January 16 – 22, 2004
These restored messages come from the Quilt History List, an online forum where quilt historians, collectors, researchers, appraisers, and enthusiasts discussed antique quilts and related textiles. The archive dates from 1996 through approximately 2016 and is being restored gradually. Sign up in the form at the bottom of the page if you want to know when a new page is added. Original spelling, opinions, formatting, and inactive links may remain unchanged.
Primary topics of this QHL Digest:
- World War II Quilts, Continued — Members continue sharing what they know about quilts connected to World War II and the sources documenting them.
- The “Judy Ringo” Running Joke — An extended, affectionate bit of list banter builds around the nickname “Judy Ringo,” playing on Old West gang references.
- Traditional British Quilts — A thread compares British quiltmaking traditions and terminology with American practice. (see the article on quilting in Europe)
- Probate Inventories and the Word “Quilt” — Members discuss 18th-century probate records where “quilt” was used to mean a quilted petticoat, not a bed covering.
From: “Maurice Northen”
Oh, Gail, this is better than Scarlett and Rhett anytime!
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 10:08:12 -0500 | From: candace@
That’s a really interesting post, Brenda…I wish they’d included more geographic information and something regarding the country of origin of the people in question. Were the PA people Quakers, I wonder?
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 08:15:24 -0600 | From: SadieRose@
Lynn, Is the Signature quilt database just for antique quilts, or are ‘contemporary’ quilts wanted, too?? Thanks, Karan in chilly Iowa
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 16:28:41 -0600 | From: “Mary Persyn” <Mary.Persyn@>
Dear Xenia,
I’m not going to be able to make the tour this Saturday.
Mary
___________________________________________ Mary G. Persyn Law Librarian & Associate Professor of Law School of Law Library Valparaiso University 656 S. Greenwich St. Valparaiso, IN 46383 mary.persyn@ phone: 219-465-7830 fax: 219-465-7917
—–Original Message—– From: Xenia Cord Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2004 2:53 PM To: Quilt History List Subject: [qhl] Midwest Fabric Study Group
The Midwest Fabric Study Group will wind up our study of chintz with a visit January 17th to the Speed Museum, Louisville. There we will sigh over the Smithsonian traveling exhibit of Patricia Smith’s calico and chintz quilts. We will meet in the museum lobby between 10:30 and 11, have a docent-led tour at 11, then revisit the quilts on our own. Fee is a minuscule $3 each for the docent. Lunch is also on our schedule!
Anyone in the vicinity is welcome to join us – at last count we had about 30 people coming from Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
For directions, go to www.speedmuseum.org and click on “Planning A Visit.” Even if you can’t join us on the 17th, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to see such wonderful quilts.
Xenia
From: “crossland_n_j Crossland”
There was some discussion over the holidays of the Sanitation Quilt on Display in Vermont. I took a few pictures of it and was going to post them. Can someone tell me how to do that? I went to the Quilt History list and didn’t see where to do it. Do I need to have it on my website? I’m not sure it is still working but I could do another one. Thanks, Julie Crossland from Cold NH
From: Gail Ingram
I do not know why I’m doing this. It runs counter to my own interests as part of the Judy Ringo gang. But, Xenia, you have been so generous with me, and Mary has often been forthcoming with information and is a good Midwesterner who is employed at my best friend’s alma mater.
Do you people know a gang like, say, just for illustrative purposes, of course, the Judy Ringo Gang, could descend on your homes in your absences and you could come home to find nothing but sheets on your beds and not even that UNDER your beds and in your bins? And, if you are as I suspect you are, you have invested more in quilts than in sheets.
So, perhaps it would just be a good thing for each study group to get a little code and then to watch which button members are hitting on their computers.
A word to the wise, The Louisiana Kid
From: do@
I have just picked up the request for my book ‘Traditional British Quilts’. Regrettably it has been out of print for several years. I have had no stock myself for some time and usually direct enquirers to the used book web sites. However I have recently tracked down two new copies and hope to acquire them soon. I’ll post a notice if and when I get them.
I do have plenty of copies of North Country Quilts which Karen kindly referred to. Contact me direct for details.
