Emma Andres Eighth Quilt Doll Nine Patch

Nine Patch Doll Quilt
c. 1933

Emma's notes say she got the idea from a quilt some tribe of Indians had made for Mrs. Fortner.
Hand pieced and hand quilted.

Emma Andres Seventh Quilt Baby Flower Garden

Emma's 7th Quilt
Baby Flower Garden
1932


Emma's Baby Flower Garden has 1500 pieces. Fabric from Emma other quilts and plain colors.

Emma Andres Sixth Quilt Rainbow Quilt

Rainbow Quilt

McKim Studio

Ready Cut $4.00

Emma made her sixth quilt  in 1932. The first quilt she quilted on her new "whoops".  She added a green border.  Sent the quilt to her sister Alice for a raffle. Whereabouts unknown.

Note-- this original page was not in Emma's scrapbook when I purchased the collection.  I found the original in the archives of Joyce Gross in the Briscoe Center. Joyce befriended Emma in the latter years of Emma's life.  Emma sent several of her scrapbooks to Joyce.  Joyce wrote about Emma in her  Quilters' Journal, Summer 1981. 

Emma Andres Fifth Quilt Lady at the Spinning Wheel

Emma's 5th Quilt

Lady at the Spinning Wheel

1932

Emma's most famous quilt inspired by a cross stitch design. Her first original quilt. 

 Emma's hand drawn design

Purchased by Joyce Gross in 1982 for $250. The quilt is now in the Briscoe Center for American Study, University of Texas-Austin.  

Emma entered this quilt in the 1933 Sears Century of Progress Quilt Contest and received a Merit Award.

I was very honored to be able to see the quilt in person at the Briscoe Center for American History

thanks to Lynn Bell, Associate Director for Material Culture.  What was really of interest to me was being able to see the back of the quilt.  It did not disappoint, Emma without exception. 

Emma Andres Fourth Quilt Fan

Emma's 4th Quilt
Fan 1932

Emma's 4th quilt was a Pink and Green Fan. She quilted it on her lap using a double thickness of Mountain Mist sheet wadding. She gave this to Ed for a Wedding present. Wonder if the Ed was her brother Edward?  I am guessing the darker background is green and the lighter pink.  With the print in the fans blades.

Emma Andres Dresden Plate Quilt

Emma’s Dresden Plate quilt

1932

Emma says really made it before Wild Rose.  She labeled it 3a.

Mrs Pryor Andrews gave me the pieces all sewed for border and blocks.

I put them on unbleached muslin and quilted it on my lap.

Emma Andres Third Quilt Wild Rose

Emma’s 3^rd Quilt

Wild Rose 1932

Whereabouts unknown. Might be somewhere in Virginia. Be on the lookout.  Emma’s entry in her scrapbook for her 3^rd quilt is from the March 1932 Woman’s World Magazine. Scrapbook notes say gave to Betty (Billy) Newell, July 27, 1974.  Mrs Marcas daughter from VA.

 Wild Rose

Emma says, “Where the picture shows embroidery, I cut applique pieces instead.  Used yellow centers out of yo-yo’s.  Quilted on my lap mostly at store.”

A note on the scrapbook page from a later date, “Gave to Billy Newell, July 27, 1974.  Mrs Mauas daughter from VA.

Emma Andres Second Quilt Flower Garden

Flower Garden 1931

Emma's 2nd quilt as told in her scrapbook. 
Emma’s notes in her scrapbook say “quilted on my lap”. Emma spent many hours working in the family cigar store.  

My first patchwork quilt with over 3500 pieces.  Never bought a piece of the figured goods.  There are 169 blocks all different. 

Friends giving me pieces.

Mrs. Andrews (Prior)   Prescott Arizona

Mrs. Crume

Mrs. Scopel, she helped sew some piece together

Mrs. J L Crooks

Dr. Tolle

Mrs. Grubb

Mrs. Petit

Mrs. Pfeister

Mrs. Wedge (Long)

Chas Lynch

Browning

Geneviene Engelhart

A later enter in the scrapbook says-- "Hanging 20^th August, 1982.  Took Charles Pratt’s Calvary down and gave to Marcia Spark".

Emma Andres Collection

So, now, you know a little about Emma Andres.  And you are wondering why all of a sudden I am so interested in Emma.   I’ve either done the most marvelous thing or possibly the worst thing I have every done. 

