Friendship Quilt Remains a Mystery

 

While browsing in an antiques shop in Rumney, New Hampshire, I spotted a Friendship quilt draped over the back of an old rocking chair. The quilt was a serendipitous find, even though it is less than one hundred years old and therefore, not a true antique. Its light orange sashings were a red flag as to a date of origin--some time in the 1980s.

After examining the quilt more closely, I did discover one block that indicates the quilt was made in 1989 as a birthday gift. With their embroidered messages and good wishes, the Friendship blocks are very unique. The quilt was described by dealer David Evans as "a piece of folk art in its truest sense."

This quilt's overall measurements are 56" x 66 1/2" and it seems to have been a labor of  love. Each one-of-a-kind blocks tells its own story. Many techniques, fibers and embellishments were used, including painting, applique and embroidery. The recipient seems to have had some international  connections!

Judging from the dirty condition of the quilt when it was purchased, one could perhaps conclude that the recipient is no longer living. I brought the quilt to the University of Rhode Island laboratory where students practice conservation measures including washing quilts. Some of the embellishments had to be removed before the quilt could be wet-washed. A lot of dog hair and sand was removed. To learn more about the URI's textile cleaning services, call (401) 874-2275. I thought that this quilt was worth preserving. Maybe someday I will find out more about this mystery quilt. I wrote about the quilt in detail in an article for The Quilter magazine, August/September 2011 issue.

Hopkinton, NH Historical Society Displays Bicentennial Quilt

 

Bicentennial Quilt

Maple Street School Fourth Graders

In 1976, a group of fourth-grade students and their adult helpers created and sewed this quilt under the direction of teacher Gwen Peters (now McGrath). Peters, who taught at Maple Street School from 1971 to 1996, conceived of the quilt as a fundraising project to help the class pay for a field trip to Old Sturbridge Village, where they hoped to enjoy a meal at the Bullard Tavern.

The students selected historical people, places, and events as subjects for their quilt squares. After researching their topics, they designed their own squares and chose from fabrics that Peters had collected. Mothers and community volunteers sewed the individual squares, and Peters assembled them into the finished quilt. The students completed the project by tying the quilt top to its backing.

The quilt was later raffled, and the winning recipient generously returned it to Peters. In 2025, Peters donated the quilt to the Hopkinton Historical Society, where it now helps preserve and share the history of this unique community project.

From August through December, the quilt will be on display at Hopkinton Historical Society as part of its 2026 exhibit, “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times: Hopkinton and the American Revolution.” The museum is open Thursdays and Fridays 9-4 pm and Saturdays 9-1 pm. More information is available at www.hopkintonhistory.org.

Many thanks to Heather Mitchell, Director of the Hopkinton Historical Society, for allowing us to print this information. The quilt is a very unusual one inasmuch as it was designed by students and the blocks sewn by quilters of the community for the 1976 Bicentennial Celebration!

To learn more about Bicentennial Quilts, see the new book Commemorative American Quilts by Sandra Sider, foreword by Pamela Weeks, published by Schiffer Publishing.

Hope you enjoyed seeing this quilt as much as we did!

Patricia L. Cummings

Ararat: Political Block or Not?

 

This is my version of the Ararat quilt block designed by Eveline Foland and published in the Kansas City Star in the 1930s. She said that the Ararat design was made to honor an elephant named "Ararat" that had just been acquired by the local zoo.

Readers of the newspaper interpreted the design as a representation of the symbol of the Republican Party, the elephant. That was not the intention. Soon, other readers were demanding that their political party be honored in the same way with a donkey design. A few days later, Eveline published the pattern for "Giddap, the Democratic Donkey," just to keep her readers happy!

The design for the Ararat block is available today via various companies and had also been published in The Quilter magazine in a pattern by Lucy Fazely. My version of the block uses half-rectangle units which are much harder to piece than half-square triangles which are utilized in other patterns I have seen.

So, that is the scoop. "Ararat" was just a beloved elephant minding his own business until folks wanted to politicize him. What else is new?

Patricia L. Cummings

4-H: A Valuable Organization

 The other night a documentary show on PBS about the history of 4-H caught my attention. Jessie Field Shambaugh of Iowa is remembered as the "Mother of 4-H," an organization initially started in support of rural youth. It offered useful learning activities and still does, although now club offerings have expanded to include STEM projects.

"4-H" stands for "Head, Heart, Hands, and Health." The motto is: "I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service, and my health to better living for my club, my community and my country."

My time spent with 4-H cultivated skills that have lasted a lifetime. Mrs. Florence taught me to knit and Mrs. Sanborn led a sewing group where I learned to use a sewing machine and do clothes construction. In addition, I was in 4-H Gardening with Mrs. Petersen. I also joined 4-H Horsemanship and had the camaraderie of other young horse enthusiasts, having fun meet-ups at the Deerfield, NH Fairgrounds.

In the 4-H fundraising activities at the Town Hall, I danced in a Can-Can line, modeled clothes, and played folk music on my guitar. I also served food at an International Dinner dressed in a green dress to represent Ireland.

I received a blue ribbon at 4-H Dress Review for making a green jumper with a square neck and also a shite crepe blouse with a stand-up collar and bell-shaped sleeves that had lace trim.

Luckily, I was chosen to attend 4-H Congress in Washington, D.C. with other Junior Leaders.

4-H helped to shape who I am today as an adult. I will be forever grateful to the adults who shared their skills and time with me.

Ellen Emeline Hardy Webster (1867-1950): Her Amazing Quilt "Charts," Her Writings and Her Life

 I wrote a 355 page book about Ellen Webster, New Hampshire's Early Quilt Historian, in 2006 and published int in CD form, n now almost obsolete technology. The book details Ellen's work and life in Hebron, NH and Franklin, NH. She was a teacher in a one-room school house and went on to teach college courses related to Bible study. 

Ellen loved quilts and was a student of their designs. She was hired as a quilt judge at Eastern States Exposition in Springfield, MA where she judged quilts in the antiques category. She was able to photograph them. No doubt the photos were helpful in helping her to draw and to draft quilt designs that she embellished by adding actual fabrics to them on her quilt charts.

In the book, I include many photos provided to me by a relative of hers. Featured is a photo of her in a "Civil War" style dress that she wore sometimes when giving quilt lectures. I even show a diary entry in which she mentions Florence LaGanke, a co-judge at the Exposition! There are many photos in the book, as well as genealogical information. She made about five quilts in her life time which she described as ordinary.

The Quilter magazine published an article about Ellen. Yolanda Fundora also published a blog with lots of information I provided to her. 

For the longest time, the maker of the 169 quilt charts was thought to be "Emily" Webster due to a misinterpretation by a former curator of the New Hampshire Historical Society. An Emily Webster is mentioned on the charts as well as an "Ellen A. Webster." They were sisters who were friends of Ellen Webster and who had a collection of antique quilts, some of which Ellen E. Webster featured on the charts.

Anyhow, the record is now set straight. There had even been a TV segment on WMUR that did not provide the correct name and showed a ghost-like figure in lieu of a photo of Ellen E. Webster which they did not have. In a book by Fritz Wetherbee, again mistaken information was published. 

It was a big undertaking - this book! I'm happy to have written it.