Lake County Museum Quilts

If you like historic quilts, get yourself over to the Lake County Historical Society in Baldwin tomorrow before 4 pm when they close. There is only one more day of the quilt display. Sorry to not post about it sooner, but I was gone most of the time it has been open.

(I also totally missed the Mason County Garden Club Flower Show.)

There are quilts dating from the 1870s to the 1970s. This is one of the oldest ones, 'Flying Geese,' a classic pattern. It's done in fabrics dyed with Turkey Red and a background of off white prints. I like that there are several patterns in each of the colors, but the contrast overcomes that to bring out the design. Turkey Red is a dye made from the roots of several madder (Rubia) plants. It was discovered in China, but was largely exported from Turkey. It was highly popular because it was colorfast and bright.

This is another classic- the crazy quilt made around 1900 with various samples of velvet and lots of embroidery.

Quilts that have names of people embroidered on them are quite valuable to local historians because they can be used as sort of a census verification. This one was made in 1963 as a fundraiser for the AME Tabernacle in Idlewild. It says they raised $660.

The quilt made by the youngest person is this 'Nine Patch' doll quilt, made by Leona Engleman when she was 5 years old in 1910. She went on to make over 300 quilts in her lifetime. She is related to Jill, who is the museum curator, and who looked at my Grandma Leary's quilt today (more on that another time).

I want to show you all the quilts, because of the variety, but you'll just have to get over there! Maybe they'll display them again some time in the future.

Here are two with military themes. This is another classic, called 'Burgoyne Surrounded,' a reference to the Revolutionary War victory. This design was often woven into coverlets as well. My family had a couple (in blue and white), and I'm pretty sure one of them was this pattern.

This is another made by the adult Leona. It is the 'Baby Blocks' design turned upside down so the colored blocks look like Chevrons. She called it 'General Eisenhower.' It was made in 1955.

There are other classics in the display: 'Grandmother's Flower Garden,' 'Drunkard's Path,' a variant of 'White House Steps,' more 'Nine Patch,' 'Fans,' appliquied and embroidered quilts for children, 'Wild Goose Chase,' 'Windmill,' and more.

I'll end this post with a rather modern design. This was made from a kit in the 1970s, and you can begin to see how quilting was changing from utilitarian purposes to an art form. This is one of the many variations on 'Tree of Life.'

There are also displays about how women got patterns and fabric to make their quilts.

It's an excellent show- all with local ties.

In other news: I took a 4 mile hike on the NCT since I had to go past, did errands, worked on some writing and weeded a little bit. I managed to fill the day. No problem there!

Miles hiked in 2025: 354.3
Miles hiked on NCT in 2025: 224.6

See Granny's Favorite Quilt?