Schiffer Publishing sent me a fun book to review, “Quilting News of Yesteryear: 1000 Pieces and Counting” by Sue Reich.
I hadn’t seen the book before. I was really cute. The book features clips for newspapers that featured news about quilts that contained more than 1000 pieces. Here is a clip from one of the newspapers, Gettysburg Compiler, January 19, 1872 “A 15 year old Athens girl has been engaged on a quilt for the past six years. It is now finished and contains 5,355 pieces.”
Here’s a quote from the Ohio Democrat, September 23, 1875. “A young lady in West Bedford, Coshocton county, Miss Martha Porter, inform the Age that she has a quilt containing 12,320 pieces and she did all the work all herself. A good wife for somebody.”
Here’s a quote from the Indiana Democrat, October 11, 1877, “The quilt-makers may now come to the fore. Mrs. McKiernan, of WIlliamsburg, Blair County, aged 70 years, has manufactured a quilt which contains 4,640 patches. Most any sort of a person who enjoys a good conscience could sleep comfortably under such a gorgeous coverlet as the aged lady has succeeded in making.”
I got a good chuckle out of reading all of these compiled newspaper clippings. As you can see from the photos a few pictures of quilts are scattered in between the clippings. It’s a fun book for anyone who loves quilting history.
If you would like a chance to win the book leave comment telling about how many pieces you most ambitious has contained…mine was the Perkiomen Daydreams quilt with 10,000 pieces or maybe my crumb quilt or my daughter’s crumb quilt. There’s no way to know how many pieces they have!
I’ll pick a winner next week.
I do a lot of crumb blocks/quilts so really don’t count all the pieces. I, also, did a queen size postage stamp with 1.5″ squares – didn’t count them either (or I would have never finished).
I love the comment “a good wife for somebody”! I don’t know what would be the most amount of pieces in a quilt I had made, I definitely would not have made one with 10,000 pieces like you!
Well, Dont know for sure which Bonnie quilt had the most pieces, but I think I’ll go with Orca Bay @ 1600 pieces, I think one of the math geniuses said. RRCB seems like it had more tho. :-)
This book looks like a very interesting one. I have no idea how many pieces are in any of my quilts. I just never count the pieces. Most of my quilts are made with small pieces. I made The Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt and Barbara Brackman’s Civil War BOW quilt….. maybe someone else has counted the number of pieces in them.
I’m working on a postage stamp quilt. It’s my leader ender project…1″ squares and it’s 100″ X 100″. All civil war fabrics. I love it!!!!!!
I kept a journel while working on my Dear Jane quilt. My total was 4,999 pieces….not the same total that was in the original Jane Stickle quilt but I did paper piecing and a few more ‘modern’ techniques. When I had the quilt appraised she said she was glad I didn’t add one more piece to make the total an even number….it made my Dear Jane original. The one little ‘Quilt Along’ we made had 145 little pieces ;o)
I have done several scrap quilts but have no idea on how many pieces they had. Book sounds interesting. Thanks for a chance to win
I haven’t counted the pieces but I would Orca Bay is the quilt that I’ve done with the most pieces. It also was the most challenging for me. Thanks for a chance to win the book.
I have a 30inch quilt that has 6917pieces. I named it Blue Insanity. I love it but don’t want to do another one!
I have not done any quilts like that, I did just finish a postage stamp throw, but it only had 672 pieces.
I made an Around the World quilt many years ago that had over 1200 pieces (all handcut with scissors from a cardboard template), which is nowhere near to 10,000. I should have more in the quilt I will make from the Quilt Square Quilt Along blocks because I intend to make enough squares to make it big enough for my queen sized bed. We’ll see if that ever happens! At least you have given me the incentive to get a good start on it. I have always been embarrassed to have a store bought quilt on my bed when I make quilts. I plan to actually keep this quilt for myself.
Mine would have to be Orca Bay, but if I sat down to count the pieces I’d go cross-eyed and fall over! Some of my string blocks used SKINNY pieces!
