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Object Description
| Brief description | Crazy quilt, Alice Maude Yule, Town of Otter Creek, Eau Claire County, 1890-1900. |
| Object name | Quilt |
| Alternate object name | Crazy quilt |
| Maker | Yule, Alice Maude, 1873-1950 |
| Date | 1890-1900 |
| Dimensions | 81 1/2"L x 72"W |
| Materials and techniques | Pieced and embroidered cotton, wool and other fabrics |
| Original location | Otter Creek, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin |
| Current location | Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin |
| Description | This crazy quilt is made up of assorted multicolored fabric scraps and embroidered with birds, butterflies, flowers, and several faces. The binding and backing are a burgundy windowpane-check flannel. The quilt is tied with green wool yarn at five-inch intervals. |
| History | When Alice Maude Yule of the Town of Otter Creek, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin created this quilt in her late teens or early twenties, she was taking part in a wildly popular nationwide trend. In the 1880s and 1890s, women all over America were crafting "crazy quilts" that featured busy arrangements of boldly colored bits of fabric. The designs were inspired by a variety of sources including the Aesthetic Movement, Japanese design, and the Victorian interest in fantasy and enchantment. Widely available women's magazines like the Ladies' Home Journal and Godey's Ladies' Book advocated the new style as a fashionable, modern alternative to cotton patchwork quilts. Like many crazy quilt makers, Yule embroidered her quilt with images from the popular culture of her time. Portraits of George and Martha Washington appear in the third block of the fourth row. The blue-eyed young woman in the bottom right corner block resembles the popular singer and entertainer Lillian Russell. The middle-aged woman depicted in profile near the lower left may be First Lady Caroline Harrison, wife of President Benjamin Harrison, who held office from 1889-1893. Born in 1873, Alice Maude Yule was the second daughter of William H. Yule (1845-1932) and Margaret Bennett Yule. William Yule was born in New York in 1845 and came to Wisconsin with his family in 1856. His diaries are among the collections of the Chippewa Valley Museum. |
| Sources | A brief biography of Yule's father is found in William F. Bailey, History of Eau Claire County, Wisconsin (Chicago: C. F. Cooper and Co., 1914), p. 909. An image of Caroline Harrison is available from the President Benjamin Harrison Foundation (accessed November 23, 2010): http://www.presidentbenjaminharrison.org/Collections/Photographs.php For more on crazy quilts, see Penny McMorris, Crazy Quilts (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1984); Elizabeth V. Warren, "Show Quilts: The Collection of the Museum of American Folk Art" Folk Art 20, no. 1 (1995); Beverly Gordon, "Crazy Quilts as an Expression of 'Fairyland,'" Uncoverings 27 (2006), ed. Joanna E. Evans. This quilt was included in the exhibition "Handmade Meaning: The Value of Craft in Victorian and Contemporary Culture" James Watrous Gallery, Madison, 2011. |
| Related objects | Additional crazy quilts documented in the Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database include examples from the Milwaukee Art Museum (object # M1997.58) and the History Museum at the Castle, Appleton (object # 81.0918): http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wda,1799 and http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wda,827 |
| Owner | Chippewa Valley Museum |
| Object # | 1514-0003-1997 |
| Rights | (c) 2007 by the Chippewa Valley Museum. Contact the owner for more information. http://www.cvmuseum.com/ |
| Digital collection | Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database |
| Digital identifier | CVM016 |
| Digital format | XML |
| Type | Physical object |
| Keywords | Textiles; Crazy quilt; Quilt; Bedcovers; Bed coverings; Furnishings (artifacts); Furnishings and equipment; Bedding |
| Date digitized | 2011-07-04 |
| Date modified | 2011-07-04 |
Description
| Object name | Quilt: full view |
| Object # | 1514-0003-1997 |
| Rights | (c) 2007 by the Chippewa Valley Museum. Contact the owner for more information. http://www.cvmuseum.com/ |
| Digital collection | Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database |
| Digital identifier | CVM016a |
| Digital format | image/jpeg |
| Type | Physical object |
| Date digitized | 2007-03-23 |
| Date modified | 2008-01-15 |
