Ocean Waves - Shenandoah Valley of Virginia

Ocean Waves in Red & Brown (68" x 91") ca. 1880-1900 from Russel/Traver family, Rockingham Co., Shenandoah Valley of VA.  See Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns #113a, pg. 23.

The focus of my quilt research in 1998 was the Shenandoah Valley... three counties in particular: Rockingham, Shenandoah, and Page counties. My Biedler ancestors used to live in all three counties. My great-grandfather's place is still in the family in Page County near Luray, VA.

Saturday, Nov 14, 1998, I drove to Green Valley Auction House for the first time. It's just south of Harrisonburg. I had just learned about the auction house from a friend a couple of weeks earlier. Green Valley had an unusually large auction that past 3-day weekend. It consisted of almost all Valley antiques. The special highlight that had drawn a huge crowd was the one of a kind, R. Merlin Turner's life-time collection of Shenandoah Valley pottery. This auction was, for the most part, Shenandoah Valley antiques. It wasn't stuff trucked in from out of state. But hey, I love any auction. What FUN! 

I had finally decided to make the trek down from the DC area to an Auction House this time because there were to be 10 quilts included in the auction, nine from one family. This was an unusual chance to be able to document a single family's collection.  Usually you find only a one or two quilts at a time from a given family at an estate auction.

I really shouldn't have bid .... I was suppose to be there for research purposes only. But I gave in and bid, anyway, and came away with one quilt, the second to the cheapest that day.  (Yes, it is quite worn.) The pattern is known as Ocean Waves, which includes lots of different fabrics which makes it a good period fabric STUDY piece as well. See Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns #113a, pg. 23.

So much for ONLY documenting, photographing, and gathering the history on the family who made them.  But I just couldn't resist.  This is the 3rd Valley quilt I have bought this year. My other two are much nicer, but only cost a little more.  Paid too much for this one, but couldn't resist the chance to own at least one quilt from this family grouping since I photographed and plan to document the whole group.

It takes a LOT of discipline NOT to get caught up in the excitement of an auction!

This was the first "Auction House" auction I had attended in the Valley. I usually go only to estate auctions that are held right on the family farm. That is where you can get the best buys as well as stand a good chance of doing interviews and getting a lot of basic research done right on the spot. As for the quilt I just bought, I know only the name of the woman who was selling (Russell) and the family name from whom the quilts came (Traver). I am going to have to track down the sellers address or phone number through the auctioneer in order to pursue further research.

While photographing the quilts I had several women approach me and ask me if I quilted. I told them I used to, but now only do research and write about them. I told them at the time that my focus was the Shenandoah Valley, and gave them my business card. After glancing at my card, one older woman (a Mrs. Bruce Helsley) asked if I would be interested is seeing her collection. I jumped at the offer!  She lives in Woodstock in Shenandoah County very near where the Biedlers first settled. Woodstock is where the Beidler furniture store resides. Mrs. Helsley and I hoped to get together after the first of the year but for reasons I now cannot recall, we never did get together. What a shame!

(A footnote of history: An advertisement ran in the local newspaper Nov. 17, 1945 which stated: One year ago was the opening of Beidler’s Furniture Store in Woodstock. This means that my First Anniversary is due to your loyalty and support. I wish to thank each and every one of my friends and customers who helped make this possible. Fred B. Beidler.)

Another woman (Ingrid Shomo) who was sitting near the quilt display rack invited me to sit next to her. Ingrid is not a quilter herself (she's a therapist), but several of her friends are quilters, and she gave me their names and numbers, thinking they might help me track down other collections for documentation. Ingrid seemed to know everyone that walked by, and continually pointed out people to me and told me who they were and what they did. She also was great at explaining the whole Auction House system to me, and told me that everything on the stage behind the auctioneer was up for sale to, and that I should walk up there and photograph the hanging quilts as well. I grinned and said I already had. (I had made sure when I entered and was registering for a number that I also got permission to photograph. I saw the hanging quilts as soon as I entered the giant hall and had quickly headed on-stage.)

There were so many wonderful Valley things being sold that day. It made me drool. At least I have the self discipline to limit myself to quilts. That is difficult enough!

The following are photos I took at the actual auction in 1998.

It's always great for documentation purposes if you can see quilts in context of their "life"; or at least in context of an auction house surrounded by other quilts from the same household, if they are present.  There were two sources for the quilts in this auction. The green note below describes the two groups of quilts at Green Valley Auction that day.

A note in my photo album from 1998

Quilts hanging on a old fashion drying rack.

The Virginia Quilt Doc. Project book calls the above pattern "Farmer's Delight/Farmer's Fancy"

This block consists of one "large" half-square triangle (with the stem bisecting the lower half of the square) and four "smaller" half-square triangles plus one small square in the upper right corner of equal size to the smaller half-square triangles.

 (Below) The Ocean Waves quilt I won that I wrote about above in my story.