I found myself, first, drawn to the vibrant colors of this circa 1880s basket quilt. The placement of the baskets makes this quilt easy on the eye regardless of which side of the bed one is standing. The maker’s addition, after the top was completed, of the double handles, making no attempt to tuck the ends inside the basket with machine stitching clearly visible, made me smile. I had little knowledge of Pennsylvania German-style quilts past seeing vibrant doubles in a quilt and deciding it must be Pennsylvania German.

I paper pieced, by machine, my miniature trying to follow the exact color combinations used by the original maker. I hand quilted the mini, using brown thread, as is so common in Pennsylvania German-style quilts. The five vibrant colors are the focus of this quilt, not the quilting. As is often seen in this style of quilt, the maker simply did a double outline around the basket parts and a one inch cross-hatch across the rest. I copied that, but did the cross hatch in a one-half inch grid to complete the look of it being a miniature of the original.

This Quilt Study motivated me to purchase and study a number of books on the quilts of the Pennsylvania German people. Once again, an AQSG Quilt Study Project has moved me into new and different directions.