Tuesday, September 25, 2012

cow blankets.....

this is a photo of Kate Clayton "Granny" Donaldson 1864-1960 Marble North Carolina

she is shown with her husband and is holding one of her "cow blankets" so folksy, primitive, uniquely different......

this is the first image i saw of a cow blanket on Pintrest, was blown away......needed to know more.....Goggled Kate Clayton Donaldson and this is some of what i have found.....
she was working in the kitchen of the John C Campbell Folk School when Allen Eaton brought in several examples of international folk art to share, one of which was "cow blankets" a decorative blanket used to drape over cows for festivals in Italy....never had heard of this, interesting.....
it was said that a neighbor left behind a baby blanket at her home and she thought it would be nice to decorate it with crocheted animals appliqued on......a member of the Southern Highlands Handicraft Guild saw the blanket and encouraged her to make more, so glad she did.....
these blanket are on homespun backgrounds with crocheted animals, people, baskets, trees all hand appliqued on......
would love to try and make one of my own probably, most likely using fabric applique as crocheting all these shapes without a chain one, chain two guide will be an impossibility.......just am so in awe of these "cow blankets" so right up my folksy alley......



just had to share.....

posted from Bloggeroid

12 comments:

Lori said...

I love it!! I also agree applique would be the way to go. Love the photo of Kate holding that funky little prim "blanket"!!

WoolenSails said...

Those are fun and I agree, crochet doesn't sound fun, rather use wool;)

Debbie

Libby said...

LOVE this! The first thing that came to my head was punchneedle for the applique shapes - I couldn't crochet an animal (or anything other than a chain) to save my life.

perryjane said...

Cheri, these are wonderful. So much like your primitive designs. I am thinking of the Christmas quilt with all images appliqued on a solid wool background....I think it was wool. I really miss your wonderful class at Prairie Sampler and I know I am not the only one! Can't wait to see what you will think of next.

annie said...

just love this!!
hope you try it, and share your results!

MARCIE said...

OK, this explains a lot!(About YOU) I love the photo of your grandparents and her quilt. What a treasure! Love all of these quilts. And what a revelation about Cow Blankets! Fascinating!

libbyquilter said...

love the primitive style.
i like Woolensails idea of using wool . . .

:-)
libbyQ

Linda in NC said...

Thanks for sharing about Granny Donaldson from NC. What inspiration! I had never heard about the Italian cow blanket custom either; it's a fascinating world!

Farmhouse Blessings said...

Absolutely wonderful! Her work is reminiscent of one of my favorite folk artists, Harriet Powers, who recorded family history and Bible stories through her folk art quilts. I am so excited to read more about Granny and her work. Thank you for sharing.

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