Twelve Quilts of Christmas 2019 – #6
Diamond In The Square Variation, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, c. 1920, 90″ x 90″, Fanny Petersheim. Indicated as from the Esprit Collection.
This quilt concept is one of the “classic” designs in Amish quilt repertoire: the Diamond In The Square or Square in A Square design. While this example uses common colour choices often found in Amish quilts, it is the pieced centre that sets it apart from its solid fabric, un-pieced centre cousins, particularly it’s quirkiness. Nothing seems to line up in that centre block, it feels all wonky and asymmetrical, but when I checked, the red centre of the middle square is indeed in the centre even though it looks like it is not.
It is only when you tip your head sideways that this quilt seems to make sense. Right … there it is … all the symmetry … right down to the way she positioned the pinks in the centre of the upper right and lower left centres of the small trip around the world block … and to way she placed the one black block right next to a light in each corner of the larger centre block. Fabulous thought and attention to detail.
It is fun to see how the purple used in the centre pieced section relates well to the blue in the setting triangles of the larger square. Equally important for the success of the design is how the blue in the pieced section is a different blue from the one used in those setting triangles. And did you notice that not all the reds in the piecing in the centre are the same.
Finally we can’t forget the binding and how it forms it’s own narrow frame completing the whole the quilt both physically and visually.
Can you see the element she added that helps keep centre pieced square feeling balanced?
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This is a really interesting quilt. It doesn’t have the intricate quilting that we associate with “Amish” even though the basic shape is classic. The center, on the other hand, is more intricately pieced. Does this reflect the changing times, as it was made later than the “classic Amish” quilts? It is certainly interesting in the complexity of the center and in the colors used.
This one actually does have intricate feather quilting in the border and classic stitching in the inner border. It was just really hard to get an image that could portray that.
I love how the use of the two red tones visually creates a “block”. To me it appears as a “hole in barn door” block. How creative the maker was.
I love how just one more row all around would have completed the orange diamonds around the blue….but no….it just runs off the edge! I love designs that run off edges! I also love those 2 lavender blocks, barely there, and oh so sweet! Such a beautiful quilt!