Images(3)

Quilt, "Shamrock"

Date1930s

Maker Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wheeless Shaifer American, 1866 - 1953

OriginAmerica, Mississippi, Claiborne County

MediumCotton

Dimensions106 X 90 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 number2025.609.35

DescriptionRectangular quilt, pieced and appliqued with shamrocks. The quilt alternates printed red check cotton blocks set on point with appliqued blocks also on point. Each appliqued block is made of four white triangles joined to form a square, appliqued with three-lobed solid green shamrocks angled to create an X pattern. The quilt is stitched with 5 to 7 running stitches per inch following the borders of the pieced triangles, moving around each appliqued shamrock, and creating quilted shamrock shapes in the red check squares. Thin cotton batting and white cotton backing. Narrow bias binding finishes the edges.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.

Though many of the Shaifer quilters tended to gravitate towards piecework, they also took on applique with enthusiasm, particularly once published patterns and kits were widely available. Elizabeth "Lizzie" Wheeless Shaifer (1866-1953) worked this quilt in the 1930s- around the time she and her husband were having the new family home built on Church Street in Port Gibson, MS. Quilt historians Mary Elizabeth Johnson and Carol Vickers point to the 168 shamrocks in this quilt as a testament to Lizzie's love of applique.Provenance1930s, Elizabeth Wheeless (Mrs. Percy Leon) Shaifer [1866-1953] (Claiborne County, MS); dates unknown, descended in the family to her 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)