QUILT INDEX RECORD

18-14-43

DESCRIPTION:

One of three quilts adapted from quilt kit Homeneedlecraft Creations kit #7182 Decorator's Quilted Spread. The three bluebirds are a Nancy Cabot (Chicago Tribune) pattern; and the elaborate quilted vase of fruit and flowers in the quilt center is from an as-yet-unidentified source. It appears on four other Gasperik quilts.

ESSAY:

The owner of this quilt, grand-daughter Karen Finn, believes that she remembers there was a fourth Gasperik Leaf and Vine quilt in Gasperik's house, now disappeared. Grand-daughter Susan Salser speculates that Gasperik may have intended this blue leaf and vine quilt to be a wedding anniversary quilt for her daughter Elsie, just as she gave the pink version (#013) to her son Elmer as a wedding anniversary gift. Gasperik did give this quilt directly to Elsie, but Elsie herself didn't regard it as a wedding quilt and didn't seem to like it very much. Elsie preferred other, in her view less sentimental, quilt designs.

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Mary Gasperik Legacy Project

Who documented this quilt?

Mary Gasperik Private Collection

CONTRIBUTING INSTITUTIONAL INVENTORY CONTROL NUMBERS: Enter the main control number for this item you are entering.

061

TYPE OF QUILT OBJECT: Choose the best description for the quilt being documented.

Finished quilt

QUILT'S TITLE, IF IT HAS ONE: Many quilts have no title, but contemporary quilters often give a name to their quilts.

Leaf and Vine

OWNER'S NAME FOR QUILT'S PATTERN: Enter the name given to the quilt by the owner. This can be the name the family used to refer to the quilt as it passed through different generations, e.g. "Aunt Susie's quilt" or a pattern name that the owner used.

Leaf and Vine (Blue)

ALTERNATE NAME(S) FOR QUILT'S PATTERN IN COMMON USE: This is the name of the quilt pattern that it is commonly used among quilt makers and historians. It may be different in different regions of the country.

Blue Leaf with Blue Birds, Leaf Quilt

OVERALL WIDTH: Enter how wide the quilt is.

84 inches

OVERALL LENGTH: Enter how long the quilt is.

93 inches

SHAPE OF EDGE: Choose the best description for the edges of the quilt.

Scalloped

OTHER SHAPE OF EDGE: If you chose Other, please describe the edge treatment here.

top and bottom are straight.

SHAPE OF CORNERS: Choose the best description for the corners of the quilt.

Other

OTHER SHAPE OF CORNERS: If you chose Other, please describe the corner treatment.

Scalloped right and left sides; straight edges at top and bottom.

PREDOMINANT COLOR(S): Enter all colors that are found in the quilt.

Blue or Navy; Gray; Pink; White

OVERALL COLOR SCHEME: Choose the best color scheme description for the quilt being documented.

Light or pastel colors

OVERALL CONDITION: Choose the best description for the quilt being documented.

Excellent/like new

TYPE(S) OF INSCRIPTION: Choose all the options that are found on the quilt.

Date

CONTENT OF INSCRIPTION(S): Enter the exact inscription here, including dates in the same form in which they appear on the quilt. Do not correct any spellings. If you are unsure of a letter or name, place a (?) to indicate uncertainty.

1944

METHOD OF INSCRIPTION: Choose the method used to inscribe the quilt.

In the quilting

LOCATION OF INSCRIPTION: Enter where the inscription was found on the quilt.

other

OTHER LOCATION OF INSCRIPTION: If you chose Other, please describe where the inscription was found.

above the pink bow at the top of the quilt

TIME PERIOD: Choose the time frame that best describes when the quilt was made. The date does not have to appear on the quilt to enter it in this field. This can be your best guess based on family stories or your own knowledge of quilts.

1930-1949

DATE FINISHED: Enter the date the quilt was finished.

1944

FAMILY/OWNER'S DATE FOR QUILT: If there are family stories that indicate a date when the quilt was made, enter that date.

