QUILT INDEX RECORD

33-29-68

Description of quilt:

This quilt made by Lois Hobgood Crowell won third prize at the Dallas regional round and was shown at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. The quiltmaker told us, "I was teaching school in Paluxy, a little village in Texas. There wasn't much to do for entertainment. When the Sears catalog came with the contest announcement, although I'd never made a quilt, I said to myself, 'Well I can do anything anybody else can' and I told my friend 'I'm gong to enter that contest.' She said, 'You can't do that' but I said 'had two hands, don't I?' My girlfriend Florence Underwood helped me stitch on it and we sent it to the mail order house in Dallas. In the summer they sent me a letter and said I'd won and there were two checks inside so I gave the smaller check to my girl friend and with the bigger one I bought a cedar chest to keep the quilt in. That was a lot of money at that time."

Essay:

The 1933 Sears National Quilt Contest was announced in January 1933 with a deadline of May 15, 1933. Over 24,000 quilts were entered at local Sears stores or sent to one of 10 regional mail order houses. Quilts were judged at each site with the top three winners moving onto the next round. Finally just 30 quilts reached the final judging held at the Sears Pavilion on the 1933 Chicago World's Fair site.

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Merikay Waldvogel Legacy Project

Who documented this quilt?

Merikay Waldvogel Legacy Project; Sears Quilt Contest 1933 Chicago World's Fair

Merikay Waldvogel Legacy Project Number:

013

Person filling out this form is:

Quiltmaker

When was the form filled out?

May 1983 - Letter to Brackman

Choose the best description of the source to the quilt:

Quiltmaker

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; Designed the pattern

Who helped you fill out the form?

Barbara Brackman

Location of data collection:

Interview notes and letters photocopied. Waldvogel Collection,

This is a:

Finished quilt

Quilt's title:

Bowl of Flowers

How wide is the quilt?

65 inches

How long is the quilt?

85 inches

What color is the quilt?

Blue or Navy; Coral; Green; Lavender

Overall color scheme:

Light or pastel colors

Time period:

1930-1949

When was the quilt started?

1933

When was the quilt finished?

1933

Family/owner's date for quilt:

1933

Describe the quilt's layout:

Block pattern

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Piecing techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Piecing

Applique techniques used to make the quilt top:

Blanket, buttonhole, or other decorative applique stitch; Machine Applique

Novelty techniques used to make the quilt top:

Dimensional applique

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

Patches outlined/in the ditch

Quilting designs used, decorative motifs:

Floral

Quilting designs used, background fills:

Other

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

The stuffed applique flowers are a distinctive feature.

Quilt top made by:

Crowell, Lois Hobgood; Underwood, Fay

Other people who worked on this quilt:

Crowell, boyfriend

Where the quilt was made, city:

Paluxy

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:

As of 1995, quiltmaker was the owner.

Why was the quilt made?

Challenge or Contest entry

The quilt was made to be used for:

Bedding, special occasion

Quilt is presently used as:

Unknown

Where did the maker get their materials?

Purchased new

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Original to maker

Where did the quiltmaker find the pattern for the quilting design on the quilt?

Unknown

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

Lois reported that she purchased Pastoral Cloth 100 per cent cotton (wash fast and boil fast)for her quilt entry. [Reported to Brackman in 1983.] "Contest was advertised in Sears Spring Catalog 1933 promoting the use of a new line of cotton fabric called "pastoral cloth" a high quality silky textured cloth at 25 cents per yard. I quilted it along with the help of a 20 year old girl friend who had never quilted either. I had watched a professional quilter at work, and she had shown me some of the techniques of quilting." We worked for the pleasure of it. Even the young man I later married sometimes padded the flowers just to have something to do when he was visiting. Making it was more of a social event than it was a job. We just worked on it when we had nothing else that we had rather do." Asked where she got the pattern for the Bowl of Flowers design, by Brackman in April 1983, she replied: I knew that the pattern would really have to be outstandng so I saearched for patterns. I looked and looked. I saw patterns of flowers and I thought that it would be a good idea but I made my own; it's stirctly my own. I submitted my idea to Sears home decorator for advice. She gave me suggestions and it's a good thing she did. My original design had colors that had extreme contrasts. She showed me how to tone it down, blend the colors together. You know when I got my rating on that quilt I lost everything on quilting, it being my first quilt. But I got 100% on design and color and that's what won it for me."

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

The exhibition of 30 quilts entitled “Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 World’s Fair” was curated by Merikay Waldvogel and Barbara Brackman. The Knoxville Museum of Art and Smith-Kramer, Inc. coordinated the travelling exhibition to the following sites: Jan 7-Feb 7, 1994 Palm Beach, FL (The Society of the Four Arts); Mar 20-July 17, 1994 Lexington, MA (Museum of Our National Heritage); Aug 7–Sep 25, 1994 Midland, MI (Midland Center for the Arts); Oct 16–Dec 4, 1994 Logan, KS (Dane G. Hansen Memorial Museum; Dec 18, 1994–Apr 23, 1995 Chicago, IL (Chicago Cultural Center); May 10-Jul 2, 1995 Grosse Pointe Shores, MI (Edsel and Eleanor Ford House); Jul 23-Sep 10, 1995 Los Angeles, CA (Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum); Oct 1-Nov 19, 1995 Janesville, WI (Rock County Historical Society); Dec 10, 1995-Jan 28, 1996 Neenah, WI (Bergstrom-Mahler Museum); Feb 18-Apr 8, 1996 Lexington, KY (University of Kentucky Art Museum); May 3-July 24, 1996 Knoxville, TN (Knoxville Museum of Art).

Contests entered:

The Sears National Quilt Contest, 1933 Chicago World's Fair

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

Merikay Waldvogel and Barbara Brackman. Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 World's Fair (Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1993), pp. 36-39.

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

Lois saved the three ribbons she won along with the description card that hung on her quilt while in Chicago. It read: "Third Prize Dallas Region." See photo of ribbons on pg 38 in Patchwork Souvenirs.

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's country:

United States

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Hobgood

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's birth date:

04/29/1909

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Rural

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

Crowell, Mr.

Quiltmaker's city:

Paluxy

Quiltmaker's state:

Texas (TX)

Quiltmaker's country:

United States

Why does the quiltmaker quilt?

Pleasure

Does/did the quiltmaker sell quilts?

no

Does/did the quiltmaker teach quilting?

no

Who photographed this quilt?

Gary Heatherly

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Copyright holder:

Merikay Waldvogel