by Quilt Alliance | Sep 12, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1953, Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts married Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, a photographer for the Washington Times-Herald, at St. Mary’s church in Newport, Rhode Island. Wedding guests numbered over 750 and another 3,000 onlookers waited outside the church. Kennedy was elected U.S. President seven years later, the youngest man to ever take this office. This Kaleidoscope quilt top was made around 1919 in Newport, Rhode Island. The owner discovered the quilt and others in an old sea chest in his family home, and documented in the Rhode Island Quilt Documentation Project in 1992. From this record: “Owner is unsure of who made this and other quilts found with it, but believes it to be one of three women: Pamela Albro-owner’s great grandmother, Fanny Albro Barker-owner’s grandmother, or Rebecca Barker Dennis-owner’s aunt.” View this quilt on The Quilt Index to find out! Read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view or click the “See full record” link to see a larger image and all the data entered about that quilt. Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jfk-marries-jacqueline-bouvier Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Sep 11, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 2001, four coordinated terrorist attacks were carried out in the United States by al-Qaeda, an Islamist extremist group. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people from 93 nations. 2,753 people were killed in the World Trade Center in New York City, 184 people were killed at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and 40 people were killed on Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. Rebecca Magnus of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan made this Square in a Square quilt in 2001. She remembers: “I was tying the knots in the last two sections of machine quilting threads when I saw the 2nd plane hit the World Trade Center. This will forever be etched in my mind – where I was and what I was doing.” Magnus documented her quilt through the Michigan Quilt Project. Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/attack-on-america Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Sep 9, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1893, First Lady Frances Folsom Cleveland, the wife of President Grover Cleveland, gave birth to their second daughter, Esther, in the White House. The Cleveland child was not the first baby to be born in the White House; Thomas Jefferson’s daughter Martha Randolph gave birth to her son James Madison Randolph there in 1806. Louiza Sheardon of Iowa (Cold or Collins) made this Churn Dash Crib Quilt in July, 1893. A note sewn to the quilt reads: “John W. Phares. This brown calico with the little white and green specks in is a dress of your grand mother Paxton’s mother’s. Consequently it was little Louiza Phare’s Great Great Grand Mother’s dress. I made a present of this little quilt to my name-sake this 3rd day – july 1893 in the 74 year of my age. Your Aunt Lou Sheardon (Shardon?) Copied by Louiza’s Sister (Laura)” The owner of the quilt, a relative of Mary Louiza Phares, received it as a gift and documented it during the Florida Quilt Project. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to find out! Read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view or click the “See full record” link to see a larger image and all the data entered about that quilt. Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/presidents-child-born-in-white-house Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Sep 8, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1781, one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War took place in Eutaw Springs, on the banks of the Santee River in South Carolina. This was the last major battle of the Revolutionary war to take place in the South and casualties included 500 Americans and 700 British. Charlotte Evance Cordes hand quilted this wholecloth Tree of Life quilt around 1810 in St. Stephen’s Parish, South Carolina (about 25 miles east of Eutaw Springs). Cordes was the daughter of Major Thomas Evance, and the quilt remained with the family until 1983 when the family donated the quilt to the DAR Museum. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to find out! Read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view or click the “See full record” link to see a larger image and all the data entered about that quilt. Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bloody-battle-begins-at-eutaw-springs-south-carolina See photos of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church built in St. Stephens, S.C. in 1769 (still in use today). Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Aug 28, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have A Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial. Beverly Ann White of Pontiac, Michigan made this quilt, titled “View from the Mountain Top” in 1991. White made this quilt to teach students, family, and friends about important heroes in African-American history. The quilt features appliqued and embroidered portraits of Medgar Evers, Thrugood Marshall, Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tubman, Frances E.W. Harper, Sojourner Truth, Mary McLeod Bethune, Frederick Douglass, Ralph Bunche, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B. Dubois. [Dr. King’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech was delivered on April 3, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.] White donated her quilt to the Michigan State University Museum in 2003. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to find out! Read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view or click the “See full record” link to see a larger image and all the data entered about that quilt. Source: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/king-speaks-to-march-on-washington Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Aug 27, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1833, Margarethe Meyer Schurz was born in Hamburg, Germany. Schurtz studied education with Freidrich Froebel, the creator of the “kindergarten” concept, then moved to the U.S. and founded the country’s first kindergarten. The program, in Watertown, Wisconsin, lead young children in games, songs and group activities channeling their energy and preparing them for primary school. Maude Ada Franks Combs made this String Quilt in the 1930’s in Wellington, Texas. The quilt is foundation machine pieced and hand quilted and was one of many that Combs made for her family, teaching her daughter (who now owns the quilt) the “necessary homemaking arts” in the process. Combs’ daughter wrote: “I do not recall at what age she taught me to mark, cut, and string tiny pieces for intricate blocks, but when I was enrolled in kindergarten, I had scissor marks on my right hand and my thimble finger was already bent and I was not even five years old.” The quilt was documented during the Texas Quilt Search Project and is included in the book Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, Vol. II, 1936-1986, by Karoline Patterson Bresenhan and Nancy O’Bryant Puentes (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990. It was included in an exhibition by the same name at the 1990 International Quilt Festival, Houston, Texas. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to find out! Read more about its history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view or click the “See full record” link to see a larger image and all the data entered about that quilt. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarethe_Schurz Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
