Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them (17 page)

The animals also must be credited with their share of names:

Bear’s Foot
Bear’s Paws
Bat’s Wings
Bunnies
Cats and Mice
Flying Bat
Four Frogs Quilt
Leap Frog
Puss-in-the-Corner
The Snail’s Trail
Toad in the Puddle
The Lobster (1812)

Occasionally the quilt maker was honoured by having her name given to her handiwork, as “Mrs. Morgan’s Choice,” “Mollie’s Choice,” “Sarah’s Favourite,” and “Fanny’s Fan.” Aunts and grandmothers figure as prominently in the naming of quilts as they do in the making of them. “Aunt Sukey’s Patch,” “Aunt Eliza’s Star Point,” “Grandmother’s Own,” “Grandmother’s Dream,” and “Grandmother’s Choice” are typical examples.

Quilt names in which reference is made to persons and personalities are quite numerous, as is proved by the list given below:

Coxey’s Camp
Crazy Ann
Dutchman’s Puzzle
Everybody’s Favourite
Eight Hands Around
Grandmother’s Choice
Garfield’s Monument
Gentleman’s Fancy
Handy Andy
Hands All Around
Hobson’s Kiss
Indian Plumes
Indian Hatchet
Jack’s House
Joseph’s Necktie
King’s Crown
Lady Fingers
Ladies’ Wreath
Ladies’ Delight
Mary’s Garden
Mrs. Cleveland’s Choice
Old Maid’s Puzzle
Odd Fellows’ Chain
Princess Feather
President’s Quilt
Sister’s Choice
The Tumbler
The Hand
The Priscilla
Twin Sisters
Vice-President’s Quilt
Widower’s Choice
Washington’s Puzzle
Washington’s Sidewalk
Washington’s Plumes

Names derived both from local neighbourhoods and foreign lands occupy a prominent place in the quilt list:

Arabic Lattice
American Log Patch
Arkansas Traveller
Alabama Beauty
Blackford’s Beauty
Boston Puzzle
Columbian Puzzle
Cross Roads to Texas
Double Irish Chain
French Basket
Grecian Design
Indiana Wreath
Irish Puzzle
Kansas Troubles
Linton
London Roads
Mexican Rose
Oklahoma Boomer
Philadelphia Beauty
Philadelphia Pavement
Rocky Glen
Royal Japanese Vase
Rocky Road to Kansas
Rocky Road to California
Road to California
Roman Stripe
Rockingham’s Beauty
Rose of Dixie
Rose of the Carolinas
Star of Texas
Texas Flower
The Philippines
Texas Tears
Venetian Design
Village Church
Virginia Gentleman

Sometimes the names of a flower and a locality are combined, as in “Persian Palm Lily” and “Carolina Lily.” This latter design is quite a popular one in the Middle West, where it is known also as “Star Flower.”

Figures and letters come in for some attention, for a few of the designs thus named are quite artistic. The best known are “Boxed I’s,” “Capital I,” “Double Z,” “Four E’s,” “Fleur-de-Lis,” “Letter H,” “Letter X,” and “T Quartette.”

Inanimate objects, particularly those about the house, inspired many names for patterns, some of which are quite appropriate. A number of such names are given here:

Album
Base Ball
Basket Quilt
Block Album
Brickwork Quilt
Carpenter’s Rule
Carpenter’s Square
Churn Dash
Cog Wheel
Compass
Crossed Canoes
Diagonal Log Chain
Domino
Double Wrench
Flutter Wheel
Fan
Fan Patch
Fan and Rainbow
Ferris Wheel
Flower Pot
Hour Glass
Ice Cream Bowl
Log Patch
Log Cabin
Necktie
Needle Book
New Album
Pincushion and Burr
Paving Blocks
Pickle Dish
Rolling Pinwheel
Rolling Stone
Sashed Album
Shelf Chain
Snowflake
Snowball
Stone Wall
Sugar Loaf
Spools
Shield
Scissor’s Chain
Square Log Cabin
The Railroad
The Disk
The Globe
The Wheel
Tile Patchwork
Watered Ribbon
Wind Mill

Occasionally the wag of the family had his opportunity, for it took some one with a strain of dry humour to suggest “Old Bachelor’s Puzzle,” “Drunkard’s Path,” and “All Tangled Up,” or to have ironically called one quilt a “Blind Man’s Fancy.”

Imagination was not lacking when it came to applying apt names to some of the simplest designs. To have called rows of small triangles running diagonally across a quilt the “Wild Goose Chase,” the maker must have known something of the habits of wild geese, for as these migrate from North to South and back again following the summer’s warmth, they fly one behind the other in long V-shaped lines. The resemblance of these lines, swiftly moving across the sky, to her neat
rows of triangles supplied the quilt maker with her inspiration.

