On this day in 1860, Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA was born in Savannah, Georgia. Known to her family as Daisy, Ms. Low had a lifelong interest in the arts and a love of animals including exotic birds. Visitors to the family home–a museum since 1956 (www.juliettegordonlowbirthplace.org)–can view a star-patterned quilt, made by Low’s niece Sarah Stites Gordon, proudly displayed in one of the bedrooms.
This remarkably modern looking “Star of Columbia” quilt was made in Fort Gaines, Georgia between 1876-1900. It was pieced by hand and machine, and quilted by hand and is 79 inches square. The owner of the quilt, the granddaughter of the quiltmaker, contributed this documentation in Minnesota. She recalled: “The big house burned in 1939 from a chimney fire. The tenants were able to get 2 trunks of quilts & my grandmother’s organ out. Family bible, 14 portraits and 5 trunks of quilts burned. My father and mother kept the quilts and at their death passed on to me and my sister. My sister died July 2008. She had no children.”
This quilt was documented during the Minnesota Quilt Project in 2010.
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.girlscouts.org/who_we_are/history/low_biography/
Posted by Amy E. Milne
Executive Director, Quilt Alliance
amy.milne@quiltalliance.org