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Color of Love |
Thank you to all the generous people who have donated quilts and other items to the museum. The current exhibit highlights some of these donations.
Two red and white quilts in the Drunkard's Path pattern were donated by Jeff Giese in memory of his wife Kathryn, who passed away after a heroic battle with breast cancer. These quilts (a finished quilt and a quilt
top) were found in their house when they moved in, and the former owners knew nothing about them. They probably date from around 1900, and are completely hand-stitched.
Nancy Stecker donated two applique quilts circa 1860, which were found in the Town of Cedarburg dump. Her husband found an old trunk at the dump in the 1970s, and thinking it would be a good toy box, he brought it home. Imagine their surprise to open the trunk and find these beautiful quilts. One is a Cox Comb variation in red, green, and yellow on white, and the other is a Prince's Feather in red and gold on a green background. Both quilts have heart swag borders that are nearly identical, and may have been made by the same hand.
It is always a thrill to have a photograph of the quiltmaker to display with the quilt. It reminds us that these items were made by people like us, and connects us to them. We are fortunate to have a photograph of Martha Ann Bowers Jenkins Green, who made (and signed!) an applique quilt top in the Oak Leaf and Reel pattern circa 1850. Her signature reads as follows: Mrs. Dr. S. T. Green. Nineteenth century women rarely signed their own name if they were married. Mrs. Green came from Warrenton, North Carolina, and her husband, Dr. Simon T. Green, was a captain in the Confederate Army.
You can see these items, plus other wonderful quilts from the museum's collection, at the interim museum through the end of March, in an exhibit entitled "The Color of Love". Also on display are a treadle sewing machine, donated by Mary Schneps, and a quilt frame donated by David Boyles, which once belonged to his mother Nellie. |
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