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Dutch Triangles

Maker Unknown

This vintage scrap quilt, made around 1885, caught the eye of Bettendorf, Iowa, collector Catherine Noll Litwinow in a vendor booth nearly 10 years ago. "I had to have this quilt because of the double-pinks in it," Cathy says. "Double-pinks are my favorite."

It was the gold fabrics, though, not the pink ones, that bought this quilt a ticket out west in 2007. Curator Cindy Brick of Castle Rock, Colorado, borrowed it from Catherine for her California Gold exhibit at the 2007 Road to California quilt show. In "There's Gold in Them There Quilts," her article in this issue, Cindy writes about a once-popular color, a shade that today we would call butterscotch or caramel, and its appearance in quilts of the late 1800s. Its sparing use here provides just a bit of glow to the darker areas of the quilt.

The patchwork block, called Broken Dishes by Ruby McKim and The Double Square by Kansas City Star, is notable. According to Cindy, "The pattern resembles a popular Dutch architectural feature, and it was used a lot in English medallion quilts. It is one of the oldest patchwork designs, used hundreds and hundreds of years ago."

The Dutch Triangles pattern appears in the November 2007 (#397) issue of Quilters Newsletter. If that issue is no longer available at your local quilt store, check back issue availability and order online at www.villagequiltshoppe.com.

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