My Old Kentucky Home – Quilt adventures with the American Quilt Study Group

December 2023

Covering Quilts

My Old Kentucky Home – Quilt adventures with the American Quilt Study Group​

by Sandra Starley

 

I recently revisited “My Old Kentucky Home,” having lived there briefly as a youngster, for the Annual Seminar of the American Quilt Study Group, aka AQSG, (www.americanquiltstudygroup.org).

The main event was held in lovely downtown Louisville right on the Ohio River waterfront. It is a beautiful old city full of Southern charm. Seminar is the annual meeting of AQSG and is much anticipated by all as a chance to visit with friends we only see once a year; see beautiful old and new quilts in exhibits, as well as the vendors mall; and learn about interesting in-depth research in the scholarly paper presentations. It is a magical time of rejuvenating friendships and quilt knowledge, along with fun and good food. And that is just what happens at the on-site hotel location. Annual Seminar rotates around the country and allows members a chance to experience regional differences in quilting both old and new.

One of the benefits of the rotation of seminars is the opportunity to take optional small group tours to area museums to see more of the local quilting and area history. There were several tours available this year and I was able to do a couple. A very special tour was to the Kentucky Historical Society in Kentucky’s Capital Frankfort to visit an unusual and famous quilt: the Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell Graveyard Quilt. The pieced star quilt features a central graveyard with appliqued coffins bearing the names of the maker’s family members. It was quite emotional to see this important mourning/memorial quilt from the 1850s. I hope to share more information about the quilt in a future article. We also toured the Old State Capitol Building for some educational history lessons. We then had time on our own to visit Frankfort, a very charming small town unlike most capitals. We visited with old and new friends and hit the local bakery, gift shop, and bookstore. What a wonderful day! I was also able to visit the Speed Museum at the University of Louisville. It is a unique museum full of hidden gems; you think you’ve seen all the exhibits and then you find a stained glass from the 1600s, step into part of a German castle, or find a waterlily painting by Monet. You can see some of their wonderful quilt collection in a special online exhibit at www.speedmuseum.org/exhibitions/kentucky-quilts/

 

a rocky road quilt

Log Cabin Crazy Quilt

Unique Kentucky Log Cabin Crazy Quilt. (Image courtesy of the author)

 

We saw a dazzling array of antique treasures in the quilt vendors mall, which is like visiting a museum where you can get up close and touch and even buy the displayed items. There was a special exhibition featuring new Kentucky quilts and another with miniatures and other wonderful quilts from The National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY. A distinct highlight was the Biennial Quilt Study -Nineteenth-Century Blues exhibit. It featured almost 50 antique quilts reproduced in small scale by members of AQSG and shown for the first time. There will be a book available next year with all the new quilts and their antique inspirations, and 25 of the new quilts will be traveling around the country. More about that later. We were treated to new foods like “The Hot Brown” and sweet treats like modjeskas. Then there were all the items available to purchase in the silent auction. And I haven’t even mentioned the live auction, which began with a stunning rendition of “My Old Kentucky Home” by the official Churchill Downs bugler. Don’t you want to join AQSG and see what happens next at Seminar 2024?

See you in September in New York!

 

Sandra Starley is nationally certified quilt appraiser, quilt historian, and avid antique quilt collector. She travels throughout the U.S. presenting talks on antique quilt history, fabric dating classes and trunk shows as well as quilting classes. Learn more at utahquiltappraiser.blogspot.com. Send your comments and quilt questions to SandraStarley@outlook.com

The Rolling Stone Quilt Pattern

November 2023

Covering Quilts

The Rolling Stone Quilt Pattern

by Sandra Starley

As I noted in last month’s column, the Rolling Stone block is a classic early pattern that has been popular for more than 170 years. Part of its appeal is the simple, aka easy piecing: rectangles, square in a square blocks, and plain center squares. Another charming aspect is how the simple piecing showcases beautiful fabrics in an elegant way. The block can be made in two different versions: even or uneven 9 patch blocks and in any size you heart desires. Creating the even 9 patch block pattern involves less math as each segment is the same size; for example, in a 12-inch finished block each segment finishes at 4 inches. You may need a calculator or at least a pencil to figure out sizing for an uneven 9 patch pattern or just find an online tutorial. Either way, it is a fun block to make, and I hope you will give it a try. I recently did and had a blast.

