Quilt

Bouquets of red-and-yellow tulips bloom from vases within a striking blue diagonal grid pattern in this quilt. Its maker, Elizabeth Zimmer, was a German immigrant who lived with her husband and children on a St. Louis County farm. Zimmer used an appliqué technique to create her pattern, cutting out pieces of fabric in the shapes of flowers, vases, leaves, and vines, carefully stitching them onto the white fabric background. An undulating border of green vines, with red and blue padded fruit clusters, frames only three of the quilt’s sides. The top edge would have been tucked against a headboard, while the other three sides hung over the bed’s edges.

An award-winner at the 1914 St. Louis County Fair and 1915 St. Louis Agricultural Fair, this quilt demonstrates the design sense and needlework skills of a local farm wife, mother, and artist.