A CLOUD OF QUILT PATTERNS: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PATTERN IN BLOG FORM UPDATES & ADDITIONS BY BARBARA BRACKMAN

Monday, September 18, 2017

Bouquet Quilt Block

I've been pinning pictures of quilts date-inscribed 1853 and
came across this pretty applique quilt from an eBay post in the last year.

It's a beautiful quilt in worn condition.


The embroidered inscription says 
"Margaret Stambaugh
Israel Stambaugh
1853"

Unusual border with dots and tear drops echoing the
smaller block in the main part of the quilt.

UPDATE: Laurette Carroll tells me she was the lucky bidder on
this quilt.

The unusual main block works in negative and positive fashion.
Is it a star?
Is it a ring of 8 flowers?

It does have an Encyclopedia of Applique number
#14.42
A Traditional Block published in the magazine Comfort
as Bouquet Quilt Block. 
Probably published about 1910 with that name.
It's a lot cooler block than it looks in the drawing because of that negative/positive aspect.

This pink & white version (once Turkey red and white)
also shows the ambiguous nature of the design

The negative/positive action works better in the top block
because the flowers
actually touch.


Here's a terrible snapshot of another mid-19th-century version.

These are the only three examples I have.

A 1935 issue of Comfort
The magazine had a high circulation about 1910 and
was an important source for quilt patterns, but
this pattern is a generation or two older than the magazine.
Wish I knew what Margaret Stambaugh called it.

UPDATE:
I did find a fourth similar quilt---offered on eBay this summer:

Looks mid-19th century-maybe 1850 - 1880?


And this pieced variation from Augusta Auctions
a couple of years ago.


5 comments:

  1. Another beauty! I love the positive and negative play!!!

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  2. this article came along at such a perfect time for me! Thank you Barbara..a friends exuberant garden calls to me to interpret in cloth, and I keep seeing wheels of ecstatically over bright colors almost like enmeshed gears, these are almost exactly what I've been seeing whirling around in my head !!

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  3. Well, this is fabulous. Bookmark!

    ReplyDelete