A Piecing Challenge

As an ambassador or representative for Island Batik Fabrics, I receive monthly quilting assignments or challenges and new fabrics to complete the projects. The September Challenge was “Pieced to Perfection.” The brief was to create a lap-size or larger quilt using foundation paper piecing or English paper piecing with an assigned newly released collection. I love foundation paper piecing, which is essentially like painting by numbers or sewing by numbers. You just sew on the paper pattern’s lines for precise piecing and spectacular results. So, at this point, I had picked the piecing technique, the specific fabric, and a general size but I still needed to choose a pattern and a block size. My go-to size with paper piecing is small, miniature, tiny, or teeny which would require a lot of blocks. I do enjoy working on a small scale, but I wanted to highlight the new fabrics, so I was thinking about going big for a change.

It is always good to get out of your comfort zone (so they say). I still needed to pick a pattern (a critical decision) and I wanted to make something that had a floral or flower garden feel for the Buds and Blooms Collection featuring flowers and butterflies. I suddenly remembered that the classic Rolling Stone quilt pattern often has a strong floral feel with careful color placement.

Surprisingly, though I have collected antique examples and studied the pattern for almost 20 years, I had not made one, so I decided it was time.

a rocky road quilt

A Rolling Stone

A Rolling Stone Flower Garden, 2023. (Image courtesy of the author)

 

Old Meets New

I was almost done with the planning stage, but I still had to pick a block size. Remember, I had decided to go big, but how big? Twelve-, 15-, or 20-inch blocks? They all seemed so large after sewing 2-, 3-, or 4-inch blocks. And who said it was good to leave your comfort zone? But with a deadline rapidly approaching, it was time to sew big. I decided on 15-inch blocks and drew my pattern on old school graph paper. Sometimes the old ways are best. I was pleasantly surprised with how quickly the project came together and with just nine large blocks, I had a good-sized quilt. It was a joy to pair an antique pattern with new fabrics.

Breathing new life into an old design by giving it a makeover is one of my favorite things! Thanks for following along, and I hope you are inspired to make your own Rolling Stone quilt, be it big or small, traditional or modern.

Sandra Starley is nationally certified quilt appraiser, quilt historian, and avid antique quilt collector. She travels throughout the U.S. presenting talks on antique quilt history, fabric dating classes and trunk shows as well as quilting classes. Learn more at utahquiltappraiser.blogspot.com. Send your comments and quilt questions to SandraStarley@outlook.com

Rolling Stone Revisited

October 2023

Covering Quilts

Rolling Stone Revisited

by Sandra Starley

Rolling Stone is a classic early quilt pattern that has been gaining popularity for more than 170 years. The block can be constructed in two separate ways: as an even or uneven nine patch. Both versions are easily pieced for striking results in a variety of sizes. In the even nine-patch pattern, the block is comprised of a center square, four squares in square blocks and four rectangle pairs. Each of the nine sections are the same size. The alternative construction method involves an uneven nine-patch grid with four large square in a square blocks and four pairs of smaller squares with a single smaller square in the center. The uneven piecing creates a center octagon “stop sign” pattern, while the even piecing creates a central ring. The corners on the square in squares can be pieced with triangles, diagonal seams or paper pieced.

Depending on color placement and the piecing used, the resulting pattern can have more than 20 different names. The common names for the even nine-patch construction include the standard “Rolling Stone” (Ladies Art Company, 1895), “Letter O” (Dakota Farmer,1921),  “Wedding Ring” (Dakota Farmer, 1927), “Johnnie-Round-The-Corner” (Hall, 1935), and my personal favorite, the delightful and whimsical “Squirrel In A Cage” (Kansas City Star, 1935).  Some of the names for the uneven construction blocks are “Rolling Square,” “Garden of Eden,” and “Mrs. Anderson’s Quilt,” all from Mrs. Danner’s quilt pattern catalog, 1958.

The large, plain center square in the even grid block is perfect for names or signatures and has long been particularly popular for friendship quilts. Signature quilts using this block were very fashionable among the Pennsylvania Germans of Southeastern Pennsylvania from 1850 to 1900. The names of family and friends were inked, embroidered, stamped, or handwritten in the block centers. An exceptional group were signed in a fancy Germanic script called Fraktur and done by paid professional signers known as scriveners. I have an interesting example from Montgomery County, PA, that may have been a Christmas present as the center block includes the date of December 25, 1854, and likely the recipient’s name. I also have an 1880s Rolling Stone signature quilt from Lebanon County, PA, that is unusual. It has a colored center, is set on point, and has an alternating star block. It is the only one I have seen so far with that combination. To learn more about these fascinating Rolling Stone signature quilts, please see the definitive paper to date: Lucinda Cawley, “Ihr Teppich:  Quilts and Fraktur,” Uncoverings 2004, Vol. 25, American Quilt Study Group.

