Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Nineteenth Century Quilts Of St. Lawrence County - Part 3

This is the final installment of my exploration of the nineteenth century quilt exhibit. I was hooked on quilts by now and fascinated by the personal histories they gave reference to. This was another Crazy Quilt, marked 1884 and embellished with detailed embroidery, a velvet border and lace trim:

Once again, I took a closer look at the intricate hand stitching and details such as this girl, possibly the maker's daughter who wanted to be included and immortalized in this work of art:

Hand stitched moon and stars:

A horseshoe:

Clear evidence of why these were called Crazy Quilts - and why I had become so thoroughly taken by them:

Hand stitched flower, ribbons and the date, 1884:

Of all the quilts I saw that day, I found the Crazy Quilts to be the most magnificently beautiful. But I found this Redwork Embroidery Quilt to be the most touching. It was assembled and hand stitched by Margaret "Maggie" Coloton of North Russell, New York in 1893:

It was the subject matter which I liked most about this quilt, such as "Coming Through The Rye," showing old style farm tools and a crescent moon. Were the images of the maker's daughter and son?:

The family dog, named Lion. He looked like a Boston Terrier to me:

The name of her town and the date, 1893:

Probably a particularly beloved horse. All these personal family details were why I found this quilt so touching:

And the final quilt which I'll include in these posts was this quilt with appliqued leaves. Similar to a Crazy Quilt, this was made of dark colored silk, satin and velvet fabrics and embellished with lots of embroidery. Perhaps I should have taken a few close-ups of the leaf panels, but where would one begin?:

2 comments:

  1. I have a great fondness for old quilts -- especially liked the quilts you have featured on this post -- barbara

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  2. Re through the rye were sold as perforated stamping patterns in 1884 but those two designs were also seen in fancywork books and magazines of the same time period.

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