When last I posted I was about to ask Jan Patek where she found this pattern for her 2007 sampler Spencer Museum Quilt.
Jan's version (sewn by Dixie) Photoshopped into bright blues.
Jan quickly replied that she thought she'd seen the pattern for the block in a quilt in a book by our friends Terry Thompson and Nancy Hornback.
Well, I have their books so I easily found it in
Quilts in Red and Green, published in 2006.
There's my quilt on page 74.
It once belonged to my late friend Nancy Hornback.
No wonder it looked familiar and I HAD to buy it.
Pomegranate by Barb Fife
Nancy and Terry gave a pattern for the block. Barb Fife made the model.
They gave a pattern for the whole quilt.
And Nancy wrote about where she found the quilt. She called it the "Queen City Methodist Quilters'
Pomegranate and Thistle" (Queen City, Missouri.) At last a lead. I still was thinking it was made in Maryland but now I had some family information to pursue.
Maybe I have a Northeastern bias, but I don't see red and white applique as a Maryland thing. Yes, they developed it to the hilt with some talented designers in the 1840-50's, but red and white applique was out there before and after that in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We also see a lot of it in Ohio. So if a pattern doesn't look like Mary Simon or some of the other Baltimore styles, why would it's origin be Baltimore? As I get older, I think the thing that keeps us all interested in quilts is all of the variation, anyone making a quilt can feel free to make up their own variation on a block or theme, of necessity (help, I ran out of fabric) or just as a matter of original expression. If individuals weren't changing everything and coming up with new versions all the time, what fun would it be? And where would we find the excitement of discovery of some fantastic design or combination we hadn't seen before?
ReplyDeleteCumberland, Maryland is/was known as "Queen City" because it was a major hub of transportation and population at the time. Many current businesses use "Queen City" in their names.
ReplyDeleteI love this quilt!! If you need anything for research please let me know. I don't live far from Queen City , it's a very small dot on the map. The cemeterys are well maintained if you need pictures or anything I'm happy to help. I like a good mystery.
ReplyDeleteI have this book and the sequel to it...I've been making blocks from them. Wonderful books and lovely quilts.
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