How to contact Betsey Telford-Goodwin's Rocky Mountain Quilts:
Telephone - for orders or questions - 1-207-363-6800
FedEx - 130 York Street York, Maine 03909
Email - betsey@rmquilts.com
CONJE29 Monkey Wrench or Snail's Trail Quilt
c.1950
84 x 100 inches
Wilson, North Carolina
$2,900
The style and expertise of this c.1950s quilt is reminiscent of the mid 19th century.
I'm not negating the work of depression era or mid 20th century quilters but rather the style and method
used in the creation of this Monkey Wrench quilt. There are many reasons why I am saying this.
The first and main reason is that all work, piecing and quilting, was executed by hand.
Another reason is the size. This is the size of a quilt that would have been created for a high bed
and pre-king size beds.
Maybe the creator of the quilt possessed a family heirloom bed of that size. The fact that there is a 2-1/4"
border made up of triangles that measure 2-5/8" X 1-7/8" X 1-7/8" plus a 3/8" completely separately hand applied binding.
The border acts as a frame to the main body of the quilt.
The Monkey Wrench, sometimes called the Snail's Trail, was not around in the 19th century, which gives us another
clue as to the date. Looking at the quilt from a sociological point of view would tell us this quilt comes from a
family of "comfort". I am saying this because all the fabric appears to have been purchased for this project and not from a scrap bag.
The quilting stitches are nice and even and in many places one can still see the pencil lines for the quilting design.
On the closeups you will see a picture of the back of the quilt where you can easily see the quilting design on the fabric.
All shapes are outline quilted and echo quilted. Plain areas have an unusual spiral leaf design. Other areas are diagonally
cross hatched, approx 7/8" apart. The border is cross hatch quilted.
When receiving this quilt it was what is known as a mint quilt. Now that I have organically hand washed it it is
considered an unused quilt.
This quilt pattern is a very complicated quilt to piece as it is comprised of many, many pieces. There are some larger pieces,
one measuring approx 7-1/2" square and the white square joining block...On top of that there are numerous pieces
in a variety of shapes. This is truly, on all levels, not a beginner's quilt!
This graphically wonderful quilt is now organically hand washed and is ready to be sent for your at home approval.
