by Quilt Alliance | Apr 3, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On This Day in History Quilt for April 3. On this day in 1934, Jane Goodall, the renowned British expert on chimpanzees, was born in London, England. Goodall’s love of animals began early and at age 26, she traveled to Tanzania equipped only with binoculars and a notebook, to begin studying the wild chimpanzees. In 2002, Goodall was named a UN Messenger of Peace for her “dedication to what is best in mankind.” Alice Goodall Pierce of Hitchcock, Nebraska pieced and hand quilted this wool Whirling Hexagon (Brackman # 0245) quilt for a family member in 1940. The quilt was documented in 1987 during the Nebraska Quilt Project (19 years after Pierce’s death). View this quilt on The Quilt Index to read more about it’s history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view. Sources: http://www.janegoodall.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Goodall Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Apr 2, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On This Day in History Quilt for April 2. On this day in 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon came ashore somewhere near present-day St. Augustine, Florida and claimed the territory for the Spanish crown. Ponce de Leon was looking for the fabled “Fountain of Youth.” He never found the source of eternal youth, but he is credited for naming Florida. De Leon’s landing on the lush, green coast happened around Easter feast time, or Pascua Florida (Festival of Flowers). Patricia L. Styring of St. Augustine, Florida made this miniature quilt, titled “Mariner’s Quilteenie” in 2006. The quilt measures 13.5” x 13.5” and is now part of “The Oh Wow! Miniature Quilt Collection at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to read more about it’s history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view. Sources: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ponce-de-leon-discovers-florida http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Ponce_de_Le%C3%B3n Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Apr 1, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On This Day in History Quilt for April 1. On this day in 1976, Apple Computer, Inc. was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. Their first product was the Apple I personal computer kit, hand-built by Wozniak, offered for sale at $666.66 (with inflation that would be $2,723 today). Apple, Inc. (“Computer” was dropped), was incorporated in early 1977 after Wayne sold his share of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak for $800. In 2012 the company’s value reached a world-record $624 billion dollars. Nettie J. Melrose hand pieced and hand quilted this Apple Core quilt in Colorado. Although no date is listed for the quilt, Nettie was born in 1893 in Eastern Kansas and graduated from high school in Paonia, Colorado in 1912. She passed away on March 9, 1984. “She began making quilts at an early age and continued to make them into the 1970s, treasuring those quilts made previously by her mother, aunt, and grandmother. It is possible that Nettie’s mother or grandmother pieced the Apple Core quilt.” Janice Yalch of Howard, Colorado, donated the quilt to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to read more about it’s history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc. Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Mar 29, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On This Day in History Quilt for March 29: On this day in 1918, American actress and singer Pearl Mae Bailey was born in Southampton County, Virginia, and raised across the Chesapeake Bay in Newport News, Virginia. She made her performing debut at age 15, competing in and winning amateur contests at the Pearl Theater in Philadelphia and the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Bailey headlined an all-black cast of “Hello, Dolly!” with Cab Calloway in 1967. She was appointed a special ambassador to the United Nations in 1975, and earned a bachelor’s degree in theology from Georgetown University in 1985. President Reagan awarded Bailey the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988. Carrie Odgers Rinehart of Newport News, Virginia, hand embroidered, appliqued and quilted “Patchy Zoo.” This quilt includes original poems written by the quiltmaker, and she inscribed it: “Original design for James De Groodt from his great Aunt Carrie Rinehart, Seventy years old, February 14, 1942.” A relative documented the quilt during The Heritage Quilt Project of New Jersey, Inc. in 1991. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to read more about it’s history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Bailey Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Mar 28, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On This Day in History Quilt for March 28: On this day in 1979 a pressure value in the Unit-2 reactor failed at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant causing contaminated cooling water to drain from the open valve. Without a cooling source the core began to dangerously overheat. The plant was built on a sandbar on Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River, 10 miles downstream from the state capitol in Harrisburg. This is a detail of a quilt titled “The Sun Sets on Sunbonnet Sue,” a collaborative quilt made by Georgann Englinski and the Seamsters Union (Local #500) of Lawrence, Kansas. Each block shows different ways quilt icon Sunbonnet Sue met her death, and this block illustrates Sue’s demise at Three Mile Island. The quilt is part of the Michigan State University Museum Collection. View this quilt on The Quilt Index to read more about it’s history, design and construction. Be sure to use the zoom tool for a detailed view. Sources: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/reactor-overheats-at-three-mile-island Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
