Twelve Quilts of Christmas 2020 – #3

 

Wow!  This quilt just knocked my socks off.  The delicacy of the work. Those teeny tiny sawtooth or dogtooth borders making my small-piece loving self, giddy with delight.  All the energy!

 

This curatorial notes includes some interesting history:

“Also known as the “Seamstresses’ Quilt,” this red and green example of mid-19th century quilting was in the George Slothower family of Baltimore County, Maryland. He was a wholesale dry goods merchant and the owner of two cotton mills: the Powhatan and Pocahontas Mills. Apparently at the time this quilt was crafted, resident seamstresses, usually of German or Dutch origin, made the family clothing and most likely this quilt.” 

 

This quilt has so much visual movement to it, and in particular the fourth border does a lot of the work in this area.   The crossed boughs sends the eye spinning around the design.  The cornerstones do double duty, with the wreaths at once adding to the spinning movement, but also forming part of a strong visual “x” in combination with the sides of the centre area of interest that are set on point, and the outward pointing direction of the bud motifs in the second border.  

 

This quilt is not “perfect”.  The corners of the sawtooth borders resolve differently in each one …  that’s okay!  Look at that borders of vines, buds and leaves.  Some of them turn the corner in a similar fashion.  Others just go “Weeeee!” as they wing around the corners in freestyle form!  In the floral wreaths, the centre flower is not exactly centred!  That’s okay.   “Straighten out” this pattern with overlays to get everything in exactly the “right” place and it would lose it’s charm.  Just saying!

 

I love it just the way it is.

 

What do you think?