Patchwork Coverlet (no batting), Friesland, Netherlands c. 1790-1800, 210 cm. x 182 cm., Maker unknown. From the collection of the Fries Museum, Leeuwarden, Netherlands. Inv. No. 1937-316.
Simple repetition, expertly executed, defines this quilt, but it’s apparent simplicity belies its complexity that is at the root of its beauty. I have always liked this quilt since I first saw it, and having the time to dive deeper into it, to present it to you, enlightens me as to why.
Let’s take a closer look at the rounds of borders, or frames, rippling out from the centre. The alternating light and dark borders create a soothing rhythm as does the harmonious collection of fabrics used in each border. The second border is comprised of medium value fabrics that differentiate themselves just ever so slightly from the first and third borders. This use of value allows the rhythm to appear unbroken, while creating a more open lighter area for the centre area of interest to visually have room to breathe. The maker also skillfully used placement of colour in the second border to add visual interest and movement. Notice that the sixth border is also just ever so slightly lighter than the other darker borders, again not breaking the rhythm but definitely surprising the eye with its subtle difference. The final border with the blue triangles adds the bit of calm respite the quilt needs from the measure visual flow across the quilt, and helps to contain the design by the very nature of its difference from all the other colours in the quilt. That and the fact that the long edge of the blue triangles surround the outside edge of the quilt.
And finally, that centre star. At first you might not perceive that the spikes of the star fall ever so slightly off the centre medallion background into the first border. A tiny but not insignificant detail. The star is appliquéd on thereby avoiding the need for piecing the star into the background, and attaching the star this way allows the encroachment, as if the energy of the star was too much for the centre of the quilt to contain.
Unusual Abstract Design, Aberystwyth, Wales, UK, c. 1910, 196 x 220 cm, Maker: Mrs. Annie Davies. From the collection of Jen Jones.
Well doesn’t this one just make your eyes want to pop. Trust a Welsh quilt made in 1910 to be quilting like it’s 2020! Or wait, is it the other way around? Are some of us quilting now like it is 1910?
At first glance it seems like a bit of chaos in the middle of this quilt, but there is indeed a centre area of interest, a square on point, surround by a striped first border. Do you see the patterning in these stripes that makes it work so well?
I love, love, love the half-square triangles in the next border, some rotated and some made to fit with coping strips. The “co-ordinated” corner stones try to work to calm the whole thing down. Two borders top and bottom are used for vertical asymmetry here. And finally that bold pieced border. What fun!
Jen notes, that this is an “unusual abstract design in psychedelic colours made in 1910 by Mrs. Annie Davies in her flat above a drapers shop in Chaleabite Street, Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire. She supplied quilts to various shops in the local area.” (My note: Chaleabite is also known as Chalybeate)
A little bit about Jen Jones if you don’t know about her. She has the world’s expert on Welsh quilts, and has the largest and by far hands down best collection of Welsh quilts in the world. An American transplanted to the UK many, many years ago, she came upon some Welsh quilts shortly after moving there and began collecting and preserving what were at the time neglected, discarded and not very highly prized treasures of Welsh quilting heritage. Thank goodness she took up that torch. You can find out more about Jen’s book on Welsh quilts here. Her museum, in Lampeter, Wales, where she exhibits her quilts, is a must stop for anyone who loves quilts and is travelling in the UK. And stop by the café beside the museum, at the very least for some Welsh cakes and tea. You won’t be sorry.
Pieced Quilt, Tide Mill Pattern, Ossining, New York, c. 1785-1810, 97” x 91”, Maker: Mary Dingee Priestley (1767-1849) From the collection of the Shelburne Museum.
Don’t you wonder about her thought process when making this quilt? It’s a bold choice to place the block segments in the first border the way she did. If you visualize changing the segments to a more conventional setting, like courthouse steps, for example, you would get two sections that are small and the quilt just wouldn’t sing as it does, nor visually move the way it does.
The four pinwheel corner posts in the final border anchor the diagonal movement of the centre pinwheel, almost visually by passing that busy second border on the way out to them.
This quilt is sophisticated simplicity. I wouldn’t change a thing about this quilt. Would you?
Medallion with borders of Birds in the Air, New Jersey, c. 1895, 82” x 74”, Maker unknown. Last known location: Private Collection. (This information came from the Treasure of American Quilts, 1984) Update: 18 Dec 2020. Now held in the collection of the Denver Art Museum. A gift in 2008 from Guido Goldman, collection number 2008.406.
It is held in the collection with the following information: Competition Quilt, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (uncertain), c. 1895, 70″ x 66″, Maker unknown. Tag at bottom right corner reads: #51 Quilt 70″ x 66″.
If quilt #2 this year was “Wow”, this quilt is “Woozer”!
Where do I start? The varying sizes of half square triangles that are used in different borders? That first border with the diamonds, carefully alternating colours in each one to advantage? Those teeny tiny dogteeth in the second border or the tiny sawtooth pieces in the third? That zig zag in the next one is sublime, but it’s those four patches in the corner of that border that have me swooning. Can you find the blue and black pinwheels?
As you look at the half square triangles in each of the borders can you imagine her order of piecing? Was this a “pocket project”? Bits of fabric in an apron pocket sewn together in stolen moments of time? That one dogtooth border whose red triangles point inwards, defying established pattern. Could you do that?
And again, we find vertical asymmetry and the addition of that top border. Are you seeing a trend here? Will I find this detail on your next quilt?
Delicious, delicious, delicious! My small piece loving heart is bursting!
Many times, I can follow the path of custodianship that a quilt has travelled, following it as it went over the years from named private collection to auction to museum. This one evades me. The only listing I could find placed this quilt in “Private Collection” and yet I feel as if in my online travels I have seen it listed somewhere else. If someone knows more about this quilt’s whereabouts, please let us know in the comments below.
Update 18 December 2020: from reader Laura Lane. This quilt is now held in the Denver Art Museum and was the gracious gift of Guido Goldman. A fascinating man whom you will want to read about here in this New York Times article. Thank you Laura! I love this community!!
At first glance it would be easy to pass this quilt by as being pretty tame. But oh no! We are not going to do that!
First of all, those fine lines that fill the north, east, south and west background blocks of the star add so much to this design. Take them away and then the quilt becomes definitely become a little tamer.
The first border is actually a “coping” border that is finished to the width needed to have the flying geese borders finish nicely. Remember that phrase, “there is more than one way into a castle?”
And colour placement. The second border has a strong sprinkling of navy fabrics on the left, a few on the right and a couple that turn the corner at the bottom. This placement pulls the eye nicely around the quilt. Border three puts those navy highlights just on the left side, balanced out by a few dark browns on the other sides. The fourth border puts those navy pieces around three sides, leaving the right side more open visually with its softer colours. And then there is that delicious final sawtooth border that is only at the top, with its smattering of darker fabrics.
Could they have distributed all the darker navy notes more evenly around the quilt? Yes. Am I glad they didn’t? Definitely!
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.
