QUILT INDEX RECORD

25-21-96

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_0127

Person filling out this form is:

Quiltmaker; Quilt owner; Other

Source of the information on this quilt:

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

When was the form filled out?

1989-1990

Choose the best description of the source to the quilt:

Quiltmaker; Quilt owner

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

Made entire quilt

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

Made the quilt

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

Designed quilt motif

Describe the relationship to the quilt's maker:

This quilt is presently owned by the quiltmaker.

This is a:

Finished quilt

Quilt's title:

Daisy Twists Around the Hometown Square Quilt

Owner's name for quilt:

Daisy Twists Around the Hometown Square

How wide is the quilt?

80 in.

How long is the quilt?

80 in.

Shape of edge:

Other

Describe the edge:

Prairie Points

Shape of corners:

Other

Describe the corners:

joint of two Prairie Points

What color is the quilt?

Blue or Navy; Red

Overall color scheme:

Light or pastel colors

Quilt's condition:

Excellent/like new

Time period:

1976-1999

When was the quilt finished?

1986

Family/owner's date for quilt:

1986

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Number of quilt blocks:

36; inner four blocks complete a center medallion

Arrangement of quilt blocks:

Straight

Spacing of quilt blocks:

Side by side

Number of different block patterns used in the quilt:

2

What is the shape of the quilt blocks?

Squares

Number of borders:

2

Describe the borders:

border on all four sides, plus contrasting Prairie Points at edge

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Fabric styles used in the quilt top:

Print; Solid/plain

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Piecing; 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

Description of the back:

same small red print as in daisies

What color is the back of the quilt?

Red

Describe the back:

Print; Same fabric used throughout

Materials used in the quilt binding:

Other

Describe the binding:

Prairie Points

What kind of filling is used in the quilt?

Polyester

How thick is the quilt?

Thin (Less than 3/16?)

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Thread type used for the quilting:

cotton

Color of thread used in the quilting:

white

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 1:

10

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

12

Width between quilting lines:

1/2 - 1 in.

Can you see any knots on the front or back of the quilt?

no

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

Outline; Other

Quilting designs used, decorative motifs:

Feathering; Floral; Other

Quilting designs used, background fills:

Grid/crosshatch

Describe the quilting designs used:

outline quilting on both sides of individual pieces; circles and crosshatch quilting in most blocks; center of quilt features floral design

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

The blocks combined two (Hometown Square and Daisy Twist) of 24 original blocks featured in the Indianapolis Star Block Contest. Her daughter and son-in-law live in Indiana, and he mailed the quiltmaker these block patterns from each Sunday paper in hopes that his mother-in-law would make a quilt. Her set of the blocks creates an original quilt design that includes a central medallion, two Irish chains, and Prairie Points at the edge. Altogether the look is elegant, but light. Her skillful manipulation of only two blocks creates a much more complex-looking deisgn.

Quilt top made by:

Ashbacher, Sally Redman

Quilted by:

Ashbacher, Sally Redman

Where the quilt was made, city:

Rowlett

Where the quilt was made, county:

Rockwall

Where the quilt was made, state:

Texas (TX)

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

How was this quilt acquired?

Made by owner

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

Sally Ashbacher spent one summer during her childhood in bed recovering from rheumatic fever. There, under a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt made by her paternal grandmother, she was absorbed by the quilt's pattern and fabric to the extent that she "decided that when I grew up I wanted to quilt and to make a quilt like that one."

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

Sally Ashbacher has spent a lifetime doing needlework, mostly embroidery, which she perfected at her mother's knee. She progressed from embroidery to clothing sewing, to crewel needlework, to quilting.

Why was the quilt made?

Art or personal expression

The quilt was made to be used for:

Artwork/wall hanging

Quilt is presently used as:

Artwork/wall hanging; Keepsake/memento

Where did the maker get their materials?

Purchased new

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Commercial/Published source: Newspaper; Commercial/Published source: Pattern; Public domain/traditional pattern; Traditional pattern variation

Describe the source of the pattern:

original set of blocks published in Indianapolis Star Block Contest

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

“Lone Stars: A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1936-1986,” 16th Annual International Quilt Festival, November, 1990, Houston, Texas; Texas State Fair, guild shows

Contests entered:

Texas State Fair, guild quilt shows

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

Texas Sesquicentennial Quilt Association, Texas Quilt Search Archives; Quilter's Newsletter Magazine; Quilt; Stitch & Sew Quilts

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. 154-155; her work has also appeared in Quilt, Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, Stitch & Sew Quilts.

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's name:

Ashbacher, Sally Redman

Quilt owner's state:

Texas (TX)

Quilt owner's country:

United States

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Redman, Sally

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's birth date:

1937

Quiltmaker's birthplace, city:

Chicago, Cook County

Quiltmaker's birthplace, state:

Illinois

Quiltmaker's birthplace, country:

United States

Quiltmaker's marriage date(s):

1970; 1957

Quiltmaker's educational background:

high school graduate

Quiltmaker's occupation:

assists husband in frieght business; has real estate license; professional quilter

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Urban

Quiltmaker's state:

Texas (TX)

Quiltmaker's country:

United States

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and /or partner's/partners' name(s):

Ashbacher, [unknown]

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

operates a freight business

Number of children:

3

How many of the quiltmaker's children were girls?

2

How many of the quiltmaker's children were boys?

1

How did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

From Relative

When did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

Under 10 years of age

Why does the quiltmaker quilt?

Gifts; Pleasure

Notes on how the quiltmaker learned, and how and why they quilt:

loves creative outlet and showing quilts; wants to leave her legacy for hundreds of years to the next generations of her family; "I want to leave a piece of me on earth forever."

Estimated number of quilts made by this quiltmaker:

more than 50

Does/did the quiltmaker sell quilts?

yes

Any other notes or stories about the quiltmaker:

The Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt Sally Ashbacher rested under when she was sick with rheumatic fever at age six was lost for many years when her grandmother's household was broken up. Some years later this much-loved quilt was found and mailed to her by her stepmother as a birthday gift--"It was the best birthday present I could have gotten," she notes.

Who photographed this quilt?

Sharon Risedorph

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Copyright holder:

Assistant Director Winedale