A hand pieced quilt made of broadcloth and muslin, quilted at 8 stitches to the inch with a delicious orange straight of grain applied binding, this quilt exudes precision in applique, in piecing and in quilting. It is a delight to view as the eye moves back and forth between squarish design of the appliquéd blocks and the round open spaced rings that are formed by the leaves and buds in what could be considered the negative space. It is this visual movement that keeps a repetitive and unchanging block interesting and engaging for the viewer.
Remember I told you I had a bias. Well this is another example of a crossed tulip design. Aside from colour and scale, each had subtle differences, for example in the stems and leaves, and in the design of the flowers. I didn’t know I had this bias until I dove into the research for this year, but that is one of the great things for me about doing this … learning about what catches my eye and seeing patterns in that. It’s a good thing to know and gives me loads of inspiration and information to consider for my own work going forward.
Did you discover something for yourself with this year’s quilts, about the type of design you like in tulip quilts? I’d really like to hear what that was.
I am so glad that you joined me on this “better late than never” edition of the Twelve Quilts of Christmas 2024. I wish you and your family a healthy, peaceful and happy New Year.
Applique Quilt, Tulip, Pennsylvania, United States, c. 1820, 88” x 72”, maker unknown. Formerly in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, current collection location unknown.
If you have followed along for the past 12 years, you know I will not easily post a picture of a quilt that is poor quality in either example or photography, so why am I posting this one? This quilt is an exception for a number of reasons.
Featured on page 194 of American Quilts and Coverlets (by Safford and Bishop, 1974), they found the quilt very interesting for its primitive quality. They wrote that “the heavy quilting in a broad wavelike design echoes the naïve feeling of the piece.
I totally agree about its naïve quality in the quilting and this photo captures it beautifully. However, the bold design executed with jaunty variations in motif placements adds a degree of sophistication that defies the primitive moniker.
I have an attachment to this grainy black and white photo for another reason.
The photo in the book was small, squished onto a page of other quilt photos and easily lost to the eye. But this black and white photo of a tattered quilt wasn’t lost to the keen observation of Gwen Marston and her mentor and friend Mary Schafer. Gwen wrote: “it had everything we look for in quilts: interesting quilting, bold shapes and eccentricity. After many conversations with Mary Schafer about the quilt, speculating on the colours, studying the quilting, thinking about what kind of quilter might have made it, Mary drafted a pattern and started a copy of the quilt the same week we did.” It was the first time they had seen quilting right across the applique with freehand fan concentric rings that were not marked but judged by eye for placement.
I recently had the opportunity to purchase Mary’s version of this quilt. I fondly remember phone calls with Gwen, where we would be looking through a particular book at the same time, discussing different quilts. I cherish those memories. I learnt so much from Gwen about studying antique quilts. I feel honoured to be the keeper, for now, of this piece of their story.
This is Mary Schafer’s version:
Giant Tulip Quilt, Flint, Michigan, United States, c.1980, 75” x 86”, Mary Vida Schafer. Collection Mary Elizabeth Kinch.
I love how Mary interpreted the outer border as two fabrics. She honoured how the tulips are articulated as in the original and her proportions were fairly true to the original as well. She changed up the value of the tulips, but I think the stems, leaves and sashing are fairly true to the colour value in the original.
And this is Gwen’s version:
Giant Tulip Quilt, Beaver Island, Michigan, United States, c. 1980, 70” x 80”, Gwen Marston and Joe Cunningham. Private Collection.
Gwen also interpreted how the tulips are articulated as in the original, but she changed up the colour and value distribution, as well as the proportion of the borders, and the finished size of the quilt.
Individual interpretations by each of them and I think both are grand successes! And doesn’t their quilting just make you swoon?
If you look at Mary and Gwen’s quilts you will notice that they have leaned towards a Baptist Fan quilting pattern with more rounded arcs. Now look at the original. Notice that the arcs have more of an angle to them, elbow quilting some call it. I have seen that in a lot of Southern quilts.
