19th Century Star Quilts

 Today I'm featuring some of the 19th century quilts from my collection! 

Star quilts have always been popular with quiltmakers and require some skills in geometry.  Anyone who ever suggested that women didn't have math skills had never made a quilt like these!

Here's my oldest one.  Circa 1840 with heavy quilting (the quilt weighs a ton).

Another one from the collection and a similar time period is this Lemoyne Star.  Although the top has a nice sampling of fabrics circa 1840, my appraiser suggested the quilt might have been made later.  The plain muslin backing of the quilt is machine pieced. She speculated that the top may have been made circa 1840 but the top was quilted later when machines were more common.

This is a local quilt with also the Lemoyne Star.  It's circa 1870 and I love the green background:

Another local quilt is this circa 1870 quilt.  It is what we call around here "very Dutchy" because it reflects the love of bright colors by the Pennsylvania Germans (Dutch):

Another last quarter star quilt:

I know this quilt looks like a propeller but actually it too is a Lemoyne Star!  It was made at the turn of the century but the yellow is so transparent that it doesn't show up at all until you look at it closely.  It was truly a great example of the cheap fabric available during that time.

 We tend to spend more time outside in the early morning and evening when it is cooler outside.  I love going out my front door in the evening and looking up at the night sky at the Big Dipper.  

We don't get much gardening in during these times but at least we can get some fresh (humid) air!

Speaking of gardening...what's happening in your gardens?  Email me photos to allentownquilter@gmail.com to be included in tomorrow's Flower Friday!

Have a safe and happy day!