Miss America's Quilt

This wonderful pieced quilt from Kentucky once belonged to Miss America 1971, Phyllis George. It appeared in her book, "Living with Quilts" (1998) and was one of her favorites. She collected Kentucky folk art and had a special interest in the quilts when she was married to Governor John Brown. Miss America had good taste in quilts.

The quilt was made in the mid to late 19th century and is densely quilted. It includes two shades of solid green, a red print, and white, and it is all hand quilted. If you look at some of today's modern quilts, you may see similar ideas about large areas of solid neutrals defined by quilting, which this quilt has. The white area in the center of each block has small clamshell quilting and a series of arcs that appear to ripple outward from the pointed pieces.