Saturday, November 12, 2016

inscribed Bicentennial quilt

inscribed Bicentennial quilt, Vermont, 1976, 57" x 57" 
This neat little Bicentennial quilt arrived today. I found it on eBay, and wasn't really paying attention to its location of origin. It came from a seller in Essex Junction, Vermont! That's where my second cousins live, and I'm very familiar with the place. In fact, I spent time there in the summer of 1976.


The quilt is made of cottons and cotton/synthetic blends, and it is 57" x 57" in size. It is inscribed with embroidery in the lower left corner, "d.l. bister 1976" and it is red, white and blue - a real-deal Bicentennial quilt! If I ever get an ancestry.com subscription again, maybe I'll try to find out more. I'm not much of a genaologist, but it would be nice to find out if the maker was really from Essex Junction. Interestingly, the quilt is both hand-quilted and tied. I'm not sure I've seen that before.  

6 comments:

  1. Did a google search and found a Donna Bister who is co-author of a quilting book and a Michael Bister. Couldn't find a city reference though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. She apparently lives about fairly close to Essex still.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Donna Bister is very involved with the Vermont Quilt Festival. If you came to VQF, you would find her there. She is in her mid-60's, so she would have been making quilts in the 70's quilt revival. I believe she still lives in the Essex Junction area.

    ReplyDelete
  4. According to Ancestry.com Donna Lee Bister was born July 11, 1951 to George and Barbara Bister in Chittenden, Vermont. How cool would it be if you were able to talk with her about her quilt?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I thought immediately of Donna Bister. She was associated with VQF but also with the Museum of American Folk art in NYC. She was involved with the Great American Quilt Festival I and II which is where I met her in 1986. Great find!

    ReplyDelete