Quilts and Quiltmakers, Covering
Connecticut

by Patricia L. Cummings
 

A Show and Book Review

At "A Quilter's Gathering" Show in Nashua, New Hampshire in November, 2002, one of the participating vendors was selling the recent book which documents the quilt of Connecticut. This volume is thicker than most state project books, and it highlights many extremely wonderful and unique quilts discovered during Connecticut's documentation days.  This lovely book proved to be an incentive to visit an exhibit with the same title as the book at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, which ended January 12, 2002.

The postcard advertisement above was mailed out by the New England Quilt Museum to announce the show. The quilt shown is "Young Man's Fancy," circa 1830.

The quilts in the exhibit were a visual feast for the eye and featured many different styles and examples of quiltmaking of the nineteenth century. Upon climbing the stairs to the gallery area on the second floor of the museum, one was greeted by an appliqué quilt, finely executed in the manner of Quaker quilts from the southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware areas. This Album Quilt had been given to Zachariah and Hannah Marsh Ferris on their wedding anniversary in 1852. The bare branched tree, finely wrought, in the center of the quilt, is a tribute to Mr. Ferris, and the description of the quilt stated that the forty one branches represent all of the members of his extended family.

The block for his wife, features an anchor and the word, "Hope."  Reverse appliqué designs are seen in many of the blocks as well as in the border tulips. There were only two pieced blocks in the quilt which seemed to be a little out of place in light of the other motifs. The tiny size of the many of the designs, the inked words, the excellent distribution of colors (red, green, brown, yellow and blue), and the excellent appliqué work, would make this quilt a show stopper in any era.

Just around the corner from that was a very interesting quilt of the scrap bag variety which resembles a cobblestone pavement with mortar between the many shapes of varying print fabrics. The borders consisted of nine patch units set on point all the way around. The pieces were appliquéd down, leaving bleached muslin background channels showing through in a manner which one might call reverse stained glass appliqué.  The name of that quilt is "Stone Wall," and was made by Florence Briggs Haviland in 1866. Its unusual construction may have been a precursor to a quilt called "Boston Pavement" made in Boston in 1895, that was also on  exhibit that day.

Some of the displayed quilts were of the everyday variety and others were simply fabulous "best" quilts. A Tumbling Blocks quilt with all those old yummy chocolate colors and other typical colors from the nineteenth century, caught my eye. In this scrap quilt, it was nice to see that so many prints had been available to the quiltmaker.

There were two Log Cabin quilts hung side by side, one of which was a Courthouse Steps and the other a traditional Barn Raising pattern.  There were several Friendship quilts in the exhibit. On one, each name had been written, embroidered in red floss, and enclosed by embroidered outline-stitched rectangles.

A silk and satin quilt in the shape of Connecticut was laying flat across a table. Made in 1886, we assumed that it was probably too fragile to hang vertically. A very gorgeous quilt that was also displayed flat was made of silk pieces by a quilter who worked in a silk factory and thus had access to silk fabrics. She had embroidered original designs of flowers and birds on the crazy quilt that she had highly embellished resulting in a most impressive quilt.

Interspersed with the museum's permanent collection in one small room were other Connecticut quilts. A striking double sided green and white appliquéd quilt hanging from a stand in the middle of the room was intriguing. Each side had a different set of appliqué motifs, and the quilter had achieved fine quilting by crosshatching right through all of the designs in the central part. She added the clamshell quilting pattern on the borders.

One of my favorites was a quilt called Star and Baskets, circa 1865-1890. The pieces of some of the baskets were so teeny!  I loved the way that Time had unevenly stained the muslin to a light brown in places, giving the background a shadowy effect that could never be equally replicated by tea-dyeing or any other modern method. The center was a huge star and the workmanship over the entire quilt was exquisite. Especially compelling were the many narrow borders and the elongated sawtooth edging, seemingly by  hundreds of elongated, sharp pointed units, around the perimeter of the quilt.

All of the quilts were fun to see. One of them was called the "Hired Man's Quilt" made by Annie McIravey Emmons, circa 1930, which was composed of wool including sleeves from jackets. If only quilts could talk, what a tale we might hear from that one!

As usual, the trip to the New England Quilt Museum was superb and well worth the trip! The staff, mostly volunteers, are always especially friendly and helpful. After seeing the exhibit, we enjoyed shopping in the gift shop which is just too tempting. There is much to choose from their wide selection of books, magazine, Japanese fabrics, 1930s fat quarters, framed artwork of quilts, postcards, jewelry, wall hangings, note cards, and quilted clothing!

The gals in Connecticut are to be commended on their exceptional  work in documenting the lives of the state's early quiltmakers and presenting their findings so eloquently. For those who love antique quilts, Quilts and Quiltmakers:  Covering Connecticut will be a must-have addition to any personal collection of state documentation research books. The book is wonderful but to be able to see these marvelous treasures in person was a treat!

©Copyright 2002. Patricia Cummings, Quilter's Muse Publications, Concord, NH. e-mail:  pat@quiltersmuse.com