by Quilt Alliance | Jul 11, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1656, Ann Austin and Mary Fisher, two English missionaries traveling from a Quaker center in Barbados, became the first Quakers to immigrate to the American colonies when their ship landed in Boston. Shortly after arriving in Puritan-controlled Massachusetts, Austin and Fisher were arrested and jailed for their liberal teachings and after five years in jail, were deported back to Barbados. Philena Cooper Hambleton’s Quaker Friendship Quilt was made in New Garden, Hanover Township, Columbiana, Ohio in 1853. Lynda Salter Chenoweth has done extensive research on the quilt and documented it in The Quilt Index as part of the Signature Quilt Pilot Project. From this Quilt Index record: This quilt is a single-pattern friendship quilt comprised of twenty five 12″ X 12″ blocks, a border, and a folded, front to back edging. The quilt was made by Philena Cooper Hambleton’s female relatives and friends to take with her to Iowa when she and her husband migrated there from Ohio in 1854. The quilt passed from Philena to her daughter, Angelina Craver, then to Angelina’s son, Arthur Hambleton Craver, then to Arthur’s daughter, Florence Philena Oberholtzer. It became part of an estate sale in Danville, CA in 1995 when Florence died and was purchased from an antique shop in Petaluma, CA in 2001. 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/first-quaker-colonists-land-at-boston Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Jul 10, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1958, American banjo player Béla Anton Leoš Fleck was born in New York City. “Widely acknowledged as one of the world’s most innovative and technically proficient banjo players,he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.” (Wikepedia) Belah Beatrice Sumrell of Ayden, North Carolina, finished this Dresden Plate quilt in 1952. From this Quilt Index record: Mother had given the unquilted top to a cousin and she gave it to me; Finished in 1952, probably was in the making for a few years, Scraps from making clothing, feed sacks, Made other quilts, VA, DC, GA and WA; Children: Reginald, Marion, Winifred, Alene, Billy, Grace. Sumrell’s daughter documented the quilt in 1985 as part of the North Carolina 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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9la_Fleck Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Jul 9, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1877, the first lawn tennis tournament was held at Wimbledon, then a suburb of London. The event, hosted by the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club, attracted twenty-one amateur male competitors. In 1884, the Lady’s Singles was introduced at Wimbledon. An unknown quilter hand and machine pieced and hand quilted this Robbing Peter to Pay Paul quilt around 1885 in Pennsylvania. From this record: “The back is made of two different fabrics. The center one has a brown ground with light brown, pink, rose, and red figures, roller printed. It depicts male and female tennis players playing mixed doubles, a women reclining in a hammock with a dog, 2 children playing, parrot tulip, birds, roses, ferns, trees, morning glories, etc.” The quilt is now in the collection of the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, and it was documented in The Quilt Index as part of the Michigan 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/wimbledon-tournament-begins Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Jul 8, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1776, the Liberty Bell, a 2,000-pound copper and tin bell, rang out from the tower of the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia calling citizens to come and hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, signed four days earlier. The crack in the Liberty Bell is though to have first happened when tolling for the funeral of U.S. Chief Justice John Marshall in 1835, and then expanded to it’s current size in 1846. An unnamed quilter from New Jersey hand pieced and hand quilted this Centennial Quilt in 1876. “This patriotic quilt is sewn from 18 printed Centennial banners. Each of the twelve banners on the outside edge has thirteen red and white stripes and thirty-nine white stars on a blue field. The fabric includes Cheater fabric (pre-printed appliqué or pieced design) depicting flags and portraits of George Washington….Above [Washington’s] head is the Liberty Bell with the crack showing.” The quilt was passed down by the granddaughter of the maker, who was a young girl at the time the quilt was made, and documented as part of The Heritage Quilt Project of New Jersey, Inc. 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/liberty-bell-tolls-to-announce-declaration-of-independence Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Jul 7, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1946, James Earl “Jimmy” Carter marries Eleanor Rosalynn Smith at the Plains Methodist Church in Plains, Georgia. When the couple met, she was 18 and working in a hair salon. He was 21 and a recent graduate of the Annapolis Naval Academy…Since 1984, the Carters have given their time each year to build homes and raise awareness of homelessness with the international charitable organization Habitat for Humanity. Excerpted from: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/future-president-jimmy-carter-marries Mariah Davenport of Plains, Georgia hand pieced and hand quilted this Carpenter’s Wheel quilt between 1800 and 1849. It was documented during the Florida Quilt Project by the current owner who inherited the quilt. 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/future-president-jimmy-carter-marries Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Jul 3, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1890, Idaho become the 43rd state in the Union. Since exploration of North America began from the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the southern borders, Idaho remained virtually untouched by Spanish, French, British and American trappers and explorers up to 1805 when Lewis and Clark came through the territory. To date there are only 26 records in the Quilt Index of quilts made in Idaho. Betsy Anne Sargent, a homemaker and cook who ran a hotel and livery barn with her husband in Kooskia, Idaho, machine and hand pieced this Sunflower quilt between 1901-1929. Sargent made more than 30 quilts in her lifetime and this one, a ribbon winner at the Idaho State Fair, was documented as part of the ongoing Minnesota 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/idaho-becomes-43rd-state Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