Dorothy Osler
Date: Mon, 19 | From: “Jean Carlton” <jeancarlton@>
I had the opportunity to see the indigo exhibit at the Lentz Center on the campus of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln on my way from Mn to Arizona. I really enjoyed it – and learned a lot about the process of applying indigo dyes. It’s one thing to read text about it but another thing to read and be able to see an example at the same time. There were 13-15 quilts; pieced, applique and whole cloth examples as well as an Indian Palampore (1750-1800) in excellent condition. I was thrilled to find the last rotation of the Sarah Miller Amish crib quilts also being shown. (same building). I had seen the first group last April and was delighted to get to see more this time through. If you’re nearby, or in the mood for a road trip you will not be disappointed! Jean Carlton ps – check the website for the ending date. I can’t find my brochure at the moment.
Date: Mon, 19 | From: “Jean Carlton” <jeancarlton@>
Does anyone know which issue of QNM has an article written by Barbara Brackman on finishing old quilt tops? Thanks. Jean
Date: Tue, 20 Jan
Question for Dorothy: is there anything in print on the pieced silk chasuble owned by the Talbot family? Someone on a re-enactment mailing list I’m on is looking for information, and the only thing I could find in print was the Jill Liddell book. I remember there was some discussion on it at In Search of Origins (and the consensus was that it was probably 18th century, not 16th century) but wondered if there was anything in the scholarly literature.
Thanks in advance. I hope everyone survived the holidays!
Karen Evans Easthampton, MA
From: “Nancy Roberts”
I’m paring down my collection of quilt-related materials and have the following available for anyone who is preserving quilt ephemera: Quilt Engagement Calendar 1982; 12/84 notes and sample unit of Curved Two-Patch; “Quickest Quilt in the World” clipping from WD 1977; 1986 article on hand applique from Threads. Please e-mail me if you would like to have these items. Nancy Roberts
From: Laurajbr@
I’d love to havev them if I’m not too late, Nancy.
Laura Brooker
From: ngibson@
The best source for information about 18th century quilts listed in probate inventories is the now out-of-print catalogue (look online) titled: First Flowerings: Early Virginia Quilts. It was published by the DAR Museum in 1987 and written by Gloria Seamen Allen. I was the researcher who actually studied the inventories recorded in York and Loudon Counties Virginia between 1780 – 1840. Gloria wrote a very thorough analysis of the inventories. Gloria and I later wrote the book A Maryland Album: Quiltmaking Traditions 1634-1934, which is the book based on the Maryland state quilt documentation project. Lots of inventories were used as primary documentation in the book-read the footnotes. To sum up: quilts were rare in the 18th century and were made by women with time and money. Also, many re-enactors purchased the DAR Museum line of cottons produced by P & B fabrics several years ago. A couple of the fabrics were based on 18th century cotton prints in the collection. They are frequently used by re-enactors in reproduction costumes and bedcovers. I frequently see them on Ebay, although most are not the document color way used by the re-enactors.
Nancy Gibson, formerly DAR Museum textile curator Media Relations Manager DAR 1776 D Street, NW Washington, DC 20006 (202) 879-3238 (202) 412-3246 mobile
Date: Tue, 20 Jan | From: Ivory22986@
you know this is so sad I just started Quilting the local collage offer a class last fall! I love it and I good at it !! I love making the blocks it is just so sad that I had to wait until this late in life to find this great joy! Ivory So Many Quilts To Make So Little Time
From: Gail Ingram
Joan,
We’ve just moved from the Southeast to the Wild West.
And most of us are of a certain girth that makes being carried up the stairs no easy task. So………….
Also wanted to tell you that your computer calendar registered 10/17/03—thus the message got dumped at the bottom on my in-box.
How are things in Texas? You really ought to come join us the weekend of Feb 7th.
Gail
From: quilter@
Isn’t it also true that items mentioned as “quilts” in these early probate inventories could well have been quilted petticoats? The mention of the linings in the inventories made me especially think of petticoats. Karen
From: ngibson@
In inventories the appraiser usually would have described a petticoat as a petticoat even if it was quilted, if clothing was listed at all. Clothing wasn’t always listed in household inventories. It is a wealthy person indeed who has a lot of clothing listed in an 18th century inventory. But you do find them in dry good store listings, too.
