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Checkers and Rails

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QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-3767

Who documented this quilt?

Michigan Quilt Project; Quilts and Health

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Michigan State University Museum

Michigan Quilt Project Number:

96.0007

Owner's name for the quilt:

Checkers and Rails

Biography of the quiltmaker?

Each of her pieces is signed on the back lower right hand corner. An embroidered 5-point star, relating to the professional name she uses of U.S. Quiltworks, follows her signature.

Quilt top made by:

Southwell, Unis

Quilted by:

Southwell, Unis

Where the quilt was made, city:

Suttons Bay

Where the quilt was made, county:

Leelanau

Where the quilt was made, state:

Michigan (MI)

Time period:

1976-1999

When was the quilt started?

1/7/1995

When was the quilt finished?

3/7/1995

Why was the quilt made?

Fundraising

Details about why the quilt was made:

Leelanau Memorial Hospital Raffle raised $3679.85 for purchase of hospital equipment, 1995

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's city:

Suttons Bay

Quiltmaker's county:

Leelanau

Quiltmaker's state:

Michigan (MI)

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Engle

Quiltmaker's birth date:

3/29/1925

Quiltmaker's date and place of death:

2/24/2016

Quiltmaker's ethnic background/tribal affiliation:

Scotch, Irish, English, German

Quiltmaker's educational background:

3 years college MSU 1943-1946 Home Economics Textile and related Arts Major

Quiltmaker's religious affiliation:

Congregational Protestant

Quiltmaker's occupation:

homemaker

Quiltmaker's father's name:

Engle, Robert Bruce

Quiltmaker's father's ethnic/tribal background:

Pennsylvania/German

Quiltmaker's mother's name:

Engle, Eva Naomi Towers

Quiltmaker's mother's ethnic/tribal background:

English/Scotch-Irish

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

Mich. Dept. of Corrections Area Manager, Muskegon, MI

Number of children:

3

How many of the quiltmaker's children were girls?

2

How many of the quiltmaker's children were boys?

1

When did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

Age 11-19

Other notes on how the quiltmaker learned, and how and why they quilt:

I feel that we who quilt today are fulfilling a need to express ourselves with fabric.

Estimated number of quilts made by this quiltmaker:

more than 50

Does/did the quiltmaker sell quilts?

yes

Does/did the quiltmaker teach quilting?

yes

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

Christ Community Church quilters, Spring Lake, MI; Little Finger Quilters started 1989, meets in Omena, MI community room which is part of the Fire Dept. This groups name comes from Leelanau County being referred to as the little finger of Michigan. Pine

What are the main activities of the group?

About 12 women meet each Tuesday at the church to quilt tops for others, as a fund raising function for their church. I was not a member of the church but merely quilted with the group.

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

83"

How long is the quilt?

95"

Quilt's condition:

Excellent/like new

Damage:

Fold marks or creases

What is inscribed on the quilt?

Unis Engle Southwell, Five pointed star embroidered next to signature on all this quilter's work, also town & state & quilt name

What is the date inscribed on the quilt?

3/7/95

Method used to make the inscription:

Embroidery

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Number of quilt blocks:

30 squares white on white, 120 pieced sashing sections

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Machine Piecing

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

Number of pieces of fabric in the quilt back:

2

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:

7

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

9

Quilting designs used, background fills:

Grid/crosshatch

Describe the quilting designs used:

Outline/Ditch

Where did the maker get their materials?

Purchased new

Describe the sources of the quilt's materials:

The fabric was purchased at Margie Ann's Quilt Shop, Beulah, MI.

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Commercial/Published source: Magazine

Commercial name of the pattern for the top:

Pattern originated in Ind. 1870. American Heritage Quilts, Better Homes and Gardens 1991 pg 68.

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

Wine Festival, Leland, MI; Suttons Bay, MI Art Fair; 2 Northport MI Fish Boils and in several stores from June thru Sept. 1995

Contests entered:

Celebration of Quilts, Holiday Inn, Clarksville, TN, March 28, 1995; Tulip Patcher's Quilt Show, Women's Club Building, Holland, MI, May 13, 1995;

Publications (including web sites) where this quilt or maker was featured:

Patterns; Prizes, awards, ribbons, etc.

Person filling out this form is:

Quilt owner

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's name:

Kathleen Beaudry

Quilt owner's city:

Northport

Quilt owner's county:

Leelanau

Quilt owner's state:

Michigan (MI)

How was this quilt acquired?

Raffle or contest prize

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

It was made as a volunteer project by this quilter and donated to the Northport, MI Hospital Auxillary. They paid for all materials. This quilt was #7 in series made by this quilter and given to the Aux. for their yearly raffle. The fabric was purchased at Margie Ann's Quilt Shop, Beulah, MI. The raffle ticket for this quilt was drawn following the Annual Aux. Banquet and Ball at Leland Lodge, MI on Sept. 29, 1995. The lucky winner, Kathleen Beaudry of Northport, MI was present to receive her prize. The quiltmaker was also present to enjoy the presentation. This quilt was moved during quilting by rolling the two long sticks. Quilting had benn completed around the outside but the loose cottom baatt inside the center, folded over on itself for 6 1/2' done center of quilt and could not be straightened when quilt was restretched in the frame. So, quilting was finished to within inches of each side of this fold, then seams in the quilt top were carefully opened in zig-zag pattern from top to bottom, exposing the folded batt which was cut out leaving two butted edges which were overcast together. Quilt was then removed from the frame and the opened block edges were slipstitched shut. Quilt was pinned back in the frame and the quilting successfully completed. No trace of this operation is visable.

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

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

Made entire quilt

Describe any favorite patterns, tools, etc. used by the quiltmaker:

Always hand applique, especially after learning the blind stitch from Joe Cunningham at a class on Beaver Island in 1987. Chalk marker for making free-hand quilting designs. A Hoffman challenge Wall quilt that took 1st in hand applique and was one of 50 chosen to travel the country for a year in 1992 in shows and shops. The quilt flew alone to Houston, TX to see it displayed at quilt show at the Geo. Brown Convention Center

Copyright holder:

Michigan State University Museum

Cite this Quilt

Southwell, Uni. Checkers and Rails. 3/7/1995. From Michigan State University Museum, Michigan Quilt Project; Quilts and Health. Published in The Quilt Index, https://quiltindex.org/view/?type=fullrec&kid=12-8-3767. Accessed: 03/29/24