State Birds & Flowers Embroidery

 

Quail and Poppies For California from

Aunt Martha

Karl is holding up Roseanne Smith's State Birds & Flowers embroidered quilt at the Kaw Valley Quilt Guild meeting in February. It's heavy. She used a sheet for the backing many years ago.

During the Bicentennial Celebration of 1976 the blocks were embroidered by her mother Lucy Smith

who was born in Australia and came to the U.S. after marrying a soldier in World War II.

A lot of embroidery stitches in the backgrounds

Roseanne who'd made two quilts back then volunteered to put it together. A group in their hometown Phillipsburg, Kansas quilted it and didn't complain about hand quilting through the sheet.

I volunteered to find the pattern source. Is there an index to embroidered state birds, flowers, etc.?

There is now. My best reference was Rose Marie Werner's article in AQSG's Blanket Statements newsletter #95.

See a PDF here:

https://kora.quiltindex.org/files/35-90-478/095_2009_Spring.pdf

The INDEX

ALICE BROOKS: (1970s) For the Bicentennial anniversary in the mid 1970s

birds & flowers in a curved ribbon.

ANNE CABOT: (After 1959) New states Alaska & Hawaii in border

AUNT MARTHA/Colonial Patterns: (1930s) Scroll behind flowers and birds.

CAPPER'S/ KATE MARCHBANKS : (1970s) From this Topeka, Kansas source---rectangular blocks with much information and a U.S. map along with other patterns for birds and flowers. The 50-State

Educational Quilt seems to be where Lucy Smith found her patterns. 

Roseanne's mother lived a couple of hundred miles northwest of Topeka where she would have had access to the Capper's needlework designs either with her own subscriptions to their publications or she may have received clippings from her many nursing patients.

LAURA WHEELER (Old Chelsea Station): (1960s)

Shield with flowers and the state name

Do note different florals at the top of the shield---some 3; some 1.

MCKIM: Ruby McKim's designs are easily recognized

 by stylized initials for the state name.

RAINBOW: Both Flowers & Birds with 

old state abbreviations of 4 letters.

VER MEHREN: Hubert Ver Mehren's flower design with his 

signature innovative modern border

Rose Marie wondered if this bird series is also from his Des Moines studio.

VOGART: Rose Marie did not include information

about this company that went bankrupt in 1990.

Florals & Birds captioned with the state's full name in capitals.

WORKBASKET: This spinoff from Aunt Martha/Colonial Patterns labeled the blocks with a rather elaborate floral scroll.

UNKNOWN: Did not find a source for this state flowers design with a crinkly ribbon. Must be after 1959 as Hawaii is included.

From the Arizona Project

Back to the Capper's/Kate Marchbanks pattern that included the date and order of the state's entry into the Union. They also published the "50-State Educational Quilt" with hexagonal blocks. Again the overall set was rather vague, which encouraged some creativity.

Indiana Project & the Quilt Index

By Vera VanHorn Castor

Oregon Project & The Quilt Index

Westside Community Club

Fence Rail Polka Practice

 

Fence Rail Polka

It's a good thing I have Electric Quilt to draw patterns and barely enough discipline to spend an hour a day on graphics programs, combining EQ8 with Photoshop because Malcolm Gladwell has convinced us that if we want to get good at some complex skill we have to spend 10,000 hours of "deliberate practice." C.A.D, is a complex skill.

Practicing tennis and piano playing did not work out well for me in the past but spending time in computer aided drawing keeps me entertained and I am getting better at it over time. (Just in time to be replaced by AI, I fear.)

Oops I digress. 

I have been spending time trying to draw this quilt, an idea I lifted from Bonnie K. Hunter's pattern for "Checkerboard Rails."

https://quiltville.blogspot.com/2018/03/checkerboard-railsa-quilting-finish.html

It took me awhile to figure out the repeat and then a longer while to figure out how to draw it. It's really very simple---if you think like Bonnie Hunter.

The block is the traditional Fence Rail, a square pieced of strips---above from BlockBase; 5 strips set in groups of four squares.

Vintage Examples

8 strips per square, looks about 1900.

Sixes & Sevens ---about 1900

Five --- Mid 20th c?

Set on point which gives it a different effect.

Four---about 1960

Three ---About 1920

Bonnie's Fence Rail has 6 strips----four plain-colored fabrics and two strips of alternating black and white squares. 

And the blocks are set on point creating the illusion that the black and white checkerboard pattern is background.

Well....one thinks about it and says "That woman is really good at pattern!"  

But then one wakes up in the middle of the night and says: "Polka Dots!"

A border of the "background fabric" floats the composition increasing

the illusion.

UPDATE:

 Woke up and thought....Divide square in half, half dots plus two strips. Lots less work.

Here's the repeat....

But not in my Encyclopedia.

Quilt Journeys: Bird Borders

 

Quilt Journeys

State Birds in a Scalloped Border

in Morris Muse fabrics

During this Anniversary Year of the Declaration of Independence

I am thinking a border of state birds combining the appliqued patterns

from my EQ add-on program Quilt Journeys with my latest fabric

collection from Moda: Morris Muse

Morris Muse should be in quilt shops soon with a range of primary colors plus black

for your Eastern Goldfinches...

...and Western Meadowlarks.

Red birds and Blue.

Inspired by some favorite vintage bird borders....

using scallops and vines

We have here border patterns on which to perch your state birds

Print these on 8-1/2" x 11" sheets. Adjust to fit your quilt and your taste.

The state birds are full of duplicates as the birds do not

respect the border lines.

For a 250th Anniversary quilt you might want to pick a block

from your state and stitch a border of birds and flowers from places you

have lived. Here a Kansas Troubles block from a quilt by

Jean Stanclift with a new digital border.

And then there are the Odd Birds

chosen to please the poultry farmers

and the hunters.

A chicken border?

Rhode Island Reds

&

Delaware Blue Hens

UPDATE: I used Quilt Journeys to make a card to send to my bird watcher friends. It's been a raucous afternoon around here. The robins are drunk again.