave enough to make a border like that?
This one keeps drawing my eye in and sending it around and around the quilt looking at all the details. What about you?
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My intuition tells me she put the blocks together as she made them with no thought as to color or value placement. I suspect this was a more utilitarian quilt, given the basic 9-patch block on point, no inner border, a pieced border, and very simple and ‘quick’ quilting (circles and straight lines in the Chevron border). I love Amish quilts that use minimal black, navy, or dark colors, and use a warm color palette, in this case a gold/mustard border, warm blues and bright coral pink.
This one is just so delightful. Wouldn’t you like to sit down and have a cuppa with the maker and ask all these questions we have?
What a delight to return from vacation and find these 3 lovely quilts in my emails! They are all so yummy! I think this #3 is my favorite, though…. scrappy wins every time for me! And that chunk of black in the border….love it!
Thanks for running this amazing quilt show again this year! It truly makes a perfect ending to the year, and I’m always inspired to get busy drafting up some new ideas for quilts! Thanks!
You are so welcome. I hate to disappoint you, but hold your vote until the end (imagine smiley face emoji here!).
Wool! So much to love. And no, I’d have most likely wrecked it by distributing that dark piece around the border, unless there wasn’t enough. I’m wondering about the nine patches, where she kept them the dark-light same instead of reversing a couple to have the dark corners. I appreciate the border fabric asymmetry–I downright admire it!
I agree wholeheartedly … I downright admire it!
This one is intriguing- I love it. It’s “just a 9 patch” but oh what a 9 patch it is. As you said she had an artistic eye.
Exactly! Oh what a nine patch it is! Well said.
Studying the quilt, it felt like she had a little of this and a little of that, but, wow the way she put it all together, is stunning. Love this quilt!
Thank you so much Mary for stopping by. So glad you enjoyed the quilt.
I wonder if this quilt is the work of two people. There is such a striking difference between the center and the border. I absolutely love it and I think it works very well, and I love that dark lower right corner!
What an interesting thought that it could have been two people putting it together. Thank you for stopping by Pam!