Nancy Gibson Media Relations Manager DAR 1776 D Street, NW Washington, DC 20006 (202) 879-3238 (202) 412-3246 mobile
From: “Lynne Z. Bassett”
In New England, it was common to call a quilted petticoat a “quilt” in the 18th century. I have seen the term used frequently not only in probate inventories, but in wills also, and there is no question that it’s a quilted petticoat that is being discussed.
Best, Lynne
From: “Dorothy Osler” <do@>
There is a section on the Wardour Chasuble in the paper ‘A Comparative Study of the 1718 Silk Patchwork Coverlet’ by Bridget Long in the Special Issue of Quilt Studies (issue 4/5, pp. 60-63) which includes all the research findings on the silk patchwork coverlet dated 1718. Quilt Studies is the journal of the British Quilt Study Group and is available from the Quilters’ Guild office (email: jane@).
The chasuble is now thought to be 18th century and there is a small b/w photograph of it within the paper.
Hope this helps
Dorothy Osler
From: “crossland_n_j Crossland”
I’ve posted the pictures of the Sanitation Quilt from Vermont to the website. When I reduced the pictures to the size 3.5 by 3.5 required by the site, the details were lost. If you want me to email you the original size, please email me crossland_n_j@ and I’ll send them. The detail is much better. Sorry this is so late but I had to locate my CD with the pictures.
Don Beld helped me find the site by telling me to do a search of vintagepictures.eboard.com. That is how I would go to the site. It would be great if the web address was at the bottom of the QHL. Kris, is that possible?
Julie Crossland, from cold Hudson, NH
From: “Cinda Cawley” <lrcawley@>
Maybe those people in Indiana cancel because of bad weather (G), but we in the Mid-Atlantic are made of sterner stuff. It was ugly on Sunday, but we still had a core group of about a dozen at the Fabric Dating Club meeting on signature quilts. Because the group was so much smaller than usual we spent a lot more time looking at each quilt. We talked about the importance of documenting the names on contemporary signature and friendship quilts. Hazel Carter put it very well when she observed that “it doesn’t make much sense to wait until everybody who knows anything about the quilt is dead.” It occurs to me that the fabulous reproduction of the Samuel Williams quilt made by the Baltimore Applique Society is also a signature quilt since the names of everyone who worked on it are inscribed, by Susan McKelvey, in the glorious triple vine border. By the way, don’t forget that this is a raffle quilt. Have you got a ticket? (I’m not even a member of BAS, I just think it’s the most amazing raffle quilt ever made!).
We had better luck Monday with the weather for FVF. A good thing too, because I can’t imagine trying to get to Fran’s mountain top in a snowstorm. Fran is curating the antique exhibit for Quilt Odyssey in Hershey, PA this summer. She asked us to bring red and white quilts. There will be a redwork sequence from blocks (Quaddie Quilties) to top (my 1905 memorial piece with bible scenes and fraktur letters) to finished quilt (with an unusual set). Also in red and white we saw a really cute Flying Geese crib quilt, a gorgeous Feathered Star with a border of tulips on a fat vine, a pattern Brackman calls Indian Summer (looks like a NY Beauty variation to me), a Storm at Sea. We got a full report on the vexing question of straw mattresses and effete matter (I’m sure we all feel much better now) and on the textile seminar which the Lancaster Heritage Center had the colossally poor judgement to have at the time that many of us were in Dallas at AQSG. I hate schedule conflicts!
There was a charming quilt top brought back from Michigan, the Trees and Wreath shown in Plate 160 of the Quilt Engagement Calendar Treasury. A great 1880s dress led to many endorsements of “Dressed for the Photographer.” We all love the books that make us sound smart. Nursery Rhyme Sue was a doll quilt found in McKinney, TX. Also from the 1930s there was a great collection of String Stars. I brought a Poppy kit quilt (orange flowers with stems and leaves in two shades of brown–Xenia any idea of a date) that I found on the way home from the Dating Club on Sunday. It was so cheap I had to buy it. A New Year’s day auction produced a most unusual red and green applique where two different blocks were arranged to produce a medallion effect–very interesting. An exquisite 1830 Peony variation had a huge variety of fabrics, three different kinds of pieced peonies and an amazing use of fabric in the stems. It has cut out corners and a wonderful border that looks very French (my most coveted object of the day).