And although during my research I have only seen one other big single piece appliquéd tulip quilt (not to say there aren’t more out there) the other big tulip quilts that I saw were appliqués with more that one piece for the flower and they were predominantly from the south. So was this quilt made in Pennsylvania or did it travel there, or someone travelled there from the south and made it in Pennsylvania. Without proper provenance we will never know.
The old original inspiration quilt is no longer in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Gwen discovered when she wrote to the museum. I can say that in all the quilts I looked at for this year, this one I find totally enchanting and I will totally admit it is partly because of Mary and Gwen’s story. Wherever that old quilt has gone to, I am grateful those giant chunky tulips live on in their quilts.
What colours do you think the antique quilt was originally? What do you see in the quilting design? What kind of quilter do you think made it?
Hand-sewn Tulip Medallion Quilt, found in Oregon, United States, date unidentified, 76” x 73”, maker unknown. Found on Live Auctioneers.
This vintage quilt stopped me in my tracks. Modern looking before modern day modern was modern! Which truly continues to beg the question what truly is modern? This one has all the hallmarks … bold distinctive design with loads of negative space.
I think some of the green leaves and stems have faded, but that doesn’t change the graphic success of this design. There is a block in Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Applique that has some of the same elements of this block; the centre motif and the shape of the tulip petals on the top edges are different, but close enough to say that it could help date it: block 8.64, T. Tulip comes from a quilt c. 1935, Robertson/North Carolina, pg 76. So possibly 1930’s. I am so grateful for Brackman’s two incredible encyclopedias. I reference them often.
The quilting design is three concentric simple lines forming approximately 1/3 of a circle, creating a profusion of small-scale fans. A close up photo of the quilting is below.
Amish Applique Quilt, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States, c. 1895, dimensions unknown, maker unknown, current collection location unknown. Photo from New Discoveries in American Quilts, Robert Bishop, page 62).
Originally from Phyllis Haders’ collection, she wrote about this quilt: “Applique quilts made by the Amish are unusual. The tulip blossoms in this quilt have been cut from velvet, which may well represent an intrusion of Victorian taste into the culture of the plain people.”
For me, this quilt is stunning. I love how the deep chocolate brown ground sinks back, true meaning of background, and the way it makes the red, black, blue and white tulips pop, as the green stems and leaves sink gently into the middle ground. What looks like a tulip done all in one red fabric, is actually a red tulip done in two very close shades of red. That block along with the blue and black tulips that are similarly done in two low contrast fabrics, along with the single black tulip give a sweet charm to this quilt as well as places for the eye to rest. The stitching between the blocks, like seen on crazy quilts, is a delightful addition that adds significantly to the folky charm of the quilt, which is actually quite sophisticated in its design.
I adore this quilt. What about you? Do you see anything additional?
And does anyone know the location of this quilt now?
Cameron Art Museum Executive Director Anne Brennan writes, in relation to choosing this quilt as the anchor of the recent “The Work of Their Hands” exhibition: “We chose the tulip quilt made 170 years ago by a now unknown, enslaved woman in North Carolina, for its direct power to connect through its beauty and strength. In her time-honored design and choice of spare colors in orange, red, green and white, the beauty and excellence of her creation convey calm and continuum. Through her masterful stitchwork, still so alive, is sewn a story of strength and perseverance of all people connected with the quilt, many rebuilding a life in the face of despair.”
While crossed tulips may be a time honoured design, the makers skillful use of colour and value placement creates an engaging composition with a secondary design of what appears to be interlocking circles. While Brennan hit on the right words of calm and continuum, it is the complexity of the design that draws me in. I could stare at this quilt for hours. It is simply mesmerizing.
A quiltmaker, fabric designer, teacher, and speaker, Mary Elizabeth is also co-author of two best-selling books, “Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts” and “Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts“. She has been a featured guest on The Quilt Show with Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. And her work has been shown at international quilt shows and featured in many international quilting publications.
Mary Elizabeth believes in “Quilting With Abandon”, stretching traditional boundaries and creating quilts with a subtle salute to the past. She is enthusiastic about our quilting heritage and the lessons to be learned from the antique quilts she studies and collects. Her recent work examines the interpretation of traditional quilt designs through “gestured appliquéd lines” and the quilting stitch.
