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 with 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 one 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?:

Nineteenth Century Quilts Of St. Lawrence County - Part 2

Surely I'd never been interested in quilts before, but I was now. So here's Part 2 of the nineteenth century quilts at the Silas Wright House, beginning with this masterpiece, made by Catherine Keys of Black Lake. It was marked February 1888, a crazy quilt:

Another "Crazy Quilt," this one marked "To Adah, Dec 25 1896, from Josie:"

A Friendship Quilt from the town of Pierrepont, around 1888. Each of the white triangles had a signature:

Another Friendship Quilt, this one thought to have been a fundraising project for the Presbyterian Church of Canton:

A closer look revealed a signature in each of the white triangles. I had trouble reading the first word in most of them, but came to realize it was usually either Miss or Mrs:

A Rail Fence Quilt, made by Roxanna Swinning of Morristown:

A Floral Wreath Applique, made by Almena Estes of Canton about 1860:

A Six-Pointed Rolling Star Quilt made in patriotic colors from the Gibson family home in West Stockholm:

A Hexagon Baby Quilt made in various tan and pink calicos, typical fabrics of the 1860s-1890:

The lighting made it difficult to photograph, but I wanted to include this one. It was called "Grandmother's Flower Garden" and was hand stitched by either Beatrice Soule McVey or her mother, Emma Clousen Soule of Richville:

And here's a close-up, showing the intricacy of the pattern and the hand stitching. I was continually amazed by the time and effort involved in these quilts. And once again, it was easy to see why they were kept as family heirlooms for over a hundred years:

A Double Irish Chain Quilt from the Gibson family home in West Stockholm. But now that I had become such an admirer of these nineteenth century quilts, I was having a ball examining them and reading the attached descriptions. And there were still more to photograph and present to you, so I'll post Part 3 tomorrow:

Nineteenth Century Quilts Of St. Lawrence County - Part 1

There was an entire floor of the museum's Silas Wright house devoted to nineteenth century quilts. I'd never known anything about quilts but figured I'd go take a look. And by the way - the artist, Frederick Remington, was another noted St. Lawrence resident::


There was a wild, modern looking quilt at the top of the stairs which I later learned was not modern at all:


I entered into the quilt room and was amazed at the variety on display:


But before I looked at the quilts, I began with this redwork embroidery table runner, with stitched designs of chicks and boating frogs:

And another redwork embroidery table runner with a farm design. My own mother did some similar embroidery, so I found it fascinating to see some early works:

A mariner's compass quilt, made by Almena Estes of Canton about 1860:

This modern looking quilt was called a crazy quilt and was a smaller size, known as a lap or throw quilt:

This was where I became fascinated with the quilts. I began looking closely at the intricate work involved and the bits of personal lives illustrated in the artwork. This section showed someone's crabby cat and an oak leaf:

Owls and flowers and tiny, intricate stitches. I found it fascinating that so much time and effort had gone into the creation of this quilt. It's no wonder they were family heirlooms, kept for over a hundred years:

A horseshoe and four-leafed clover. And just look at all that minute stitching, all done by hand. Well, I hadn't previously thought I had much interest in quilts but I was totally sold on them by now and still there were more to see. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Hopkinton, New York Town Museum - Part 1

It was raining and the weather service predicted only more of the same throughout the day. Besides, the Hopkinton Town Museum is only open two hours per day, one day per week, two months per year. If I was going to see it again, this was the time. So I drove to the quiet village green and parked:

The Museum is most of this red building, including the wing on the right and the small shed on the left, with a small section in the middle for the library. I entered by means of the ramp to get out of the rain as soon as possible:

I began in the dining room:

And looked at all the china and tea servers which local folks had held onto for many years, eventually donating them to the museum:

The parlor was warm and friendly - and a bit formal, I thought, for a frontier town:

There were interesting items and signs here and there:

All in all, a pleasant place to spend part of a rainy Saturday:

This ancient piano was recently tuned and one of only two on public display:

Collections of jewelry, books, odds and ends:

Clothing and dolls from days gone by:

The museum was a mixture of time periods but many small signs helped me place the articles in proper perspective or, in some cases, understand what they were:

This quilt depicted scenes from the town's past and was put together on Hopkinton's 200th anniversary:

This dress didn't look too terribly old to me, but then I myself am so old that my perspective is skewed:

A magnificent pump organ:

And a marble mantle clock. But there was still more to see and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Franklin County House of History - Part 2

I was touring the downstairs rooms of the Franklin County Museum in Malone, New York (see yesterday's post):

The downstairs parlors were elegant and impressive. This obviously was once the home of a wealthy family:

I moved to the foot of the stairs, where antique baby dolls rested in antique carriages:

I've noticed before that museums have lots of baby dolls and dresses, especially wedding dresses, because women cherished them and kept them all their lives, passing them on to their heirs. I always think of how much a doll was loved by someone - or by several people in a family:

I climbed the stairs and entered a room dedicated to weaving and looms:

School groups come here and get to weave a short section of fabric, which is added to the previous groups' sections and displayed in long scarves:

There were also candle making displays where the school children got to see candles being made and a corn broom making machine. There was also a one room school house display. But what really caught my eye was this county themed quilt, memorializing some of the rustic beauty of the surrounding town and countryside:

There was a room crammed full of antique farm implements:

I found these old farm tools fascinating and I'll bet that some of them would still be useful today:

I returned to the kitchen to end my tour but was told that there was one more room, containing a general store. I had not seen that the last time I visited, so it was totally new and fascinating to me:

The general store was full of antiques for display but also had souvenirs for sale:

This was a lively and elaborate display, perhaps my favorite part of the museum tour. But I'd seen everything at that point, so I thanked my guide and began making my way home to do the evening chores: