QUILT INDEX RECORD

25-21-56

Who documented this quilt?

Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association, Texas Quilt Search

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin

Texas Quilt Search Number:

tqs_0091

Person filling out this form is:

Daughter of quiltmaker; Quilt owner; Other

Source of the information on this quilt:

This quilt was reviewed and documented during the Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association's Texas Quilt Search, 1983-1986, and/or during the Association's Phase II of the Texas Quilt Search, 1986-1989. Karey Bresenhan served as quilt historian

When was the form filled out?

1986-1989

Choose the best description of the source to the quilt:

Quiltmaker; Quilt owner

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

Quilted or tied the top

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

Inherited

Describe the relationship to the quilt's maker:

The present owner of this quilt is the daughter of the quiltmaker; she also quilted this Crossed Canoes quilt

This is a:

Finished quilt

Owner's name for quilt:

Crossed Canoes

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

Indian Canoes

How wide is the quilt?

82 in.

How long is the quilt?

97 in.

Shape of edge:

Straight

Shape of corners:

Straight

What color is the quilt?

Blue or Navy; Brown; Gray; Green; Orange; Pink; Purple; Red; Yellow

Overall color scheme:

Multicolor

Quilt's condition:

Excellent/like new

Time period:

1950-1975

When was the quilt started?

pieced in 1957

When was the quilt finished?

1989

Family/owner's date for quilt:

1957

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

1957

Who estimated the quilt's date?

Karey Bresenhan

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Subject of the quilt:

canoes

Number of quilt blocks:

30

Arrangement of quilt blocks:

Straight

Spacing of quilt blocks:

Separated by cornerstones or connecting blocks sashing (different fabric in intersection); Separated by inner only sashing (no sashing along outer edge of outer blocks)

Number of different block patterns used in the quilt:

1

What is the shape of the quilt blocks?

Squares

Number of borders:

2

Describe the borders:

inner light gray border with darker gray patches in each corner; outer wider border of darker gray, with lighter gray patches in each corner

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Fabric styles used in the quilt top:

Geometric; Multiple scrap; Novelty; Paisley; Plaid; Print; Solid/plain

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Machine Piecing

Can you feel or see paper on the quilt that was used as a construction aid?

no

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

Number of pieces of fabric in the quilt back:

pieced backing

Describe the back:

Machine sewn; Same fabric used throughout; Solid/plain

Materials used in the quilt binding:

Cotton

How is the binding made?

Straight grain

What is the width of the binding (measure on the top only)?

less than a half inch

What kind of filling is used in the quilt?

Polyester

How thick is the quilt?

Medium (3/16?)

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Thread type used for the quilting:

cotton

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 1:

9

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

9

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

In-the-ditch; Outline

Quilting designs used, decorative motifs:

Cables

Describe the quilting designs used:

outline quilting on both sides of pieces; in-the-ditch quilting in pieced seams; cable quilting in borders

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

This quilt was pieced using scraps or "cutaways" from a dress factory in Grand Prairie, Texas, and Karey Bresenhan thus describes it as a "sampler" for 1950s fabrics. The quilt is also a classic generation quilt: pieced by one generation and finished by another, in this case a mother and her daughter.

Quilt top made by:

Holland, Retta Booher

Quilted by:

McCrady, Kathleen Holland

Where the quilt was made, city:

Grand Prairie

Where the quilt was made, county:

Dallas

Where the quilt was made, state:

Texas (TX)

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

How was this quilt acquired?

Inheritance

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

Kathleen McCrady, a nationally known and award-winning quiltmaker in Austin, Texas, received this quilt top from her mother. Although Mrs. Holland had stopped quilting in about 1946, her daughter Kathleen McCrady was getting scraps in 1957, so Mrs. Holland decided to piece this Crossed Canoes quilt top. The quiltmaker's daughter purchased a fifty-center pattern for this quilt that was copyrighted by McCall's in 1953. the quiltmaker may have borrowed her daughter's pattern to make this quilt.

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

Mrs. Holland and her husband operated a small cafe in Grand Prairie. Located nearby was a dress factory that sold a grocery sack of scraps or cut-aways for $1. According to daughter Kathleen McCrady, "It was such fun to get a sack of scraps, for they were prints and solids coordinated. This quilt top is made from scraps that came from the factory. No other prints were used except the addition of the borders."

Why was the quilt made?

Art or personal expression

The quilt was made to be used for:

Bedding, daily use

Quilt is presently used as:

Bedding, special occasion; Keepsake/memento

Where did the maker get their materials?

Sewing scraps

Describe the sources of the quilt's materials:

Pieced fabrics were all purchased as scraps from a local dress factory; border and backing fabrics were purchased new.

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Commercial/Published source: Magazine; Commercial/Published source: Pattern

Commercial name of the pattern for the top:

McCall's Magazine, 1953

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

Kathleen McCrady, daughter of the quiltmaker, purchased the Crossed Canoes pattern, copyrighted by McCall's in 1953, at Gem Fabrics store in Austin. She is not sure whether or not her mother used her pattern or purchased the same pattern for her own use. Mrs. McCrady does not recall her mother using her pattern.

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

“Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1936-1986,” 16th Annual International Quilt Festival, November, 1990, Houston, Texas.

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

Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association’s Texas Quilt Search Archives; Kathleen H. McCrady, My Journey with Quilts: Over 70 Years of Quiltmaking 1932-2003 (Austin: 2005).

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

Bresenhan, Karoline Patterson and Nancy O'Bryant Puentes, Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, Vol. II, 1936-1986 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990), p. 82-83. Additional information about Retta Booher Holland and her daughter Kathleen McCrady can be found in Kathleen H. McCrady, My Journey with Quilts: Over 70 Years of Quiltmaking 1932-2003 (Austin: 2005).

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's name:

Kathleen Holland McCrady

Quilt owner's state:

Texas (TX)

Quilt owner's country:

United States

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Booher, Retta

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's birth date:

1896

Quiltmaker's birthplace, city:

Grayson County

Quiltmaker's birthplace, state:

Texas

Quiltmaker's birthplace, country:

United States

Quiltmaker's date and place of death:

1971

Quiltmaker's educational background:

grade school

Quiltmaker's occupation:

farming, owned a washiteria and a cafeteria; ran a cafe; homemaker

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Rural

Quiltmaker's father's name:

Booher, [unknown]

Quiltmaker's mother's name:

Wyatt, Helen Warner Booher Wyatt

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

farmer, cafeteria and washiteria owner, cafe owner

Number of children:

5

How did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

From Relative; Self-Taught

Why does the quiltmaker quilt?

Gifts; Necessity; Pleasure

Estimated number of quilts made by this quiltmaker:

more than 50

Does/did the quiltmaker sell quilts?

no

Does/did the quiltmaker teach quilting?

no

Any other notes or stories about the quiltmaker:

Kathleen McCrady says about her mother, "She worked hard all her life, and perhaps enjoyed most the part of her life after they [she and her husband] retired from the cafe business. She sewed for others and worked in her church keeping the babies in the nursery. She was always busy, seemed happy with her lot in life, and made the best of her situation. She had 17 grandchildren."

Who photographed this quilt?

Sharon Risedorph

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Copyright holder:

Assistant Director Winedale