Unidentified maker (J.L.), Amish
Indiana
Wool and cotton; 84 x 71 in. (213.4 x 180.3 cm)
Friends of the American Wing Fund, 1988 (1988.128)
Unlike quilts made by the Pennsylvania Amish, those made by the Indiana Amish are often initialed and dated. This example is inscribed with the maker's initials in quilting in one of the four corner triangles of the central patterned area. Each of the other three triangles is stitched with part of the date on which the quilt was completed, January 23, 1930. This is one of the Museum's most recently made quilts, yet it fits into the collection because its design is clearly a continuation of nineteenth-century aesthetics. Indiana Amish quilts are usually quite different in appearance than those of the Lancaster County Amish (see 1973.64), a reflection of the more liberal attitudes of midwestern Amish communities. The makers often preferred block patterns, set as diamonds rather than squares, the pieced blocks alternating with plain blocks that are elaborately quilted.
