The creation of this quilt was a group effort. Each woman in the group contributed a block to the quilt and usually signed her work. Quilts are typically studied using a grid system to readily reference the blocks. In this quilt, a–e blocks run horizontally from left to right; 1–5 blocks run vertically from top to bottom. The names M.A. Humphreys, T (or J), S (or L), and S.R. Carroll are cross-stitched in blocks a3, d1 and e2. Sophia Osborne, Ellen Ehlies, and M.D. are inked in squares d3, e1, and e5. Since most quilt blocks were signed in ink, the rest of the signatures have probably faded away. The majority of album quilts were made in Baltimore, Maryland during the mid-19th century. Baltimore was a center of the Methodist Church in America and there were many churches in that area. Sewing circles at the churches not only made clothes and bed coverings for the poor, but they also made album quilts. There is no background information available regarding any of the specific makers of this quilt.
Album quilts were made to honor an individual, to commemorate an important event, to celebrate a wedding, or to present as a gift to a special friend, thereby expressing friendship, love, or admiration. This particular quilt has a patriotic theme that celebrates Texas’s joining the Union as a state in 1845. S.R. Carroll’s square in the second row at the far right (e2) is decorated with a red star (the Lone Star) and the word “Texas,” surrounded by two sprays of oak leaves. The squares with eagles and cornucopias continue the patriotic theme. The picture of a beehive inked in Sophia Osborne’s block (d3) includes the phrase “Friendships Offering”, indicating that a close circle of friends contributed to the making of the quilt. Other motifs found in this quilt and that are common in album quilts include a central square with a wicker basket of flowers, vases of flowers, and fruits in compotes.
This album quilt is characterized by elaborate decoration, painstaking craftsmanship, and vivid designs. The twenty-five squares, or “blocks” are laid out in rows and separated by sashes with diamond-shaped patterns that emphasize the design of each square. The asymmetrical arrangement of motifs enhances the liveliness of the quilt. The Baltimore quilts made between the years 1846 and 1852 are set apart from other quilts in the use of sashing and borders, by a more spacious layout, and in the use of a rich variety of cotton fabrics. The repeated colors and forms and the pattern of the stitching contributes to the dynamism and complexity of the quilt’s design. The entire quilt was stained, or dyed, with tea to obtain the light tan color of the background cloth, and to soften and blend the quilt’s colors.
Each square in this quilt has an appliquéd design. Appliqué is the process in which pieces of fabric are cut out and then sewn down on another piece of fabric in a pattern. After the blocks are sewn together to make the quilt top, it is stitched to an inner layer of cotton or wool batting and a backing of plain fabric, using lines or patterns of continuous stitching.
The term “album” indicates that these quilts are related to the 19th-century remembrance or autograph album. “The practice of giving individual blocks for quilts with the idea of having the whole recall friends to the owner, had its counterpart in the autograph album.”1
1 Dena S. Katzenberg, Baltimore Album Quilts
(Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1981), p. 13.
