QUILT INDEX RECORD

2-33-55

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Signature Quilt Pilot Project

Who documented this quilt?

Signature Quilt Project Public Submission

This is a:

Finished quilt

Quilt's title:

Friendship Sampler

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

12 different patterns

How wide is the quilt?

45 inches

How long is the quilt?

57 1/2 inches

Type of inscription:

Message; Multiple Names; Place; Signature

Describe the type of inscription:

two labels

What is inscribed on the quilt?

There are four horizontal rows (1, 2, 3, 4) and three vertical columns (a, b, c) to this quilt with 12 blocks in all. (1-a) Ruth Brown - Rosemary, Alberta, Canada (1-b) Rae Willis, Australia - Cooktown Orchid (1-c) Ruth Hollis - Georgia (2-a) To Wini, Best Wishes. Lois Elliot (2-b) To Wini with Love, Lara Kline - Springfield, Massachusetts (2-c) To Wini with Love from Marti -CALIFORNIA (3-a) Kaaren Biggs - Canada (3-b) To Wini "Happy Stitching" Love, Gail ARIZONA (3-c) Ulricke Schulte-Ottersbach, Germany (4-a) Joanne Edwards - PENNSYLVANIA (4-b) Wendy Radford - CALIFORNIA (4-c) Naomi Ichikawa - Japan

What is the date inscribed on the quilt?

July 15, 1990 on label on back

Method used to make the inscription:

Attached label; Computer generated; Embroidery; Ink

Location of inscription:

on back; on block

Time period:

1976-1999

Date estimated by an antique dealer, quilt historian or appraiser:

July 15, 1990

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Describe the techniques used to make the quilt top:

One of the blocks from Australia is named on the block itself - Cooktown Orchid. It is the only applique block and it is done in the stain-glass method. The Dresdan Plate block has a yo-yo appliqued in the center of the Dresdan Plate.

Features or notes about the quilt's appearance, materials, or construction:

One block has had an image heat transferred onto it.

Quilt top made by:

Quilters Network

Other people who worked on this quilt:

Rae Willis of Australia; Ruth Hollis of Georgia, USA; Lara Kline of Springfield, Massachutes; Marti Johnson of California; Karen Biggs of Canada; Gail ? of Arizona; Ulrike Schulte of Ottersbach, Germany; Jeanne Edwards of Pennsylvania; Wendy Radford of California; Namoi Ichickawa of Japan; Ruth Braun of Rosemary, Alberta, Canada; Lois Elliott of Australia

Where the quilt was made, city:

Lopez Island

Where the quilt was made, county:

San Juan

Where the quilt was made, state:

Washington

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

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

Wini (my mother-in-law) was always a voracious correspondent.(I have 30 years of correspondence from Wini archived in 4 binders.) Getting into quilting only whet her appetite further. Quilters were a natural and ready-made group of potential correspodents. In 1985 her name appeared in Quilters Newsletter Magazine’s Needle and Pin Pals column for the first time. Wini was soon corresponding with 10 quilters from around the world. Eventually they decided to try to gather at one of the large quilt conferences at the same time so that they could meet each other. Seven of them made it to the West Coast Quilters Conference in Sacramento on July 15, 1990. Wini was recovering from breast cancer at the time and they presented her with a Cuddle Quilt at the conference. Each block has its own pattern. Some are pieced and some are appliqué. Only one block has the pattern name written on it as well as the maker's name.

Why was the quilt made?

Autograph or friendship; Gift or presentation; Therapy

Commercial name of the pattern for the top:

unknown

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

I created a second lable printed fromm my computer with all the names and inscriptions on the quilt in 2006 in preparation for a quilt show I thought this quilt was going to hang in. I created the background fabric of the 2nd label by scanning images of dandelions from the yard with a piece of fabric behind the flowers.

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

I have saved whatever correspondence Wini had in her files from this group of friends, plus emails of her own correspondence with members of this group after Wini died in August 1999 of ovarian cancer.

Quilt owner's name:

Karen Biedler Alexander

Quilt owner's city:

Lopez Island

Quilt owner's state:

Washington

Quilt owner's country:

United States

Any other notes or stories about the quiltmaker:

Wini's notes from her Quilt Journal: Completed machine quilting on cuddle quilt presented 15 July 1990 at WCQC [West Coast Quilters Conference] after mastectomy.

Description of quilt:

Post Mastectomy Cuddle Quilt (57 1/2”x45”). Top made by members of Quilters Network for Winifred (Wini) Waters Alexander of Lopez Island, WA. Presented July 15, 1990. Quilted by Wini Alexander.

Essay:

Wini was born in Yakima, WA to parents of the Christian Science faith. Her mother died when Wini was six years ot tuberculosis, leaving she and her younger sister Frances to be cared for by their father. They moved to Seattle shortly thereafter. Her father subsequently went thru a series of care-givers and another wife, even putting the girls in a foster home for awhile in order to be free to work. As one can well imagine, this left a deep mark on the girls. However, Wini was always a hard worker and a good student. Thanks to FDR, Wini always liked to say, she was able to earn a degree in Home Economics from the Univeristy of Washington. She was proficient and talented in many forms of needlework from early on. Wini also loved to write and once she became a quilter in the late 1970s, usually volunteered to be editor of guild newsletters wherever she lived. My husband and I were by her bedside at home singing to her when she passed August 23, 1999, a week after her 82nd birthday. I inherited her files, books and quilt studio and hope some day to pass on to my granddaughter this same legacy. Wini was a great inspiration in my life and the catalyst for my interest in quilting when she made a quilt in 1976 out of my eldest daughter's art work. In 1978 she made life-size applique quilts of all three of my children. The clothing on each quilt was made of scraps of fabric leftover from clothes she had previously made each of them. Each child instantly recognized her/his own image and was delighted. Because of these first very special quilts I became aware of how quilts could become carriers of family history. I took my first quilting lesson in 1980. Prior to that Wini ahd taught me other forms of needlework. I entered a writing contest with a sotry about my mother-in-law in 2002 sponsored by Kathy Lamamcusa, a creative life-style book author. Some 45 stories were selected for publication by Simon & Schuster, mine included. The book "QUilts Are Forever" came out in 2003.

Who photographed this quilt?

Karen Biedler Alexander

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

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