Alice Blue Wreath
Elizabeth Harned Harriman and Mary Vida Schafer
Illinois and Flushing, Genesee County, Michigan
1966-1972
90” x 93”
Cotton with polyester filling
1998:53.3
Photo by KEVA, all rights reserved Michigan State University Museum

After her friend Betty Harriman's death, Mary received a box of quilt-related materials from Betty's family, including her notes on her quilt projects. Mary tried to complete Betty's work in a manner that Betty herself would have selected. Accompanying this quilt top were leftover fabrics, the top's pattern, and Betty's notes on the story of Alice Tandy, after whom the quilt is named. According to Betty's notes, Alice made a quilt in this pattern when her sweetheart went off to fight for the Union in the Civil War and never returned. Louise Fowler Roote published Alice's story in Kate's Blue Ribbon Quilts.

By Mary Worrall from American Quilts from Michigan State University Museum