Photo courtesy of Western Carolina University Southern Appalachian Digital Collections
To see an enlarged version visit this page and click on photo.
Quilt: Log Cabin and String pattern
This small scale quilt is presumably a doll quilt. Composed of fabrics including cotton, wool, and a mixed rayon, the quilt is pieced by hand in a “Log Cabin and String” pattern. The backing is of pink fabric and the quilt’s three layers are tied, not quilted. Although the maker and origin of this quilt is unknown, it was among the artifacts from the Axley-Meroney family of Cherokee County, N.C. The Axley-Meroney families of Cherokee County, NC, were representative of prominent mid-to-late 19th century family groups living in extreme western North Carolina. The Axley families were prominent lawyers in Cherokee County and served as state and community leaders. Bailey Barton Meroney (1830-1893) served as a doctor in Cherokee county for fifty-five years and operated the first pharmacy in Murphy. His wife, Flora Zell, was the daughter of F.P. and Margaret Knox Johnston Axley.
Creator: Unknown
Date original: 1900/1930
I came across this small quilt on WCU’s Southern Appalachian Digital Collections website. I love the various colors and patterns. I also love thinking about the little girl who likely used it for her doll.
Granny made many of the clothes my brothers and I wore when we were children. She often made matching outfits for her and me. Once I was big enough to enjoy dolls she made them clothes and small quilts.
I’ve heard the name Axley in relation to the history of Cherokee County, but have never heard nor read the name Meroney. I’m sure Benjamin Barton Meroney opening the first pharmacy was big doings in Murphy and talked about far and wide throughout the county.
Tipper
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Happy Birthday, Randy, and welcome to your 7th decade! Your birth story is indeed unique, as are quilts- like people, each one has a different pattern from its Creator. We enjoy your comments. God Bless.
Thank you. I think I have more than one of the older folks diseases, one of them is not knowing when to shut up with either my comments or when talking to a friend on the phone!
Beautiful piece work. It reminds me of a doll quilt, or baby quilt, my dear aunt Myrtle made for me at the coming birth of one of my children. I cannot remember which one. Lol, old age hasn’t helped my memory. It was about the size of a newborn baby blanket, had light colors, one being a bright, satiny gold. I’m sure it is up in the attic of my garage, not sure. I’d love to find it and send you a picture Miss Tipper. This has been a sweet post for sure. I love how you preserve the past and help us to remember things that occurred in our lives. Again thank you for doing that. Getting close to baby boy #1. Listening to you and Matt, you can just hear the excitement growing in your voices. I’m sure Katie feels it too, for sure! Won’t be too long now. God bless y’all.
Happy Birthday, Randy, and welcome to your 7th decade. Your birth story is indeed unique, as are quilts- like people, each one a different pattern. We enjoy your comments. Take care.
String and crumb quilting is a real thing. Many quilters are often super thrifty &/or don’t want to throw away even the smallest little cut-offs or trimmings. Often those little snippets were sewn together to make new fabric and then worked into a quilt pattern. Long pieces are the strings and the hunks and chunks pieces which are often called crumbs are the beginnings of some wonderfully unique quilts. This is one of my favorite things to do with my scraps. Love this little example of the thriftiness and fun of this style of patchwork quilt for a little girl’s dolly. Believe me when I say this can be a Deep rabbit hole to enter! LOL
I am showing my ignorance by saying I know nothing about quilt patterns. I do remember my grandmother’s quilts and quilting frame during the 50 and early 60’s. As a child I just thought her quilts were made for helping to keep warm during the winter. Even though we lived beside of them, I would sometimes want to spend the night with them, two of her quilts on the bed and there would be no turning over, they would be so heavy I couldn’t move.
