Family Album Chain Quilt - 1977

That's me in 1977 with my second attempt at a show quilt. It began as a Double Irish Chain done in scraps of fabric from 1948 to 1977 including those left over from clothing Mom had made for herself, Dad and me, and I also had scraps from sewing for each of my four children as well as my husband. Again, I did 30 blocks set on point but this time I appliqued a square at each corner. I chose a fabric to match each block illustration. The Pennslyvania block in the upper left corner has George Washington's grist mill at Perryopolis, PA near where Mom lived and worked after high school. She and Dad married while she lived there. This block also contains mountain laurel, PA's state flower and the little corner squares have pink flowers similar to mountain laurel that are the scraps from pajamas I made in high school home economics class. In the upper right corner is the Ohio block with a covered bridge in Washington Co. that is near the place my husband was born. Carnations, the state flower, are embroidered into the design and are on the little corner squares. This fabric was bought to make a quilt that I never got off the drawing board, but perhaps someday. The block with the bride and groom represents my marriage, and the roses in the corners are the scraps from the curtains and bedspread Mom made for my bedroom when I was in 7th grade and they were still in use in the bedroom where I dressed for my wedding.

Each block represents some event in my family's life with scraps that are just as important. Son Mike's block has him playing with blocks that spell "RMA" the initials of the military academy he attended in Front Royal, Virginia. Daughter Dawn has a kitten beside her and the pink checked fabric with cats on it--scraps from the dress she wore on her first day at kindergarten. Daughter Starr's block has her dressed in her christening outfit holding the butterfly rattle given to her by a lady who later became her piano teacher. I used a red and white butterfly printed fabric that was leftovers from a pair of chaftan pajamas she wore at age three. Son Steve is holding his blue rattle with the navy and white butterfly print leftovers from a shirt he wore at the age of four.

I decided the quilt was just too busy when I got it all laid out on the floor. I had spent a year hand piecing all those little squares, plus using liquid embroidery to paint the designs and then used matching embroidery floss to hand outline stitch the details and seal all of the edges. I ended up eliminating the alternating pieced blocks which each contain 25 small squares and used solid white. The quilting design represents the spider webs some find in their attics, but my webs are on the quilt along with my memories which others also keep in their attics. (I still have enough of those pieced squares to make three crib quilts.

I was highly critized for using paint on this quilt when it was judged at the 1977 NQA show at the Georgetown University Prep School in Washington DC. I was told I should have done crewel embroidery instead. My argument was that I never would have finished it if I had done it all in embroidery. Well, as fate would have it--several years later someone came out with fabric stenciling and developed a paint to use on fabrics. People used this stenciling on their quilts and they were accepted as the latest method of creating quilt block designs. I got invitations from quilt clubs to please show my wondeful quilt at their shows. A special "invitation only" show was given to honor an elderly quilter, Elsie Spencer, who was also a weaver and incorporated her thick weaver's thread into her quilting and deliberately took large stitches so that they would show up. I had taken an applique class from her at her home in Severna Park, Maryland, as did several others who became quite well known for their quilting and one even authored several books on the subject. Some of her students were invited to show their quilts at this special showing and my wonderful painted and embroidered quilt was specifically requested. If it's in style it's accepted!

Unfortunately it does not photograph well so I am including close-ups of three blocks below. Their descriptions are the first ones mentioned. Enjoy!

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