Jeannie’s Crazy Quilt

This week has been an astonishing whirlwind of quilts. I am a bit giddy, actually, and have 3 stories based on three different fabulous quilts buzzing in my brain. I do feel, however, that Great Aunt Jane is going to the front of the line. You know how I feel about history, especially when it involves heirlooms and ancestors. Jane Strong (1866-1955) was my father’s “great aunt”, and her quilt landed on my doorstep this week.

While I have made many types of quilts in my life, I have never attempted a “crazy quilt”. I have collected wonderful silk fabrics and antique lace for years with a notion of creating one as I love the look of them, but thus far have not begun. The typical process is to start with a base square of fabric – muslin most often – and jigsaw puzzle fabric pieces together to fill the block. In antique crazy quilts, the fabrics were often from worn clothing, and often included dress-making silks. These fabrics are prone to deteriorating over the years. Silk is inherently fragile, but it did not help that during the late 19th century, silk fabrics were “weighted” with lead to make the fabric stiffer and more costly. After the individual blocks are patched together, the quilter begins to “embellish” them with embroidery stitching and fancy images. Then the blocks are sewn together, backed with fabric and left unquilted. While the construction is simple, I am daunted by the steep learning curve all that embroidery would require. Now, fortunately, I don’t have to make one as I have Great Aunt Jane’s to show off!

Jane was the second of five children of Adeline Schenck (1844-1933) and Benjamin Strong (1834 –1915). Interestingly, my family has always referred to her as “Jane” but the family archives indicate she was “Jeannie Schenck Strong” when born in Redbank, NJ. Unclear when she became “Jane” in family lore. She was the only daughter, and her brother, Ben Jr. (1872-1928), was my father’s grandfather. Jane did not marry (nor did two of her brothers). Her nephew, Ben Strong III (my grandmother’s eldest brother) wrote a family memoir and says Jeannie “devoted herself to looking after her mother and father in their later years. In addition, she had great artistic talents, doing beautiful painting. She was for years a member of the “Shut In Society” and carried on an active correspondence with shut-ins all over the world”.

My Uncle B in New Zealand remembers his Aunt Jane well, as she was very close to his mother, my grandmother Katharine Strong Humphrey Osborne (1904-1987). Aunt Jane came to help her neice when the family lived in Litchfield, Connecticut. Katharine was struggling to raise 3 boys while her husband, Watts Humphrey, commuted into NYC for work. Now, there’s an interesting aside – Watts would fly a biplane off a lake near their home, landing on the East River to get to Wall Street. For reasons unknown to me, he would spend the week in New York, returning to CT for the weekends. Thus, my grandmother was left alone to raise 3 elementary-aged boys, and her Aunt Jane came to stay for a number of years.

My Uncle mentions Jane was a unique woman, walking around the house reading a bible in Italian out loud. No clue why, but it made an impression on him. He stayed in touch with her throughout her life. When she died in 1955, he received a number of her things, including a wood trunk with the quilt top stored inside. Jane’s companion said Jane had started the quilt around 1910. My Uncle and Aunt moved to New Zealand (her native home) back in the 1970s, carefully storing the quilt in Jane’s wood trunk. My Aunt’s New Zealand relative “finished” the crazy quilt top, thus helping to preserve it. This involved adding the black (cotton) border and burgundy backing and binding. The piece was then “tied”, using an embroidery thread to tack the top to the back. Fortunately, she did a lovely job, and the crazy quilt can safely be handled.

Back in October, one of my New Zealand cousins began reading my blog and we started a correspondence. He shared with me a catalogue of family heirlooms the NZ Humphreys have been treasuring. Among the pages was a picture of Jane’s quilt. I wrote a blog about my coveting the piece, and my charming relatives decided it needed to fly across the world to live with me! (https://www.ericasheirloomquilts.com/ericas-heirloom-treasures/forget-the-silver-i-covet-the-quilt)

When my doorbell rang on Friday, I was working on a different quilt and almost missed the bell. The postal worker had a thin package for me that needed my signature. It was from New Zealand. Great Aunt Jane’s crazy quilt arrived and I held my breath opening the package. The work is lovely, the fabrics are stunning and in remarkably good condition, and I was speechless when I laid it out on a bed. I can hardly believe a woman born in 1866, as the Civil War just ended, the sister of my great grandfather, made this work using fabrics culled from the family’s clothing. Honestly, while I cannot point to any in particular, I suspect some of Benjamin Strong’s clothing is entwined in the blocks. It is a treasure of beauty, and the joy of writing about my family and recording these small miracles of history remembered brings me such pleasure.

Channeling Frida

My Grandmother Kat

Erica’s Heirloom Quilts