For a class I'm taking, I had to write about a piece of Folk Art that belongs to me. I decided that since I had to put it to paper anyway, I would tweak it to fit on my blog.
“Baskets of Tulips” That is the name I gave this quilt, since my Grandmother is no longer around and cannot tell me the name of this quilt, if it ever had one. My Grandmother is:
Clara Sabina Eckman Carlsen, homemaker,
daughter of Swedish and Norwegian immigrants and Pioneers (1889-1983).
Some of the stuff about this piece I had to make up for the class. I'm actually going to ask some family about this now as well to see what information is correct.
When I first received this quilt I used
it as a bed cover, but it’s soon began to show its age, with tattered edges,
received from the use of a modern day washing machine. This nearly queen size
quilt, 74 ½” x 75 ½”, is currently in safe storage till it can be carefully
repaired by a good seamstress. It is made of blue and off white cotton fabric,
with many other colors that tulips may come in the color of. Each of the 25
squares on the quilt has a flower covered basket with a rickrack handle, full
of an array of 9, different colored tulips. I do not have a date for when the
quilt was made. The outside edges of the pillow shams have been intricately
tatted with matching, blue, tatting thread.
I remember from my youth that the pillow shams just laid upon the pillows, they didn't actually have the case. I can see now that someone has added the case, using a sewing machine, to the back of the shams. I also noticed that the tatting is actually sewn with a machine not handmade. I am fortunate to have inherited this quilt after the passing
of my Father in 1987. He received it when his Mother passed away in1983.
The entire
quilt and two pillow shams are sewn by hand. Our Pioneer history is full of
hard work and dedication without the ease of today’s wonderful electrical
equipment like sewing machines. It also represents a quieter time when people
used to spend time together in front of a wood fireplace, enjoying time spent
with one another, quilting, while engaging in conversation after a long days
work.
Until it became tattered I displayed in on our bed because I wanted to be able to remember my Father and my Grandmother. Hoping too, that my children may ask about the quilt, and desire to know who it
belonged to and what made it important. This is what makes it folk art and what makes it valuable to me.
I chose this quilt to write about because it represents part of the culture of my pioneer family. Quilts are considered material culture for my family, especially during my Grandmother’s era. Learning the art of making a quilt to keep your family warm was vital; going to Wal-Mart to purchase a blanket was not a choice. Often, even having enough fabric was a challenge and as a result, piecework became an art.
