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2000-131, Quilt
Quilt Top, Grandmother's Flower Garden
2000-131, Quilt

Quilt Top, Grandmother's Flower Garden

Date1800-1840
OriginGreat Britain (possibly); used in America, New England
MediumPrinted and plain cottons; paper; basting and piecing threads linen; embroidery in center wool.
Dimensions72 x 83"
Credit LineGift of Tasha Tudor
Object number2000-131
DescriptionPieced quilt top consisting of numerous small hexagons folded around white paper templates and whip-stitched edge-to-edge in a pattern traditionally called "Mosaic" or "Grandmother's Flower Garden." Center section has a printed bird and flowers appliqued with wool embroidery threads. Double border of triangles and daggers. Unquilted and unbacked.
Label TextThe main part of this striking quilt is constructed from thousands of precisely cut hexagons, each measuring one inch across and assembled in a pattern known as Grandmother's Flower Garden today. All of the pieces were backed by plain paper templates, most of which have survived. The bird and flower motis in the center of the cover are appliqued with wool embroidery threads. The donor, famed author and illustrator Tasha Tudor, recalled that the quilt top was made by one of her grandmothers.
ProvenanceFrom the collection of Tasha Tudor (born Starling Burgess in Boston, 1915-2008), who remembered that this was made by one of her grandmothers. Given the early date of the quilt, it must have been an earlier ancestor.