1944

OTHER EXTERNAL OR PROFESSIONAL DATE ESTIMATION: If the date was estimated by an antique dealer, quilt historian or appraiser, enter that date.

1944

OTHER DATE ESTIMATION BY WHOM: Enter the name and/or title of the person who estimated the quilt's date for field 23d.

Merikay Waldvogel

FURTHER INFORMATION CONCERNING DATE(S): If you know anything else about the date the quilt was made, please tell the story.

The quilt is based on a 1940s Homeneedlecraft Creations kit #7182.

LAYOUT FORMAT: Choose the best description for the layout (or set) of the quilt.

Vertical bands

SPACING RELATIVE TO OTHER BLOCKS: This field only applies to quilts with a block format. Choose the best description for how the quilt blocks are set together.

Side by side

FABRIC FIBER TYPES USED IN QUILT TOP: Choose all the types of fiber that are used to make the quilt top.

Cotton

FABRIC PATTERNS, STYLES, MOTIFS, OR PRINT CATEGORIES USED IN QUILT TOP: Choose all the types of prints that are used to make the quilt top.

Print; Solid/plain

OTHER FIBER, FABRIC, OR FABRIC PRINT TYPES USED: Describe any fibers used in the quilt top that do not appear in Field 37, including any unique characteristics of fiber, fabric, or fabric prints used. There is a separate Field (38g) for embellishments.

applique pink bow is not cotton

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES USED IN QUILT TOP: APPLIQUE TECHNIQUES: Choose the applique method used to construct the quilt.

Hand Applique

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES USED IN QUILT TOP: EMBELLISHMENT TECHNIQUES: Choose the embellishment technique used to make the quilt.

Embroidery

FABRIC FIBER TYPES USED IN QUILT BACK: Choose the fiber type used to make the quilt back.

Cotton

MATERIALS USED IN QUILT BINDING: Choose the fiber type used to make the quilt binding.

Cotton

WIDTH OF QUILT BINDING: Choose the width (in inches) of the binding of the quilt. Measure from the front side only.

less than a half inch

MATERIAL USED FOR QUILT BATTING OR FILLING: Choose the fiber content that best describes the material used to fill the quilt.

Cotton

QUILTING TECHNIQUES USED: Choose the technique that best describes the way the quilt layers are held together.

Hand quilting

THREAD COLOR: Enter the color(s) of thread used to hold the quilt layers together.

white

QUILTING DESIGNS USED: MOTIFS/OVERALL PATTERNS: Choose the overall quilt design found on the quilt top.

Grid/crosshatch; Grid square; In-the-ditch; Single parallel lines

QUILTING DESIGNS USED: DECORATIVE PATTERNS: Choose the decorative quilt design found on the quilt top.

Feathering; Floral; Other

QUILTING DESIGNS USED: BACKGROUND FILL PATTERNS: Choose the background quilt design found on the quilt top.

Grid/crosshatch; Parallel lines

PLEASE DESCRIBE OTHER QUILTING DESIGNS USED: Describe any other quilting designs that appear on the quilt.

The elaborate basket of fruit and flowers quilted into the very center of this quilt is found on 4 Gasperik quilts: #009, #016, #024 and #061. It is from an unknown source. The scale and elaborateness of this quilted vase is reminiscent of commercial applique flower basket block patterns widely available in the 1930s and 1940s. Doves of Peace, triple-leaf ferns, quintuple-leaf ferns, double-leaf ferns, large arched feathers, a feather crown, and a large v-shaped feather unit are embedded into background quilting which is itself executed in varying scales.

ANY OTHER FEATURES OR NOTES ABOUT THE QUILT'S APPEARANCE, MATERIALS, OR CONSTRUCTION: Describe anything about the physical appearance of the quilt that wasn't already recorded in a previous field.

