Technical notes and description: Tabby-weave cotton face and back; cotton batting and thread. This is a twenty-square applique quilt (four-by-five rows), with squares framed in red with white corners surrounded by an outer border of an undulating floral garland in solid reds, greens, and golds. Half the squares are initialed with an “L” in running stitch and the remainder with an "M" (perhaps the initials of the makers). From left to right, top to bottom, the squares depict: star or dahlia blossom, wreathed star, tulip wreath, stars, rose wreath, eagle-topped shield and nineteen stars, rose (?) wreath, oak leaves, bud wreath, fire pumper dated 1860, grape wreath garland, encircled blossoms, footed floral urn, leaf-outlined heart wreath, garland-encircled vase, footed vase with flowers, blossoms, pineapple, footed vase with flowers, and blossoms.

Related examples: Carlisle 1957, p. 62.

Book excerpt: David B. Warren, Michael K. Brown, Elizabeth Ann Coleman, and Emily Ballew Neff. American Decorative Arts and Paintings in the Bayou Bend Collection. Houston: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998.