QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-1173

Who documented this quilt?

Michigan Quilt Project

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Michigan State University Museum

Michigan Quilt Project Number:

02.0001

Quilt's title:

MacDowell Anniversary Signature Quilt

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

Album and schoolhouse blocks

Quilt top made by:

MacDowell, Marsha

Quilted by:

MacDowell, Marsha

Name of the group that made the quilt:

And family members

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

Received as a gift

Where the quilt was made, city:

East Lansing

Where the quilt was made, county:

Ingham

Where the quilt was made, state:

Michigan (MI)

When was the quilt started?

1987

When was the quilt finished?

Jan. 2002

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's city:

East Lansing

Quiltmaker's county:

Ingham

Quiltmaker's state:

Michigan (MI)

Quiltmaker's birth date:

7/23/1950

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Urban

Quiltmaker's educational background:

B.F.A., MSU; M.F.A./Studio Art, MSU; PhD Ed./MSU

Quiltmaker's religious affiliation:

Protestant

Quiltmaker's occupation:

museum curator, professor, MSU

Quiltmaker's father's name:

MacDowell, Harlan

Quiltmaker's mother's name:

MacDowell, Betty Rybolt

Quiltmaker's marriage date(s):

12/15/1972

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

Dewhurst, C. Kurt

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and/or partner's/partners' occupation:

museum director, professor MSU

Number of children:

1

How many of the quiltmaker's children were girls?

1

When did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

Age 20-29

Estimated number of quilts made by this quiltmaker:

1-5 quilts

Does/did the quiltmaker belong to a group? Name of the group?

Have paid dues to the Capitol City Quilt Guild and Michigan Quilt Network. Also a member of American Quilt Study Group (former president and board member) and the Alliance for American Quilts (former board member)

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

64"

How long is the quilt?

80"

Shape of edge:

Straight

Quilt's condition:

Excellent/like new

Type of inscription:

Signature; Multiple Names

What is inscribed on the quilt?

1. Aunt Mary (Mary Rybolt, Betty's aunt. Mary was married to Ora Rybolt, Betty's father's brother). Mary is no longer living. 2. Mike and Renee Gage (Mike is Betty's sister Nancy's son; Renee is Mike's wife). 3. Ken and Amy (Ken and Amy Solmonson; Amy is Betty's sister Nancy's daughter). 4. Laura and Chet (Laura and Chester "Chet" MacDowell; Chet is Harlan's brother). 5. Kay and Dick (Kay and Richard "Dick" Cypher; Kay is Harlan's step-sister). Kay is no longer living. 6. Etta and Forrey (Etta and "Forrey" MacDowell; Forrey is Harlan's brother). 7. Ortha Louise MacDowell (Ortha is Harlan's step-mother). Ortha is no longer living. 8. Marit Dewhurst (Marit is daughter of Harlan and Betty's daughter Marsha). 9. Minn Dewhurst (Minn is mother of Marsha's husband Kurt). 10. The J. Leinbach Family (this is from Joan and Jim Leinbach; Jim is Betty's first cousin. Jim's mother is Velma Leinbach, Vivian's sister). 11. Mary and Jack (Mary and Jack Gage; Jack was husband of Nancy, Betty's sister who died of cancer. Mary is Jack's second wife.). 12. Doug (Douglas "Doug" MacDowell is Betty's Harlan's second son). 13. The Arnost Family (Suzanne and John Arnost; Suzanne is Betty's first cousin, Suzanne's mother is Velma Leinbach, Vivian's sister). 14. Mother (Vivian Rybolt; this is Betty's mother) Vivian is no longer living. 15. Kevin, Carolyn, Steve, Barry, and Andy (Barry and Carolyn MacDowell and their three sons; Barry is Harlan's half-brother). Kevin is no longer living. 16. Clare, Chris, Conner, Gina (Clare and Chris Luz and their two children; Clare is Betty and Harlan's daughter) NOTE: When the blocks were first made neither Gina or Connor were born, their names were added in 2002 when the quilt was finished. 17. Velma (Velma Leinbach; Velma is Betty's aunt, Vivian's sister). Velma is no longer living. 18. Cynthia Gioia (Cynthia "Cindy" Gioia is Velma Leinbach's daughter; Betty's cousin). 19. Mildred Johnson (Mildred is Betty's cousin; Mildred's mother Elsie was sister of Betty's father Hugh). Mildred is no longer living. 20. Bruce & Linda & Anne; Bruce & Lynne; Hugh (Bruce MacDowell is Harlan and Betty's oldest son. Linda MacDowell was his second wife and Anne is her daughter by a previous marriage: Hugh is the second son of Linda and Bruce. Lynne MacDowell is Bruce's third wife) When the blocks were made Bruce was married to Linda and Hugh was not yet born. Lynne cut the heart in half, then added her name and that of Hugh's. 21. Kurt, Marsha, and Mariet (Kurt Dewhurst, Marsha MacDowell and their daughter Marit Dewhurst). Marsha pieced the blocks together and quilted the top by hand in 2002. It was presented to her parents on Christmas Eve, 2002. 22. Phyllis (Phyllis Bush, lifetime friend of Betty's. Phyllis's mother Margaret Franz and Betty's mother Vivian Rybolt were best friends).