I have loved Emma Andres from the very first time I heard about her from Laurene Sinema in 1990 when Janet Carruth and Laurene were having their article about Emma published in Uncoverings 1990.

You may know Emma Andres quilts, scrapbooks, artwork, and correspondence have been in the care of a family friend for the last 30 years. During seminar in Phoenix in 2016 Janet Carruth mentioned the caretakers might want to sell the collection. In May of 2017 I went to Prescott to visit with the family, just to find out more about the collection and discuss its future.  Did they really want to sell, did it need to go to a museum, and were they willing to sell some or part of the collection?  They very generously showed all of the quilts to me and my husband, Ralph.  I was surprised to learn, not only were there quilts they had many boxes of scrapbooks and notebooks stacked in the hallway that would go with the collection.  They shared the quilt appraisals Gail Van Hosen had done in Sept 2016.  That was pretty shocking to see the appraisal price.  It is always awkward to start the discussion of price and if they were willing to sell any of the quilts separately. They would not consider selling anything separately.  Believe me I tried, I just knew there was no way I could purchase the entire collection at the price they were expecting based on the appraisals. With my husband’s blessings we did make an offer that day.  Several days later we heard they refused our offer and presented what they wanted for the collection.  I began to think of ways to organize and raise $60,000! Time was a major factor with the family.  I called Laraine Jones at the Arizona Historical Society asking for advice about such a large collection.  My thoughts from the beginning were to get the collection somewhere it could be cared for and also the letters and scrapbooks be accessible for research. We discussed a few issues with such a huge collection. It seemed almost impossible on such short notice.  The organizing, the time, the energy, I just did not think I could make it happen.

But I do have the rescuer gene.  Just a good thing my passion is quilts and not animals. As with everyone, lots of other things were going on in our life at the time.  I really wasn’t looking for something else to do.  I am a quiltmaker and quilt collector, not a researcher, nor do I want to become one.  There is so much in the collection it is totally overwhelming!  But again, I felt a calling, that rescuer personality, maybe Emma, Florence Peto, Charles Pratt, Carrie Hall and Laurene Sinema were all together directing this into my hands.  That somehow I was the right person at the right time to make sure Emma and her quilts are not forgotten and can be enjoyed by many for many, many years. Of course I was discussing all this with my best friend, my husband, who appreciates and understand the importance of our history through quilts, especially our Arizona history.  It was totally his idea to purchase the collection ourselves.  We could borrow the money from our retirement account.  It was easy, fast and we would worry about how and what to do with the collection later. He did have to convince me, it was a lot of money!

When we went to Prescott to pick up everything  I had no idea what there really was.  There are 21 quilts total.  14 made by Emma, 4 quilts Emma got from Florence Peto, 1 quilt and 1 top made by Charles Pratt and 1 crazy quilt made by Emma’s mother. A trunk full of handmade dolls by Carrie Hall. Amazing.  Letters and correspondence from Carrie that fill one whole tub.  All of Emma’s ribbons and all of Charles Pratt’s ribbons, over 400.  Art work and paintings by Emma.  Letters from Boys Town and Father Flanagan, Emma was very religious.  So much research is in the boxes just needing to be in the right place for the research to happen.  That can’t happen if they stay in my closet.  It is really all too much for one person.

 

A few of the many topic for research in the Emma Andres Collection.

Emma and her quilts

Carrie Hall and her dolls

Florence Peto and the four quilts Emma acquired from her. Three of the quilts have been published.  This President Wreath Quilt was in Peto's 1939 Historic Quilts.  

Charles Pratt and other men quilters Emma corresponded with.  Many letters in the collection.  Including a metal box with over 400 ribbons won by Charles Pratt in 48 states for his quilts.

Ribbons and entries in the County Fair, controversy about the swastika at the state fair.

Joyce Gross and the Spinning Wheel Lady (Joyce somehow got the Florence Peto scrapbook from Emma and gave it to the LA County Museum of Art) road trip and research on this story. I have found out the LACMA has no record of the scrapbooks being donated by Joyce Gross.  Janet Carruth and Laurene Sinema saw these scrapbooks sometime around 1995. These scrapbooks hold valuable information on the 4 quilts Emma acquired from Florence Peto.

Emma’s artwork and paintings

Emma’s family, the cigar store in Prescott.  Emma’s mothers 1895 Crazy Quilt. 

Boys Town and Father Flannigan                                                             

Other religious experiences, yep there is a scrapbook of those with photos!

