QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-8169

Who documented this quilt?

Michigan Quilt Project; Michigan State University Museum Collection

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Michigan State University Museum

Michigan Quilt Project Number:

86.0030

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

7140.1

Object label:

Hog Feed Sack One Patch
Julie Copeland (piecer) and Ailene McKeller (quilter)
Magnolia, Alabama
1875
Collection of Michigan State University Museum acc.#7140.1

Essay:

Martha Gilbert, the donor of this quilt, recalls sitting on the lap of her grandfather, a Cherokee Indian with "a very long beard," while her grandmother, Julie Copeland, carefully bleached out hog feed sacks to be used to make quilt tops. The sacks used in this pieced quilt were hand dyed and arranged in strip fashion, then stuffed with field cotton by Copeland and Gilbert's mother, Ailene McKeller. Both were wives of Alabama farmers and were homemakers and avid quiltmakers. They passed their knowledge and love of quilting on to Martha Gilbert, who moved to Muskegon, Michigan, in 1962, and who, at the age of 80 still spent 24 hours a week quilting in her living room. From, Michigan Quilts: 150 Years of a Textile Tradition.

Owner's name for the quilt:

Feed sack, one patch

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

One patch

When was the form filled out?

2/11/1985

Quilt top made by:

McKeller, Julie Copeland and Aileen

Quilted by:

McKeller, Julie Copeland and Aileen

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

Purchased the quilt

Where the quilt was made, city:

Magnolia

Where the quilt was made, county:

Marengo

Where the quilt was made, state:

Alabama (AL)

Time period:

1850-1875

When was the quilt finished?

1875

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's city:

Magnolia

Quiltmaker's state:

Arkansas (AR)

Quiltmaker's birth date:

Aileen: 1879

Quiltmaker's date and place of death:

1961

Quiltmaker's mother's name:

Copeland, Julie

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and/or partner's/partners' ethnic/tribal background:

African-American

Number of children:

8

Why does the quiltmaker quilt?

Necessity

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

48"

How long is the quilt?

72"

Shape of edge:

Straight

Shape of corners:

Straight

Quilt's condition:

Fair/worn

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Number of quilt blocks:

30

Arrangement of quilt blocks:

Straight

Number of borders:

2

Describe the borders:

4", 6 1/2"

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Piecing

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

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:

2

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

3

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

Elbow/fan

Where did the maker get their materials?

Feed or flour sacks

Describe the sources of the quilt's materials:

Fabric is home dyed hog feed sacks.

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Original to maker

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

Michigan Quilts: A Celebration of 150 Years of Textile Tradition, East Lansing, MI, September 12-November 1, 1987, Kresge Art Museum, MSU; Quilts from the Michigan State University Museum Collection, traveling exhibit: Muskegon Museum of Art, Muskegon, MI, October, 1992 - January, 1993: Southwestern Michigan College Museum, Dowagiac, MI, June - September, 1995; Midland County Historical Society, Midland, MI, December 1, 1997 - January 25, 1998.

Related items such as diaries, obituaries, wills, household inventories, or pictures of the quiltmaker:

Michigan Quilts (1987) book, plate 94 page 70. African American Quiltmaking in Michigan (1997) book, figure 86, page 57.

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?

Purchase

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

2-21-1990, Mrs. Martha Gilbert for $300, selle

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

Purchased from maker's daughter/granddaughter.

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

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

Made entire quilt

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

Designed the pattern

Who photographed this quilt?

Peter Glendinning

Copyright holder:

Michigan State University Museum