Appliqué Floral Block
Mrs. Henry Harris
Saranac, Ionia County, Michigan
c1910
Wool, velvet
78” x 87”
MSUM 4853.2.2, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Armstrong
Photo by Fumio Ichikawa, all rights reserved Michigan State University Museum

Scraps of velvet fabrics are appliquéd with blanket stitches in contrasting colors onto the black wool squares of this quilt. Alternate quilt blocks are plain wool. The quilt has no filling and the blue wool back is attached to the top with pink and purple wool yarn in "lazy daisy" stitches that create a flower design. The quiltmaker skillfully attached the layers to only the seam allowances. The embroidery stitches keep the layers together but do not show through the quilt's top. A manual pinking iron was used to create the black wool scalloped edging. This quilt is an interesting combination of the "Crazy" and block quilt styles; materials are used in the "Crazy" quilt style, while the appliqué method and block settings are of a standard block style.

From American Quilts from Michigan State University Museum