Going, Going....Gone!

I have two antique quilts.  One you are very familiar with <G> and the other is a Mariner's Compass that I bought in an opportunity shop for $25.  Two objects isn't a collection, it's only a pair.  So I feel the need to acquire a third quilt so I can be a quilt collector.
I have been looking at online auction sites and have discovered the universal dilemma - the quilts I can afford I don't like, and the quilts I like I can't afford.  Never mind.  I though I would share two quilts that I definitely would have added to my almost-a-collection.

The first quilt was a pieced friendship quilt from Massachusetts.  The blocks are inked with signatures, poems and sketches of the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition.

The details are worth a look - the link is here. 

The second quilt has been for sale for a while.  It's also a signature quilt, this time from Ohio.

It was out of my budget so I tried not to look at it too often.  But as I was driving home work one afternoon I realised that this quilt ticked all the boxes.  It was a signature quilt like the Chester Criswell Quilt.  It was from Ohio (like me).  It was pieced, and it was a sampler.  It was bright and interesting.  I decided that regardless of the price, it was meant to be.
I got home, turned on the computer and looked for the quilt.  Can you guess?  It was sold.

I still love the look of it.  I guess that the tan pieces are faded from green.  There are at least 6 different sized blocks, and the spaces are filled with Chinese Coins and half square triangles.  I can imagine a young lady getting all her friends to make her a block, and then taking it to her mother and asking, Can you put this together for me?

I'll keep looking for my collection.

An Introduction to The Quilt

I'd like to introduce you to a special quilt.  This quilt celebrated it's 160th birthday earlier this year and the time has come to get out of the chest and make some friends.

This quilt was made in 1852 in Chester County, Pennsylvania.  It was made as a quilt for Mary McClellan Criswell on her engagement to Jesse Jackson Smith.  Mary's family, friends and neighbours all contributed to make blocks for the quilt. And on each block the maker signed their name, where they lived and a few added some best wishes.

The Criswell quilt is typical of signature quilts made in the 1850s.  Red and green was a popular colour combination for the period, and by 1840 red and green fabrics were reliable and affordable.  Friendship quilts such as this one were first made in the early 1840s in the Delaware Valley region of Pennsylvania and the trend quickly spread through the eastern United States. (Source Roderick Kiracofe, The American Quilt: A History of Cloth and Comfort 1750 - 1950)

So, please accept an invitation to come on a journey of discovery about Mary Criswell's quilt and the friendship it represents.  You may even make a quilt of your own!