Late to the Applique Party

Quilt in traditional rose design called Democrat Rose or Rose of Sharon.

Made by Mary Odom, Bernice, Louisiana

The pattern is a classic going back to the 1840s. How old is the quilt? Dating these late appliques is difficult because they are so classic, but Mary's strip border with the nine-patch corners is a clue to a late-19th/early-20th century date. Her solid green cotton fading to tan is probably our best clue that it's not 1850s.

Looking at dated appliques between 1901 and 1920 may help us to see what was happening in the first two years of the 20th century.

1901, C Enhert?

This pink, green & yellow quilt has alternate applique blocks.

Turkey red embroidered signatures are typical of the time.

Inking rare.

It's surprising to see some classic design repeated in the new century.

1902, International Quilt Museum

Byron and Sara Rhodes Dillow Collection

https://www.internationalquiltmuseum.org/quilt/20080400102

1902 Eliza Wright

Hampshire County, West Virginia

West Virginia Project and the Quilt Index

1903, Cindy Rennel's inventory

Minimal shapes for florals

Appliqued of green calico. Embroidered with a red?

thread that faded.

1903 in the quilting

Minnesota project

What color was this once?

1903 Cowan's Auction.

Turkey red was still reliable---if you could find a reliably advertised Turkey red.

Fabric mills might lie.

1903, Harriet A. Jamerson Rowson, Lewis County, New York

1904, Mary Eliza Sikes, Iowa International Quilt Museum

Linda Giesler Carlson and Dr. John V. Carlson Collection

https://www.internationalquiltmuseum.org/quilt/20040160002

1904 Lida Butterworth Crowell, Geneva, Ohio 

Michigan project

1904

No information on this one but bluebirds were a popular theme

at the time---unusual to see them in a quilt.

1907, online auction

1902 Frances Risser Newgard

Made in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, recorded in the Iowa Project

1908, Fourth Corner Antiques

1908 Mark French's ebay shop

Julie Silber's inventory

Grayed green might tell us it was late

but that stuffed-work quilting!

(Quilters in Sevier County, Tennessee carried on the stuffed work

traditions late---but this late?)

1911

Minimalism in a Turkey Tracks

1912 album sampler from Ohio's Miami Valley

1916, Hattie Bell, Ohio, Arizona Project

This one is so traditional it would seem earlier. With no green

to fade and give us a dating clue we might guess 1880.

1917

1917, Dora Branch Schrader

West Virginia project

"1917, E.M. Ma"

Found in Minnesota, from the Minnesota project

This wreath may have been related to the Red Cross

fundraising during World War I. See the corner images.

"1918, S.E.A"

Retro quilting.

1919, Mary Williams

Michigan Project