Twelve Quilts of Christmas – #7

I see this quilt and I can’t help but struggle to put together the concept of making this quilt with what I wrote on day 1:

“Susan and Green had 7 children: 5 boys and two girls.  She was an ordinary farm wife who kept house, brought up her children, sewed and mended the clothing for her family, knitted accessories, embroidered linen and bedcovers, practiced homeopathic medicine, read her bible through each year, participated in sewing bees, tended the vegetable and flower gardens, took care of the cows and chickens, and participated in community gatherings – and in whatever small slices of time she had, she also made exquisite quilts.”

How did she have the time, let alone eek it out, to make these incredible qulits?

Because are you ready for this?  This handsewn quilt … hand sewn! … has …

16,896 pieces … … … NOT including all the pieces in the border! 

Maybe the secret of how she made all these quilts lies in this one quilt.  

The ocean wave blocks were repetitive, not requiring a super amount of focus; they could be picked up and stitched on for a bit and then put down, without fear of losing the creative thought process. Make one of the lozenges/pieced sections and put it aside.  Make another one.

The borders, she wasn’t stressing about them being perfect.  Again, none of the borders match exactly.  I love how she did her own thing in each of them.  I love how vibrant they are against that pink outer border.  I love the bits of cheddar in the leaves … because I am a sucker for cheddar.

She was having fun, planning as she went.  I don’t think she pulled out the previous border to make sure she was doing it the same.  Maybe as she made the top border, she said to herself, oh yes, I put a flower in the other border like this one, and so put one flower on the top border and when she had all the borders out and saw they were different, she didn’t feel the need to go back and “correct” things and add another flower to have things be the “same”.  All the vines in the borders just wander where she wanted them to wander at that moment. She placed the leaves were they pleased her eye.  Maybe it was this freedom that let her just get on with the task. Winter was coming … and quilts were needed for the bed.

A good philosophy I think.  What about you?

Some other facts about this quilt:

Condition:  Good/Moderate Use

Inscription: Mrs. C. M. Cannaday (label with ink) on back

Construction: Hand pieced, hand appliqued 

Borders: Appliqued inner border: Top and bottom 4 inches; Sides 4.5 inches. Outer border 2.5 inches on all sides.

Back:  cotton muslin. Solid/plain, handsewn, 3 pieces (32.5 in; 32.5 in; 5 in)

Batting: thin, cotton, with milling debris

Quilting: hand quilted, white cotton thread hand quilting 8-10 stitches per inch, ½” to 1” between lines. Overall motifs are straight lines, outlines, florals, and grid/crosshatch

Binding: No separate binding, handsewn, turned in (what I call knife edge)