Emma's Happiness Museum and the people from all over the country who came to visit, found Albert Small listed in a guest register and a note that he loved Arizona and took home some cactus. 

And this list is just a few things from one scrapbook. The scrapbooks are mostly by subject. Maybe 10 others not including Carrie Hall and Fr. Flanagan.

Emma was a 2009 inductee in the Arizona Quilters Hall of Fame.  In 2017 I submitted Emma’s name for consideration into The Quilters Hall of Fame in Indiana. 

As we learn more of Emma and her story, my desire is for her quilts to be seen by many. For her ephemera to be available for further research and her story to be told for all to hear.

Emma Andres First Quilt Tiger Lily

Tiger Lily

While working in her father's cigar store in Prescott Arizona, Emma saw an advertisement for a quilt in the Woman's World, January 1931 magazine.  She sent for the pattern and began her love affair with quilts, quilting, and quilters.

My First Quilt, made quilting design on plain block from pattern of the figured ones.

Quilting done on my lap after basting on linoleum in dining room.

Tiger Lily, an adaptation from a characteristic block

first made in Pennsylvania sometime

before 1837 and always a favorite.

Emma Andres Quilts and Her Happiness Museum -- Part 3 of 3

Emma's quilt Out Where The West Begins  is an original design based on a poem written by Arthur Chapman. The poem in chain stitch script is the medallion surrounded by 14 blocks picturing a desert scene with Ocotillo  (pronounced Ok-a-te-yo) a type of cactus. 

                                    

Emma was not pleased with the way the Ocotillo looked and persuaded a water colorist whom she met to make some suggestions and paint one for her. She then practiced painting them until she was satisfied with the results. 

This led to another artistic endeavor. She began making miniature watercolors which she framed and sold for 50¢. For a short time she took singing lessons as well as painting lessons but gave them both up.

The little miniatures, which Emma called "accidentals" were popular and she netted $1,000 from their sale. She painted similar scenes on taffeta ribbons.

One of her most enthusiastic customers was Florence Peto. She had sent two "accidentals" to Mrs. Peto for a Christmas present the first year of their correspondence and Mrs. Peto wrote to her on Dec 27, 1940  

"Those darling miniatures! I don't see how you indicate so much on such a small area. And the precious tiny frames.  When you wrote once before about finishing some 
miniature frames I visualized frames about the size of daguerreotypes - I've never seen such wee things." On April 7, 1941 she again wrote, "Incidentally (a lady) fell in love with your miniatures which stand on my living room mantle. For that matter I cannot tell you how many people have admired the dear little things... The canyon looks... truly lovely." On Oct 18 1940, "The little miniatures have just arrived and Marjory (Mrs. Peto's daughter) and I are delighted with them. I don't see how you get all that distance, that perspective in such a tiny space. Mrs. Peto evidently ordered the miniatures as gifts for some friends. Emma says, "I like to work with small things. The miniatures are my favorites."

On Nov 22, 1941 Maude Longwell, a reporter for the ARIZONA FARMER wrote in her column "Fair Glimpses", "As usual Emma Andres newest quilt creation sent down to the Domestic Arts dept. from Prescott led all the rest. She calls it The Tiliman Quilt after a Negro couple who gave her the bouquet that inspired the motif - an appliqued flower and vase arrangement with the flowers done yo-yo style. You never saw anything to surpass the beauty of its quilted pattern and supreme delicacy of its stitching."

On Nov 22, 1942 the same reporter did a full page story for the EVERY WEEK magazine – a supplement to many Sunday papers. It was entitled, "Masterpieces in Patchwork" and featured "Miss Emma Andres and her quilt hobby".

 "Emma has made about 15 quilts but is fondest of her four originals –

the Silhouette, Great Seal of Arizona, Out Where the West Begins, and the Tillman quilt. All prize winners. She is convinced that if you piece or applique a quilt, you should quilt it, 'I hired the quilting done on one of my quilts and I never did feel as though it belonged to me. In fact, I gave it away.' Her quilting - those intricate designs worked out with geometric precision and artistic flourish - is accomplished on a round hoop scarcely larger than an embroidery hoop."

Mrs. Peto wrote several times asking for a picture of the Seal of Arizona quilt, mentioning that she would like to include it in an article for some magazine.  She approached WOMAN’S DAY with it, but they did not use it. The seal, letters, log cabin and yucca are all in chain stitch. 

