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217 different feed sack patterns were used in this quilt
Images (click to enlarge)
  • Rose pattern feed sack print
    Thousands of unique feed sack patterns have been printed from the dainty (above) to the whimsical (below). Other prints reflect American history with patriotic war time prints and tropicals for new territories.
  • Jane Shank with her brother Robert Blackwell.
    Robert Blackwell stops by his sister Jane's table when she was the Featured Quilter at the annual Old Church Gallery Quilter's Guild show. The quilt behind them is a "Round the World" pattern.
  • See-sawing birds are one of the whimsical feed sack prints.
Cultural Objects, Quilts

Aunt Etta’s Diamond Quilt

People
Maker/Creator: Nancy Jane Blackwell Shank
Date
1950
Places
Stonewall (Locust Grove District)
Material/Medium

Cotton

Specifications
  • Length: 94 inches
  • Width: 77 inches
Description

The 201 blocks that compose this quilt are sewn from printed feed sack cotton and assembled with machine-stitching. Each hexagon in the quilt is a unique pattern with no repeats. Adding the half-hexagons along the edge, 217 different fabrics are incorporated altogether, in what is sometimes referred to as a “charm” quilt. The quilting is all done by hand in a fan pattern.

Keywords
pieced quilt, charm quilt, feed sack material
Bio Sketch

Nancy Jane Blackwell Shank is the daughter of Robert Sherman Blackwell and Eula Belle Williams Blackwell Martin. She and Richard Miles Shank, Jr., were married 52 years until his death in 2007.