Title: Pineapples
Artist(s): Mary Vida Schafer
Material(s): Cotton, Polyester filling
Technique(s): Hand pieced, hand appliquéd and hand quilted
Dimensions: 98" x 80 1/2"
Date made: 1973
Place Created: Flushing, Genesee County, Michigan
Collection: Great Lakes Quilt Center/Michigan State University Museum
Photo Credit: Fumio Ichikawa

Interpretative Commentary:

Mary Schafer adapted her "Pineapples" quilt from one in the collection of the Shelburne Museum (Shelburne, Vermont). The quilt is a block-style pattern of appliquéd pineapples, a motif that was often used in American decorative art as a symbol of hospitality. There are eighteen 11 1/2" appliquéd blocks placed on point in alternate blocks. The border is a flowering vine of Mary's design. The quilt is signed "Mary Schafer" and dated "1973" in embroidery. Mary always made a point of signing her work. She felt that including a signature was an important part of the quiltmaking process that recognized the talent and hard work of the maker. Mary's original quilting designs are done in one-inch parallel diagonals, small scallops, and outline quilting. The areas between the appliqués include quilting motifs of three parallel squares in squares and four-leaf clovers, with feathered shells in half-squares in the border. -- Mary Worrall

Additional Commentary:

This quilt won a First Award at the Saginaw County Fair in 1974. The quilt was included in the exhibit American Quilts from Michigan State University Museum, which toured in Japan from January-December 2003 and is illustrated on pg. 114 in the exhibit’s catalogue, American Quilts from Michigan State University Museum. -– Beth Donaldson