Skip to main content
Advanced Search
2020.609.5, Quilt
Quilt, Log Cabin Show
2020.609.5, Quilt

Quilt, Log Cabin Show

Dateca. 1890
Maker Geneva Luela Richards Graves (1862-1915) (1862 - 1915)
OriginAmerica, Massachusetts, Hampshire County
MediumPlain, brocaded, striped, plaid, check, ombre, ribbed, and velvet silks with metal bangles; wool, silk, and metallic fringe; cotton twill tape; and plain-weave cotton foundation (fiber identification by eye)
DimensionsOH w/ fringe: 71 1/2' X OW w/ fringe: 66 1/4"
Credit LineGift of Karen W. Cox
Object number2020.609.5
DescriptionThis is a rectangular silk show quilt created in a Log Cabin pattern on a cotton foundation. The various silk fabrics are plain, brocaded, striped, plaid, check, ombre, ribbed, and velvet. The quilt is ten blocks wide by eleven blocks high, each with a crimson center except for one that is purple. Each block is on point and made up of half black logs and half a color family such as blue, on the diagonal. The blocks are arranged in such a manner as to create diamond-shaped alternate bands of black and color: black/reds; black/reds; black/pale yellows; black/blues; black/pinks; black//black. The border is made up of half blocks on point arranged to create blocks of color. The quilt is not lined or quilted. It is stitched with black cotton thread. Five remnants of cotton twill tape at spaced intervals are at top of quilt, probably from a previous hanging campaign. The quilt is edged in a four-inch fringe of wool, silk, metallic threads and metal bangles.
Label TextGeneva Luela Richards Graves of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, created this silk Log Cabin show quilt around the time of her marriage to Frederick Graves in 1885. The family owned and operated a carriage shop in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. The individual pieces or "logs" making up the top of the quilt are stitched to a foundation textile that forms a base and is eventually covered by the pieces. Geneva worked from the center out to the edges of each smaller unit, building up the design with carefully chosen rectangles of fabric that represent logs of the cabin. She carefully selected and assembled her fabrics to create bands of color in a diamond shape. The Log Cabin along with a crazy quilt descended through the family until they were donated to the museum.
ProvenanceThe quilt passed from Geneva Luela Richards Graves (1862-1915) to her son, Ralph N. Graves (1895-1959). It then passed to Ralph’s wife, Isabel McFarland Graves (1891-1980) who later gave it to their daughter, Geneva Graves Warner (b. 1925). In 2010, Geneva gave the quilt to her daughter, Karen Cox. In 2020, Karen Cox gifted the quilt to CWF.

History of quilt maker:
Geneva Luela Richards (1862-1915), was born to Francis Orestes Richards (1827-1895) and Merriam A. Terrill (1831-1915) in Cummington, Hampshire County, Massachusetts on May 23, 1862. Geneva married Fred N. Graves (1860-1936) on September 30, 1885 in Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts. The Graves family operated a carriage shop in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. Together they had three children: Arthur F. (1886-1978), Philip R. (1887-1969), and Ralph N. (1895-1959). Geneva died on July 3, 1915 in Williamsburg, Hampshire County, Massachusetts.