Log Cabin quilt, Straight Furrow variation. Made of pieced cotton prints; over 30 different prints are used in the 30 blocks. The design creates diagonal "stripes" of alternating dark and light colors. Center square of all blocks is the same pink floral print. A 6" outer red print forms border and also binds edges, turned and stitched to back. Back is a dark brown print of circles on flecked ground.
Lancaster County or region.
Quilting is inexpertly hand stitched in white, running in straight lines down the center of each "log".
An "X" in the center square of each block.
Provenance
Unknown provenance. Donors were dealers and acquired this quilt as part of their personal collection.
Quilt is white cotton, top and back, with appliques of potted floral design done in solid red and a green with lesser yellow highlights. Pattern is often called "Pot of Flowers." Center is divided into quadrants with an identical large flowering & fruiting potted plant supporting 4 birds in each, creating a symmetrical design.Ornate pot has handles and the branches have leaves of stylized oak, tulip and cucumber. Border has a pair of wide-spreading flowering & fruiting plants on each side and a bird perched on a smaller sprig at each corner.
Blue is used only on the tail of the four corner birds. Red cherries cluster around branches on each plant; yellow ones at branch tips only. Cherries are cotton-stuffed balls stitched to quilt top only. Chain-stitch embroidered stems done in white thread.
Quilting is done in a fine grid (about 1/2") of blue contrasting thread over entire surface. Binding is red and batting is sparse or nonexistent..
Attributed to Sarah Annie Maisey Marker Smith (22 February 1883 - 22 December 1965). Married twice, she had 7 children & made quilts for many if not all. The family called them "cherry quilts." See Notes.
Provenance
Donor reports quilt was acquired by his wife's parents, Lynn and Lois Langdon, who lived in Idaho and were antiques collectors. At an auction in Oregon state (c.1987-88), the quilt was described as a "Pennsylvania wedding quilt." The Langdons purchased it, thinking it would be appropriate for the Lancaster bed & breakfast "The Patchwork Inn" run by donor and his late wife. (Donor's wife, Joanne, died some time ago. He remarried and they continued the B&B for another 10 years.) The Martins had a collection of over 100 quilts in this B&B. Now retired, donor is finding homes for many of the quilts.
Bio. info on maker Sarah Annie was obtained by Trish Herr from Morgan Anderson (see file). Quiltmaker lived on Easterday Rd, north of Myersville, MD.
Red binding and many stuffed cherries heavily worn. Loss of 2 cherries on one of the large quadrant plants. Minor soiling with some liquid stains, mostly around edges. Reverse has light acid burn at some fold lines. Along one quilt edge are spaced eleven minor holes, probably where tacked up for display in B&B.
Object ID
G.02.47.01
Notes
Applique quilts such as this cherry type "Pot of Flowers" design with its color palette of red and green were being made circa 1850s-1870. Red and green applique quilts were popular in the East, then spread westward where they remained popular during this time, then faded. Two more Pot of Flowers are dated 1902 and 1904, but really had a significant resurgence in the1920s and 1930s. See Connie Nordstroms, "One Pot of Flowers Quilt Pattern -- Blossoming through Centuries", Vol. 23 of the Research Papers of the AQSG, 2002 in file.
Place of Origin
Myersville, Frederick County, Maryland
Role
Quiltmaker
Credit
Given by the W. Lee Martin family in memory of Joanne M. Martin, Heritage Center Collection
Center Diamond quilt of hand pieced cottons. Double border on both diamond and large square. Top uses 14 different prints, including binding (mostly calicoes, but several stripes and checks) and several solid patches. Colors of red, yellow and pink predominate. Back has pieced cotton strips of two blue floral prints of feed sack material. Cotton batting.
Quilting patterns hand stitched with white thread; diamonds on outside double border and a grid throughout center.
Pieced by Frances Keen Binkley (Mrs. Zephaniah Binkley, 1862-1935), a Mennonite woman living near Leola, Upper Leacock Twp. She designed and pieced a quilt for each of her grandchildren but had her daughter-in-law Vera Binkley (wife of son Edgar) and four granddaughters do the quilting. This quilt was made for donor Dorothy Ann Groff. She believes she was in her teens when the quilting was done, thus the late 1930s).
Some color variation in different print runs of calicos, but original.
Object ID
G.03.05.01
Notes
Quilt was featured in "Quilting Traditions" by Trish Herr, 2000 and again in "Amish Quilts of Lanc. Co." by Trish Herr, 2004. Featured in the Dec. 2007 issue of the magazine McCall's Quilting, "The Art of Vintage Quilts"
Place of Origin
Upper Leacock Twp.
