Prairie Star with Diamond Leaf Border quilt, or Sunburst quilt, Christina Hays Malcom

Exhibition Label: "Quilts! Imported Fabrics, American Treasures," May-2004, Barbara Brackman Christina Malcom had an unusual eye. Her quilts (the Spencer Museum owns a dozen) share much with traditional style of the 1870s and 1880s. She had access to the same fabrics and used the popular patchwork patterns of the time, but she developed her own distinctive look. The strong indigo blue sashing here dominates the delicate diamonds and flowers in the border. Malcom’s exuberant quilts give us a different view of the post Civil-War scrap bag, primarily made up of American calicoes. The exception may be the blue, a German indigo.