String Lanterns & Melons

String quilts were rarely published so the variations

don't have "real names" or "book names". This pattern, most often seen

in southeastern Pennsylvania, is a mystery design.

It's far more organized than the usual string

quilt pieced of random or regular strings of fabric.

Rickrack Antique quilts calls their example Chinese Lanterns.

http://www.rickrack.com/

Here's one that looks more like a lantern than many.

A variation that's more crazy than organized strings.

From the Pat L. Nickols collection

at the Mingei Musueum. The curved shapes include a lot of conventionally

pieced blocks, nine patches, stars, etc.

A cousin to this example at the International

Quilt Study Center and Museum

A more distant cousin---no curves.

I've never seen these variations on the string quilt published---

at least before 1970

From Julie Silber's inventory

You could see the design growing out of a basic melon or orange

peel with string piecing added.

Here are two melon variations from silks and mixed fabrics

with embroidery.

But the extra curves....

The Quilt Index has 511 quilts titled string quilt, and not one of these.