Credit
Given in memory of Frances Keen Binkley by Dorothy A. Gr
All-white quilt made with unusual arrangement of pieced cotton panels, both machine and hand stitched.
Quilt top and quilt back are essentially identical; all plain-weave cotton except for two 8" wide side panels of ribbed weave and bottom 4.5" wide panel of ribbed basket weave. Centerfield has variously joined panels: at center is 13.5" wide panel flanked by two 9" wide panels and all surrounded by a 9" wide border. Very unusual piecing throughout: overlapping seams, hemmed seams and corners that do not align in conventional manner.
Quilting designs: center panel has 3 feather wreaths on a grid field, and the remaining plain-weave panels each have an undulating feather design on a field of diagonal lines. Cotton batting is deteriorated into clumps from laundering and cotton seeds scattered throughout.
Provenance
Inherited by donor from unknown Mueller family member.
Moderate wear; minor scattered stains, esp. at periphery. Most notable are two tiny blood stains, now faded. Minor separation at several seams, esp. middle panel.
Object ID
G.03.26.01
Place of Origin
Lancaster County
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Paul A. Mueller, Jr., Heritage Center Collection
Nine-Patch Quilt with 4" square blocks set on point. Pieced cotton blocks composed of many multicolored prints and 2 solids (cheddar and tan). Alternate blocks are a pink print.
Nine-patch blocks arranged in 12 rows of 12 each. Top and bottom have floral print border on a dark gray ground; one is 3.5" wide and one 4.5" wide. Same print used as a binding, machine stitched to front, wrapped and hand stitched to back. Back is a cotton print of alternating floral and plain stripes.
Quilting is not carefully executed and uses sometimes white and sometimes tan thread. Parallel lines run through corners in both directions. Pink print blocks have added quilting around edges. Two borders have a repeating chevron design.
Quilt of pieced silk hexagons, creating what is known as a Flower Garden pattern. Made by Jacob F. Trexler, M.D. a surgeon and physician on staff at St. Joseph (and also coroner, according to donor).
Quilt is made of a plethora of multicolored silks, pieced with the English template method. Each small hexagon was stitched over a cardboard template (still present). Plain, patterned and textured fabrics were used, and even some pompoms as "flower centers." Large "T" for Trexler is satin-stitched in gold on a dark blue velvet ground at center. Multiple letters, initials and monograms are embroidered on individual hexagons. These apparently represent family members since many end in "T," such as EMT (wife Ella Moore Trexler?), AFT, ENT, MAT (mother Mary A. Trexler?), MLT, MLW and MWT. Several symbols are also embroidered (sunburst w/ face, wheel, etc.)
Backing is a mustard colored quilted silk fabric.
According to donor, Dr. Trexler had his quilting frame set up on the 3rd floor of his residence at 134 N. Prince St. His office was on first floor. Donor owns three other quilts made by Trexler (he made many after retirement). These are a log cabin (silks with a polished cotton back), a star and an unfinished hexagon.
Provenance: Donor inherited the quilts from the Trexler family. In addition to other quilts, she possesses a 1920 photograph of Dr. Trexler.
Very good condition, minor soiling and fabric deterioration at some fabrics along edges.
See in file, pages from "Uncoverings 2003" Vol. 24 for article with comments on hexagonal quilts done with the "English paper-piecing" construction technique and their resurgence in popularity in the 1920 and 1930.
Crazy quilt, atypical, of brilliantly colored printed silks, made by Anna Little Wagner of Schwenksville. The polychrome fabrics are predominantly green, but also strong reds and blues. Designs are mostly stylized and naturalistic floral motifs, with some stylized birds. Several prints are identical except for color variations, suggesting the maker had access to factory samples or remnants. Several prints have what appears to be an Egyptian theme, indicating a tie to the Egyptian Revival period of the 1920s.
Patch seams are decorated with red cross-stitched embroidery. Binding is a golden brown silk. Backing is a solid maroon silk.
Very good condition and stable overall, with perhaps half a dozen patches having minor fabric separation/splitting. At least two small holes of about 1/4" diameter. Some tide lines visible in three or four areas indicating liquid spills.
Provenance
Passed from maker to niece (brother William Little's daughter, Anna Marion Little Goode) to son Clarence Randolph. Late in her life, maker lived for a year or more with niece Anna Marion Little Goode and husband Clarence E. Goode, M.D. when they resided in Reading. Perhaps the quilt was passed to niece at that time. Donor recalls seeing maker's quilting frame set up in their home where she made traditional cotton quilts. Donor believes Littles and Gilberts were Mennonites, although not very active in church.