This quilt sports a pink ribbon at the top of the quilt and three hovering bluebirds with pink flowers in their beaks. Gasperik made 3 quilts based on Homeneedlecraft Creations kit #7182: #013 (which bears the quilted year 1944), #024 (undated) and this quilt, #061 (which also bears the quilted year 1944). Joanne Gasperik speculates that the order in which these were made is: #061 first, then #013 and, finally, #024. Her reasoning is that #061 used at least some kit supplied fabrics (and thus provided patterns for making the subsequent versions). Further, the bottom flower of #061's wreath (like the commercial kit) has only one stem connecting it to its wreath, creating a kind of asymmetrical gap. In the other two versions a second intertwined stem is added to connect the bottom flower to both ends of the wreath, an effort to provide graceful symmetry to the kit. [Note: all 3 Gasperik quilts differ from the kit by connecting the flower at the TOP to both sides of the wreath.] Quilt #013 was given to Elmer Gasperik and his wife Doris as an anniversary present (for a wedding which took place in 1944). Their daughter, Kathy Jacob, believes that the quilt may have been given to them as late as 1946. This makes it likely to have been finished after #061. Quilt #024, the most elaborately quilted of the 3, and the one bearing what appears to be a UN emblem wreath, is probably a post-war quilt, and the culmination of Gasperik's experimental renderings of kit #7182.

QUILT TOP MADE BY: Enter the name of the person(s) who made the quilt top.

Gasperik, Mary

QUILTED BY: Enter the name of the person(s) who quilted the top.

Gasperik, Mary

CITY: Enter the name of the city where the quilt was made.

Chicago

COUNTY: Enter the name of the county where the quilt was made.

Cook County

STATE: Enter the name of the state where the quilt was made.

Illinois (IL)

COUNTRY: Enter the name of the country where the quilt was made.

United States

HOW WAS QUILT ACQUIRED BY OWNER: Choose the best description for how the owner acquired the quilt.

Inheritance

DETAILS ON HOW THE QUILT WAS ACQUIRED:

Selected by Karen when Elsie's three daughters divided their mother's quilts.

QUILTMAKER'S REASONS FOR MAKING THE QUILT: If the quilt was made for a specific purpose, choose the reason from the list.

Art or personal expression

QUILT WAS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED TO BE USED AS: Choose how the quilt was originally used.

Bedding, special occasion

QUILT IS PRESENTLY USED AS: Choose how the quilt is being used by the present owner.

Keepsake/memento

OTHER PRESENT USE(S) OF QUILT: If you chose Other, please explain the quilt's present use.

Mary's grandchildren regard her quilts as a unique collection to be preserved and appreciated.

SOURCE OF QUILT'S MATERIALS: Choose how the quilt maker acquired the fabric for this quilt.

Purchased new

QUILT TOP PATTERN SOURCE: Choose where the quilt maker found the pattern for this quilt.

Commercial/Published source: Kit

OTHER TOP PATTERN SOURCE(S): If you chose Other, please explain where the pattern was found.

Trio of bluebirds is a Nancy Cabot (Chicago Tribune) pattern.

COMMERCIAL SOURCE NAME(S): If you know the commercial name of the pattern used for this quilt, please enter it. This may include books, magazines, newsletters, pattern companies, computer software programs, and kits.

Homeneedlecraft Creations kit #7182 Decorator's Quilted Spread

QUILTING DESIGN PATTERN SOURCE: Choose where the quilt maker found the pattern for the quilting design used in this quilt.

Original to maker

OTHER QUILTING DESIGN PATTERN SOURCE: If you chose Other, please explain the where the quilting design pattern was found.

Dove of Peace copied from Carrie Hall page 74, Plate XII, No. 7, Romance of the Patchwork Quilt.

COMMERCIAL QUILTING DESIGN SOURCE NAME: If you know the commercial name of the quilting design used for this quilt, please enter it. This may include books, magazines, newsletters, pattern companies, etc.