Emma appliqued the seal first and then attached it to the quilt. It wasn't large enough so she had to put it on a circle one inch   larger, cut out the extra material and reapplique it onto the quilt. 

When she came to the state flags the corners seemed weak so she cut four flags apart to make the corners more important.

Emma had a unique method of basting a quilt together. She put paper down to cover the floor and then basted diagonally through to the paper. She could hear the needle hit the paper when she went through the three layers.

In 1968 her sister was celebrating her anniversary as a nun. As Emma couldn't get to Los Angeles to be with her, she decided to decorate the store window in honor of the event, using a nun doll as the focal point. She took a picture and sent it to her sister. That was the beginning of the decorated windows which she continues to decorate and change about every six weeks.

In an article in WESTWARD, March 10, 1978 she  is quoted, "The windows are a little stage of their  own. I feel I am deeply inspired. They don't amount to a dern (a favorite swear word of Emma's) but they have a lot of love in them. I try to keep them simple and childlike ... Sometimes I get discouraged and wonder why am I doing this. Then I say, ' Oh that's the devil talking' ...I'm sharing."

Items for the window displays are drawn from the museum. Sometimes she puts in one of "Dad" Pratt's faded and frayed quilts because "he wanted his quilts to be shared and enjoyed". Christmas, Easter and other holidays are always celebrated with special windows

Another of Emma's favorite correspondents was Carrie Hall, co-author of THE ROMANCE OF THE PATCHWORK QUILT IN AMERICA. Her scrapbook begins with a letter dated Jan 5, 1955. 

During this period "Madame" Hall lived in Northe Platte, Nebraska and sold dolls which she dressed to represent famous people. Emma asked Mrs. Hall to dress a doll as a nun to represent her sister. Now she has a      

glass case full of Mrs. Hall's dolls. Mrs. Hall died July 8, 1955 - a very sad day for her dear friend!

Both Mrs. Peto and Mrs. Hall remarked many times about Miss Andres' thoughtfulness.

Each correspondent had his/her own special scrapbook with everything taped very carefully in it. Mrs. Peto's is contained in three scrapbooks and Mrs. Hall's in one.

One of her prized possessions is her mother's scrapbook filled with political cartoons, newspaper columns etc. As a child Emma used her crayons to "color" the black and white pictures. She felt they needed something to brighten them up.

She has gradually replaced the items of her father's cigar store where she spent so many years helping him, with her own items that have brought her so much happiness – the dolls made by Carrie Hall, a large thimble collection, the catalog of prizes from the chewing tobacco company, "Dad" Pratt's quilts and her own fine quilts.

Emma doesn't keep regular hours in the museum but goes in almost every day. In some ways it is more home to her than where she sleeps. She welcomes guests, has them sign her register, and gives them little lectures about the treasures the museum holds. Each quilt and artifact has a story. Even if the guests don't always understand the significance or importance of each item, they sense Emma's involvement and how much it all means to her. There is no record of the date she took her last quilting stitch in her Ninety and Nine but she retired her quilting thimble by placing it in her glass case. She hasn't done any quilting since. When we interviewed her in June 1981 she remarked, "quilting is not part of my life now, but most of the wonderful things that have happened to me are somehow connected to quilting." A notation in Emma's handwriting sums it up, "I am deeply grateful for my thrilling experiences."

Since we last saw Emma we have had several phone conversations and a few letters. We understand that a quilting group in Prescott asked her to speak and thirty quiltmakers turned out for the occasion. She wrote "my little talk for the Hill Top Quilters Guild was fun." She has been rereading her old scrapbooks and has reestablished contact with some of the families of her former friends. Somehow we think maybe quilting will again be part of her life.

All photographs courtesy of the Emma Andres Collection

Lynn Evans Miller, Curator

lynnquilt@aol.com

Notes from Lynn Evans Miller*****

   Emma passed away April 28, 1988 in Prescott Arizona

 She was found again in 1987 by the Arizona Quilt Documentation Project. Her and her quilts were featured in the book Grand Endeavors: Vintage Arizona Quilts and Their Makers.  In the near future I will be sharing more about Emma and her quilts. Including notes, letters and correspondence from some of her dear friends. 

    See Emma at her Happiness Museum (1983) (youtube video)

See a small exhibit of Emma's Quilts at the Arizona History Museum

     January 13, 2018 to February 28, 2018

Emma Andres Quilt Collection

949 E. 2nd Street

Tucson, AZ  85719

520-628-5774