QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-8616

Who documented this quilt?

Michigan Quilt Project

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Michigan State University Museum

Michigan Quilt Project Number:

86.0827

Quilt's title:

Urban Prairie Window (Marathon Quilt)

When was the form filled out?

7/27/1986

Quilt top made by:

Grabowski, Barbara

Quilted by:

Grabowski, Barbara

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

Made the quilt

Where the quilt was made, city:

Lansing

Where the quilt was made, county:

Ingham

Where the quilt was made, state:

Michigan (MI)

Time period:

1976-1999

When was the quilt started?

5/1980

When was the quilt finished?

10/1980

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's city:

East Lansing

Quiltmaker's county:

Ingham

Quiltmaker's state:

Michigan (MI)

Quiltmaker's birth date:

10/7/1955

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Urban

Quiltmaker's educational background:

BS Resource Development MSU 1978, MS Resource Development MSU 1983

Quiltmaker's occupation:

Environmental Quality Analyst

Quiltmaker's father's name:

Grabowski, Stanley

Quiltmaker's father's ethnic/tribal background:

Polish

Quiltmaker's mother's name:

McDonald, Margaret C.

Quiltmaker's mother's ethnic/tribal background:

Scottish

How did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

Self-Taught

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 sell quilts?

no

Does/did the quiltmaker teach quilting?

no

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

63"

How long is the quilt?

56"

Shape of edge:

Straight

Shape of corners:

Straight

Overall color scheme:

Bright or primary colors

Quilt's condition:

Excellent/like new

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Number of quilt blocks:

15

Arrangement of quilt blocks:

Straight

Sashing width:

1 3/4"

Describe the borders:

1 1/2"

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:

1

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:

3

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

3

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

Echo

Describe the quilting designs used:

Outline/Ditch

Where did the maker get their materials?

Purchased new

Describe the sources of the quilt's materials:

Fabric purchased at Culpepper's.

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's name:

Barbara Grabowski

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 entire quilt

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

Designed the pattern

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

Each block contains a half circle divided into 6 equal pieces, each a different color. Colors to give a stained glass effect. I like this quilt for its bold design. The pattern stems from seeing a window in a door - a simple visual observation was the seed for a bright geometric quilt. I also remember this quilt because I worked on it the year I trained for the Detroit Free Press Marathon. The colors in each piece are arranged so that no two blocks are alike, and so the same colors are never adjacent. People look at it a long time to try to figure out the color pattern, there isn't one!

Copyright holder:

Michigan State University Museum