Circus Quilt

It's always such a privilege to rub shoulders with outstanding quilters.
Darlene Reid is the 2010 recipient of Arizona's Quilters Hall of Fame award, recognized for her vast contribution to the world of quilting.
She is also one of the founding members of the Nimble Thimbles quilt guild.

During Show and Tell, Darlene brought her latest finish.
Circus Quit is taken from a vintage pattern, and I knew the minute I saw I had to make it too!
I have been researching as much of the history as I can find on this wonderful crib quilt, and will be sharing with you my discoveries in future posts.

Darlene saw the pattern 20 years ago in the book Crib Quilts and Other Small Wonders, and kept it in a special place on her to-do list.
She recently had the opportunity to spend 6 weeks at her daughter's house in Ohio, and brought along Circus Quilt as her project.
Each block has 64 one-inch squares.
Darlene said it took most of one day to make an individual block.

Darlene shared "I try to leave my own particular mark on each of my quilts."
In Circus Quilt she added embroidery, which was not part of the original pattern.
Mahout is the Indian word for Elephant Rider

At our next meeting, I was especially happy to see Lynn's vintage quilt made from the same pattern.
Lynn has a large collection of antique quilts, and said the only information she has on this one is that it came from Pennsylvania.

The two Circus Quits are varied in size and construction, but draw from the same pattern.

Where Darlene's pattern is constructed from 1-inch blocks, this quilter used larger templates.

The Twins

Darlene's Twin block

Isn't it interesting to see that quilts made in the 1920's- 1930's used many of the solid fabrics that have seen a resurgence of popularity today, especially in our Modern design quilts?
More about Circus Quilt tomorrow.
*From Quilt Appraiser Sandra/ Textile Time Travels:
Karey's quilt and Lynn's quilt are the cover of the Spring 1928 McCall Needlework & Decorative Arts Magazine and also a transfer pattern from their company Patchcraft Corp. Pattern #1633 a "Picture Patch Quilt". It is shown in Dr. Virginia Gunn's 2010 Uncoverings Article on McCall's Role in the 20th Century Quilt Revival and on the cover. *Lynn's is the 6 block original version.