Mystery Quilts

Two different quilts have come to our attention recently whose “back stories” are missing. We’ve already asked our Guild members, but so far found out nothing.

Can you help solve these mysteries?

Embellished Beauty

The wall hanging below just “appeared” in the Guild’s storage room at Elmira with no explanation early in 2023. Do you know its history? If so, please let us know! We would like to honor this quilt-maker by returning it to her family (or at least connecting it with its story).

Alamance Rose (and variations)

This quilt belongs to Michelle Owens. She asked us to display it at the 2023 Quilt Show in order to help her find people who might know something about the origin of the Alamance Rose pattern and/or the yellow dyed fabric.

Next is a flyer Michelle Owens handed out when she came to visit the BCQ Guild in 2022 to tell us about her search for the origins of the Alamance Rose:

Here’s what the book North Carolina Quilts has to say about the Alamance Rose mystery:

The brief text highlighted below can be found on page 95, referring to Plate 3-25, which looks very similar to the quilt above. The version in the book was made by Nancy Stafford Spoon Shoffner, who died in 1906. (She is pictured below).

“The vibrant colors in this quilt include the “Alamance yellow” also seen in Plate 3-13. The pattern may be original; it has been documented in only four quilts, all made in Alamance County or adjacent Guilford County.”