Fern pattern C5573 from Aunt Martha's Answer to 'How Shall I Quilt It?'

ANY ADDITIONAL NOTES OR STORIES ABOUT THE QUILT'S DESIGN OR MATERIALS SOURCE: Describe anything about the design of the quilt that wasn't already recorded in a previous field.

The quilt is personalized, as are its mates - Gasperik quilts #013 and #024. This one has an elaborate pink tafetta bow and 2 extra flowers and leaves appliqued at the top. The three bluebirds bearing pink flowers, appliqued at the bottom, are also a Gasperik addition to the kit.

Gasperik chose here to substitute a shallowly scalloped side border for the straight side border of the kit and two other Gasperik versions of it.

In a graceful improvement to the kit design, Gasperik added a second vining stem connecting the two ends of the wreath, as she did on all her versions of this quilt.

Where the kit orients the four vertical rows of appliqued leaves to point downward, Gasperik points them upward.

Gasperik appears to have altered the Aunt Martha quilted border part of pattern #C5573 to create a chain of triple (rather than double) fern leafs.

It is possible that Gasperik used fabrics provided in blue and grey version of Homeneedlecraft Creations kit #7182 to make this quilt. But it is clear that she both added and substituted some fabrics to increase the number of flowers in the wreath. The kit wreath calls for 11 flowers. All three Gasperik versions have 15 flowers in the wreath, and this one adds two additional flowers at the top. Gasperik substituted print fabric for some of the kit's flower petals. Comparing this Gasperik quilt with an actual Homeneedlecraft Creations kit #7182, Susan Salser and Karen Finn concluded that Gasperik did not use the kit-supplied background material, which is "cream" (rather than white) and intends for two panels with stamped markings for the leaves, to be attached to either side of the center panel which bears the wreath. The Gasperik quilt uses a single width of white, not cream, fabric. In sum, it is difficult to determine, even with a Gasperik quilt which seems to match kit-supplied materials, the exact degree to which Gasperik in fact used the kit materials and the degree to which she substituted her own. What is clear is that the quilt is a mixture of both.

EXHIBITIONS: List all known exhibits where this quilt has been displayed.

The Quilts of Mary Gasperik, Ravenswood Historic Site, Livermore, CA, March 14-15, 1992.

CONTESTS ENTERED: List contest(s) entered.

Probable entry in Illinos State Fair

OTHER RELATED ITEMS: List other materials that exist about this quilt like oral histories, wills, diaries, or patterns.

Kit envelope - Homeneedlecraft Creations kit #7182 Decorator's Quilted Spread. Includes blue, white and grey stamped fabrics. Susan Salser - private collection.

Nancy Cabot Bluebird pattern. See Brackman Applique #52.15.

Newspaper clipping (unidentified source and date) from collection of Merikay Waldvogel showing a block quilt called Bluebird and a single block applique #494, the pattern for a single flying bird bearing the flower in its beak. The byline is Nancy Cabot.

Three separate yellow paper exhibit tags reading:
1) "Leaf Quilt First Prize at Springfield, Mrs. Mary Gasperik"
2) "Leaf Quilt First Prize in Springfield given to Doris Gasperik as a first anniversary gift, by Mrs. Mary Gasperik" - this tag would have been attached to quilt #013)
3) Leaf Quilt First Prize at Springfield. Given to Daughter Elsie Krueger. by Mrs. Mary Gasperik" - this tag would have been attached to quilt #061.

AVAILABLE SOURCES FOR QUILTMAKER: List other source materials about this quiltmaker such as photos, oral histories, book or newspaper publications, fame for some other reason or event.

Merikay Waldvogel and Barbara Brackman. Patchwork Souvenirs of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, (Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press, 1993)102-103.

Merikay Waldvogel "One American Dream Comes True", Quilters Newsletter Magazine, March 2008, 46-49.

