by Quilt Alliance | Mar 27, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On This Day in History Quilt for March 27: On this day in 1912, First Lady Helen Taft and Japanese Viscountess Chinda planted two Yoshina cherry trees on the Potomac River bank in Washington, D.C. The trees (3,000 of them) were a gift to the U.S. government from the Japanese. The blossoming trees were so popular that in 1934, city commissioners sponsored a 3-day celebration during the late March blooming of the trees. The Cherry Blossom Festival is now celebrated annually. In 2012, more than 1.5 million visitors attended the Centennial Celebration of the Gift of the Trees. Levina Thomas Stone, of the Five Points Community near Lamesa, Texas, made this Cherry Quilt between 1929-1930. Stone hand pieced, appliqued and quilted this quilt, that includes 1,200 stuffed dimensional applique cherries, “each perfectly round.” From this quilt record: “The quilt maker’s granddaughter notes that her grandmother lived in a cotton-growing area during the Depression. She picked cotton to earn money for her family’s needs and made clothing for her family.” The quilt was documented during the Texas Quilt Search and included in the book “Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, Vol. 1, 1836-1936 (Bresenhan and Puentes, Austin: University of Texas Press). 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/japanese-cherry-trees-planted-along-the-potomac http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/about/history/ Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Mar 26, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On This Day in History Quilt for March 26: On this day in 1930, Sandra Day O’Connor was born in El Paso. She was the first woman to be appointed to the United States Supreme Court. In 2009 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor. Her husband John Jay O’Connor suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for nearly 20 years until his death, and Justice O’Connor has devoted herself to raising awareness of the disease. Nancy Brenan Daniel of Prescott, Arizona made this quilt titled “Research Now…There’s Still Time.” This quilt was part of the special exhibit, “Alzheimer’s: Forgetting Piece by Piece,” that debuted at the American Quilter’s Society Quilt Exposition in Nashville, TN in August 2006. From Daniel’s artist statement: “This quilt is dedicated to research – and those who do the research. I hope that soon all daughters and sons, grandchildren and spouses will have their loved ones totally present until it is there time to leave this earth.” The quilt is now in the collection of the Michigan State University 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/Sandra_Day_O%27Connor Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Mar 25, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On This Day in History Quilt for March 25: On this day in 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City burned down killing 146 workers, mostly young immigrant women. Many of the victims died due to locked exterior doors, faulty elevators and fire escapes. The workers’ union organized a march on April 5 and some 80,000 people attended it. The disaster compelled the city to enact labor and fire safety reforms. The nonprofit Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition was founded in 2008 to establish a permanent memorial for the victims and promote new collaborations between communities to continue the fight for social justice for all. Eugenia Mitchell made this quilt, titled “1911 Swatches of Gibson Girl Shirtwaist Batiste” in 1970. Mitchell made the quilt out of fabric samples from her aunt, Emma Hartmeister, who was a dressmaker in St. Louis, Missouri. This is one of the original 101 quilts donated by Mitchell of Golden, CO, to start 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://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/triangle-shirtwaist-fire-in-new-york-city http://rememberthetrianglefire.org/about-2/about/ Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Mar 22, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On This Day in History Quilt for March 22: On this day in 1894 the first Stanley Cup hockey championship was played in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley, named governor general of Canada in 1888, was an ice hockey fan along with his sons and daughters and donated the lavish trophy first to the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. First called the Dominion Hockey Challenge Cup, the trophy was renamed the Stanley Cup in the first challenge series in 1894 won by Montreal. Quiltmaker Lura Stanley finished this Flower Basket quilt in 1978 and it was documented as part of the Blue Ridge Parkway Folklife Project Collection. The project identified and documented practitioners of traditional customs in the communities of North Carolina and Virginia along a section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The project was conducted by the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center in cooperation with the National Park Service. 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/first-stanley-cup-championship-played Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
by Quilt Alliance | Mar 21, 2013 | On this Day in History Quilts series
On This Day in History Quilt for March 21: On this day in 1866 American astronomer Antonia Maury was born in Cold Spring, New York. Antonia’s grandfather and uncle, John William and Henry Draper, were both pioneering astronomers and exposed the Maury’s children to science at a young age. Antonia graduated from Vassar College in 1887 with honors and went on to study at the Harvard College Observatory, where she worked as a “Harvard Computer” (a group of highly skilled women who processed astronomical data). This quilt, titled “Austin Halley 86” was made in 1979 by Kathleen L. Briggs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. From this record: “Designed as part of a series on astronomy. To commemorate Halley’s comet, which was visible in Austin, Texas, but not in Milwaukee. Each fill in section has a different design as an historical record of the comets.” The inscription on the quilt includes the exact time Briggs finished the quilt: 9:00 p.m. CDT 09/02/86. Documented during the Wisconsin Quilt History Project. 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/Antonia_Maury Posted by Amy E. Milne Executive Director, Quilt Alliance…
