Tumbling Blocks quilt
Alma (?) Yoder American
Not on view
The American Wing owns ten Amish quilts from communities in both Pennsylvania and the Midwest (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa). It is a small but choice collection, and many of this group are outstanding in both design and condition. The museum likes to build strength on strength, and this quilt makes a fascinating comparison with another quilt we already owns from Kalona, Iowa signed by E. L., and completed in 1924 (2003.312). That quilt is a very somber and quiet quilt, in black cotton with a light blue pieced cross pattern in diagonally set blocks. This quilt is quite the opposite, with pieced blocks of a multitude of fabrics in unexpected colors. The Tumbling Blocks pattern squares are full of life and movement. It is instructive to have two quilts from the same Amish community, made only a year apart, that are so different, and speak to the artistic expression allowed in what is generally perceived as a very strict religious community.
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