Would of loved to live back in that time. But then I wouldn’t of had all the fabric and pattern books I have laying around. That would suck. But then my husband might have liked that. Would of had to sell a lot of egg’s back then to get the stash I have.I think out of over 250 quilts that I have made I would have to say the bear paw’s quilt. Think around over 3000 pieces. It was a king size.
most recently i made a 36 patch quilt that had 72 blocks in it, so that one had 2592 pieces, but i’m sure that when i made bonnie’s double delight it had more than that – those pieces were tiny!
sure would like a copy of that book. it looks like such interesting reading.
I’m just getting started on using up my scraps and have never counted pieces in a quilt. However, my Marti Michell quilt from 2009 has blocks with as many 52 pieces in a single block and has pieced sashing and cornerstones. I’ve been working on it lately but it’s still not done. Also working on a postage stamp quilt with 869 2″ squares. Neither are anywhere near your 10,000!
I’ve never counted pieces. One quilt had 1 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ rectangles and the quilt was a queen size, so many seams to match, not on my list to make again.
I don’t know how many pieces have been in my quilts. I never thought to count. I’ll have to keep this in mind on my next project. Looks like a very nice book. Thanks for the giveaway and the updates on Ruby :c)
Tammy
Of the quilts I’ve completed, I would have thought my Ocean Waves had the most pieces at 2296. But, I just did a bit of math and realized my Sisters Choice quilt with 96 blocks of 25 pieces has 2400 pieces before borders. No where near to Perkiomen Daydreams.
Right off hand, I’d say 1715 pieces in one of my quilts. It seems that I might have more in another quilt, but I never counted. I guess I need to get busy and start cutting up my stash into smaller pieces. Thanks for chance to win the book.
Now you’ve got me wanting to dig out my big quilts and count pieces! I’m sure I’ve topped 1000 – but these days with rotary cutters and sewing machines, that’s not the challenge it would’ve been back then. (Not until someone goes a little nuts and decides to make Perkimon Daydreams FOUR times! :-o )
I’d love to read that book. Does it have any patterns, or is it just news storie and pictures?
This sounds like such a fun read! I love old-y time phrases about “good wives”. Most of my quilts are not “tiny” pieces, but I’ve made some that probably have over 1000. I never counted! I have a very large queen size Double Irish Chain with Seminol border (Quilt In A Day) that was all strip pieced, but it has lots of 2″ squares and all the triangles in the border. I guess I’ll go count!
I made one with over 14,000 pieces, the majority cut 1.1/4″ and all were individually cut. I donated to a charity.
I have not made a quilt yet with lots of pieces. Someday maybe but if I do I would start out probably with a small mini quilt first to see how I like working with smaller pieces. The book sounds like fun. I love to read old newspaper articles like that as it gives you an idea of what life was like back then.
I’d have to say my bargello at 1,600 pieces has the most pieces but since it is strip pieced, cut and re-sewn it goes fast and doesn’t seem like a lot of pieces. Looks like a great book. Thanks for sharing about it and the chance to win.
The quilt with the most pieces thus far would be my Ocean Life Quilt, at around 1,200 pieces.
I don’t really make quilts with lots of pieces (though reading your blog may inspire me to change that!). I’ve tended to make smaller projects, generally appliquéd or a few whole cloth wall hangings…can’t wait until I retire and have more time!
Can’t say I have any ambitions to get as many pieces as I can into a quilt, but so far my most ambitious has been 72 pieces per block and I made 12 blocks for the Jazz Hands quilt designed by Sarah Fielke in her book Material Obsession.
Sounds like a great book. I have no idea how many pieces are in my quilts. A few thousand would be max, but nowhere near 5-10,ooo. Ambitious. Thanks for sharing
10,339 half inch hexagons, a quilt named Insanity…..I’m still piecing, nearly 2.5 years later….
26 pieces per 4 inch block x 100+ blocks = 2600 BUT it isn’t put together
I have no idea other than this one
This sounds like a good book, so please enter my name into the drawing.
