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

Gasperik Legacy Project Number:

061

This is a:

Finished quilt

Quilt's title:

Leaf and Vine

Owner's name for quilt:

Leaf and Vine (Blue)

Names for quilt's pattern in common use:

Blue Leaf with Blue Birds, Leaf Quilt

How wide is the quilt?

84 inches

How long is the quilt?

93 inches

Shape of edge:

Scalloped

Describe the edge:

top and bottom are straight.

Shape of corners:

Other

Describe the corners:

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

What color is the quilt?

Blue or Navy; Gray; Pink; White

Overall color scheme:

Light or pastel colors

Quilt's condition:

Excellent/like new

Type of inscription:

Date

What is inscribed on the quilt?

1944

Method used to make the inscription:

In the quilting

Location of inscription:

other

Describe where the inscription was found:

above the pink bow at the top of the quilt

Time period:

1930-1949

When was the quilt finished?

1944

Family/owner's date for quilt:

1944

Date estimated by an antique dealer, quilt historian or appraiser:

1944

Who estimated the quilt's date?

Merikay Waldvogel

Further information concerning dates:

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

Describe the quilt's layout:

Vertical bands

Spacing of quilt blocks:

Side by side

Fiber types used to make the quilt top:

Cotton

Fabric styles used in the quilt top:

Print; Solid/plain

Describe the fibers or fabrics in the quilt top:

applique pink bow is not cotton

Applique techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Applique

Embellishment techniques used to make the quilt top:

Embroidery

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton

Materials used in the quilt binding:

Cotton

What is the width of the binding (measure on the top only)?

less than a half inch

What kind of filling is used in the quilt?

Cotton

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Color of thread used in the quilting:

white

Can you see any knots on the front or back of the quilt?

no

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

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

Quilting designs used, decorative motifs:

Feathering; Floral; Other

Quilting designs used, background fills:

Grid/crosshatch; Parallel lines

Describe the quilting designs used:

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.

Features or notes about the quilt's appearance, materials, or construction:

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:

Gasperik, Mary

Quilted by:

Gasperik, Mary

Where the quilt was made, city:

Chicago

Where the quilt was made, county:

Cook County

Where the quilt was made, state:

Illinois (IL)

Where the quilt was made, country:

United States

How was this quilt acquired?

Inheritance

Tell the story of how the quilt was obtained:

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

Why was the quilt made?

Art or personal expression

The quilt was made to be used for:

Bedding, special occasion

Quilt is presently used as:

Keepsake/memento

Describe present uses of the quilt:

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

Where did the maker get their materials?

Purchased new

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Commercial/Published source: Kit

Describe the source of the pattern:

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

Commercial name of the pattern for the top:

Homeneedlecraft Creations kit #7182 Decorator's Quilted Spread

Where did the quiltmaker find the pattern for the quilting design on the quilt?

Original to maker

Describe 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.

What is the commercial name of the quilting design used for this quilt?

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

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 where this quilt was displayed:

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

Contests entered:

Probable entry in Illinos State Fair

Publications (including web sites) where this quilt or maker was featured:

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.

Related items such as diaries, obituaries, wills, household inventories, or pictures of the quiltmaker:

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.

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's name:

Karen Krueger Finn

Quilt owner's country:

United States

Person filling out this form is:

Relative of quiltmaker; Author/researcher

If you are a relative of the quiltmaker, how are you related? The quiltmaker is my:

Grandmother

Describe the relationship to the quilt's maker:

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

Quiltmaker's birthplace, country:

Hungary

Quiltmaker's marriage date(s):

11/18/1906

Quiltmaker's date of death:

05/25/1969

Quiltmaker's ethnic background/tribal affiliation:

Hungarian

Quiltmaker's educational background:

Elementary School

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Rural

Quiltmaker's city:

Chicago

Quiltmaker's county:

Cook

Quiltmaker's state:

Illinois (IL)

Quiltmaker's country:

United States

Quiltmaker's father's name:

Mihalovits, Istvan

Quiltmaker's father's birthplace:

Hungary

Quiltmaker's father's ethnic/tribal background:

Hungarian

Quiltmaker's mother's name:

Mihalovits, Vidoszava

Quiltmaker's mother's birthplace:

Hungary

Quiltmaker's mother's ethnic/tribal background:

Hungarian

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and /or partner's/partners' name(s):

Gasperik, Stephen

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and/or partner's/partners' ethnic/tribal background:

Hungarian

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and/or partner's/partners' occupation:

Milk Dealer/Grocery Store Owner/Butcher

Number of children:

3

How many of the quiltmaker's children were girls?

1 (Elsie 1909-1988)

How many of the quiltmaker's children were boys?

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 the quiltmaker quilt?

Pleasure; Other

Other notes on how the quiltmaker learned, and how and why they quilt:

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.

Does/did the quiltmaker belong to a group? Name of the group?

Tuley Park Quilt Club and Detroit News Quilt Club

Does/did the quiltmaker belong to a group?

Southside Chicago and Detroit MI

What are the main activities of the group?

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

Estimated number of quilts made by this quiltmaker:

more than 50

Does/did the quiltmaker sell quilts?

no

Does/did the quiltmaker teach quilting?

no

Who photographed this quilt?

Don Gonzalez

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

Copyright holder:

Susan Salser

Details

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