Block Format Quilts (Quiltscapes)
Block Format Quilts
By the second half of the 19th century, American industry was providing colorfully printed fabrics in abundance. Block format quilts became popular, and people with means could purchase enough fabric to make color-themed quilts like this "red and green" rose appliqué example.
Album, c. 1860 -1880
Maker: UnknownAlthough Spokane’s Griffith family donated this quilt, they did not recognize any of its inscribed names. Persistent researchers located many of the names in a three-county area of New York State in the 1850 census.... [more]
Birds in the Air, Inscribed: 5th November 1846
Maker: Sarah GloverSarah Koentz was only 16 years old when she married Philip Glover November 13, 1819 in St. Charles County, Missouri. Thirty years later, the Glovers sold their farm, packed up eleven children and this quilt, and... [more]
Crosby Album, c. 1860
Maker: Julia Stevens CrosbyThis is one of three known, nearly identical quilts that Julia Crosby, who lived in Stevens Mill, Vermont, made for her children in 1860. Her son John Quincy Adams Crosby carried this personalized quilt with... [more]
Double Nine Patch, c. 1867
Maker: Mary A. Griffith McConnellMary A. Griffith organized tiny, one-half inch, hand-pieced scraps to create her quilt. Perhaps she made it in preparation for her marriage to James M. McConnell on October 9, 1867 in Schuler County,... [more]
Ducks Foot, c. 1880
Maker: Jane JacobyWhen Dr. Pratt donated this quilt to the Museum, he wrote that it was made by his mother’s mother’s sister!That woman has proved to be Jane Jacoby who lived in Henry County, Indiana and married in the 1870s. Widowed... [more]
Feathered Star, 1875 and 1930
Maker: Alice Belknap and Elizabeth Ruth Clizer CrossAlice was only 16 years old when she made her Feathered Star quilt! The complicated technique of positioning the little triangles around the star points didn’t seem to deter the... [more]
Fifty-Four Forty or Fight, c. 1900
Maker: Jesse and Ruth BrockwayMade shor tly before 1900 this pattern features an eyecatching light star sur rounded by darker shaded stars. The bright orange setting strips invite each star to stand alone. Sisters Jesse and Ruth used... [more]
Honeybee, c. 1890
Maker: Sarah ChambersThis quilt was mistakenly dated circa 1850 because of its trapunto, appliqué and quilting techniques. But researchers found no record of its maker in that era. A closer look at its fabrics proved a later date;... [more]
Nine Patch, c. 1890
Inscribed: Mary Jane Wirt, Born October 12, 1851Normally, a cradle quilt was marked with a baby’s name. But this quilt’s “cadet” blue fabric was not readily available until about 1900, decades after its 1851 inscription. Mary Jane Wirt... [more]
Rose Applique, c. 1850
Maker: UnknownThe outer blocks in this quilt appear to be the same, but close examination reveals that the appliqué placement is slightly different on each block and the stitching style varies. These inconsistencies suggest that more... [more]
Royal Album, c. 1868
Maker: UnknownThe prominent Methodist family names inscribed on this quilt are young girls, ages 6 to 15, plus two older women who may have assembled the quilt. Its fabrics date to the late 1860s, when these girls were living in... [more]
Seven Sisters
Inscribed: Josie Age 14 Wint 1876 Wash T.Maker: possibly Josie Hamilton
Hand-pieced from a scrap bag, the tiny triangles include a fabric printed “1876” in celebration of the nation’s Centennial. Much of the stitching is... [more]
Tree of Life, c. 1870 -1890
Maker: UnknownRepresenting the mid-19th century fashion for red and green quilts, these fabrics illustrate the problems that American chemists faced in developing dyes for cloth. If a quilter purchased two different lots of green, one... [more]
Yankee Puzzle, c. 1900 and 1930
Maker : Rene Snider and Trissa MooreRene hand-pieced this quilt with tiny prints dating from 1850-1900, indicating that this was a scrap bag quilt. She died in childbirth shortly after she completed the top, and her tombstone in Wenatchee,... [more]