07.06.08
Posted in Quilt Discoveries, Quilt History at 9:26 pm by Administrator
Since the beginning of March, I have felt blessed to have the opportunity to study the life and the work of Mrs. Webster. No, she is no relation to Daniel Webster, or to the famous Marie D. Webster, as far as we know. To tell you a little bit about her, she was a quilter and a quilt historian. Moreover, she was intelligent, kind, resourceful, and used her many talents. She gave lectures on a number of different topics. I came to know her by studying her so-called, quilt “charts.” They could not be more extraordinary if they were actual quilts, and perhaps they are extraordinary because she put so much time into their creation, when they were meant only for instruction in quilt history.
I have not received my copy yet but someone in Indiana called me today to say how much she enjoyed my latest article in The Quilter magazine, Sept. issue. I am always happy to hear from anyone, especially a dear soul who read the article twice!
There is always more to the story. In this case, there is a lot more. Every day, since March 8, 2008, I have spent many hours reading all of the articles Mrs. Webster wrote and learning about her family and her life. Two members of her family spent a day with us and provided all kinds of wonderful ephemera, letters, and photos, AND brought several quilts.
I have had the assistance of so many people on this project - historians, quilt historians, church people, museums, scientists, writers, other researchers, and others. I am so grateful!
Ultimately, I have gathered so much material together, there is way too much for a book! Jim took photos of every chart design and you just will not believe the amount of documented and researched information that will be on the CD that will be sold by the museum, for the museum.
Though I will not be rewarded in any tangible fashion, I have the satisfaction of having seen this project through to the end, and the joy of knowing that I did a thorough job of documenting the life and the work (all of it) of Ellen Emeline Hardy Webster, New Hampshire’s early quilt historian (1867-1950).
Watch for further announcements about the availability of the CD. Staff members are tied up with other pressing commitments. A tentative first available date is September 10. We’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, enjoy the magazine. I’m so thrilled to be a part of The Quilter!
Patricia Cummings
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04.15.08
Posted in Quilt Discoveries at 11:26 pm by Administrator
Beautiful Mosaic Rose Quilt, made in 1881, by Louise Henry McHaney (1821-1905).
When I was sent this photo by Lenn B. Jackson, I could not help but appreciate the 12,772, 5/8th inch pieces that her great, great grandmother sewed into this quilt. She found the pattern to make the quilt at the 1884 Cotton Exposition in New Orleans.
I had written an article for The Quilter magazine in 2002, that discussed a piece of (severed) Crazy Quilt with its silk commemorative ribbon that features the image of President Grover Cleveland. The article was the first that Ms. Jackson knew of my work, she claims.
Close-up view of the Mosaic Rose Quilt
The documentation sheet that she forwarded to me states that the colors of the quilt are brown, for the background, blue, green, pink, red, and yellow. The quilter assembled the quilt in squares, using 625,828 stitches (as counted by her husband), and 178,808 hand quilting stitches, worked diagonally. That Victorian time in which the quilt was made was one of more pieces and more stitches, the better.
Here is the quilt, draped over a dining room table.
The quilt took twelve months and twelve days to complete, and was displayed at Marshall Fields in Chicago, and at the St. Louis World’s Fair.
The brown fabrics are showing some deterioration. Many of the brown dyes of the day were mordanted with iron, and that is, no doubt, the problem. Unfortunately, there is no way to reverse the effect.
The overall size of the quilt is 76 1/4″ x 85 1/4″ - in other words, twin size, and it is 100% cotton with a solid brown cotton backing.
We thank Ms. Jackson for sending this information. We sure do love to see the photos that are frequently sent to us by our readers. This is the second mosaic quilt we have seen in a year. If anyone knows of any other ones, please let us know.
Patricia Cummings
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08.23.07
Posted in Quilt Discoveries, Quilts at 12:13 am by Administrator
The miniature quilt above was “born” in the most unconventional of ways. Let me tell you about the inspirations behind it. I was in an antiques store and spotted a fairly large, white box of hexagons (six-sided shapes.) They were still clinging to the paper shapes upon which they had been basted with white thread.
While I was looking through them, at the various colors and designs, I noticed that a green calico one with small motifs. This fabric was pieced over a black and white magazine print image of some official standing on the back of a train. Who was it?
Looking through a magnifying glass, my husband, Jim, and I discovered that the image was that of Harry Truman. A Time magazine article online, “When Politics Rode the Rails,” by Hugh Sidey, tells the story of how Truman made a major campaign sweep across the country, by rail, in 1948, making 356 speeches from the back of the train, and covering 31,700 miles.
I decided that this green fabric was special because of this association. So, I picked out the basting stitches on the larger hexagon shape, and cut much smaller hexagons to create the flower that you see above. Free hand, I added some stems and leaves with embroidery floss, for this abstract creation, and then decided to enclose the motif in an oval.
Undoing a picture frame, I overlaid the glass on top of the flower design in order to draw the shape I wanted. Then I pinned lace around, on the pencil mark, pinning the lace in place and tacking it in place with a yellow chain stitch. Since I’d just purchased some beads, with no particular intent in mind, I added those at intervals, and surprisingly, they were placed in an equidistant manner, all the way around, as you can see.
Next I decided that I wanted embroidered hearts in the corners. I added some borders and a little quilting, and here we are, a mini quilt that means something special to me just because it reminds me of a significant historical event in the history of the United States.
Keep in mind that this quilt seemed to develop on its own. I had no master plan in mind. I was just “tinkering.” Sometimes it is just fun to “play.” I was not making the quilt to enter into a show, or to publish in a magazine, or to be impressive, or to sell. I was simply creating something from the heart so that it could “be,” and for some unknown reason, I had to do it.
Remember to play. It’s good for the soul.
Pat
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