Why Quilts Matter July Blog: Purely American

A quilt I call "Purely American", c. 1860, Kentucky

Hard to believe it's almost August, but please don't miss my July guest blog for "Why Quilts Matter". It's about the "New York Beauty" quilt pattern, which is among the first purely American quilt patterns. Traditions such as quilting three layers, patchwork, and quilts as bedcovers came from the Far East and Western Europe, but Americans infused quiltmaking with creativity and original design. That's how we made quiltmaking our own.

One of the two quilts in the blog is this early Kentucky quilt (pictured), which also appears in one episode of "Why Quilts Matter". This masterful example is expertly made, all pieced and quilted by hand, with wonderful decorative quilting. It has an intriguing path of owners, from Shelly Zegart and America Hurrah to Susie Tompkins of Esprit. I bought it from Julie Silber, and now it is part of my collection. Great quilt!

To check out the July "Why Quilts Matter" guest blog, click here.