OWNERSHIP OF THIS QUILT IS:

Private

NAME OF QUILT OWNER:

Karen Krueger Finn

QUILT OWNER'S COUNTRY:

United States

AUTHOR/INTERVIEWEE'S RELATION TO THE QUILT:

Author/researcher; Blood relative of quiltmaker

OTHER RELATIONSHIP TO SOURCE: If you chose Other, for the relationship to the source, describe the relationship here.

Grand-daughter

OTHER INFORMATION ON SOURCE PERSON TO QUILT:

Grand-daughter Susan Salser began this research effort in 1991, after she and her two sisters divided up the quilts which belonged to their mother (Elsie Gasperik Krueger) who died in 1988. Her ongoing research has been fruitful and interesting.

QUILTMAKER'S MAIDEN NAME:

Mihalovits, Maria

QUILTMAKER'S GENDER:

Female

QUILTMAKER'S BIRTH DATE:

01/25/1888

DEATH DATE OF THE QUILTMAKER, IF APPLICABLE:

05/25/1969

QUILTMAKER'S ETHNIC BACKGROUND:

Hungarian

QUILTMAKER'S EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND:

Elementary School

QUILTMAKER'S COUNTRY OF BIRTH:

Hungary

IN WHICH KIND OF ENVIRONMENT DID THE QUILTMAKER GROW UP?

Rural

CITY WHERE THE QUILTMAKER LIVES/LIVED:

Chicago

COUNTY WHERE THE QUILTMAKER LIVES/LIVED:

Cook

STATE WHERE THE QUILTMAKER LIVES/LIVED:

Illinois (IL)

COUNTRY WHERE THE QUILTMAKER LIVES/LIVED:

United States

QUILTMAKER'S FATHER'S NAME:

Mihalovits, Istvan

FATHER'S BIRTHPLACE:

Hungary

FATHER'S ETHNIC BACKGROUND:

Hungarian

QUILTMAKER'S MOTHER'S NAME:

Mihalovits, Vidoszava

MOTHER'S BIRTHPLACE:

Hungary

MOTHER'S ETHNIC BACKGROUND:

Hungarian

SPOUSE'S ETHNIC BACKGROUND:

Hungarian

SPOUSE'S OCCUPATION:

Milk Dealer/Grocery Store Owner/Butcher

NUMBER OF CHILDREN:

3

NUMBER OF FEMALE CHILDREN:

1 (Elsie 1909-1988)

NUMBER OF MALE CHILDREN:

2 (Elmer and Stephen)

HOW DID THE QUILTMAKER LEARN TO QUILT?

From guild or club member; Self-Taught

WHEN DID THE QUILTMAKER LEARN TO QUILT?

Age 40-49

WHY DOES/DID THE QUILTMAKER QUILT:

Pleasure; Other

OTHER, WHY THE QUILTMAKER QUILTS:

This quilt (like its sister quilts: #013 and #024) is an experiment in transforming commercial Homeneedlecraft kit #7182. Mary Gasperik made quilts because it was her life passion and greatest talent. As opportunities arose, she entered contests and exhibited them publicly. She also made special quilts for her family.

NAME OF QUILTING GROUP: If the quilt maker belonged to a group, enter the name of the group.

Tuley Park Quilt Club and Detroit News Quilt Club

LOCATION OF GROUP:

Southside Chicago and Detroit MI

SPECIALIZED ACTIVITIES/EVENTS OF QUILTING GROUP: Enter activities the group participated in.

Chicago group met to quilt and held periodic quilt shows; Detroit group held national exhibits and contests.

ESTIMATED NUMBER OF QUILTS MADE BY THIS QUILTER:

more than 50

DID THE QUILTMAKER SELL QUILTS?

no

DOES/DID QUILTMAKER TEACH QUILTING: Is the quilt maker also a quilt teacher?

no

PHOTO CREDIT:

Don Gonzalez

ACCESS AND COPYRIGHT IS:

Restricted

HOLDER OF COPYRIGHT:

Susan Salser

Details

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