Quilt of the Month for August

Grandmother’s Flower Garden

Made by Mrs. J. P. Forbes in 1935.  Donated by Mary Haskell-Hansen in 2003.

This pattern became very popular during the 1920s and continued to be a favorite for many years bringing to mind the Great Depression of the 1930s.

This pieced hexagon quilt had roots in England as far back as the 18th century.  Immigrants soon brought this pattern to America.  Hexagon templates for these quilts have been found that were made around 1770. The earliest known American made hexagon quilt is dated 1807 while an English hexagon quilt is dated even earlier.

In the 19th century hexagon quilts were known as Mosaic quilts, Honeycomb quilts or Six-sided Patchwork. Godey’s Ladies Book, founded in 1830, published the hexagon pattern in 1835.  It is thought to be the first pieced quilt pattern published in America.

By the 20th century hexagon quilts were usually made in the Grandmother’s Flower Garden pattern. These contained a center hexagon circled by six colorful printed or solid hexagons with another row of 12 hexagons around that. The centers were sometimes yellow to represent the flower’s center. Between each flower was a row of colored solid hexagons to represent the background.  A green background might have been the garden while white could have been a white picket fence.

Following the style of the time, the quilt patches in this quilt are made with yellow centers surrounded by solid colors.  The next row is matching prints with a border row of white then green pieces.  The quilt is bound in green and backed in white and is finished with hand-quilting.

The coat displayed next to the quilt of the month belonged to Arthur Weldon Parks who came to Greenwood County in 1885 after traveling to Kansas by boat on the Missouri River and first settled in Burlington, Kansas. 

No record has been found as to when the jacket was donated to the museum.  Mr. Parks was a Knight Templar in the Masonic Order.