Crazy Quilt Sampler
This CQ sampler block was made by Rachel
Louise
Chipp
Everett (1861 - 1949). It was purchased in 2015 from her
great-grand-daughter Stephanie Walsh, owner of Swamp Angel Antiques in the
Catskills, NY. This piece embodies many
of the motifs and suggestions described Godey’s 1884 story by Dulcie Weir, The
Career of a Crazy Quilt.
In the upper
left hand corner there is a spray of leaves painted on silk. Unfortunately this section has succumbed to
shattering, commonly found on the silk used in crazy quilts of that era – heavy
metals used in processing the silk to make it weigh more, increased the price
paid per pound and gave “rustle to the bustle” but in the long run destroys the
silk.
The top center has a lovely Kate
Greenaway motif, the “cute little dog” mentioned in the story. [In the
highlighted box is another example of the ‘cute little dog’ found on a CQ dated 1883, maker unknown.]
In
the center of the block is a spray of silk flowers that has been appliquéd to
the piece and embellished with embroidery stems and leaf veins.
Just below that and to the left is the iconic
Kate Greenaway “little girl sitting on a fence” done in black outline
stitch.
In the lower left hand section
there are some daisies done in ribbon embroidery and finished with yellow and
green embroidery.
The bottom center of
the block contains purchased Kate Greenaway motifs fastened with tiny stitches
around the border of the motifs. In the 1884 story
it mentions “lovely little figures for appliqué were
available to purchase”
and these figures represent the types of motifs available to the patchwork
quilters.
And lastly we have in the
lower right hand corner a fan motif.
These are commonly found in crazy quilts, though not mentioned in the
1884 story, adding fans to crazy quilts was suggested as a design motif in the
January and February 1885 issues of Peterson’s magazine. Fan designs were also used in making wall
pockets and pin cushions.
Rachel Louise Chipp
Everett was the third wife of Egbert G Everett and the daughter of Deys and
Josephine Chipp; the
Everetts had
one daughter Mae Adelia Everett. Mae was the wife of
Stanley J Matthews Sr. They had several
children, one being Barbara Louise Matthews who married Avery Newcombe in 1941.
Stephanie Newcombe
Walsh is one
of the children from that union, and the great-grand-daughter of
the maker of this beautiful piece of work that is now in my collection.
