MUSEUM! Red Green 19c PRINCESS FEATHER quilt 10-12spi

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Exquisite Amazing Monogrammed 19c Red & Green Princess Feather Appliqu� Quilt 1 . Breathtaking, isn't it? Generously spaced big blocks lavished with exquisite appliqu�: and intricate, lush quilting dominate this quilt. All is set off by a fanciful and delightfully detailed appliqu� border treatment, complete with moving appliqu� monogram. The quilt is a standout for workmanship, elegance and sophistication of design, as well as crisp, bright condition. The quilt was recently found, still wrapped up like a Christmas present, in the basement of a home that had been closed up for four decades. Despite being in that unopened package, I think it's safe to imagine that it was originally completed and gently used in the mid-19th century, before being carefully packed away. This is because despite emerging from the package with most of its background a brilliant, clean white and having a binding without signs of wear, it had already sustained a couple of tiny surface wear holes in the Turkey Red fabrics as well as other miniscule spots of characteristic lightening on the red's high spots. These would be consistent with it being lightly used and gently washed originally, but tough to explain if it was wrapped up as a present upon completion. Instead, I think it's reasonable to assume that the Grandma who the family thought of as having made it, might actually simply have been the one who lovingly wrapped the exquisite and indeed very Christmasy heirloom up sometime in the middle of the 20th century. It's unfortunate that she apparently missed the pleasure of seeing it opened by its intended heir. Apparently while wrapped up and forgotten in the basement, the quilt suffered some water damage, which, happily, with a long bout of soaking, I was able to lift almost entirely, returning the water-stained portion of the quilt to the same brilliant white of the rest of it. T were small rust stains in the water-stained area, a few of which wore through the quilt's white surface in the course of soaking, leaving a couple of miniscule and easily missed holes. As to the source of these tiny rust flecks, I have a little theory. In folding the quilt, I inadvertently stabbed my finger on what turned out to be a tiny, bent metal tine that had worked itself out of the batting and through the backing. I have found these odd little fragments a handful of times before, notably also then on super densely quilted, showy 19c appliqu� quilts. The similarity of the quilts may be complete coincidence, but it led me to wonder if these metal fragments (inadvertently acquired in the cotton cleaning/carding process, I imagined) were more likely to be held fast, rather than working their way out undetected during a washing or disappearing into the thick lumps of a heavy batting, when the weave of the fabrics was particularly luxurious and tight and the quilting also close and dense. Speculations about rust flecks and early cotton processing aside, this spectacularly fine quilt is a rare visual (and tactile) treat, and entirely worthy of inclusion in a fine museum collection. It's in great strong shape, with only the most minor imperfections. It would be a spectacular focal point, whether displayed on a safe wall or bed year-round or exclusively during the festive Christmas season for which it waited so long to be unwrapped! Size The quilt measures about 77" X 83" . For a sense of scale, each feather extends out from the center about 11" at most, while the white backgrounds of the blocks aren't square, but measure about 29" x 33". The little eight-point-star centers in each block are about 5 1/2" to 6" from point to point. The borders are about 9" wide and those wonderful little letters that teeter on the tips of two swags measure as follows, A: 2 1/8" x 2 3/8" and P: 2" x 2 3/4". Quilting The hand-quilting is to die for, with stitches numbering a masterful 10-12 per inch, counting on the top side of the quilt only. ... read more

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