Title: Alice Blue Wreath
Artist(s): Elizabeth Harned Harriman and Mary Vida Schafer
Material(s): Cotton, Polyester filling
Technique(s): Hand pieced, hand appliqued and hand quilted
Dimensions: 93" x 90"
Date made: Top made in 1966 by Elizabeth Harned Harriman, and finished by Mary Vida Schafer in 1972
Place Created: Bunceton, Missouri, and Flushing, Genesee County, Michigan
Collection: Great Lakes Quilt Center/Michigan State University Museum
Photo credit: Fumio Ichikawa

Interpretative Commentary:

After her friend Betty Harriman's death, Mary received a box of quilt-related materials from Betty's family, including her notes on her quilt projects. Mary tried to complete Betty's work in a manner that Betty herself would have selected. Accompanying this quilt top were leftover fabrics, the top's pattern, and Betty's notes on the story of Alice Tandy, after whom the quilt in named. According to Betty's notes, Alice made a quilt in this pattern when her sweetheart went off to fight for the Union in the Civil War and never returned. Louise Fowler Roote published Alice's story in Kate's Blue Ribbon Quilts. -- Mary Worrall

Additional Commentary:

The quilt was included in the exhibit American Quilts from Michigan State University Museum, which toured in Japan from January-December 2003 and is illustrated on pg. 113 in the exhibit's catalogue, American Quilts from Michigan State University Museum. For more information about Betty Harriman, see Quilter's Journal, vol. IV, no. 4. -- Beth Donaldson