QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-928

Who documented this quilt?

Michigan Quilt Project

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Michigan State University Museum

Michigan Quilt Project Number:

01.0094

If this quilt is owned by a museum, enter the accession number:

2006:142.1

Object label:

Redwork
Betty Quarton Hoard and Winnie Quarton
Birmingham, Michigan
c1929
Durkee-Blakeslee-Quarton-Hoard Family Collection, Michigan State University Museum, #2006:142.1

Essay:

The Durkee-Blakeslee-Quarton-Hoard Collection consists of quilts representing four generations of women from Oakland County, Michigan. Concern that family pets might damage a collection of pristine family quilts prompted Betty Quarton Hoard to donate seventeen quilts made by her grandmother, Martha L. Durkee Blakeslee, great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Beardslee Durkee, and mother, Emma Blakeslee Quarton, to the Michigan State University Museum. Following Betty's death in 2005, her family donated an additional three quilts, including this quilt made by Betty and her sister Winnie.

Oakland County, Michigan has been home to members of the family, since 1823 when Betty's forebear Wilkes Durkee moved from Cayuga County, New York to the town of Franklin. Betty's grandfather, Frank Blakeslee, owned a dry goods store in Birmingham, the city in which resided. Betty recalled that the boxes of fabric, lace, and other notions that were available from the family's store always provided her with scraps from which to make doll clothes. Ownership of the store undoubtedly contributed to the eclectic variety of fabric found throughout the family's quilts.

Betty's own quilting began with this detailed Redwork piece created with her sister, Winnie. The project commenced when Betty was about fourteen, an age she thought was too old for this task and thus she only completed around four of the blocks. Winnie finished the remainder. The motifs embroidered on blocks set with a red sashing include numerous depictions of nursery rhymes and fairy tales.

Owner's name for the quilt:

Redwork

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

Penny squares

Quilt top made by:

Hoard, Betty; Quarton, Winnie

Quilted by:

Quarton, Winnie

If you are the quilt owner, how did you acquire this quilt?

Made the quilt

Where the quilt was made, city:

Birmingham

Where the quilt was made, county:

Oakland

Where the quilt was made, state:

Michigan (MI)

Time period:

1901-1929

When was the quilt finished?

1929

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's city:

Birmingham

Quiltmaker's county:

Oakland

Quiltmaker's state:

Michigan (MI)

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Quarton

Quiltmaker's birth date:

1/22/1915

Quiltmaker's date and place of death:

2/18/2005

Quiltmaker's father's name:

Quarton, Fred V.

Quiltmaker's mother's name:

Quarton, Emma Blakeslee

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and /or partner's/partners' name(s):

Hoard, Douglas H.

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

72"

How long is the quilt?

85"

Shape of edge:

Straight

Quilt's condition:

Excellent/like new

Number of quilt blocks:

12 (each block has 4 penny squares)

Size of quilt blocks:

17" x 17"

Arrangement of quilt blocks:

Straight

Sashing width:

3 1/2"

Number of borders:

2 on the sides

Describe the borders:

7 1/2"

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

What is the width of the binding (measure on the top only)?

less than a half inch

What kind of filling is used in the quilt?

Cotton

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 1:

6

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

6

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

Grid/crosshatch

Commercial name of the pattern for the top:

Penny squares from Vogue pattern company. Stamped on some of the blocks, "QUILT BLOCKS VOGUE no. 127-C"

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

The Michigan Quilt Project: New Discoveries, East Lansing, MI, July 29-December 31, 2001, Michigan State University Museum

Person filling out this form is:

Quilt owner

Source of the information on this quilt:

Museum employee

Ownership of this quilt is:

Public- Michigan State University Museum

Quilt owner's name:

Michigan State University Museum

Quilt owner's city:

East Lansing

Quilt owner's county:

Ingham

Quilt owner's state:

Michigan (MI)

How was this quilt acquired?

Made by owner

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

How did the quiltmaker participate in the creation of the quilt?

Made quilt blocks or part of quilt top

Copyright holder:

Michigan State University Museum