# Can anyone ID this quilt?



## WJMartin (Nov 2, 2011)

I'm helping a friend of mine with an estate sale and came across this lovely quilt. All hand pieced and quilted. Any ideas of date and pattern?


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## Maura (Jun 6, 2004)

It may be a variation of Dresden Plate. It is done like a Fan, thought. With Dresden Plate (early 20th century) the wide ends are curved/rounded, or made with a point. The Fan is earlier, from the 1800&#8217;s, and would be 1/4 of the plate. The added points, or feathers, is possibly an addition that the maker added. If it is machine pieced, you know it won&#8217;t be older than a certain time, say 1880. If it is hand pieced, you don&#8217;t know. To properly date it, you need someone who knows vintage fabric. I find it interesting that the border has two colors. While this may have been an artistic expression, it&#8217;s more likely that the maker ran out of tan fabric. This would suggest depression era.


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## WJMartin (Nov 2, 2011)

Thanks Maura. I'm wondering if it is turkey tracks? Haven't had time to check but I'm thinking of bringing to our local TV Trash or Treasure tomorrow.


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## Terri in WV (May 10, 2002)

It's a wagon wheel pattern, possibly from the 20s to 40s, hard to say from the one pic. It will have more value if it hasn't been washed.

Nice find!


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## my3boys (Jan 18, 2011)

I saw a quilt very, very similar to this in a collection of maritime-themed quilts. The borders were representative of sails and the blue and light brown represented the sea and sand. The "wheels" in the main quilt are very compass-like, if that makes sense. Could also represent a ship's wheel. Women of sea faring husbands would frequently make these quilts while waiting for his ship to return home.

Not sure if that is a possibility with this quilt, but it sure does remind me of some of the ones in the exhibition I saw.


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## CraftyLady (Jul 18, 2014)

I was thinking Wagon Wheel Pattern. It is a variation of the Dresden Plate Design. 

To get a good age find the newest fabric that it's made with. That might be a good determiner of age and/or the batting and the thread type that it's quilted with. 

That's why it's so very important to label each quilt we make. Just don't know which ones will survive.


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## SLFarmMI (Feb 21, 2013)

Definitely not Turkey Tracks. Looks like a variation of a Mariner's Compass to me. I don't have access to my quilt pattern books right now or I'd look it up.


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## Wendy (May 10, 2002)

I love it!!


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## WJMartin (Nov 2, 2011)

Thank you to each of you for your input. 

I think wagon wheel would make sense for Oklahoma but I can see the compass also. 

I love it, it is very well done, who ever the mystery quilter is. 

I also have a drunkerds' path in a dark purple and muslin, so bright and pretty, and a scrappy double wedding ring. Hope these find happy homes, they are in an estate sale I'm helping with.


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## Calico Katie (Sep 12, 2003)

The pattern was originally called Rising Sun and was printed in the Ladies Art Company catalog. It's #177 on the list provided. The smaller the number, the older the pattern. I think LAC started publication in the 1890s.
http://www.earlywomenmasters.net/quilts/LAC/index.html

Ruby McKim also printed it in her book published in 1931.
http://www.101patchworkpatterns.com/03patterns/viewpatterns/risingsun.shtml

It was also called Wagon Wheel but I think that was a later name. A little more googling might bring up more info. I'm familiar with the pattern because I handpieced a Rising Sun a few years ago using the McKim pattern. 

If you look at the picture the OP posted, each spoke ends in one point with two points alternating. That's a variation from the two points on the spokes. Somewhere I've seen one that had only one point on the spoke and one point between the spokes. That's the one I always think of as Wagon Wheel.

Just looking at the picture, my uninformed guess would be that it was made in the 30s from the Ruby McKim pattern. Probably because of how bright that red still is and I don't see any holes anywhere. Somebody who knows about dyes would know more about that.


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## Calico Katie (Sep 12, 2003)

Okay, I'm sorry, I'm just so fascinated with this quilt because it has been one of my favorite patterns for so many years. I keep looking at the picture and I'm intrigued by the difference in the sashing colors. The maker could have run out of the tan fabric and then used the green to finish with because that's all she had in a big enough piece. If this is a really old quilt, though, then it's likely that the tan fabric was home dyed a shade of green that has faded through the decades. The piece of sashing that has kept it's green could have been colored with different dyes or it might have been "store bought" and came in that shade. 

The piecing is also interesting. When I made my Rising Sun, I sewed the two points onto each spoke and alternate piece. That way, when I sewed the spokes to the alternate background pieces, the points came out evenly spaced. Looking at the picture, it looks like the maker made a complete plate of her spokes and background fabric, then pieced her points together into a circle, sewing it on as a completed separate section. That's why the points are irregularly spaced.


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## RedDirt Cowgirl (Sep 21, 2010)

Wagon Wheel or Rising Sun (Fan) with Sawtooth Ring? - how about 42 (circle within circle) and 130 (sawtooth ring) - the colors are classic, the outer ring doesn't line up on each ray of the fan as far as I can see, it's hard to find a quarter piecing. The large size of each square makes me think modern, as does the border.

Dark purple was used a lot in the 1930s, think the Drunkard's Path might date from then? It would be a nice find for an Art Deco collector.


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## Dandish (Feb 8, 2007)

Calico Katie - i thought exactly the same thing at first look at that gorgeous quilt - what appears to be tan was probably once originally green. Great deductions on all clues.


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