Quilts of the Animas Museum
Crazy Quilts
Crazy Quilts
Date: 1915-1920 in Ignacio, repaired in the 1950s
Materials: silk, cotton, sateen, velvet, muslin foundation
Techniques: hand-embroidery, turkey track stitch
Block pattern: crazy piecing
Makers: Annette Johnsen Aspaas, Minnie Aspaas, Sadie Price Aspaas, Lucy B. Gray
Gift of Dr. Helen Ruth Aspaas
Catalog Number: 06.30.13
The Aspaas family was one of the first families to settle in the Animas Valley after the Brunot Agreement was ratified in 1874. Hans Aspaas (whose name is embroidered into the quilt) and his wife Annette (one of the makers of the quilt) arrived in Silverton in 1875 with their son Hans. They moved to the Animas Valley to ranch, to Parrott City to mine, then back to Animas Valley where they ran a stage stop in Hermosa and had a cabin in Animas City so their children could attend school. In 1881 they moved to land just south of the original Fort Lewis.
Annette was an accomplished needleworker and passed her skill on to her duaghters. This crazy quilt is only one of the samples of her work in the Museum's collection.
There is a First Place ribbon from the Pine Valley Fair sewn into the quilt. The names of the Aspaas family pets are also embroidered on the quilt.
Sateen is a cotton fabric that has a sheen due to the weaving process which takes the weft over four warps and under one. This fabric was often used for dress shirts and todday is used for bedsheets.