Twelve Quilts of Christmas – #6

I wouldn’t change a word of what I wrote about this quilt in 2016: “The mid-nineteenth century saw many fine examples of quilts with exuberant bouquets in urns, usually in a four-block setting.  Susan McCord elevates this style with her nine blocks filled with whimsical flowers.  she defined borders her own way … all four different … thank you very much … who said they all have to be the same! And just in case you are wondering how small you can go with tiny grapes, yes, those teensy grapes (or berry blossoms as I know like to refer to them in 2023!) are individually hand appliquéd.  Her signature string pieced leaves appear again in this quilt, and she goes to town with layered circle/dots on her larger flowers.  Oh, and that narrow pink binding … divine!”

I will add a few words though!

Susan McCord’s attention to detail … Blows.  Me.  Away!

Unlike the Harrison Urn Quilt, every single urn composition is the same in every way. The colour placements are the same, even in the string pieced leaves under the principle flower, she has placed the colour and value in the same position in each leaf.  The same is true for the string pieced leaves in the borders.  The only variations?  The addition of three red flowers in place of pink ones.  Can you find them?    But overall … incredible! These, shall we call them nuances, are what endears this work to us even more.

She stitched a delicate line of embroidery to connect the little tiny blue berries that dangle off of the flowers that cascade downward from the urn.  There are also a delicate lines of embroider connecting the green leaves and string leaves to the nearby stems that flow from the urn.  And connecting the very teeny dots that hang off the flowers in the top border.

Not only does she include her trademark string pieced leaves in this quilt, she also uses, again, borders that don’t match.  I’m okay with that.  Are you?

I love that when Susan McCord wanted to be exacting she could and when she wanted to go wildly free with her designs she flew!

Remember Quilt #4, Turkey Tracks.  The colours in that border match very well with the colours in this border.  Did she have left overs, or was there another quilt?   What do you think?

Some other facts about this quilt:

Condition:  good/moderate use

Construction: Hand pieced, hand appliqued

Additional: Some embroidery

Borders: Pieced borders. Top and bottom borders 7.5 inches. Side borders 9.5 inches.

Backing; White cotton muslin back, solid/plain, handsewn, 4 pieces (24 in; 24.5 in; 25 in; 8in)

Batting: Thin, cotton, some milling debris but no seeds visible.

Quilting: hand quilted, 9-12 stitches per inch, 5/8 inch and ¾ inch between lines.  Diagonal lines, crosshatch grid pattern, double outline quilted around the appliques, borders double outline quilted around appliques, additional leaves quilted on either side of vine

Binding: Separate binding applied, straight of grain, handsewn, less than ½”, curved slightly around straight corners.

PSA:  Find my handout on how to do Narrow Single Fold Bindings on my website here.