DECEMBER 21, 2019
Wagon Wheel, Location unknown, c. 1920, 66″ x 79″, Maker Unknown. From the collection of Nancy Ray.
Darwin Bearley, antique quilt dealer and renowned Amish Quilt expert (you really should find his book on Amish Quilts, it’s superb) sent me a Facebook message saying that this quilt is not Amish. He would know. Prompted by his messaged I contacted Julie Silber to get more information about the quilt and clear up for me why I thought it was Amish. Why did I contact Julie Silber? She was the antique quilt dealer who sold the quilt to Nancy Ray, and since the quilt was identified in the sales listing as being ex-Esprit Collection and Julie was the curator of the Esprit Collection, if anyone would have information on the quilt and know more details it would be her.
Here is what Julie wrote back to me when I messaged her and asked for more info on the origins of this quilt:
“Not Amish, but it was part of the Esprit Collection. After Doug (Tompkins) left, having sold his half of the business to Susie (Tompkins), the collection broadened. Susie added non- Amish quilts, starting with very High Style examples like Baltimore Album Quilts, and then onto this kind of more everyday, but no less wonderful kind of quilt. Rule of Thumb — Amish quilts made during hte classic period (when they were making quilts for themselves, 1880 – about 1960) do not have printed fabrics. There are exceptions, but not very many. This quilt is Southern — and I can not remember more about its history — but it is not an Amish quilt. It’s a simple and completely understandable error. Esprit was known for SO many years as having Amish quilts exclusively. That change came very late in the game.”
So there you have it. With egg on my face, lesson learned. Don’t assume. Which I did. I assumed that because this quilt was ex-Esprit collection that it was Amish. If I had put aside the “ex-Espirit Collection” history of the quilt and thought about it, I should have realized that because of the printed fabrics it was not Amish.
I love this quilting community we belong to and their generosity. A huge thank you to Darwin Bearley and Julie Silber for clarifying things. I most sincerely apologize for this error. It is still a lovely quilt and I will leave the description below. And on the 26th I will have one final quilt to make it up to 12.
Here is the original comments about this quilt (which is NOT Amish!!!!)
This quilt (which we now know is not Amish) appreared in the second book that I co-authored,
Small Pieces, Spectacular Quilts. I had limited room for captions. I have all the space I need here. Grab a cup of tea. I’ll wait for you! This quilt’s graphic and bold re-proportioning of a Nine Patch block, is one of the details that make this quilt spectacular. I love how the block background of the corner wheels overlaps with the block background of the centre wheel, giving them more connection than if the corners had just been touching as in a traditional Nine Patch. The concentric rings emphasize the movement created by the piecing of the wheels. And all of this circular movement is tempered by the calming straight diagonal quilting lines in the setting blocks … such a lovely way to create balance.
The deep blue background, of the pieced blocks, really lets the colours in the piecing shine bright, making the lights in the piecing pop as well as emphasizing the reds and blacks. The colour palette is fairly tight in this quilt: clarets, indigos, shirtings, red, browns, taupes, some double pinks, and morning prints (black prints) and no yellows or purples. The consistency of this colour story adds tranquility into a quilt that is otherwise very busy visually. Well … that colour story is consistent except for that lower right block where some cheddar was added and some wonderful greens too. Notice how the greens are balanced out in that one block, between outer rings and the inner ring, and between one side and the other … well sort of. It works. It adds a bit of punch and again if you took the cheddar and green away you would miss them.
And you don’t notice right away the different proportions of the setting rectangles, but their difference just adds more visual delight.
I have a deep fondness for this quilt. It is as spectacular in person as it is in the photo.
DECEMBER 20, 2019
Split Bars Quilt, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. c. 1925, 82″ x 78″, Maker Unknown. Was in the collection of American Hurrah Antiques.
Isn’t. This. Just. Beyond. Gorgeous?
Two things about this quilt.
First the bars are running sideways. It is more common to see Amish Bar quilts with the bars running vertically not horizontally. And they are split bars. Love the split. So many opportunities open up because of it! (sorry bad pun! Couldn’t help myself.)
Second. This quilt is all about colour. Just bask in it. Soak it up. It’s phenomenal. And glowy. And I never would have thought to put this combination together. Ever. And every single one of the five colours is essential to the design. Just as they are. No one colour over powers the others. They create depth and highlight. They make space for the eye to rest. They create movement. No subtlety here of three different reds used or a dozen different pinks. Nope! It is just all the same colours, placed exquisitely, for maximum effect.
I. Wouldn’t. Change. A. Thing.
What do you think?
DECEMBER 19, 2019
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?
DECEMBER 18, 2019
Lattice Crib Quilt, Haven, KS, c. 1930, 43″x53″, Maker Unknown. From the Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown.
Where do I begin with this one? It is wonderfully complex in it’s simplicity. Is it a strippy quilt or is it a medallion?
The layers … the optical layers … of this quilt create great visual intrigue, and this is most apparent in the centre section of the quilt. The delightful palette of the one patches is unified by the consistency of colour in the strings of each strip. That red string strip. Wowzer. Again, if you were to change out the red strings in that row to green or blue or more pink/peach one, you would miss the red. It makes the quilt. Equally important is how the some of the pink string blocks in the right two strips are blended out, the strings being so close in colour to the “background” of the block. This gives the eye a place to rest in what is a very visually active quilt.
The black outer border does all the work in holding this quilt together. That being said, it relates beautifully to the delicate border that is created with the black string blocks on the blue and pink borders, adding again to the sense of complex yet simple. The fact that the top and bottom black string border block colours are different colours from the side black string border blocks adds to the visual interest. Using the lighter pink based black string border blocks (sorry no easier way to say that!) on the sides seems to visually expand the width of the quilt. The delicate difference in the shades of pink in those blocks creates even more visual variety in a subtle way. By the way, it didn’t bother her one bit that the corners of the black string block border did not resolve consistently in all the corners.
And that one black block in the one patch section is the perfect balance to both the purple one patch and the red string strip.
I like the spunkiness of this quilter.
What’s your favourite element of this quilt?
DECEMBER 17, 2019
Square Within A Square, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, c. 1895, Maker Unknown. Indicated as from the Esprit Collection
I look at this quilt and sigh with delight.
The simple pieced design is such a wonderful canvas for the exquisite quilting designs. The concentric circles of feathers in the centre draw you into the quilt and spin your eye around. The edges of the diamond grid in the corners of the central medallion are softened with a gentle scallop design. That delightful scallop continues on, running along the inner edge of the narrow border between each of the diamond grid sections of quilting. Such wonderful attention to detail. And the un-quilted areas between the diamond grid and the centre circles are import as negative space providing a smooth transition between the two sets of motifs. As well, it helps introduce and in fact emphasize the octagon shape that is created. The geometric nature of the quilting design in the narrow border is nicely balanced by the four leaves in the centre of each wee “square on point”. As for the outer border, the wonderful swirling and undulating feathers entice our eyes to wind our way around the quilt again and again. (Sigh!) They’re wonderful!
I adore the gold with the purple. That teal narrow border is just the right colour and pops visually. (Another wonderful sigh of delight). The icing on the cake? That binding … it is a brighter blue than the teal, but at first glance you don’t notice that they are not the same. If they had been the same, I think it would have been boring. And I might not have thought that it would work having the centre and narrow border colours so close in value, so close that they almost disappear into one another when you squint at it, but it does. There’s just enough difference. Perfection. Absolute glowing perfection.
Would you have ever considered this colour combination? What do you think of it.
