Tracking Quilts Through History
May 8, 2006 by Mary Emma Allen
Filed under Home & Living
“Tracking” quilts could mean tracing the origins of your quilts to determine who made them, where the fabrics came from, and their significance to those who owned and used them.
However, the term also could refer to various quilting designs through the history of quiltmaking that describe tracks of animals and birds. Among the names of traditional quilts you’ll find:
*Turkey Tracks
*Bear’s Paw
*Duck’s Foot in the Mud
*Flying Geese
*Bird’s Nest
*Blue Bird
*Crow’s Feet
*Duck and Ducklings
*Puss-in-the-Corner
Even if the quilt patterns don’t specifically picture the foot of the bird or animal, you can introduce that into your quilting design.
Most of the above patterns can be found in one of the well-known resources for quilters, The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America by Carrie A. Hall and Rose G. Kretsinger.
