Shaker Quilt top finished

That's really striking, John! Just as you say, it would be at home in either a modern or a period home.

On Aug 9, 4:34=A0am, Roberta wrote:

I saw the original in one of the Shaker villages in the Northeast on a tour I took a number of years ago, when I was heavily involved in Shaker furniture reproduction. The binding was the same Umber color as the dark patches and the stitching was hand done in-the -ditch. The palest color of yellow was probably much faded to an almost creamy white. My cheap Digital camera, which is 2 megapixels doesn't reproduce colors too well, so I am somewhat handicapped, in that regard. In an interesting side note on Shaker quilting. Aside from Child's crib quilts,(The Shakers were one of the largest Orphanage operations in pre welfare state American society, the foundlings were a source for new converts to the faith), the two most common quilts they made, were the lap quilt and the single bed quilt. Being a Celibate Society as part of their dogma, they had no need for double beds. Even whole families that converted were separated as to sexes, and the men slept apart from the women. The Religion relied on conversion for new members. With no new children resulting from existing members unions, that is why you never see a double bed sized quilt of Shaker provenance, unless it was done for outside the Society usage or a gift. Even though they originated in England, they were a totally American group and never established any parts of the organization outside of the US. They were a fascinating group of folks with a dedication to excellence in everything they did. The nature of their faith, made it virtually impossible for them to continue in the larger society, in any great numbers, because of their insistence on sexual abstinence as part of their faith. They faded from the scene, but the objects they produced live on long after them, as a tribute to the excellence of their design style. There are still a few old women of the faith living in the last settlement at Sabathday Lake Maine, but that is all of the original membership left. Even that is not long for this world, due to their advanced age and lack of enough converts to sustain there organaization.

John