Monday, May 27, 2013

A Quilty Mystery

My yard sale find of the week - this has got to be someone's family heirloom, mistakenly donated to a charity fund raiser. 



This antique quilt block is poorly wrought - not an example of a masterpiece - so I was anxious to get it home and see if I could find out more about it.  

I carefully sliced the paper off the back of the frame and...nothing!

UGH!  Obviously framed by an archivist: the block was tacked to linen with careful cross stitches, double matted to allow space between the fabric and the glass, custom frame (though now dinged up).

(see the little red cross stitches on the red solid, and white cross stitches on the muslin?)

This had to have been very important to someone at some time.  I'm so sad that there wasn't more information - this mystery will never be solved!

I don't recognize the block - anyone know the name?  It reminds me of a Maple Leaf, something very Canadian about it, eh?

2 comments:

  1. Interesting Story. Too bad you were not able to find any info on it. I think it might be fun to contact a "life styles" columnist and give them the story and let them search it out or maybe make a query in a column. It might only make it to press when another "quilting story" hits the news...quilt shows etc, but it would certainly be worth a try.
    It is definitely a variation on a Bear Paw block, just without the little centre square.(link below)

    http://www.google.com/search?q=bear+paw+quilt+block&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Ts6kUbjtKsWTyQHZkIGoDw&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1475&bih=1211

    ReplyDelete
  2. How sad. Maybe the one to donate did not know the history either. This is a Delectable Mountain block.

    ReplyDelete