Quilt, "Nine Patch"

Date1865-1870

Maker Amanda Caroline Guice Shaifer American, 1843 - 1930

OriginAmerica, Mississippi, Claiborne County

MediumCotton

Dimensions78 x 78 inches

Credit LineGift of The Children of Elizabeth Shaifer Hollingsworth - Allison Shaifer Hollingsworth Moxey, Ann Davidson Hollingsworth Weeden and Christopher Alton Hollingsworth, and The Children of Sanfrid Davidson Shaifer - Mary Laura Shaifer Bell, Jodie Stovall Shaifer Huddleston and Sanfrid Davidson Shaifer, Jr.

Object number2025.609.9

DescriptionRectangular quilt made from 142 Nine Patch squares alternating with equal-sized squares printed in a floral pattern of dark yellow and blue on brown ground. The Nine Patch squares are hand pieced from multicolor printed cotton stripes, checks, dots, and florals. Wide borders on the two sides consist of the same, brown-ground floral as the center pieces. The quilt is hand quilted through thick cotton batting with 2 to 3 running stitches per inch in a repeated fan pattern. Backing and inch-wide binding consist of a geometric print in lavender; the binding is machine stitched.Label TextThis quilt is part of a large donation of quilts by the Shaifer family of Claiborne County, MS. These 46 quilts were made by women from four successive generations of the family, dating from the mid-1800s to the 1980s. Amanda Caroline Guice (1844-1930) completed this quilt in the years following her marriage to A.K. "Kell" Shaifer (1833-1921). Guice was an avid quilter, enjoyed piecework, and quilted both by hand and with a machine- as in this example.

Guice's great-grandson, Girault McArthur Jones, described her as "a strikingly handsome woman, taller than her husband, a strong face and a head of snow-white hair, and most memorable of all, a truly remarkable voice...Aunt Amanda was almost regal in her composure. I can see her on that porch in a small circle of people busily peeling figs for preserving."ProvenanceDates unknown, probably 1860s, Amanda Guice (Mrs. Abram K. “Kell”) Shaifer [1844-1930] (Claiborne County, MS); dates unknown, descended in the family to her great-granddaughter Elizabeth Shaifer (Mrs. Al) Hollingsworth [1933-2016] (Claiborne County, MS); dates unknown, Al Hollingsworth (Claiborne County, MS); 2025, given to Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA)