Wheel of Fortune

Wheels with spokes.

Geometry.

The pattern seems to be from the last half of the 19th century.

You don't see it before the Civil War

although there are others kinds of wheels

like Mariner's Compasses & Sunflowers.

Once they got popular there were lots of variations

Here are two pages from the PDF of

my Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns

The most common name was Wheel of Fortune

Patterns varied from four spokes to forty.

We often see it as a signature quilt, a fundraiser or memory quilt.

This red. white and blue variation may have raised money for

a patriotic cause by charging for signatures.

Marie Webster in her 1915 book showed this one and

called it Wheel of Fortune. She is often the original source

for our pattern names.

A fundraiser dated 1896

Most of them seem to date from about 1880 to 1950

A Southern quilt perhaps, mid 20th century?

I bet this one had a colored zig-zag set once,

but the dyes in solid color about 1900 were quite unreliable.

Prints were probably a smarter choice as they were

more colorfast.

Circular designs were particularly popular in wools in the early 20th century.

This one from Julie Silber's Quilt Shop.

The pattern had a real revival after 1930

when people called it Dresden Plate.

Quilt columnist Eveline Foland called it True Lover's Buggy Wheel

in the Kansas City Star.

40 Spokes!

About 1960

The spokes could be pieced too. Foland gave

the pattern for a Wheel of Fortune in the Star.

48 spokes in the outside ring.

It's a pattern you occasionally see---

Not enough of them out there.

This Alabama quilt from the Birmingham Museum of Art looks like the spokes may

be string-pieced rather than cut with a template.

If you want a pattern look in BlockBase.

Here's a contemporary look from....

Edyta Sitar for Laundry Basket Quilts

Becky Goldsmith's Everyday Best

Rose Tree: Show Off Piecing

From Quilts of Tennessee & the Quilt Index.

If I were looking for a number for this pattern I'd have to call it a variation of #44.7 in my Applique Encyclopedia.

It's down at the bottom left on this page of Floral Trees.

In her 1935 index to quilt patterns Carrie Hall called

it Prairie Flower or Missouri Rose.

Carrie Hall's block at the Spencer Museum.

She saw it as applique.

But I bet her inspiration, here called the Rose Tree

and Missouri Rose in another part of her book, was not appliqued....

More likely pieced like this one from an online auction.

Similar in style to the one below, which also looks pieced into a circle.

Sam Rayburn Family quilt.

The longtime speaker of the House was born in Tennessee

and the quilt resides in Texas.

http://www.thc.texas.gov/blog/sam-rayburn-house-artifact-month-prairie-rose-trapunto-quilt

From Spinning Spools

If you can find this out-of-print pattern book, you'll find a pattern for this one, also from Tennessee. 

But appliqued not pieced.

There seems to have been a style for the wreath design with blue leaves.

(You have to admit it's really not a tree but Rose Tree is the standard name today.)

Quite the fashion in Tennessee in the mid-19th century.

Here's a version by Mary Louise Howard from

the Quilts of Tennessee.

Marguerite Ickis in her 1949 book identified it as The Prairie Flower.

The quilt, which looks to be pieced, is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

It's numbered 44.2 in my Applique index but I gave it the wrong name.

Cross this out in your copy.

I see I have drawn it wrong too.

Carlie Sexton called it Prairie Flower about 30 years earlier.

We often see it in red and green as in another Tennessee pieced example.

Clarenca Bradford Kimble's quilt at the Spencer Museum of Art

has been called Tulip Tree in the catalogs over the years. (#44.3)

This one is appliqued and it appears to be growing like a tree or a shrub.

Similar tulips from Ickis's book

"Conventional Tulip Pattern"

More published names:

Rose & Buds from the Nancy Cabot column in 

the Chicago Tribune, 1937 (#44.5)

A good source for an appliqued pattern: 

Sue Garman's Borrowed Roses,

inspired by Rose Kretsinger's  "New Rose Tree."

http://www.comequilt.com/shop/Individual-Patterns/p/Borrowed-Roses-x1103507.htm

A simpler pattern for a Prairie Flower from Cabbage Rose Quilts:

https://cabbagerosequilts.com/collections/applique-quilt-patterns/products/prairie-flower

Pieced patterns for a Prairie Flower/ Missouri Rose/ Rose Tree????

Read more about the design at these posts:
http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2012/07/extreme-show-off-piecing-rose-tree.html
http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2012/02/garrard-county-kentucky.html

Tulip or Turkey

Irene asked for a pattern name for a family quilt

made in Bollinger County, Missouri.

There are many variations of this pieced design., although it's a little hard

to recognize with this shading.

This top with familiar horse prints and horse shoes looks to date from about 1900.

The pattern is close to BlockBase #3099, which was published in the Rural New Yorker magazine in 1937 with two names:

• The Swallow
• Burr & Thistle

Nancy Cabot called it Bible Tulip about the same time .

Another late-19th century version.

These are all pieced but related to the appliqued Turkey Tracks or Wandering Foot.

This version with long toes was pictured as applique in Ruth Finley's 1929 book.

Applique from Lowery Antiques

So most of us would call these Wandering Foot or Turkey Tracks.

There are so many possible tweaks to the feet - or the tulips...

And to the center squeezed square that it's tough to pinpoint a BlockBase number.

Here's a square center square.

It's also difficult to pinpoint a source.

I've only got this one photo with an actual square.

Lenna DeMarco owns this late 19th century version pieced

into a circle (a circle of sorts). The only one I've seen.

Another unusual pieced example, Block on point.

From the New Jersey Project & the Quilt Index.

Irene's grandmother may very well have used a Kansas City Star pattern published in 1947. Her quilt looks like it dates from about that decade or the 1950s.

Before photocopying pattern collectors used to trace patterns and trade.

From the Quilt Index.

BlockBase #3103

One of many similar pieced designs.

The Star's quilt column gave it two names:

A Century Old Tulip pattern

and Pieced Tulip

I would imagine that Irene's Grandmother in southern Missouri found inspiration in the Kansas City Star or it's sister publication the Weekly Star Farmer.

If you are inspired to piece one of these tulips remember that BlockBase will print the pattern any size you like.

Or look at this link where you can preview Edie McGinnis's book Sister Blocks and see a pattern.

https://books.google.com/books?id=RggaA0y8t4cC&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=century+old+tulip+pattern+kansas+city&source=bl&ots=aTaV8v8rAq&sig=zSL-AG-whoC9JA7lq-TG1OtFbqU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwje4vCM093SAhVM2SYKHRbOBIgQ6AEIOzAK#v=onepage&q=century%20old%20tulip%20pattern%20kansas%20city&f=false