Blanche Eby keeps quilting through life in Franklin
Blanche Eby, born 1922 in Breathitt County Kentucky, began threading needles at nine and now produces quilts in Franklin at 28 Stadia Drive. She has made about 150 quilts, uses up to 30 yards of material, and notes the rise in cost from $5 a quilt to at least $25 today.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Blanche Eby
Blanche
Stadia Drive
Franklin
Charles
Breathitt County
Kentucky
Bob Wendt
Blanche’s legacy quilts span four decades of craft
Blanche continues quilting with new material for Christmas gifts and special occasions. She recalls using scraps in raising her children and once finished blocks from old school dresses into a quilt, sending it to Oregon. Her daughter in law proudly showed it at Little League games and Boy Scout meetings. Blanche jokes she’s running out of storage but keeps quilting.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Blanche
Oregon
American quilts trace history through three hundred pieces
Patsy and Myron Orlofsky catalog over 300 quilts dating from 1775 for their book Quilts In America. They lecture and tour museums in the U S and Europe, seeking embroidered and stencil quilts while noting how quilts reflect dress, fabrics, and period taste across regions and eras.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
United States
Europe
South Salem
N.Y
Historic quilts reveal family records and period styles
The article surveys autograph and album quilts, family ties in designs, and era specifics. It notes bird and bridal quilts favored by Orlofsky and his wife, corded versus stuffed three dimensional work, and patterns like heart shapes, wedding rings, log cabin blocks, and red or green calicoes from mid 19th century applique. It cites silk and velvet crazy patches, and mentions a 1775 quilt with a John Hewson printed square and a Harvard catalog template dated 1701, possibly the oldest surviving pieced quilt backed by the Pennsylvania treasury and Evcrett Saltonstall.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Orlofsky
John Hewson
England
Benjamin Franklin
Pennsylvania
Evcrett Saltonstall
Massachusetts
Harvard
New England Quilts From the 1800s Featured in Wadsworth Atheneum
Two antique quilts from the 1800s are highlighted: the Bird Quilt with pieced and appliqued silk and the Quilted Counterpane with a white cotton surface and lined back. Courtesy Wadsworth Atheneum Hartford.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New England
Wadsworth Atheneum
Hartford
Conn
Also Mentioned on This Page
Iona Asher
Journal
Patsy
Myron Orlofsky
Orlo
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Eisenhower
Denison
Tex
Eliza Conklin
George Washington
Story
Vivian Brown
AP Newsfeature
This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!