Learning about the past can be fun! One of the things that I love most about collecting antique quilts, blocks, and fabrics are all the interesting tidbits of history that I have gleaned along the way. I have learned about so many aspects of American history by studying fabrics and quilts in my collection. For example, from an 1850 Quaker signature quilt made near Philadelphia with a hand-drawn picture of a whale and a boat, I discovered that Quakers were prominent in the whaling industry. Similarly, from inkings of grapes on another signature Quaker quilt from the same era I learned that grape growing dated all the way back to William Penn. And during the mid-1800s Pennsylvania had a wine production boom. It is impressive what you can learn from quilts.

Recently, my friend Mea sent me a photo of some interesting antique fabric she had found on a new to her quilt. The quilt had tiny pieces, but she could see partial printed words or text on a couple of fabrics and thought I might have an idea about it. As luck would have it (or almost 20 years of antique fabric study), I immediately recognized it as a fabric that I had researched: Fabric that was related to famous politicians and United States presidential campaigns. I had found an intriguing antique printed fabric advertising the presidential campaign of Ulysses S. Grant with the text “US Grant, First in Peace and First in War” and “Let Us Have Peace” with a depiction of Grant. Interesting mix of war and peace slogans, but it was soon after the Civil War. Later, during a tour of the Manchester New Hampshire Historical Society with the American Quilt Study Group (AQSG), we were treated to a selection of antique swatch books from the local fabric mills. I was delighted to find another US Grant campaign fabric with the same slogan along with his 1871/1872 running mate Henry Wilson. I have yet to find either Grant fabric in a quilt, but my friend had found campaign fabric from Grant’s 1872 presidential opponent, Horace Greeley, in her quilt! And I had photographed that very fabric and several other Greeley fabrics in the same swatch book that had the Grant fabric. The fabric mill was covering all its bases and printing fabrics for both campaigns — an equal opportunity printing company for sure.

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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.

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