I love sets of things. It’s probably related to my love of classification, which after all is essentially determining what belongs in a given set (and what doesn’t belong) and why. So when I learned about the Floral States of America block of the month (BOM) project from Cotton Cuts, I was immediately interested. Every month for 10 months I received pieces for 5 precut blocks. Each block included a unique fabric print based on a US state flower from Andover’s Floral States collection. There were some hiccups and delays in completing the blocks (some from Cotton Cuts and some on my end) but I finished the blocks sometime last year but promptly put them aside because I wasn’t yet sure in what order I wanted to arrange them. Alphabetically seemed boring. The blocks were sent to us chronologically in the order they joined the union, so that made sense but just wasn’t exciting me.
And then I was invited to share some quilts at the Matilda Joslyn Gage Center on the theme of women and women’s work, and it struck me that I could do something with that and these blocks. I found the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security’s report on The Best and Worst States to be a Woman and I was off and running! I used the on-point setting for the blocks and arranged them in order top to bottom, left to right, from best to worst.
But if you don’t happen to have all the state flowers memorized, how would you know just by looking? So I digitized the outline of each state and quilted it in each corresponding block.
I stitched in the ditch for the sashing and used some ghost shapes to define the cornerstones. Added rays in the setting triangles and corners, et voila! A lovely 60″ x 72″ unique data-driven quilt that captures the state of women in the US.
The problem? The Matilda Effect gallery at the Gage Center is in the original section of the historic house…and the ceilings are only 80″ tall. Unfortunately, this quilt was too large and would not work as part of the exhibit. But after talking with the director, we decided to move in a different direction. I have donated this piece to the Matilda Joslyn Gage Center to be raffled off as a fundraiser. That’s right–this bespoke quilt can be yours!
“Floral States Of Women In America”
2026
60″ x 72″
Retail price of $1850.00
Tickets are $1/each, $10 for 12, and $20 for 25.
Drawing will take place at the Gage Foundation Awards Dinner on October 3, 2026.
Winner need not be present to win.
