An eBay auction I'd been following ended today, and I'm the lucky winner of a handmade Bicentennial quilt from Massachusetts! I remember the Bicentennial and recognized the star logo immediately. The American Revolution Bicentennial Commission selected the logo via contest in 1974, and the winning design was by Bruce N. Blackburn, who was also co-designer of the modernized NASA insignia used from 1975-1992.
When I first saw the listing, I thought maybe it was a mass-produced quilt, but it's not. Looks like a lot of it was done by hand. Based on the pictures I'd say it was machine pieced, hand appliqued and hand quilted. It's large, too - 82" x 101"!! The listing said it was cotton, but could also be a cotton-polyester blend. The quilt was just $49.99, a nice bargain, and is coming from Nahant, Massachusetts. Can't wait to see it in person!!
MONDAY MORNING UPDATE: I found a flag to go with this quilt. Back in high school I had one of these flags, but it was stolen from my dormitory at the end of the school year. When I went to go look on eBay, there was one just like it. So what did I do? I bought it!!
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You find the greatest quilts!
ReplyDeleteThis one was definitely a good find. I've got maybe 50 of these quilts from the time period when I grew up, so I'm beginning to get selective on what I'll buy. When we talk about a Bicentennial logo quilt - for that price - I just had to have it!!
DeleteCongratulations Bill!! Very nice quilt!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lori. I think we all remember that logo. Looks like maybe 50 blocks or more, all with that little applique logo. Crazy, when you think about it. That's a good amount of small scale applique.
Delete:)
great find....love the appligue logo!...I hope the quilt is as great as it looks in the pictures! it is realy well designed with the logos well incorporated not just stuck on...I think I had an embroidered patch of that logo on a jacket....when I was 11
ReplyDeleteFor less than fifty bucks, hard to go wrong. Just happened to do a search at the right time. I had a flag with the logo, and was swiped from the dormitory at prep school. Could probably find another out there.
DeleteI made a crib quilt from this kit in 1975, for my daughter who was going to be a bicentennial baby, born in 1976. I just recently found the original directions when reorganizing my sewing room.
ReplyDeleteThe kit included a printed white top, made of "cotton and cotton blends," and printed red and blue fabric for the appliques. The printing of the quilting design was then washed out.
-Ruth Q