This quilt is featured on the front cover of the book:
Quilts of Alaska, A Textile Album of the Last Frontier, by June E. Hall (link goes to Amazon). This duck neck quilt was made by Jenny Olson Rasmuson of Yakutat, Alaska around 1905-1912. It measures 58" x 58" and is part of the Skagway Museum's quilt collection. Jenny was a missionary and expert hunter. She collected and preserved necks from mallards, canvasbacks, pintails, bluebills and teals for years before having enough to make this quilt. She used msulin for the backing. Isn't this amazing? I bet it's soft and warm.
(Info from
Quilts of Alaska website.)
the use of fur is always connected with pain and cruelty, so i hope no one gets the idea to do such a quilt nowadays...
ReplyDeleteTo me, it is using every bit of the food eaten, nothing was wasted and something beautiful came from the "waste". Eating from the land is a way of life in Alaska, most people hunt and eat what they kill.
ReplyDeleteMakes perfect sense to me.
And I agree not only is this beautiful it is probably a cozy as a down comforter.....wait that is from a goose too :0).
Happy Sewing and Merry Christmas
That is really different! It occurs to me that at the turn of the century, people depended on animals for many of their needs: warmth and food being two that come to mind. Living in ag country, I'm perfectly used to this idea. Thanks for sharing it, Karen!
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought, "Ewww!". Then I read about using every bit of an animal. That certainly was a good way to use what might otherwise not be used. God did put animals on this earth for human's use, to feed us and keep us warm and keep us company. I do not see any cruelty in the makings of this quilt.
ReplyDeleteYuck. Not my cup of tea. And I don't own a down comforter for the same reason!
ReplyDeleteglen
Yuck. Not my cup of tea. And I don't own a down comforter for the same reason!
ReplyDeleteglen