by Quilt Alliance | Oct 18, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1767, English surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon assign a boundary between the colonies of Pennsylvania and Maryland (and areas that would later become Delaware and West Virginia). They had been hired by the Penn and Calvert families to settle a dispute between the two proprietary colonies about the exact location of the boundary line. In the late 1700’s states south of the Mason-Dixon line began arguing for the perpetuation of slavery, while those north of the line hoped to phase out the practice. It was not until the 14th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution was passed in 1868 that gave all men born in the United States, regardless of skin color or which side of the Mason-Dixon line they lived, the rights of citizenship. Nadine Marx Cordio pieced this Album Cross quilt and Sue Vollbrecht quilted it. It was finished around 1999 in Madison, Wisconsin and was documented in 2002 during the Wisconsin Quilt History Project. Cordio explains in the record that her family did a genealogy search and found that her great grandfather was in the Union Army, and this inspired her to research Civil War fabric and to take a workshop on period quilts. The label includes this inscription: “MASON DIXON MEMORIES: A workshop on Civil War era quilts. SIEVERS SCHOOL OF FIBER ARTS, WASHINGTON ISLAND, WISCONSIN, 1999. Instructor, Marianne Fons (Marianne Fons signature below). Album Cross…” 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/mason-and-dixon-draw-a-line http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Oct 17, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1989, San Francisco suffered the deadliest earthquake since 1906. The quake struck at 5:04 pm, lasted 15 seconds and registered a 7.1 on the Richter scale. The quake was witnessed on live television by fans watching the World Series baseball game at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Mike McNamara of San Francisco made this quilt titled, “Invite Us to Your Next Blowout!” in 2012 for the Quilt Alliance’s “Home Is Where the Quilt Is” contest. McNamara writes in this artist’s statement: “My dad had a tire company and he and my mom created a very fun home and lively life. To this day I love the smell of new tires.” 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/earthquake-rocks-san-francisco Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Oct 16, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1984, Anglican Bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work as a civil rights activist. The Nobel Committee cited his “role as a unifying leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa.” This quilt, titled “Mandela Long Walk to Freedom” was made by Melzina Mazibuko of Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa in 2010. The quilt was documented for the South Africa Quilt History Project and is now in the Michigan State University Museum collection. From this Quilt Index record: “Signed on the bottom front by the artist : “Melzina M.” Memory cloth made by Melzina M. in South Africa. Small colorful wallhanging on black cotton ground. Embroidery and applique on the cloth depict a scene in the Robben Island Prison of Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Tutu and Tamba breaking rocks, doing manual labor. There are prison buildings in the background. The cloth is embellished with beads.” 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/Desmond_Tutu Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Oct 15, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1954, Hurricane Hazel hit southern Ontario, Canada, killing 81 people. Hazel, the fourth major hurricane of that year, began on October 12 when it made landfall in Jamaica with winds reaching over 140 miles an hour. The storm moved northward and coastal towns in North Carolina and Virginia suffered severe damage. Four days later the storm caught the residents of Toronto relatively unaware when the Humbar River flooded and entire neighborhoods were washed away. The storm finally dissipated on October 16, leaving more than 400 people dead and damages in excess of $1 billion. Hazel Reece hand pieced and hand quilted (10 stitches/inch) this Star and Crescent quilt for her daughter, who had left home for school. The quiltmaker wrote, “[She] left a lonely spot in my home during the day; I filled that time making her a quilt. The first quilt I ever made with curved seams.” Reece’s daughter documented the quilt during the North Carolina Quilt Project and the quilt is featured in the book, North Carolina Quilts (plate 7-13). 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/hurricane-hazel-hits-the-carolinas-and-ontario Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Oct 14, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On this day in 1863, Winifred Sweet Black Bonfils, an American journalist and reporter, was born in Chilton, Wisconsin. She famously staged a fainting on the street in San Francisco to test the city’s emergency response. Ambulance services proved to be wanting and this caused a major scandal. She dressed as a boy and was the first reporter on the line to cover the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, and in 1906, she covered the San Francisco earthquake. At her death in 1936, her body lay in state at the San Francisco city hall. Violet Christopherson of Marinette, Wisconsin, made this String quilt using parts of her mother’s and father’s wedding clothes as well as other family members’ garments. The owner inherited the quilt from his mother, Violet’s sister, and documented the quilt during the Wisconsin Quilt History Project. Violet’s family was one of the few who survived the Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin in 1871. Her grandmother, the family matriarch, knew a great fire was coming and she had the children go through a firedrill every day. Read how they were able to survive this historic fire, which killed between 1,500-2,500 people, in this Quilt Index record. 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/Winifred_Bonfils http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshtigo_Fire Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
