Skip to main content
Four out of six rows of the quilt (the top two rows of squares are not visible in this detail).
Appliqué Quilt
Four out of six rows of the quilt (the top two rows of squares are not visible in this detail).

Appliqué Quilt

QuiltmakerQuilted by Marion Cheever Whiteside American, 1902 - 1965
Dateabout 1941
MediumHand-stitched plain-woven cotton; printed plain-woven cotton, or calico
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (length x width): 100 x 67in. (254 x 170.2cm)
ClassificationsTextiles
Credit LineThe Newman S. Hungerford Museum Fund
DescriptionAppliqué quilt in a Story Book quilt showing a Yale-Harvard football game. The quilt consists of a pieced top, batting, and white cotton backing; these three layers are joined with a hand-stitched diamond grid quilting pattern in blue thread. The quilt top is machine-stitched of twenty-four large square blocks alternating between blue and khaki fabric. The kahki blocks have appliquéd scenes from a football game. One team wears blue jerseys and white pants, and the other team wears crimson jerseys and brown pants. The top left block shows a football player kicking the football. The lower right block shows a football player carrying the football and running toward the goal, possibly for a touchdown. Each edge of the quilt has machine-stitched, straight grain blue fabric binding.

Condition: The top is lightly stained. The backing is creased heavily.
Object number2003.1.1
MarkingsA label stitched to the back of the quilt at one corner reads: "STORY BOOK QUILTS/
Copyright 1941 by Marion W. Newton".
NotesArtist Note: Marion Cheever Whiteside Newton (1902-1965) made her first story quilt for her nephew in 1940; he liked it so well that she started a cottage industry, Story Book Quilts. The business made over 3000 quilts, primarily based on classic children's stories, before Marion Newton's death in 1965.
Subject Terms
    Collections
    • Football in Connecticut
    On View
    Not on view
    Gift of Helen E. Royce, 1959.32.27, Connecticut Historical Society, Copyright Undetermined
    Unknown
    1847-1875
    Pieced Quilt
    Edith Chase
    about 1940-1955
    Signature Quilt
    Ladies of Moosup and Central Village
    1876
    Museum purchase, 1982.97.3, Connecicut Historical Society, Copyright Not Determined
    Susan Melissa Lewis
    1880s
    Album Quilt
    Greater Hartford Quilt Guild
    1991
    Gift of the Ladies Aid Society of Windsor Avenue Congregational Church, 1950.53.0  Photograph b…
    Ladies Aid Society of Windsor Avenue Congregational Church
    1918
    Ladies of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Society of Voluntown, Connecticut
    1848
    Pieced Quilt
    Lucy Atwater
    1859
    Pieced Quilt
    Edith Chase
    1890-1910
    Appliqué Quilt
    Laura Crittenden
    1848