PMQG Trivia - about that quilt...

Snake Trail Fans, c. 1890, eastern United States

Earlier this evening, the Portland Modern Quilt Guild had a trivia contest during the May guild meeting. I was sitting in with the winning group, the Granny Squares, and was pleasantly surprised when one of my quilts popped up on the screen as one of three choices for the question, "Which quilt is the oldest?"

Although I have several quilts that are older and a few quilts that are more than 100 years older than this magnificent Snake Trail Fans quilt, it was the oldest of the three choices and was the correct answer. It was made in the last quarter of the 19th century in the eastern United States, possibly Pennsylvania, and I thought I would post a few pictures and let people get a better look at it. The embroidery detail is wonderful.

The quilt came from the personal collection of Shelly Zegart and once hung over the sofa in her New York apartment. It was auctioned through eBay in a fundraiser for the Alliance for American Quilts, and I was the lucky winning bidder. The quilt was featured in a 1989 article in Country Living Magazine.

It is made of lightweight wools, and is in excellent condition. I may have to bring it to a future meeting so everyone can see it in person. A couple years ago, I brought it to Sisters and showed it to Gwen Marston and Sue Spargo during the folk art quilting retreat weekend. Kristin Shields took a picture of us looking at it in Gwen's workshop before the retreat part of the weekend began. You can tell by the picture, Gwen was very interested in it!

Thank you Kristin Shields for the photo :)

That was the same weekend I started two small quilts, which you may have seen on my blog- "Center Star" from Gwen's Liberated Medallion Workshop, and "Wild-Eyed Susans" from the Folk Art Quilting Retreat with Gwen and Sue Spargo. I had several old quilts with me that weekend, and brought them along to show for inspiration.

"Center Star" 2013

"Wild-Eyed Susans" 2013

I don't know about everyone else, but I was inspired. Haven't seen many of the finished quilts from the other participants, though, so if you were there and haven't finished your quilts yet, get crackin' - and send pictures!

Trivia night with Portland Modern Quilt Guild was a lot of fun, and I hope we'll do it again! I got a cool button for being the team's mascot. There were gift bags full of goodies, and refreshments, too. This group really knows how to have a good time. I brought three very special quilts along, and will post more about those tomorrow.