Every evening while at Catoctin Mountain National Park as this year's Artist-in-Residence found me hand-stitching on this very special piece. It was truly my honor to finish something started in the late 19th century. It has been so much fun to share it with others. Now, it is on its way back to Thurmont, Maryland to become part of the National Park's permanent art collection.
Along with it, I sent a letter of documentation. It reads:
Mary
E. Carter of Michigan donated a box of old quilt pieces to my stash
of vintage fabrics. Her hand-written card included the following:
They are not family pieces and I have no sentimental attachment to
them. However, as an amateur historian and professional teacher of
many kinds of needle arts, I have a deep appreciation of the skills,
time, and souls that have gone into them. The box included four
crazy quilt blocks that were basted together but never embroidered or
finished into a crazy quilt. (continued below)
The
blocks feature many exotic fabrics as well as hand-painted
handkerchiefs depicting scenes from Shakespearean plays. Dates on
souvenir ribbons are from the 1890s and include one for Benjamin
Harrison, 23rd President of the United States and one for a William
McKinley Rally, 25th President of the United States. McKinley was
assassinated on September 14, 1901. Undoubtedly, the original maker
put her exotic materials together in the late 1890s. (continued below)
Instead
of attempting to piece the four blocks together with a seam, I lay
them flat on a piece of traditional quilt batting backed with a
vintage damask tablecloth. I hid the center edges of the blocks with
strips of lace. Several, small doilies were also added. A layer of
off-white bridal tulle was placed over the entire surface in order to
protect the fragile materials. I did not start stitching until after
my arrival at Catoctin Mountain Park. (continue below)
Every evening I stitched on this quilt using various colors of embroidery floss. The work-in-progress was shared on Friday, September 9, 2022 on the Catoctin Mountain Visitor Center porch and again on the afternoons of September 17 and 18, 2022 at the Thurmont Regional Library. On Thursday, September 22, 2022 the piece was shown to the Stitch n Peace quilt guild of Fairfield, PA. On Saturday, October 1, 2022 it was shared with the Blythewood Historical Society, Blythewood, SC. The hand embroidery was finished shortly thereafter and a backing, hanging sleeve, and label were added.
When I finished the hand embroidery, I went into my studio to look for a suitable fabric to use on the back. In the first tub I opened ... right on top ... was a beautiful piece of olive-brown dupioni silk. I don't remember when or where I got it. Frankly, I don't remember having this luxurious material before finding it. It was perfect. There was enough for a four-inch hanging sleeve too! I am very, very pleased with this piece and hope that lots of people get to see it. There's something so special about the collaboration with a long gone woman, her handiwork, my stitching, and the possibility that our efforts will be enjoyed for generations to come.
2 comments:
Beautiful! Oh, how I wish I could do that with partly-basted crazy quilt blocks made by my grandmother ca. 1894 (her practice block was finished, dated and bears her maiden name initials; I had it preservation framed decades ago). I tried to work with the blocks, basted on ticking, but there were silks and what I think might be "sateen"...and they were too fragile. Your piece, though, reminds me of those precious blocks she was working on when, for reasons I'll never know, she set them aside.
Exquisite!! Thank you for lovingly restoring these beautiful blocks. Now, other quilters and embroiderers can enjoy seeing it.
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