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:

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?:

Nineteenth Century Quilts Of St. Lawrence County - Part 2

Well, 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 Blake Lake. It was marked February 1888:

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: