Friday, July 16, 2010

Southern Belle



Can you figure this out at a glance? Or do you need to do a double take like I did?

I got as high above it as I could but I still couldn't get far enough away to capture the whole quilt. But I almost did.



(click on photos to enlarge)

Does anyone irecognize this pattern? My friend Mary Cross found it at the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show last week. She gave me permission to share it with you.

Here is one-fourth of it, i.e. one corner.



The first thought that came to mind was a modern day version of the Goddess Eris with the Golden Apple (ball in this case) dressed as a Southern Belle!

Please drop me a line of you know the source of this pattern. It is rather reminiscent of the Colonial Parasol Lady pattern but without the parasol.


5 comments:

  1. Karen, I think the de-parasolled Parasol Lady is an after thought of a woman or pattern maker who loved applique and who found herself with an exercise in colors that still lacked organization and focus. All that pink/buff outside the large periwinkle-shaped center was not related to the center. "The centre would not hold," to cite that noted quilt authority Wm. Butler Yeats. She had squared it off with her beloved circles, but still it needed something. A purple haired Parasol Lady sans parasol solved the problem. You think it was a Kit? I hope it is sui generis.

    What are the dimensions?

    Gaye Ingram

    P.S. She has Big Hair, a sign of power and self-reinvention, but it's purple hair. She could be a belle. Whatever she is seems peripheral to the use of colored circles to organize an otherwise dull design.

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  2. Gaye--

    That's not purple hair (as I first assumed also) but her bonnet.

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  3. Karen-in the moments before coffee, my first impression was of a tea pot. (small!) The outreaching arm as a spout & the other arm as a handle. Susan Riley
    P.S. will check again after 2 cups :)

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  4. Hi Karen! I saw you at the Friday picnic and met you at the OQD tent on Saturday. What an interesting quilt she found. My first thought was the women were underwater the way it is all billowy. Did the seller know where it came from?
    Lori DeJarnatt
    Madras, OR

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  5. I'm the one who found the quilt. It was probably found Missouri or Oregon. That's all the dealer could provide. I suspect it was tossed in with her other purchases as an after-thought. There was no identifying tag on it as on her other quilts.
    I suspect the maker did the center and got tired of the work or passed it to another maker who completed the four women.
    I love the idea of it's either a gossip session or a card game. The women have this distressing look on their faces. But again, that just may have been the only way the maker could stitch their mouths and eyes.
    Does anyone recognize the center from a known pattern?
    Mary Bywater Cross
    Portland, OR

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