Note: Donor Clarence J. Randolph was born a Goode, but didn't like his name so changed it to Randolph.
Four-block squares alternate with squares of whole white print. Four blocks composed of two red squares of a red print and two squares of a white print. Perhaps ten different red prints are used alternately. All framed by three narrow borders using a red print for two and a blue print for the middle one.
Quilted shell patterns are used throughout along with a rope pattern at border, all stitched in an uneven hand. Roberta would likely have been around 65 years of age when the quilt was made.
Both the Penrose and the Carrigan families were Quaker and attended the Drumore Meeting (12 mi. south of Liberty Square). However, Enos Carrigan converted to Presbyterian, and after Roberta Penrose married him, they attended the Chestnut Level Presbyterian Church. Enos Carrigan was a farmer (did not follow blacksmith trade of his father) who also helped found and was one of the directors of the Farmers National Bank in Quarryville as well as the director of the Southern Mutual Insurance Co. also in Quarryville. In addition, he was Drumore Twp. school director at time of his death. Enos & Roberta are both buried in the Drumore Friends Meeting House cemetery.
Provenance
Donor believes the Penrose & Carrigan families were Scots-Irish, as were so many of the early settlers of Drumore Twp. She & her genealogist cousin are unaware of any Welsh ancestors. Ellis & Evans states (p. 969) that the Penroses emigrated from Bucks to Lancaster Co. in 1827.
Donor recalls as a little girl seeing her grandmother Roberta and her unmarried sister Sarah Jane (who was then in a wheelchair & living with Enos Carrigan family) both setting up the quilting frame in the living room during the winter months. It was likely during these years that this quilt was made.
Quilt with Broken Star pattern, cottons with colors indicating Ohio Amish origin (appraiser suggests PA due to greens & pinks). Machine pieced and hand quilted. All solid colors, some polished.
Central large star of yellow, pink, green and lavender on a navy ground. Enclosed by a thin 1.5" wide pieced border of pink and green as well as on outer border of navy, about 7.5" wide. Boldly finished with a sawtooth applique binding of yellow.
Backing is two different lavender solid cottons. Printing on a selvage edge has "LANCASTER KALBURNIE" visible in several areas. Batting is a thin cotton.
Dense quilting is finely done in a contrasting color. Star has parallel lines with feather wreaths in between. Undulating feather motif and grid on both outer border and corners of the large square of navy ground.
Other examples of Broken Star: p. 115 in Eve Granick, The Amish Quilt; p. 52 ff. in Pellman & Pellman, The World of Amish Quilts
Made by an unknown Amish quiltmaker in Ohio or Pennsylvania.
Amish Sunshine and Shadow quilt with small 1 1/2" blocks composing center field pattern within a purple wool border 10 1/4" wide and a purple cotton binding 1 1/4" wide. Multi-colored small squares (including black) in center field are a mix of wools and cottons.
Hand-quilted in black. Center field has diagonal grid; border has floral undulating vine with ends tied in a bow at each corner. Leaves similar to rose leaves, but flowers have six rounded petals.
Backing is a medium-scale print of polychrome military medals with a dangling Maltese Cross, all on a field of grayish blue.
Several small, light stains/soil. Two small frayed holes of 1/8", each in border but opposite sides of quilt. One larger repaired hole in small black square. Significant fade pattern resembling tic-tac-toe grid, but with 3 lines each direction.
Object ID
G.08.17.04
Credit
Gift of Joanna S. Rose, Heritage Center Collection
Lancaster Amish Bars quilt of twill and plain weave wools, machine pieced, hand quilted. Seven bars, 3 dark red and 4 green, all vary in width 4.25" - 5.25". Surrounded by inner border, 3.25" - 3.5" in width, of dark green with corner squares of light green. Outer border is 10.5" wide of the same dark red as the bars. One-inch binding is a tan twill, machine-sewn in black.
Unknown Amish maker
Wool batting. Original red backing is covered over with cotton red check, machine-sewn in black around perimeter and tacked haphazardly throughout quilt with very noticeable heavy black thread extending from top to back. It has some puckering and fabric failure.
Hand quilted in black thread, diagonal grid throughout bars; inner border has pumpkin seed florets within a triple diamond pattern; corner blocks have a 15-petal flower; outer border has two undulating feathers gracefully criss-crossing each other with a horseshoe curve at corners.