See larger image

WHITE QUILT

A very beautiful and original design, made in New England over 125 years ago. Only part of the design has been stuffed

See larger image

OLD LADIES QUILTING

Names that are grotesque, or fanciful, or so descriptive that their mention is sure to provoke a grin, occur with pleasing frequency. Who can help but smile at “Hairpin Catcher,” “Hearts and Gizzards,” or “Tangled Garters?” Other grotesque names worthy of mention are:

An Odd Pattern
Autograph Quilt
Boy’s Nonsense
Brick Pile
Broken Dish
Cake Stand
Crazy Quilt
Devil’s Puzzle
Fantastic Patch
Fool’s Puzzle
No Name Quilt
Pullman Puzzle
Puzzle File
Robbing Peter to Pay Paul
State House Steps
Steps to the Altar
Swing in the Centre
The X quisite
Tick-Tack-Toe
Vestibule

The everyday quilts, not particularly beautiful, perhaps, but nevertheless so essential to the family comfort, are also considered worthy of names. Homely and prosaic as their owners, the following names have a peculiar rugged quality entirely lacking in the fanciful ones given to their more artistic sisters:

An Old Patchwork
Bedtime
Coarse Woven Patch
Country Farm
Crib Quilt
Crosses and Losses
Economy
Home Treasure
Odds and Ends
Odd Patchwork
Old Scrap Patchwork
Right and Left
Simple Design
Swinging Corners
The Old Homestead
Twist and Turn
Twist Patchwork
Winding Walk
Workbox

In the old days grown-up folks were not the only ones who had to do with naming the quilts; children shared in the honour, and many of the quaint and fantastic names were the result of humouring their fancies. There was no “B’rer Rabbit” in quilt lore, but he was not missed when the two or three youngsters who cuddled in the old-fashioned trundle bed could have so many other fascinating names for their quilts. “Four Little Birds,” “Ducks and Ducklings,” “Children’s Delight,” “The Little Red House,” “Goose in the Pond,” “The House That Jack Built,” “Toad in the Puddle,” and “Johnny Around the Corner” are some of the old names still in use to-day. Any one of these patterns made up into a quilt was a treasure to imaginative children, and it was doubly so when they could pick out among the tiny blocks bits of colour
that were once in their own gay dresses and pinafores.

Clinging lavender wisteria, sweet jasmine, and even scarlet amaryllis pale beside the glowing colours displayed during sunny spring days on the gallery rails of many country homes through Delaware and Virginia. These picturesque scenes, in which the familiar domestic art supplies the essential touch of colour, are aptly described by Robert and Elizabeth Shackleton, those indefatigable searchers for the beautiful among the relics of our forefathers.

“In many a little village, and in many an isolated mountain home, the old-time art of making patchwork coverlets is remembered and practised. Some may be found that are generations old; others are new, but made in precisely the old-time way, and after the same patterns. Many are in gorgeous colours, in glowing yellows, greens, and purples; and being a matter of housewifely pride, they are often thrown over the ‘gallery rail’ so their glory may be seen.

“One guest bed had nineteen quilts! Not to sleep under such a padded mountain, but it was the most natural method of display. Each quilt
had its name. There was the “Western Star,” the “Rose of the Carolinas,” the “Log Cabin,” the “Virginia Gentleman,” the “Fruit Basket,” the “Lily of the Valley”—as many special names as there are designs.”

I
N SPITE of their wide distribution and vast quantity, the number of quilts readily accessible to those who are interested in them is exceedingly small. This is particularly true of those quilts which possess artistic merit and historic interest, and a considerable amount of inquiry is sometimes necessary in order to bring forth even a single quilt of more than ordinary beauty. It is unfortunate for this most useful and pleasant art that its masterpieces are so shy and loath to display their charms, for it is mainly from the rivalry induced by constant display that all arts secure their best stimulus. However, some very remarkable achievements in quilting have been brought to light from time to time, to the great benefit of this best of household arts.

There is in existence to-day no complete collection of quilts readily available to the public at
large. No museum in this country or abroad has a collection worthy of the name, the nearest approach to it being in the great South Kensington Museum in London. While many institutions possess one or more specimens, these have been preserved more often on account of some historic association than because of exceptional beauty or artistic merit. It is only in the rare instance of a family collection, resulting from the slow accumulation by more than one generation of quilt enthusiasts, that a quilt collection at all worth while can be found. In such a case the owner is generally so reticent concerning his treasures that the community as a whole is never given the opportunity to profit by them.

In families where accumulations have reached the dignity in numbers that will justify being called collections, the quilts belonging to different branches of the family have been passed along from one generation to another, until they have become the property of one person. Among collections of this sort are found many rare and beautiful quilts, as only the best and choicest of all that were made have been preserved. There are also occasional large collections of quilts that are the work of
one industrious maker who has spent the greater portion of her life piecing and quilting. The Kentucky mountain woman who had “eighty-three, all different, and all her own makin’,” is a typical example of this class.

See larger image

THE “WIND-BLOWN TULIP” DESIGN

Seems to bring a breath of springtime both in form and colour. Even the border flowers seem to be waving and nodding in the breeze

The vastness of their numbers and the great extent of their everyday use serve to check the collecting of quilts. As a whole, quilts are extremely heterogeneous and democratic; they are made so generally over the whole country that no distinct types have been developed, and they are possessed so universally that there is little social prestige to be gained by owning an uncommonly large number. Consequently even the most ardent quilt lovers are usually satisfied when they possess enough for their own domestic needs, with perhaps a few extra for display in the guest chambers.

Much of the social pleasure of the pioneer women was due to their widespread interest in quilts. Aside from the quilting bees, which were notable affairs, collecting quilt patterns was to many women a source of both interest and enjoyment. Even the most ambitious woman could not hope to make a quilt like every design which she admired, so, to appease the desire for the numerous ones she
was unable to make, their patterns were collected. These collections of quilt patterns—often quite extensive, frequently included single blocks of both pieced and patched designs. There was always a neighbourly and friendly interest taken in such collections, as popular designs were exchanged and copied many times. Choice remnants of prints and calicoes were also shared with the neighbours. Occasionally from trunks or boxes, long hidden in dusty attics, some of these old blocks come to light, yellowed with age and frayed at the edges, to remind us of the simple pleasures of our grandmothers.