 

a rocky road quilt

A Rolling Stone

A Rolling Stone Signature Quilt from Pennsylvania, c. 1880. From the Starley Quilt Collection. (Image courtesy of the author)

 

The Rolling Stone block has been published regularly since 1895 and an Internet search will yield many online tutorials for making the block. It is a current favorite of the Modern Quilt Movement and was recently featured in a “Modern Bee” quilting group that was focused on reworking time-honored blocks.I hope you will consider carrying on the Rolling Stone signature quilt tradition. The block makes an excellent group project to welcome a new baby or send off a friend who is moving with a treasured keepsake. Use light fabric in the centers, and do not forget to sign and date the blocks. Or if you just need a break from a serious project, why not grab some novelty fabrics? Find an online tutorial and ROCK and ROLL! And tune in next month to see how I took my own challenge and made a new Rolling Stone quilt to add to my collection.

Sandra Starley is nationally certified quilt appraiser, quilt historian, and avid antique quilt collector. She travels throughout the U.S. presenting talks on antique quilt history, fabric dating classes and trunk shows as well as quilting classes. Learn more at utahquiltappraiser.blogspot.com. Send your comments and quilt questions to SandraStarley@outlook.com

French Star or American Star revisited

September 2023

Covering Quilts

French Star or American Star revisited

by Sandra Starley

One of my all-time favorite antique quilt patterns is the French Star. I love sharing information about the block and hope to uncover more antique quilts featuring this design. I heartily applaud that daring early 1800s quilter who first combined two blocks named for famous Frenchmen: the eight-pointed LeMoyne star and Lafayette Orange Peel ovals to create this graphic new pattern.

In 1931, quilt designer Ruby McKim appropriately named it ‘French Star’ and noted it was a “Canadian pattern varying the eight-pointed star of diamond-shaped blocks by introducing small melon-shaped pieces (that) in turn form a wreath and may divide the star into two colors.” McKim’s pattern was followed precisely to create a French Star in my collection made in the cheery 1930s palette.

The pattern can be constructed with different methods and different pattern pieces but resulting in a similar look. The melons can be hand appliquéd over the center of each diamond piece or fussily curved pieces. Centers can be sewn in eight cone pieces, giving them the appearance of a two-color pinwheel. Or following the McKim pattern, the centers would be made of four duck foot shapes. Note: other pattern names include Winding Walk (Ladies Art Co., 1898), Gleaming Sun and Flaming Sun (Nancy Cabot, 1936), and Fox Chase and Biloxi (Hearth and Home, 1902).

The Biloxi pattern has more intricate piecing and coloring than French Star and is even rarer. I have only found two or three quilts made from the pattern. Biloxi refers to a small Native American tribe that was first encountered by Europeans near Biloxi, MS. The tribe was forced westward to Louisiana and that is where their culture was surveyed by anthropologist Owen Dorsey in 1892 and 1893. Dorsey received three quilt patterns that “were drawn for him by a Biloxi Indian from quilts pieced by his Indian wife.” Dorsey shared the patterns with Fanny Bergen, who included the pattern along with many others in her detailed quilt history article, “The Tapestry of the New World” in Scribner’s Magazine in 1894. She noted that quilting has “been taken up by some of the least nomadic of our American Indians,” referring to the Biloxi tribe. More than 130 years later, there is still an existing tribe with 951 members tallied in the 2015 census. It is unclear whether the pattern is truly a Native American-created design or copied from a French or Canadian quilt that migrated to Louisiana.

 

a rocky road quilt

A French Star

A French Star, Circa 1850, from the Starley Quilt Collection. (Image courtesy of the author)

The French (French Canadian) Star and its Biloxi variation appear to have links to France and that most French of states, Louisiana. Learning more about the development of the patterns and their true origins would be a worthy research project. Examples of French Star, Biloxi and their variations appear to be rare. I hope that more antique or vintage versions will surface and be shared and that current quilters will be inspired to create their own. French Star/Biloxi is a challenging pattern but well worth the effort. It can be adjusted to your skill level by adding or subtracting a few seams and choosing your favorite technique. You can sew it all by hand, all by machine or in honor of the pairing of patterns, sew the main pieces by machine and hand appliqué the elliptical melons. Try a traditional color scheme as illustrated or go modern with a white background, grey points, and a rainbow of orange peels. If you have an antique or vintage version of this pattern, please send me a photograph so we can all increase our collective knowledge.