A weather report from the past. 70 years ago today I was born at the hospital in Anderson, SC. Mother never failed to tell me each year on my birthday about the bad thunderstorms in the Anderson area on the day when I was born and daddy never could figure out how mother’s doctor outran or beat the ambulance from Belton to the Anderson Hospital. I hesitate to tell this, but they knew there would probably be problems with my birth, 6 babies were born the same day at the hospital, all with the cord wrapped around their neck, I was the only one one to live out of the 6. I often wonder “ why me “ because there is nothing special about me or what I have done in my life.
Randy-Happy 70th Birthday. Hope you had a good day!
Happy Birthday Randy!
That’s one of those questions to ask in Heaven, because it obviously was a God thing. When I was hit by a “widow-maker” last July I was alone in the woods. I did not feel, see or hear anything for several hours. A couple of weeks later I remembered hearing a soft low voice in my right ear that said, “Go sit down on your wagon.” I have had a 70% hearing loss in that ear since I was a child of about 7-8 years old. When I asked the people that found me who said that I was told no one had been there until they found me some half hour or so later sitting on the wagon. I gave thanks to Jesus immediately and will tell Him, “Thank You.” again when I see Him in person. Because of your admitted depression I would LOVE to sit and visit with for about a year. Maybe we can do that in Heaven. Put it on your schedule/calendar.
I love this quilt! Can you imagine the joy the little girl got from having a little quilt like this? There are so many colors in it, and it looks like many different kinds of fabric. The simplicity of it makes it beautiful. I never had a doll quilt, but mama made me clothes for my barbie doll, and she also made matching dresses for my niece and I to wear to church and I also remember a lady in our church making mama and me matching aprons to wear. They had heart shaped pockets on them. I have no idea what happened to them, but they were almost too pretty to use.
Something doesn’t seem quite right with the dates of Benjamin’s life. He lived to be 63 and doctored for 55 years? Am I reading something wrong?
Debbie-see Papaw’s comment. He may have figured out the discrepancy. WCU likely just copied and pasted the information they had for the photo and didn’t notice it may have been about 2 different people from the same family? I’m not sure though 🙂
There’s nothing more beautiful than a vintage quilt!!!
On family surnames, I vaguely remember my folks mentioning a Pat Meroney (or Maroney?) who lived in Salem (Oconee County), SC, in the 1920s-30s. It is likely that his family migrated from NC. I think the Alexander side of my family did the same.
My sister sews beautifully. I do not. She helped me make several of these type quilts about 20 years ago. Such a great time!
Wow..such inspiration for yet another one to do. I have never made a very small one as most of my youngins have king-size beds. However, I do have a friend that made a quilt for each of her children using cloths they wore as a child even up to their school colors and/or shirts, etc. Very interesting to see the outcome. Prayers for Granny’s new venture in her healing process…I have to keep remembering….GOD IS IN CONTROL. Prayers and hugs.
I have a log cabin quilt that was made for us as a wedding present. It is beautiful.
A lot of work goes into quilt making, regardless if they are to use or for show. I’ve never made a doll quilt, but have doll clothes. I can imagine sewing the very small pieces of scrap materials are just as difficult as making them small Barbie doll clothes that have sleeves. They are not easy to make when the tops have sleeves in Barbie clothes that look like people shirts and dresses. At least it was for me when I made them for my daughter, but then my eyes were a lot better back then to see what I was doing.
Tipper, what a giant rabbit hole that collection probably is! I know better to go there but probably will find myself there someday. I love the simple quilts as much as the beautiful artistic ones. Just thinking of the time and effort to make either gives them both value to me. I can’t find any measurements on this one so if it is a doll quilt those pieces have to be small. A lot of questions arise. Did the maker use special scraps from family clothing or just tiny scraps she/he happened to have from making larger quilts? Was it made for a special event or special child? Was this the limit of quilting skill for the maker or was it made this way for a special reason? I can think of many other questions, too. I’m also so very glad somebody didn’t throw it out or use it as a rag! I see so many old quilts that would still be useful on a bed that have been used as a rag or dog bed and torn or simply allowed to get dirty. I then think of the maker and the valuable time spent making it. To me it should be treasured until it’s last thread is bare. Sometimes people try to wash them and the quilts cannot tolerate the agitation in a modern machine. There is information available from reliable resources on how to clean old delicate quilts. Of course, as I have learned, sometimes it’s best not to try. Some parts and pieces are salvaged and put into frames to hang on a wall, made into pillows, etc. so they can continue to be appreciated. Thank you for sharing this special quilt.