I tried making a pineapple quilt once. There were 45 pieces in each 6″ block. If I had completed it, there would have been over 3400 pieces. One day I’ll get back to it. Thanks for the chance to win.
Wow, I have never even tried to count the number of pieces!!! I can tell you that I am working on one now that has 1 piece in the whole quilt!! What a wonderful giveaway, thank you so much for the opportunity!!!
To date the largest quilt I have done had around 1000 pieces. But I hope to make many more and will have that number beat! I love old quilts and the stories behind them…great book!
This looks like such an interesting book. I would love to see it. I have done several quilts with strings but have never stopped to count. Also I know that our modern tools and methods (strip piecing) make using lots of pieces easier than our ancestors had it.
I’ve never counted the pieces in my quilts, but I would like to win this book so that I can read about other people who have.
10,000 pieces are beyond imagination for me. Especially when you finished it within a year! That’s just amazing and the quilt is beautiful too. So far, I only finished one full size quilt and guess that that came out around 500 pieces. Thank you for a chance to win the book!
I feel like a “slug”, when I read some of these comments. I don’t count the pieces in my quilts, but my suspicion is that about the most would be around 1200 — that’s in quilts I have finished! I am starting to do the “crumb” blocks so that number will soon increase.
Thanks for the opportunity to win the book — it looks very interesting.
quiltschon@att.net
I don’t count anymore but do make super scrappy (and have some actual ‘charm’ quilts with each fabric in only once)–doubt if I’ve broken 1000 though as the few I counted in the past didn’t even get up to 900, to my surprise!
Oh my goodness…I still consider myself a beginner with big ambitions to someday do a quilt like that!
I guess I keep it relatively simple — the most pieces in any of my quilts has been about 2,000.
I believe that I had one that had about 1200 pieces in it.
hulseybg at gmail dot com
I have done two quilts that have 1225 pieces each – I feel a little inferior – ha ha!! Thanks for the chance to win.
I made Edyta Sitar’s Friendship Triangle Quilt with 840 half square triangles. I think I was making them in my sleep, LOL.
I’m making a postage stamp quilt with 1 3/4 inch square in a square blocks. So let’s see, each block has five pieces and so far I’ve made about 650 blocks = 3250 pieces. A far cry from 10,000!
Já fiz muitas colchas flor da avó,tudo cortado com tesoura –inclusive o papel—mas nunca contei quantas peças foram nas colchas.Mas se isso contar eu já tive até julho deste ano um estoque de mais de 23000 hexágonos prontos de vários tamanhos.Vendi para uma blogueira da NZ que nunca postou,acho que ainda não costurou…Hoje tenho um monte de flores prontas também não contadas.Não sou maluca só viciada em.Mas gostaria de fazer uma dessas do livro,se eu não ganhar alguém me mande uma xerox desta segunda foto?Háhá.OBRIGADAS.tiacarminhapezzuto@gmail.com
I remember easily the one with the most – a quilt with 2,000 pieces that I made for the new millenium (spelling?). I thought that was a lot.
My ambitious quilt is done with 8000+ 2″ charms Postage Stamp Quilt
I made a mystery quilt that had about 1100 pieces. Thanks for the giveaway! Merry Christmas!
I actually have no clue! But I would guess I’m not a million-piece type of quilting gal! My LQS’s block of the month quilts would probably have the most…let’s see 12 blocks x 30 pieces a block (give or take – no clue)…would equal 360….gotta be more than that though! I’d love to win your giveaway.
Hmmm, I think the most pieces I have done would be the queen sized rail fence quilt.
At 12 pieces per block, 7 blocks per row, 8 rows = 672 pieces that I can remember anyways.
What an interesting book, love the stories. I have not counted my pieces before but I am saving scraps for a postage stamp quilt and I will keep a journal with all the info.
Thank you and Schieffer Publishing for a super giveaway and a chance to win.
usairdoll(at)gmail(dot)com