Fragile with fading. Heavy fading within red border at head and foot; light streak through center bar. Binding is very thin and has multiple holes, tears and weakened areas. Obvious holes in red fields. Replaced backing with puckering and fabric failure.
Object ID
G.08.17.05
Place of Origin
Lancaster County
Credit
Gift of Joanna S. Rose, Heritage Center Collection
Lancaster Amish quilt, Center Square with Ninepatch, 5"-square blocks set on point. Top and back are all crepe or knitted wools except for outer border and binding which are plain weave.
9-blocks on point are red and green alternating with dark green blocks. Four 9-blocks have remnants of cursive lettering printed in yellow. Inner border is a grayish lavender with purple corner blocks. Outer border is blue with Kelly green corner blocks. Dark purple binding is 1.25" wide. Crepe wool backing is an unusual printed pattern of diagonal striping in mostly browns and greens.
Hand quilted in dark thread. 9-Patch blocks have a grid; alternating blocks of inner field have a multi-petal flower and half-blocks have triple chevrons. Inner border has pumpkin seed florets within triple diamond pattern; corner blocks filled with an 8-point star. Outer borders have an asymmetrical pattern of undulating feather motifs with empty spaces filled with multi-petal flowers.
Maker needed to piece various parts of quilt apparently due to insufficient yardage. Strips are added to ends of all 4 sides of blue outer border, two of the outer corner blocks, two of the inner border, and two half-blocks of inner field. Various components have been done in two different fabrics.
Crazy pattern quilt, solids and prints of wool, twill, silk and cotton. Hand pieced and tied; no quilting. Twenty multi-colored crazy pieced blocks of varying sizes, straight set. Each patch edged in basic embroidery stitches, no interior embellishments. No border. Initials "MW" embroidered into one patch. Initials represent maker Mary Wilt who reportedly made quilt shortly before her Nov. 1898 marriage to Charles Spangler, although appraiser's 1925 date seems more plausible since it is a "scrap" quilt, often called a "make-do" type of quilt, and was likley made from the family's clothing.
Batting is mid-weight cotton. Backing is a brown cotton plaid. Binding is backing brought to front, 1/4" wide.
No quilting.
Provenance: Made by donor's grandmother, Mary Wilt Spangler (Sept 13, 1877 - Nov. 17, 1943) who lived in the York Springs area. Quilt passed to daughter Edna and then to her daughter, the donor.
Mary Wilt married Charles Spangler 11/24/1898 and they were Lutheran. Charles owned a well drilling business. They had three children, George, Mabert and Edna, who was 10 yrs. younger than her siblings.
Quilt documented for the York Co. Quilt Documentation Project, #W-3-9.
Significant wear; many tears and holes in fabric on both sides of quilt.
Outskirts of York Springs, Adams Co.
Provenance
Passed from maker to daughter Edna Spangler Keefer to daughter Betsy Keefer, donor.
Mary Wilt married Charles Spangler Nov. 24, 1898. They were Lutheran. Charles owned a well drilling business. They had 3 children, George, Mabert and Edna, who was ten years younger than her siblings.
Drunkard's Path quilt, all cottons, off-white and Nile green solid. Accurate machine piecing; hand quilting. Off-white border is about 3 1/2" wide on all sides. Center composed of 360 small 3.5" - 4.5" blocks arranged with 20 rows of 18 blocks.
Batting is thin cotton. Backing is the same off-white cotton used on front; backing brought to front for a 1/4" wide binding.
Dense hand quilting with fine stitches. Quilting follows piecing, along with a crescent in each block.
Quilt documented for the York Co. Quilt Documentation Project, #W-3-4.
Made in the outskirts of York Springs, Adams County by Mary Wilt Spangler (Sept 13, 1877 - Nov. 17, 1943).
Provenance
Made by donor's grandmother, Mary Wilt Spangler, who lived in the York Springs area. Quilt passed to daughter Edna where it was used on her bed for many years, then to her daughter, the donor.
Mary Wilt married Charles Spangler 11/24/1898 and they were Lutheran. Charles owned a well drilling business. They had three children, George, Mabert and Edna, who was 10 yrs. younger than her siblings.
Strong wear and aging overall. Significant fading, especially in center. Two areas of dark staining (blood?) at edges of opposite sides. Binding heavily frayed and detatching with two 1/2" ripped holes near dark stains at center fold of one edge. Three quilt pieces in corner are darker green than the others.
Object ID
G.09.03.06
Notes
Note: The Nile green fabric of this quilt was also used in the Double Wedding Ring quilt (G09.03.09).