Number of quilt blocks:

22

Size of quilt blocks:

11" to 12"

Spacing of quilt blocks:

Separated by plain sashing

Sashing width:

3"

Number of borders:

1

Describe the borders:

3/4" cream border

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Applique techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Applique

Describe the techniques used to make the quilt top:

Ink drawing/Painting

Embellishment techniques used to make the quilt top:

Embroidery

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

How is the binding made?

Straight grain

What kind of filling is used in the quilt?

Cotton or polyester blend

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:

Outline

Quilting designs used, background fills:

Parallel lines

Describe the quilting designs used:

Pine Trees, Hearts

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Commercial/Published source: Newspaper

Commercial name of the pattern for the top:

The Detroit News

Person filling out this form is:

Quilt owner

Source of the information on this quilt:

Daughter

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's name:

Harlan and Betty MacDowell

Quilt owner's city:

Grand Ledge

Quilt owner's county:

Eaton

Quilt owner's state:

Michigan (MI)

How was this quilt acquired?

Gift

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

Made as a gift for Harlan and Betty MacDowell's 40th wedding anniversary, June 21, 1987. 2001, Marsha MacDowell, daughter

Describe anything about the history of the quilt that wasn't already recorded in a previous field:

In 1987 sisters Clare MacDowell Luz and Marsha MacDowell got the idea of having the friends and family members of their parents, Harlan and Betty MacDowell, make a friendship quilt as a surprise present for their parent's 40th wedding anniversary. They found patterns in a book and in the Detroit News clippings included in the papers of their great-grandmother Alice "Boba" Nona Lane. Boba was a quiltmaker who lived and quilted in Detroit. Clare and Marsha bought fabric, cut it up, and sent it with the pattern to a small cirlce of family members and friends. The blocks were sent back to Marsha the week before the anniversary celebration. At the event Marsha and Clare pinned all of the blocks to a plain white sheet and hung it as a decoration. Betty and Harlan were thrilled with the blocks and looked forward to seeing the finished quilt. Unfortunately, Marsha, who planned to set the blocks and quilt it right away, was unable to work on it. For one thing, her life was too busy and for the other, nearly all of the pieced blocks had technical problems: uneven edges, poor applique, double quilted, etc. So, even though Betty and Harlan periodically asked if and when the quilt might get done and even though Marsha insisted that "she could do it" and "did not want to farm out the work," the quilt sat. Wedding anniversary after wedding anniversary passed and eventually Betty and Harlan stopped asking about the quilt. In 2001, though, Marsha determined that not another year would go by before it was finished. Beth Donaldson and Mary Worrall, both quilters and quilt teachers who worked at the MSU Museum, agreed to help coach. Beth figured out the math to set the blocks and Mary helped select the batting and a MSUM/RJR reproduction fabric for the backing. Both women said they would only tell Marsha the next step so that, with the steps broken down, finishing the quilt would not be too intimidating. Thus in the summer of 2001, Marsha commenced finishing the quilt. Each week she would work on it a bit and by fall she was carrying it to meetings and on flights all over the country as she traveled to conferences. In addition, she had to figure out, with the help of Clare and her new sister-in-law, how to accomodate on the quilt the children who had been born since the quilt was first started and the divorce of their brother Bruce from his then wife and marriage to Lynne. Hearts were added for the children and an original heart representing a marriage on Bruce's block was cut in half, resewn on, and a new marriage heart added. By the night before Christmas Eve, she had finished all but about two yards of one line of quilting. On Christmas Eve, at the family's annual holiday gathering, she hung the [nearly] finished quilt on the wall. Her parents arrived and immediately noticed that a new quilt was hanging on the wall but did not notice until they got up close that it was "their" quilt. They were once again thrilled and in January, after Marsha finished the last line of quilting, they hung the quilt in their living room. Marsha MacDowell, February 2002.

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

If the source helped design the quilt, describe their input:

Designed the pattern

Copyright holder:

Michigan State University Museum