Cathedral Windows Quilt
Made in Cherokee County, Oklahoma
A closeup inspection of this colorful quilt makes it worthy of a lifetime achievement award. Oh, it is ragged in spots and torn in places. It is machine-mended but mostly hand-made. Each color spot that you see is about 3 layers thick and has a great deal of time applied. For Cathedral Windows, you start with a large square and then tack it back on four sides. This one was done with the centerpiece of each square added last and sort of nudged into place with greater or less skill. We can make some assumptions about when it was constructed by looking at all of those centerpieces. Some are double-knit polyester of the kind popular in the early 1970s, and that seems to be the most recent distinctive clue--- I would say it was made from 1970s fabric... but it may have been put together more recently than that.
When I bought it, it was at a flea market or yard sale, and the seller told me it was made by a family member or friend--- a woman who lived at Woodall all her life and passed away at age 90 in a house fire. Woodall is a community Southwest of Tahlequah in Cherokee County, Oklahoma.
How much time and patience, tenacity and artistry and skill such a quilt takes! When I see a quilt like this at a sale, sometimes I can't resist to add it to my own little tacky quilt museum in the hall closet, as a tribute to the labor of women in a simpler time.
No comments:
Post a Comment