A wonderfully quilted Bear’s Paw inscribed “Kate Rupp, Jan. 12, 1844” had been cut down by a third. Pennsylvania was represented by two amazing dresser scarves with appliqued Whig Roses in red, orange and green and a Bucks Co. strippy from the 1860s. There were two Rolling Stones both probably circa 1870: one with stamped signatures the other inscribed in fraktur letters. I brought my 1860s Love Apple from Dauphin Co. with machine applique and great hand quilting. The showstopper was a newly discovered Baltimore Album. They do keep popping up. This one was found in a trunk by people settling an estate. The blocks were assembled and quilted in the 1930s, but what blocks they are! Most are signed and many include “Baltimore 1847.” There are 25 blocks and among them they represent many of the elements seen at the current BMA exhibit. There’s a “bird and book” block of the Mary Simon (designer one) style, blocks with details embroidered in wool, a woven basket, a paper cut block (not a very ambitious one) and a variety of lovely wreaths and bunches of flowers. The quilt was finished by adding plain borders of an Ely Walker-type red calico which probably looked appropriate to the quilter. It was an exciting thing to see. In our heart of hearts we all expect to find something like that at the next auction or estate sale. It’s only a matter of time and stopping at every country antique shop I see. Cinda on the Eastern Shore
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 14:57:33 | From: KareQuilt@
Brackman’s “Quilting & Finishing Old Tops” is in QNM #183 pg. 20. She also wrote “Old Tops: To Quilt or Not” which is in QNM #182 (May 1986) pg. 26.
Karen B. Alexander Press Secretary – The Quilters Hall of Fame
From: “ChrisB”
Sorry forgot the link http://www.road2ca.com/2004winners.html
From: “J. G. Row” <JudyGrow@>
I sent this last night at 10 PM but it hasn’t shown up yet. It may still show up, but I’ll send it again to be sure. JKG
Studio Study Group met here at the Ringoes hideout where the quilt police can never find us, on Tuesday. Although we didn’t have black ice that I know of (there is nothing that could get me on the road at 6:00 AM — I’d go the day before and sleep over), at 9:30 AM my long uphill driveway was snow and ice covered and the 1 1/2 mile local road was only plowed and cindered. That didn’t stop 15 intrepid quilt lovers from making it here for a day of mostly star studded quilts. Altogether we flapped over 50 quilts, large and small (mostly large).
We saw huge stars and little bitty stars, Strip stars, and Lone stars, Bethlehem stars and Expanding stars, Lemoyne stars and Rolling stars, Touching stars and Broken stars.
We saw quilts that were made in New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Ohio, Massachusetts, California, Kentucky, Maryland, Colorado, Texas, and somewhere in New England.
We also saw a couple of Log Cabins, and Irish chain, 9-patch, Devil’s claw, Carpenter’s Wheel, Hexagons, a piece of untranslated blue work, pin cushions, and a hand-quilted petticoat. We saw a remarkable early two-sided quilt, stars on one side, flying geese in strips on the other.
One late 19th century Ohio Star quilt took the prize for the happiest and silliest quilt of the day. The maker obviously thought hard about her fabric choices and spent good dollars to get the right fabrics — blocks of double pink and double blue with a madder print paisley, sashing of another double, but looking very pumpkin, corner stones of the double blue and pink — and then it’s as if she despaired of the time it would take to quilt. So she tied it, 9 times in every block, every tie on top of a black felt circle (each perhaps 1 1/4″) which was topped by a slightly smaller red felt circle. The ties, too were of a couple of colors of wool, regularly placed in pattern around the quilt. It was the first tied quilt I’ve ever coveted! You couldn’t help but feel happy every time you would look at it.
One of our members travelled over 2 hours to be with us, knowing she would have to leave right after lunch to travel the 2 hours home for an appointment scheduled at 4 PM. We are so glad she went to all that trouble, and would have missed her if she had taken the easy way out.
I wish you all could have been with us.
The gang will meet again at the same hideout, on March 16th. Our subject will be flowers and springtime. If it feels like spring, bring it to show.
In the meantime,
“Happy trails to you……..”
Judy “the Ringo Kid ” in Ringoes, NJ judygrow@