Place of Origin
Adams County, Pennsylvania
Role
Quiltmaker
Credit
Gift of Betsy Keefer in memory of the Spangler family quilters, Heritage Center Collection
Quaker-made quilt, silk block pattern called Square-in-Square or Economy Patch. Made by professional seamstress Addie Lamborn. Comprised of 25 pieced blocks 10" square, set straight in rows, 5 x 5. The silk dress fabrics are tan, blue and light yellow and are prints, solids and weaves.. Tan 3-inch sashing and dark blue cornerstones.
Handquilted inexpertly in dark thread with an overall large-scale grid. Stitches are large and uneven with crooked lines - not in keeping with the otherwise excellent workmanship. Perhaps the old note in file: "Hemstitched by Alice C. Lamborn Long Feb 1931" refers to this quilt?
Backing is a red, solid cotton and is brought to front to form binding. Thin-weight wool (cotton?) batting.
Appraiser notes the name of this quilt is Square-in-Square or Economy Patch
Little Brittain Twp. Lanc. Co until 1915, then West Grove, Chester County
Made by Addie (Ada) S. Lamborn (4-29-1875 to 1-30-1926)
Provenance
Addie S. Lamborn made this quilt for her grandnephew Howard Michener Long (b. circa 1922). Although made by Addie, quilt was apparently given as a gift by her sister Alice C. Long who was Howard's grandmother. Addie had a spinal deformity and lived with her sister's family working as a dressmaker/seamstress.
Center Diamond pattern Amish quilt. Three borders, all with corner blocks.Top has pieced, plain-weave wools in red, purple, and blue. Back of quilt is blue polished plain-weave cotton. Batting is cotton. Blue binding.
Fine quilting in black cotton includes a central feather wreath in the diamond, 6-pointed flowers in corner blocks of inner border, both inner borders have pumpkin seed flowers within a running diamond design. Scrolling feather segments in outer border.
Provenance
Tenuous attribution to a member of the Benuel King family (reportedly the mother of Benuel King) of southern Lancaster County.
Published in Trish Herr, "Amish Arts", 1998, p. 86 and Rachel Pellman, Amish Wall Quilts, 2001.
Dark stains in one corner block. Whitish stains sprinkled on a corner block and adjacent binding. Several smaller spots elsewhere. Hanging sleeve attached by Phyllis Thompson 2015.
Object ID
P.81.04
Place of Origin
Lancaster County
Credit
Generosity of James Hale Steinman Foundation, Heritage Center Collection
Appliqued and pieced cottons, cotton stem and French knot embroidery, cotton quilting thread. Nine-block of appliqued back view of boys in a 3 x 3 arrangement on white background. Each boy's hat, shirt, and pants worked in applique. Pants are solid fabric, including the following colors: lavender, blue, pink, green, yellow, red, and tan. Shirts are various floral fabrics. Crown of hat, crossed suspenders, buttons, hands, feet, bucket, and shovel worked in black stem. Rivets on shovel worked in French knots in black. Outline of buttocks worked in yellow or black stem. Blocks separated by 2 1/2" grid of blue sashing. Four, nine patch blocks measuring 2 1/2", in white and blue at center block corners. Blue border encasing appliqued blocks is 2". White border is 5" wide at top and sides. 8 5/8"wide at bottom. Outer blue border and binding is 1 1/4". Backing is unknown because it is mounted on muslin. Front, back, and cotton gauzelike filling quilted with white cotton thread. Appliqued blocks with grid-like quilting diagonally across corners. Quilting on blue sashing is diagonal. Shell and rope quilting in white border, with grid-like quilting across the corners.
Herr noted this quilt is not traditional for the Amish. At the time, applique was not the norm. Printed fabric was not used in boys' shirts. Human images rarely appear on items found in the Amish home.
York Co. Doc. Project book notes "During the 1930s, applique patterns w/ sentimental depictions of animals, objects, and people became popular. These include standard patterns such as "Sunbonnet Sue", "Overall Bill," butterflies, flowers and dogs." The pattern name "Overall Bill" is obviously the one used in this Amish-made quilt. (See p. 34 for pattern example)
Original inventory number--623.
On exhibit in new Amish installation, 2nd floor City Hall, 2009-2011.
White fabric on top is discolored with slight overall soiling. Dark spotting on center block. Dark spots and holes in lower right block. Stains in lower center block. Applique stitching is failing in multiple places. Back condition is unknown, since it is backed with muslin.
