I was napping on the couch when the doorbell rang yesterday. Normally I'd just roll over and go back to sleep, but I knew it was probably UPS with the package from Stella Rubin. So I jumped up, trying not to disturb the cat, and answered the door. Sure enough, UPS - a nice young lady holding a package, asking for a signature, curious about how to pronounce my last name. I get that a lot.
"Wow!" I said out loud when I got the quilt out of the box and spread it out to have a look. "That's amazing!" The quilt looked great in pictures, but even better in person. It has alternating color points throughout the block, sashing, and cornerstones, which gives it a dazzling optical effect.
There was a receipt with notes. Florence Caldonia Corley Shealy of Saluda County, South Carolina made the quilt around the 1870s. Exciting! Very few of the nineteenth century quilts in my collection have maker's information. You can bet I'll be taking a spin through Ancestry.com today.
Some technical details: the quilt is 77" x 78" with 16" x 19" blocks, 6.5" wide sashing, and 1/4" binding rolled from back to front. It is all hand pieced and hand quilted, with ditch, echo, and elbow quilting. Some quilters know elbow quilting as the "Baptist Fan" design. The overall effect of the quilting is movement through texture and repetition, which plays nicely off the movement in the alternating color points. It sings and dances! Once again, thank you Stella!!
I didn't realize it was Sue Reich's birthday when I posted a red, white and blue quilt...but how serendipitous! Happy Birthday, Sue!!
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful quilt! Thanks for the eye candy.
ReplyDeleteJanet
It's a stunner! So glad I've got it in time for the exhibit and catalog. Aside from the originality, it took a fair amount of planning.
ReplyDeleteYour exhibit is going to be great. I am pleased that an ebay seller did not attempt to over sell and that there was joy in the receiving. It is a lovely quilt.... can't wait to drop the "elbow quilting" comment at the next historical quilt group meeting and see .......
ReplyDeleteNot going to risk loosing my comments so will post as ananoymous.....Texas
Saluda is right up the road from me! How wonderful that you have the information on the maker...down here it is always "Baptist Fan"...I said elbow quilting at a documentation day and I was politely corrected!
ReplyDeleteYankee-
ReplyDeleteLOL! I've been politely corrected the other way around, too.
One of the most amusing things about those classes - you know where - was the ridiculous effort to mandate certain terminology. Way to have a hissy fit over the term fussy cut.
etc., etc.
My thought, as a true Oregonian would think, was, "Good luck with that."
I wish the UPS delivered packages like that to my door in Australia. What a beautie! from Jenny McH
ReplyDelete