Thursday, October 18, 2018

channeling dora

some years ago, i saw a photo in an issue of "quilt life," the now-defunct magazine of alex anderson/ricky tims that came from this book by janet finley...

chock full of wonderful examples of quilters and their quilts. one caveat: there are many post-mortem photos, mostly babies and children, also included.  one of the photos in the magazine was this...

most likely a wedding photo of dora petty-wood, age 23 in 1904, displaying her wedding gifts.  it is not known if the quilt was one she received or one she herself made.  the last line of the article in the book was "i wonder what this quilt would look like in color."  well, wonder no more, ms. finley....

this is my interpretation of dora's quilt.  the pattern in the quilt intrigued me and got filed away as a possible reproduction project.  fast forward more than 100 years and it is now nearly done.  densely hand quilted and destined as a donation, it has been a nearly year's project.  for some time i had tried to find the magazine article so i could use the original picture and put it on my label.  thanks to my local library, it has been found.   you can read more about dora on find-a-grave.com....she lived to her 90s, had six children married to a man 29 years her senior.  the whereabouts of the quilt at the book's writing (2012) was unknown.  i hope dora would be flattered...



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6 comments:

  1. Janet O.October 18, 2018 at 12:03 PM

    This is so cool, Grace! Before I got to the last photo I was studying the second one and wondering how to try and recreate that quilt. You did an incredible job! Kudos!!

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    1. cityquilter graceOctober 18, 2018 at 4:27 PM

      thanks janet..i think the blocks are smaller in dora's than mine...

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  2. Janet O.October 19, 2018 at 12:47 AM

    So how large did your quilt end up?

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  3. Danice GOctober 19, 2018 at 2:36 AM

    So beautiful Grace. I am sure Dora would be proud to see it if she were still alive. 'Love the colors you used.

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  4. UnknownOctober 31, 2018 at 12:58 AM

    My great grandmother Dora would surely have loved it & I so wish our family had it, since we still have no idea where the original is, or the Beautiful Story Bible book, or the glass chicken, or anything else from the photo. I should post the story of how I got this photo back from Janet or you should. They printed it in our local paper with this photo. It was really neat. I wish I could've met her. Thanks for making it & publishing it here. I will write you directly soon, leaving for a miniature show in Philadelphia in the morning for a week. Blessings, Chris

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