Lancaster Amish quilt, Diamond in the Square, Sunshine & Shadow variation, c. 1910. Machine assembled, hand-quilted with black thread, now brown.
Top: plain- and twill-weave and sateen wool and cotton. Multi-colored blocks including black. Outer border of deep cranberry. Patches reverse typical arrangement; in this example, teh solid field is the diamond and the surrounding triangles or "square" include the Sunshine and Shadow pattern. Light red binding is machine stitched to front, turned and whip-stitched to back. No inner border and no corner blocks.
Back: Three machine-joined widths of a tiny cotton check of brown printed on a cream ground. This type of cotton fabric was popular with Lancaster Amish quilters.
Quilting: Unusal motifs at centerfield and outer border. Center has a double-line 8-point star and pumpkin seeds, followed by a feather circle. Tiny baskets in each corner. Grid quilting on small squares. Outer border has corner lyre pattern as well as the accompanying fat feather or fern fronds around edges is unusual and suggests an early 20th c. date. Also the choice of cotton for the top is not common for this tiime.
Provenance
Esprit purchased from America Hurrah for $900 in April 1976, making it one of Tompkins' earliest quilt acquisitions. It was hung in the executive office's lobby at Esprit Corp.
Some fading to outer border; extreme fading to front side of binding. Black quilting thread is now brown at front. Backing has been torn at the gaps between 2"strips of velcro that had been sewn directly onto quilt.
Object ID
P.02.51.26
Notes
Published in "A Gallery of Amish Quilts", p. 65.
POSSIBLE ATTRIBUTION:
Fieldwork: Rachel Pellman visited Sadie Esh (Mrs. Elmer D.) of Harvest Drive in Ronks on 2-27-04. Sadie identified plate 28 in Esprit book as her quilt that Mary Stoltzfus Lapp had made for her when she (Sadie) was 15 or 16 yrs. old (in 1935 or 36). Sadie was born 1920. As a widow, she sold the quilt in the 1970s to finance a new stove, not recalling to whom or for how much. Pellman made a follow-up visit Dec. 1, 2004 with Sadie L. (Beiler) Esh, #2482 in Fisher book. Sadie believes "Grossmommy" Mary S. Lapp #3219, 1875-1955 made this quilt.
Lancaster Amish quilt, Baskets pattern, circa 1935. T. Herr notes repeated block pattern quilts are less common among Lanc. Co. Amish than with other central PA Amish and Ohio & Indiana Amish.
Top: all plain-weave wools except crepe wool pink baskets. Blocks on point are 8" square. Pink baskets on forest green ground alternate with solid blocks of teal blue. Wide border of forest green is 12 1/4" wide. Teal blue binding is 1" wide, machine sewn to front and whip-stitched to back. Batting is white cotton.
Back: Two fabrics are black-and-white floral print and blue-and-white woven plaid, plain-weave cotton.
Quilting: Scallops in baskets; cable in black of squares; blue blocks have 6-petal flower centered in sawtooth, double-stitched circle (this is similar to that of other Baskets quilts). Outer border has intertwining floral designs tied off with bows at each corner (almost identical to Sarah Stoltzfus' Baskets quilt P.89.3).
Attributed to Mary Stoltzfus Lapp, likely one of the Baskets quilters in the Lapp, Stoltzfus or Glick families of Salisbury Twp. Fewer than 10 of these Baskets quilts are known and they seem to have been made by and for members of these neighboring and related families.
Smoketown area or Salisbury Twp., Lancaster County. Attributed to Mary Stoltzfus Lapp (1875-1955).
Provenance
Esprit purchased quilt from the Holsteins on 6-12-1986 for $9,500.
Julie Silber notes that this quilt was collected in the Smoketown area and states a source who claims that four other nearly identical basket quilts are known in Smoketown area. Trish Herr is aware of a number of these quilts being made by the Lapp, Stoltzfus and Glick families living in Salisbury Twp.
Generally good condition except for multiple small irregular-shaped holes scattered along binding, both front and back (insect damage?). Many holes repaired by conservator Linnea Davis in 1989. Tiny holes along many quilt stitches (border and center of blue squares) show white cotton batting.
