Butterflies are among the many symbols of resurrection so it was kind of appropriate that I came across this one on Good Friday while examining the lavishly embroidered blocks of a vintage "friendship quilt" that arrived recently at the Lucas County Historical Society Museum.
There are about 50 of these blocks, each with a floral or spring theme and each bearing the name of a member of the S C P Club (or S C P Society). The quilt came to us indirectly from the estate of the late Miriam Westling Hibbs, a longtime friend of the society and a loyal volunteer.
According to notes that Miriam left behind, the blocks were embroidered during 1914 but remained in storage until 1969 when her mother, Martha Slattengren Westling, pieced the blocks together and had the result machine quilted.
The S P C Club was a First Lutheran Church organization whose members appear to have been young adults of both genders and varied marital status. I don't know what "S P C" stood for, but found newspaper reports of a few meetings and activities between 1914 and 1917.
Also in the collection, we have a quilt composed of similar blocks embroidered at the turn of the 20th century by members of the St. Andrew's Guild that came to us courtesy of Judith Fisher McManis. Now I need to take another look at those blocks and do a little comparing.
But whatever the case, the needlework skills of our forebears were amazing.
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