Historic American QuiltsHistoric American Quilts
675 Fox and Geese with Flying Geese Border, ca1990, 63x74, found in Illinois. A beautiful vintage quilt, but it has some worn fabric and some discoloration. There is a homewoven backing. This is machine pieced and machine quilted. There is rather heavy weight filling, which seems to be a red wool blanket. The binding comes around from the backing. You'll love the variety of inidgo prints in the triangles. It's a great country quilt. $250
522 Corner Star, 1880-90, 70x84. A good-looking country quilt, with an interesting red and black print sashing and brown, blue, tan and gray prints in the stars. There is a dark brown and copper-colored print on the backing and the binding. Some of the block colors have run into the light print backgrounds, and so tannish areas may be adjacent to the "stars". At least two of the blocks have well-worn fabrics, and these have been stabilized with bridal veiling basted over the whole block. A couple of patch replacements have been made with vintage fabrics (not repros). The quilting is only 3-4 st/in but in regular parallel lines throughout the quilt. $250.
566 Irish Chain, ca 1900, 72x77. A very attractive quilt with some fading problems. The quilting is very good at 7st/in in wide parallel lines, The front is turned to the back as binding. This is very clean but has about four small blue spots on the top. It will make a good addition to toss for all kinds of uses at Christmas time. $200.
582, Friendship Quilt, 1910-40, 64x77. Perky and quirky. You might call this a lively quilt, and if you have orange or red in your room, its perfect! Or, there is Halloween! Four edges are scalloped and bound in white; the backing is white.The machine-piecing is very good, and the quilting is about 7st/in in contours and rather close so that it is heavily quilted. This is in excellent condition. $200
528 Dresden Plate, 66x82, 1939-40, northwest Illinois. This is a very attractive quilt with a myriad of prints from the era. It has been machine quilted by a local shop, now no longer in existence. The backing is a darker lavender and is brought around to form the binding. The large yellow centers and the matching border pull it all together. It is in excellent condition and is all hand-pieced except for the borders and binding. $250
665 Dresden Plate, 1920's, 60x76, found in Fox Valley, Illinois. This is a very naive Dresden plate, probably made all of feed sack fabrics , and the pieced and then appliqued plates were blanket stitched at the edges in black. The background pieces contain various feed sack labels, one being "Grandmother's Salt and Fine Grain Sugar from Denver". Each plate is tied in the yellow center and quilted radially from the plates.The quilting is very simple. The outer border is pieced of feed sack fabrics, and the backing, a charming, but faded floral, is pieced also. The border is also blanket stitched in black. There are a few brown soil marks on the top, but the fabrics are in good condition. The quilt is very lightweight since there probably is no batting.This was obviously made with what was available at the time and is a representative of hard times in the US. $195
361, Dresden Plate, 1920-30, 54x80, Waterloo, Iowa. This is an unusual Dresden Plate in that the plates are only five inches across with pieces 1/2 to 1 inch wide, and hand pieced. The depression era fabrics include feedsacks, and there is a white background . The 4.5 inch border is pink, the sashing is pink with white cornerstones, and the quilt has a biased white binding. The quilting is 8 st/in and very carefully done. There are four leaves quilted around the plates, and the background is all in diamond grid. There is a single cable within the border . The fabrics and general condition are excellent. If you have a twin bed that needs a quilt, please consider this beautiful piece of handiwork and tradition over an oriental import. $225
530 Sawtooth Variation, 77x90, 1940-50, Jo Daviess County, Illinois. The fine hand of the quilter in 529 is present here as well. The whole quilt is hand-pieced, including the knife edge. The quilting is about 7-8 st/in with more elaborate fleur de lis in the white alternate blocks and with zig zags on the turquoise border. Simple fleur de lis are in the white spaces between the sawteeth. There is a white backing. There is an orangish quarter-sized spot on the back which comes through to the front ever so faintly. Otherwise this is in excellent condition---unused and unwashed. Crisp.$275
561 LeMoyne Star, 73x85, ca 1870-80. This is a very attractive quilt made with double pinks, green and yellow prints, and madder prints. The back is also a madder print. The binding is solid brown and may have been added later. There are a few fabric pieces that have worn through to the batting, also some on the back. The quilt has signs of discolorations poorly removed, but the dark colors tend to make these unnoticeable. There is nice even quilting at 4-5 st/in in parallel lines and contours. A good hanger! $275
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