by Quilt Alliance | Feb 19, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1942, the Army Air Corps’ 100th Pursuit Squadron was activated at Tuskegee Institute. The “Tuskegee Airmen” were the first African Americans called to serve as airmen in the U. S. military. Before this date they were denied training and opportunities due their race. An unknown quiltmaker hand and machine pieced, hand appliqued and hand quilted this Airplane baby quilt in West Virginia in 1925. The owner documented the quilt during the West Virginia Heritage Quilt Search. 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/toni-morrisons-birthday http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/736076-beloved http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beloved_%28novel%29 Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Feb 18, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1931, Nobel prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison was born Chloe Anthony Wofford in Lorain, Ohio, the second of four children in a working-class African-American family. Her 1987 novel “Beloved” set in post-Civil War Ohio includes this vivid reference to quilts: “Kneeling in the keeping room where she usually went to talk-think it was clear why Baby Suggs was so starved for color. There wasn’t any except for two orange squares in a quilt that made the absence shout. The walls of the room were slate-colored, the floor earth-brown, the wooden dresser the color of itself, curtains white, and the dominating feature, the quilt over an iron cot, was made up of scraps of blue serge, black, brown and gray wool–the full range of the dark and the muted that thrift and modesty allowed. In that sober field, two patches of orange looked wild–like life in the raw.” This Nine Patch quilt was made by Catherine Miller Gingerich around 1880 in Iowa. The 68” x 79” quilt is hand and machine pieced and hand quilted and tufted. Old repairs are visible on the quilt with dark grey patches appliqued over worn areas of the top that have been quilted over in a teacup pattern. The quilt is part of the Illinois State Museum collection. 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/toni-morrisons-birthday http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/736076-beloved http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beloved_%28novel%29 Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Feb 17, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1904, Giacomo Puccini’s opera Madame Butterfly premiered at the La Scala theatre in Milan, Italy. Set in Nagasaki, Japan, Madame Butterfly told the story of an American sailor, B.F. Pinkerton, who marries and abandons a young Japanese geisha, Cio-Cio-San, or Madame Butterfly. Savanah Adkins, a Native American of the Chickahominy and Pamunskey trobes. hand pieced and embroidered this Butterfly quilt top between 1930-1949. Adkins daughter inherited the quilt and she documented it as part of the Arizona Quilt Documentation 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/madame-butterfly-premieres Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Feb 14, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 278AD, a priest named Valentine was brutally executed for defying Emperor “Claudius the Cruel’s” ban on marriages and engagements. Claudius was convinced that his waning military enrollment was due to the Roman mens’ allegiances to their wives. According to one legend, Valentine left a note for his friend, the jailer’s daughter, and signed it “From Your Valentine.” This is just one version of how Valentine, sainted after his death, became associated with this lover’s holiday. Quilting legend Yvonne Porcella of Modesto, California made this 16” x 16” quilt for the 2011 Quilt Alliance contest, “ Alliances: People, Patterns, Passion.” Yvonne said this about her quilt, titled “Hi 5”: In pursuit of Visual Alliance I chose to use compatible colors. Red is a favorite from pink to burgundy. Sometimes Red asks for its friend Teal from the other side of the color wheel. Red’s favorite month is February. Thinking of Valentine hearts or all the Red hearts shuffling around in a deck of cards, I have to tell you, when I see the 5 of Hearts, I say “Hi 5”. 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/st-valentine-beheaded Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Feb 13, 2014 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1457, Mary, the Duchess of Burgundy was born (an only child) to Charles the Bold and Isabella of Bourbon. After her father’s death in 1477 she took over the rule of the Netherlands, Franche-Comte, Artois and Picardy. She successfully resisted Louis XI of France’s efforts to force her to marry his son, the Daughin Charles, in order to stake claim of these lands for France. Instead Mary chose Maximilian, archduke of Austria and they had three children. She died at the age of 25 in a horseback riding accident. Beatrice Wong, of Honolulu on Oahu Island, Hawaii , made this burgundy and white wholecloth beauty in the 1940’s. The top is hand appliqued and not quilted. The current owner inherited the quilt documented it during the Hawaiian Quilt Research Project in 1997. 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://womenshistory.about.com/od/medrenqueens/p/mary_burgundy.htm Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
