On the evening of Jan. 19, all eyes at Holy Cross Hall at the Church of the Ascension, in Westminster, were glued to a looking glass into Carroll County's history — in the form of a piece of art that consisted of 25 eight-point feather stars with a saw tooth pattern border.

"This slide is of a 'Friendship Album' quilt made for (the) Rev. Eli Henkle by members of his church in 1844," said Nancy Gibson as she addressed more than 125 folks who had come together to celebrate our county's 173rd birthday. Gibson was there to help attendees interpret the language of quilts that evening.

Her past credentials include 20-years as the textile curator for the Daughters of the American Revolution Museum in Washington.

She is also co-author of a definitive work on quilts and quilt making in Maryland: "A Maryland Album: Quiltmaking Traditions, 1634-1934," which was the result of her work with the quilt documentation project of the Maryland Association for Family and Community Education.

Some of the oldest, historic and most collectible American quilts, dating as far back as 1803, examined for the project by Gibson in the 1990s are from right here in Carroll County.

Several are in the collection of the Historical Society of Carroll County, which has sponsored the annual county birthday celebration for many years, according to Dave Roush, chair of the society's board of trustees.

In many ways, quilts and quilt making are excellent metaphors, explaining our county's history and heritage as the productive collage of our English and German background.

Quilts were often the collaborative product of many craftspersons, men and women, who came together to tell stories and document everyday life by collaging together disparate shapes, symbols, designs and colors, into a "textile scrapbook."

Gibson noted one quilt, which was made in Mount Airy in 1892 — by a man. Another quilt, called a "postage-stamp" quilt, was made of 6,048 one-inch blocks.

The slide of the "Henkle Quilt" was one of several dozen displayed that told the history of our central-Maryland heritage by way of colorful, intricate and complex squares with appliquéd images of stars, boats, urns, eagles, flags and flowers, sewn together in a cloth storybook.

Quilts, just like paintings, come in different periods, motifs and categories, such as "crazy quilt," "log cabin patterned," "courthouse steps," "Maryland Album" or "Baltimore Album," said Gibson.

Betsy Watkins Van Horn attended the birthday celebration with one of the 2,417 quilts registered in the documentation product. She carefully displayed the quilt on her lap after the presentation.

As Pat Heagy Kennedy looked on, Van Horn called to our attention the project's registration number carefully adhered to the quilt, which had been handed down to her by her mother — who received it as wedding present in the 1930s.

When he is not interpreting the language of quilts, Kevin Dayhoff may be reached at kevindayhoff@gmail.com or visit him at www.westminstermarylandonline.net.

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