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

Monday, March 8, 2021

Live Oak Tree



Live Oak Tree pattern in a quilt attributed to
 Ella M Booye Hickman (1865-1921) 
Atlantic County, New Jersey,
 found in the New Jersey project.

See page 112 of New Jersey Quilts.

Here's Ella's Find-A-Grave file:

When they published the New Jersey book they didn't know Ella's name---she was a friend's mother-in-law. But Ella looks to be the woman.
The tree is on the diagonal---upright if the blocks
are set on point.

From the Quilt Index

Her probable pattern source is Live Oak Tree from the Ladies' Art Company (#222). Ella probably made the quilt in the early 20th century or perhaps the 1890s when the LAC catalog was widely available.

Newcomb Looms gave away these premiums of
small cards; advertisements for patterns. Their number 223.

My BlockBase #849 old version

The LAC also sold a tree on the north/south axis of the
block. "Peony" was a lot more popular design, if we look
at quilts from the time.


Not many people made the Live Oak Tree---75 diamonds in each block.

Here's a top from an online auction a few years ago

It's too bad her green fabric was so fugitive. Looks to be the
same time as Ella's, early 20th century.

Variation in the tree trunk. Middle 20th century, maybe the
1960s? Another online auction.

Lona Bell Frame Rexroad (1892-1978) West Virginia Project
The family thought this might have been made in 1904 when Lona
was 12 but that seems unlikely based on the difficulty. She married
in 1920, a better possible date.

The trunk is different in Lona's quilt.
See page 9 of West Virginia Quilts & Quiltmakers.
She may have had a Ladies Art Company catalog and liked
the trunk on the Peony better.

I wonder how Lona's rectangular quilt with diagonal trees fit on the bed.


A 10-inch block will fit on a single sheet of paper. Here's a pattern printed from BlockBase.

New BlockBase+ any day now.

UPDATE: It's out today Thursday March 11!
And on sale through the end of the month.

Or buy a pattern Acorn's Promise from Kerry Stitch

2 comments:

  1. This is one of my bucket list favorites! I have six Live Oak blocks pieced so far, started in 2016, so apparently I'm on the one-a-year schedule. I'll finish it someday ...

    ReplyDelete