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The Baltimore Album’s popularity spread to the rest of Maryland. This quilt’s blocks are all unique to this quilt (as opposed to many album designs which can be found in several quilts). Compared to Baltimore blocks, these from Montgomery County have an overall more delicate and airier quality.
The quilt was presented to Mary in 1851, three years before her marriage to Charles Nicholls. Probably Mary’s mother and sisters, Delilah, Catherine, and Octavia contributed blocks or organized the project. Unlike many albums, this one has only a few inscriptions. William Johnson, a neighbor, stitched “Mary, remember me.”
Look for Mary’s sister Octavia’s quilt in the Pieced section of the exhibition.
Roller-printed and solid cottons; silk embroidery thread; cotton backing, filling, and binding
New advances in dyes were making relatively fade-proof reds and greens available at this time. The color combination was enormously popular in quilts in the mid-1800s.