“This is an almost square white cotton bed quilt appliquéd with cottons in red, green and yellow and stuffed in a four-block format. The design consists of four large floral vases (positioned on the center field with two right side up and two upside down). Each vase has two handles and a large abstract group of tulips, leaves and red berries cascading over the sides of the vases. Two red and brown birds perch within each spray of flowers. All the berries are stuffed or padded. The border on all four sides consists of pots of flowers with floral and leaf elements growing horizontally from the pots. It is quilted in 9 running stitches per inch in triple parallel lines on the diagonal and appliquéd with blind stitches. Chain stitches are used on some stems and birds legs. It is dated on reverse in outline stitch with the date “1862”. It is bound in the same green cotton that was used in the vases and foliage and backed with white cotton.”
A quilt similar to this one appears on page 242 of Carrie A. Hall and Rose G. Kretsinger’s book The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in American (New York, 1935), and the pattern is identified as “Pride of Iowa”. Barbara Brackman points out in her book, Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Applique, that this quilt block (Brackman 41.552 T Pride of Iowa) was likely an original 19thC design. And likely a very popular one, as I have seen several variations. There is a similar quilt in the collection of the Shelburne Museum, at Old Sturbridge Village and also in the Winedale Museum in Texas.
If you want to play around with different colourations, there is a colouring page available on the Shelburne Museum website here.
I have always loved these four block appliqué quilts and their delightful borders. I love even more the version Gwen Marston did (see photo below), taking her favourite elements from quilts like this one and paring this type of design down to perfection. Gwen loved studying antique quilts, but this design of hers is all her own. I love all the little idiosyncrasies that she added!
What elements would you chose, from the antique quilt above, to include in your version?
Gwen’s Tulip Pot and Cherries, Beaver Island, Michigan, United States, 1987, 66” x 66”, made by Gwen Marston. From the Collection of Brenda Marston.
Graphic 30’s Crossed Tulips Quilt Top, Origin location unknown, c. 1920-1930, 68” x 80”, maker unknown. Collection unknown. Source: Live Auctioneers.
This cheery quilt has such a strong secondary design, that you almost loose the tulips to the graphic check/plaid pattern and the motif developed with the crossing stems and leaves, but look right in the midst of all of that and there are the tulips!
From the close up picture below, it seems that the maker used raw edge appliquéd with large embroidered stitches, adding a delightful element to this quilt.
What technique do you like to use for appliqué? Raw edge machine stitched, Raw edge hand stitched? Needle-turn appliqué? Freezer paper technique? Interfacing technique?
Tulips, Hagerstown, Maryland, c. 1840-1850. 90″ x 88″. Maker unknown. Current location of quilt unknown. Photo from my archive (originally from America Hurrah Antiques, NYC).
This quilt is exquisitely made! The border has been executed with precision, the corners resolving perfectly in each one. The same is true of the half square triangle border where the colours mirror the patterning of the opposite border. The teeniest of variations can be seen in the appliquéd tulips with tiny bit more variety noted in the appliquéd centre stars. The maker’s attention to detail was fantastic.
The maker’s precision and attention to detail, combined with their eye for design is what sets this quilt apart. Several things contribute to this: the balance they created through the white space they left in the sashing between blocks and through the undulation of the border vines, while at the same time squishing that border vine and leaves right to the edges; the way a half square triangle in the border meets the middle of the tulip motifs adding to a sense of balance; and the combined visual energy of the spinning tulips and the undulating border. That last detail might feel a bit overwhelming or too busy to be successful, but with their combination of effects, the execution is perfection.
If you were to remake this quilt, would you change anything?
Red and green and cheddar is one of my favourite colour combinations in antique quilts. Interestingly enough, I have never made a quilt with this colour combination, always just admired them. I think that is going to have to change.
Two other things about this quilt knock my socks off, beyond the colour combination.
First, that piping! The floral blocks are 16″ square, so not small at all. Rather than adding wide sashing, the maker added very narrow red piping to define the blocks and outline the centre of the quilt just before the border. The piping adds a wonderful contrast to the weight of the floral arrangement in each block, and frankly I think it’s delicacy makes this quilt stand out as one that is notable. Notice how the maker continued the piping into the border in the lower right. Wonder what was up with that?
Second, those borders! They are are 10″ wide and many of the applique motifs are stuffed. Three of the borders share matching appliquéd motifs of undulating vines, tulips, leaves and hearts. The fourth is a departure with the hearts being replaced by stalks of berries. Notice how each of those stalks have their own personality, somewhat like how the maker of the quilt yesterday made slight but visually interesting alterations in the placement of some of the elements. These variations create to visual appeal, intriguing the eye.
The quilt is bound with 1/4″ finished binding and rounded corners.
I am so grateful to all those who shared their quilts during documentation days and to those volunteers who spent countless hours recording these magnificent works. This quilt, although made in Ohio, was part of the Arizona quilt documentation project.
I would love to hear your thoughts. That being said, the captcha on my website that allows you to leave comments is currently nonfunctional, but I would love to hear your comments over on Instagram or Facebook. Hopefully over Christmas I can get that fixed as I so love reading your thoughts and comments about the quilts.
Tulip Quilt, Origin unknown, collected in Ohio, United States, c. 1920, 70” x 82”, maker unknown. Available for sale at Julie Silber Quilts.
Another bold, folky, striking design to inspire us today.
Antique quilt dealer Julie Silber has looked far and wide since acquiring the quilt, to see if maybe this design was from a 20th century published pattern, but so far she hasn’t found a source and it seems to be one of a kind design. That being said, if you have an idea of the inspiration for this quilt let us know! It is such a stunning example of the maker going to town with her own idea.
While each block is the “same”, it is the lively little differences in each one that gives this quilt its charm: leaves that are set at just a tiny bit of an angle compared to it’s neighbour; yes three triangles on each side of the flower but some are a bit bigger than others or spaced or set a tiny bit differently; red crosswise sashing that almost match in some places, but are off just a bit. Are these really faults in design?
Somewhere along the way, in our glorious quilting history, perfection in quiltmaking became the focus and goal: teeny tiny quilting stitches, precision piecing and perfect applique. Quilter’s developed see-through templates to lay on top of blocks so that the elements would be placed precisely in the right spot before stitching down. Those quilts can be stunning without a doubt, and to be honest I have worked really hard to make circles as perfectly round as I could for one quilt. However, in that particular quilt of mine, their random layout gave me exactly what I personally wanted … a little liberated (as Gwen Marston would call it) quiltmaking interest. I am so glad the maker of this quilt didn’t let anything get in her way of creating this stunner!
And really isn’t that what Gwen’s liberated quiltmaking is all about? Finding a way, sometimes muscling your way through, as Gwen would say, to create the quilt we want to make the way we want to make it. It’s just the best in my opinion.
I would love to hear your thoughts. That being said, the captcha on my website that allows you to leave comments is currently nonfunctional, but I would love to hear your comments over on Instagram or Facebook. Hopefully over Christmas I can get that fixed as I so love reading what you have to say.
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.