Sandra Starley is nationally certified quilt appraiser, quilt historian, and avid antique quilt collector. She travels throughout the U.S. presenting talks on antique quilt history, fabric dating classes and trunk shows as well as quilting classes. Learn more at utahquiltappraiser.blogspot.com. Send your comments and quilt questions to SandraStarley@outlook.com

Still crazy after all these years! Crazy Quilts – Part II

August 2023

Covering Quilts

Still crazy after all these years! Crazy Quilts – Part II

by Sandra Starley

Crazy Quilts have been an iconic part of quilt history since the 1800s. Similarly, Discover Vintage America has been a sustained force in antiques and history since the early 1970s! Congratulations on 50 Years! My rewarding association with Discover Vintage began in 2015 when they were “looking to start a monthly column on quilting.” I started writing “Covering Quilts” in 2015, so I am already celebrating eight years. While I had previously written only about quilt history, the editors wanted a wider mix of topics, so my writing and research expanded. This endeavor has been a continual learning and growing experience for me, and I hope for my readers as well. Speaking of challenges, my fellow Island Batik fabric ambassadors and I were recently challenged to create a “Crazy Quilt,” which spurred more research on my part. Coincidentally, at the same time, a fellow quilt historian was teaching a study session on what quilts qualify as “Crazy Quilts.” So clearly, this all leads to the question . . .

What is a Crazy Quilt?

Is a Crazy Quilt just the classic velvet, silk, and satin embroidered and embellished quilts from the 1880s as discussed and illustrated in my last column or is there more? The answer is, the category contains much more, and really, the sky is the limit on what can be a crazy quilt. Obviously, the traditional Victorian Era version created with fancy fabric and intricate stitching is the starting point, but most seen is the “contained crazy” block style.

Contained crazies generally have the same random style of piecing as the fancy 1880s versions but are made up of blocks -squares or rectangles. The Victorian versions are often composed of blocks too but contained crazies tend to be framed or contained by sashing. 

a rocky road quilt

A Crazy Quilt

A Crazy stars pillow by Sandra Starley, created for the 2023 Island Batik Challenge. Sandra Starley Crazy Quilt, 2023. Image courtesy of the author

a rocky road quilt

A Crazy Quilt

A Crazy Quilt by Sandra Starley, created for the 2009 Quilt Alliance Challenge. (Image courtesy of the author)

Crazy quilting can be the type of piecing regardless of the type of material or em-bellishment (or lack thereof). It can also be a style of quilt or even a pieced block like Rocky Road to Kansas or Kite block. In 2009, the Alliance for American Quilts issued a Crazy Quilt challenge, and the 85 entries are shown on the Quilt Index. The “Crazy Quilts” range from very traditional versions to a James Brown portrait (in honor of I’ll Go Crazy), and everything in between. I participated in the challenge and took it quite literally, spelling out the challenge name: “Crazy Quilt.” Of course, I outlined the letters with fancy stitching.

Fast forward to 2023 and my second Crazy Quilt Challenge (Island Batik). The Ambassador group members each made a quilted crazy quilt project in a variety of shapes and sizes. The majority created table runners with random piecing and decorative stitching including hearts and other pieced designs. One member pieced a unique Christmas tree from crazy pieced blocks. Two were inspired by nature, resulting in a pictorial Van Gogh rabbit scene and crazy pieced stuffed teddy bear. A number of the group used crazy pieces and embroidery to make notebook covers and purses and bags. Freeform star blocks are featured on my crazy pillow with random pieced filler blocks. The finishing touch was embellishment with decorative stitching. Crazy quilting is a fun and forgiving method and I would highly recommend trying it.

Whether you choose traditional or modern, just have fun and go a little crazy!

Collecting Note
There are a lot of crazy quilts ava0ilable in the marketplace in a wide variety of sizes and styles ranging from the fancy silk and satin crazies to simpler wool and cotton versions. You can find them in all price points too.

When purchasing crazy quilts pay attention to condition.

The silk fabrics used in the 1880s and ‘90s were often sold by the pound and weighted with corrosive metal, which caused many to shred or shatter. It is difficult to find quilts that don’t have at least moderate deterioration. You can cover the damaged areas with colored tulle netting for a cleaner look and to lessen future damage.

Sandra Starley is nationally certified quilt appraiser, quilt historian, and avid antique quilt collector. She travels throughout the U.S. presenting talks on antique quilt history, fabric dating classes and trunk shows as well as quilting classes. Learn more at utahquiltappraiser.blogspot.com. Send your comments and quilt questions to SandraStarley@outlook.com