One of the fun things about owning a quilt shop.

Working in and owning a quilt shop we occasionally have people come in carrying a quilt in their hands and wanting to try to find out some history about the pattern or the fabrics. Anyway, the other day an older gentleman and his wife came in carrying this quilt. His mother made the quilt and he was going to send it to his son, but he was wanting the name of the pattern to send with it. I did not know, but thought it might be a variation of the dunkard's path. The good news is I know a quilt history buff. Siobhan came into the shop and I showed her the picture. And here is her response:

Hi Kathy!
I went home and immediately dug into my geek-y pile of quilt history books....I was half right on the name - "Mohawk Trail" is the name most often used though it also goes under several other names like "Chinese Fans." It was a very popular pattern in the 1930 with several posted in the Quilt Alliance Quilt index (lists most major museum collections.) The pattern was in several magazines and newspapers during the 1930's. The pattern in the Kansas City Star has the fans piece then pieced in to the curve background like drunkards path.

Looks like his quilt is in nice condition. It would be great if he could put a label on it with his grandmother's name, where she lived, and the type of quilt so the history doesn't get lost...

BTW...At this year's NQA show in the Scrap Quilt category a Modern Mohawk Trail Quilt took third place (nothing to sneeze at!)

Siobhan

The quilt was lovely and when I called the him to tell him what Siobhan had said he was THRILLED. He said he remembered his mother talking about Mohawk Trail and so excited to have this information.
Cool huh?