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Sears Quilt Contest 02: The Grand Prize Winning Quilt

The Grand Prize Winning Quilt
The grand prize winning quilt entered by Margaret Rogers Caden of Lexington, Kentucky won $1000 and was given to the new first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.  Both the quilt and the quiltmaker are shrouded in mystery because the quilt may not have been made by Miss Caden and it has disappeared.

The judges seemed most impressed with the quilting designs and the trapunto (or stuffed) quilting that covered the quilt.  The Eastern Kentucky quilters who worked on the quilt saved pieces of their work including the trapunto.  The quilt has not been seen since Mrs. Roosevelt was photographed receiving it.   In 1948, Stearns & Foster Co. added a pattern for this prize winning quilt to its Mountain Mist line.

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Star of the Bluegrass
Maker unknown
Kentucky
after 1934
Private Collection

Duplicate of the Grand Prize Winning Quilt - Star of Bluegrass entered by Margaret Caden, Lexington, KY.

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Star of the Bluegrass
Maker unknown
1950
Private Collection

Star of the Bluegrass Quilt made from a 1948 Mountain Mist pattern based on the quilt pattern of the 1933 contest's grand prize winning quilt.

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Star of the Bluegrass
Ida Rohrer, Allie Taylor Price, Ruth Price, Mattie Black
Owsley County, Kentucky
1933
Private Collection

Margaret Caden of Lexington, Kentucky won the $1000 grand prize with a green traditional star quilt. The judges had so many other colorful, well-made quilts in traditional and original designs, it makes one wonder what they had in mind.

Merikay Waldvogel
2011
All rights reserved

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