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Manchester, Carroll County, Maryland
The Album style spreads outside Baltimore
The sixteen-block arrangement is particularly typical of Carroll County album quilts. Wissler clearly had seen the fancy album quilts in nearby Baltimore, and created her own versions of popular designs. Rather than buying the pre-cut squares available commercially, Cornelia created her own designs with inked and applied elements to add details to her mostly solid-colored cottons.
Cornelia prepared the quilt top which her daughter (the donor) quilted fifty years later. At the time the quilt was made, Cornelia’s mother and two younger sisters were available to help with the quilt.
Compared to Baltimore albums, these are somewhat simplified blocks, using more plain than printed cottons. The eagle’s feathers, however, have a printed “moiré” design to give illusion of texture, and flat “soutache” braid outlines some of the vases. Elsewhere, inked drawings add texture and detail.