I have a B B Meroney, buried at Harshaw Chapel in my family tree. I have the B B to mean Bailey Barton Meroney. The dates 1830-1893 match up with the Benjamin Barton Meroney in the description.
If I have my facts straight the doctor was his son Bailey Barton Meroney Jr. Bailey Jr. married Zell Axley. They are buried at Sunset Cemetery.
Could Benjamin and Bailey be one and the same?
Papaw-fascinating!!
The very first quilt I was taught how to make was a string quilt. The string was sewn through in a grid pattern and tied off. Instead of today’s fancy stitchwork, it held the batting in place so that it wouldn’t shift. We used leftover wool fabric for the batting back then.
You had to be careful washing quilts. You couldn’t put them through the wringer but had to squeeze out the water gently then lay the quilt out on bushes or the ground to dry so the batting didn’t shift. Let me tell you those quilts were heavy when wet. I think even Arnold would have had trouble doing this job. We laugh today because most of the chores women did back then made their muscles strong. They didn’t have to pay to go to a gym. LOL.
Well, I’m not a quilter so I may get this wrong, but that quilt reminds me of a “Crazy Quilt”. I think I’m right (?) that a crazy quilt was a use-what-you-have and make-your-own-design kind of a quilt. I can just imagine a little girl hanging around the edges of a ‘quiltin bee’ and wanting a quilt for her ‘dolly’. So her Mommy says, “When we get this one done, I’ll make you one.”
I love quilts and also love the stories behind them if they are known. Nothing better than sleeping under a quilt or curling up on a cold day in a quilt with a good book and sweet potatoes roasting in the stove making the house smell wonderful. Love and prayers to Granny and Little Mamas and all of you.
I can remember my melma drying her apples on top of her tin roof.She would can and make homemade fried apple fritters and apple butter. She would quilt old work clothes with the kids old clothes into pieces by hand and would be hand stitched together. She would make many with the tie tread knots after she completed her quilts she would use either many colors ties or a single color . She sometimes use yarn to make the ties to. She had an underground cellar under her porch where she kept all her canning it was made of wood planks or logs pieces and rock and clay dirt that’s all she had. I remember you talking about wanting to have cellar for your can goods to put away with how your banks ran where you live and how it would be easy to have one with how the hills are there . That’s all my melma was built with. Nothing but
I love this quilt and reading about its history. It’s so interesting to look at the fabric pieces and the way they were put together. One of my favorite memories is coming home from school one day and my Mama had made my sister and I the most beautiful dress for our Barbie doll. She used the sewing machine, so it looked like a store-bought dress. It was light blue with lace at the bottom and it fit our doll perfectly. I thought my Mama was the best!
I too like that quilt! It’s got a lot of colors, patterns, and is quite “busy” in its unique, one of a kind pattern never to be duplicated!!! We had clothes sewn for us when I was in second grade. It felt very special to be fussed over, measured and fitted by Janie Conley. I won’t ever forget all that and to tell the truth, I’d love to experience the personal touch in clothes making even to this day! When you hand over EVERY GOOD THING from home FOR CONVENIENCE, the pain and heart ache of loss of purpose makes absolutely no sense to me or really anybody capable of independent thought. There’s a nation of lost wandering souls with no purpose or idea why they are alive and they’ve not been taught much out of love and concern. They have no idea what a purposeful life would intel. Be blessed and be individually YOU this day with all your patterns, colors and materials making for beautifully unique persons!!!
I wonder how many tea parties and doll sleepovers the quilt was a part of.