The Mama Tied quilt features an Amish-inspired quilt design in naturally-dyed colors reminiscent of buttery, lattice-topped summer fruit pies. Pale peach linen creates the background of the quilt’s central design with blocks accented in jewel tones of deep pink, blue, lilac, and gold.  The quilt’s borders are made of the same blocks and colors in reverse to create an overall design that is traditional but playful, soft, rich, and bright.

 The quilt is tied in the center of each square with bright red vintage cotton thread and backed with a simple patchwork including many of the colors featured in the quilt top along with undyed linen and yarn-dyed striped linen also used to bind the outer edges of the quilt.

 Pieced during the coldest weeks of our northeastern winter, this quilt tells stories of punchy colors when we had just white and grey. A little bit of every season’s hues, imbued from just three individual plant materials: madder root, onion skin, and indigo. Layered and saturated in different ways, the six colors featured in the quilt top come from a limited number of plants traditionally associated with creating the three primary colors (blue, red, and yellow), and instead have been coaxed into offering softer shades of berry and blossom and gold.

This quilt was shown in a group quilt show at Gold/scopophilia* contemporary art gallery just outside of New York City during the months of February – April 2023 and returned home to Vermont in May. In the summer of 2024, this quilt was selected to be shown in the Vermont Quilt Sampler 2024 at Billings Farm + Museum in Woodstock, VT.

At 37x55,” this quilt is perfectly throw-sized, or can be used as a crib quilt or to accent a twin-sized bed.

This quilt is machine pieced and hand-tied with a hand sewn binding.

Materials: undyed and yarn-dyed linen, reclaimed cotton, organic cotton batting, vintage cotton thread, madder root, indigo, onion skins.

Measurements: 37”x55”

Date: 2023