Bicentennial Quilt

People

Date

Places

Material/Medium

Cotton, polyester batting

Specifications

• Length: 91 inches
• Width: 89 inches

Description

This quilt is made from thirty-six blocks with appliqued images depicting maps, leaders, flags, buildings, and events key to U.S. history surrounding a 26  1/4  inch central block featuring the Bicentennial logo. The blocks are framed with pieced red and white striped sashing and blue corner squares. The applique was done by hand with some blocks also requiring a variety of embroidery stitches. The outline quilting is done by hand with an average of six stitches per inch.

Keywords

Bio Sketch

Louisa Elzada Williams Boothe (1908-2005) grew up in the Red Oak Grove community with her parents Charles Emmett Williams and Olive Bower Williams. She and John Lane Boothe were married for more than 57 years. Elzada learned to sew and quilt from her mother whose standards she recalled, “We had to do everything just right. If we didn’t, we had to do it over.” In addition to farming and caring for her family, Elzada also worked in a sewing factory for twenty years.  She quilted for others and sold a number of her quilts.

Notes

Other family members were also skilled in sewing.  The “Aunt Etta’s Diamond” quilt in our collection was created by Elzada’s niece Jane Shank