Marylou McDonald has been making Baltimore Album quilts since 1991 and uses Baltimore Album quilt blocks as the medium for her teaching, lecturing and research.

Her research has led this South Laurel resident to photograph and document more than 50 antique Baltimore Album quilts in museums and private collections. Some of her research is documented in the 2007 and 2008 Baltimore Album engagement calendars, which she also wrote.

On June 28, McDonald gave a presentation at the Maryland Historical Society on the techniques and history of the Baltimore Album quilts and the quilters that made them. Curator Alexandra Deutsch introduced McDonald and described some of her other talents, including her achievements in archery as national champion in 1987 and third-place world champion in 1988.

McDonald told the audience of her instant passion for the Baltimore Album quilts after seeing antique quilts displayed at the Maryland Historical Society in 1993, when she became a charter member of the Baltimore Applique Society.

McDonald brought three of her reproduction quilts to the presentation: City Springs quilt, DAR Mary Simon quilt and 25 blocks from the four Lovely Lane quilts. She gave the history of each particular block, citing fabrics, icons, symbols and designs that women in Baltimore used between 1846 and 1852.

McDonald also described the quotation she used on her Captain Russell commemorative quilt, the same quotation that was quilted inside of President Lincoln's coat when he was assassinated: "One Country; One Destiny."

On another quilt McDonald used the pattern of a wreath of half acorns and half berries that she saw in Italy and that appears on two antique BAQs.

She said the 19th-century Baltimore Album quilters used images from their world to create the blocks, including monuments; books and magazines; seed packets; china; silver; and any other source of beauty available to the women who lived in what was then the third-largest port city in the United States.

McDonald suggested that the making of these Baltimore Album quilts stopped after 1852 because the women's lives became busier and they became more involved in activities and events outside of their homes. They also became better educated. The periods of pre-Civil War and the Industrial Revolution could have been another influence as the port of Baltimore became even more internationally connected with things being shipped in and out, perhaps influencing the women to move on to another fad.

"Did the quilters of Baltimore, 150 years ago, know that their quilts would stir up such interest and questions (today)?" McDonald asked.

McDonald shared her research on the eight quilts on exhibit at the Maryland Historical Society, which included the 1852 Captain Aust quilt, from which the Baltimore Applique Society plans to make a pattern set that will available for purchase to raise money for the museum.

McDonald is a member of the Annapolis Quilt Guild and the past president of the Baltimore Applique Society. She writes a column for the BAS newsletter based on her research. In addition, she is a member of the Faithful Circle Guild, American Quilt Study Group and three quilt-dating groups.

She lives in Laurel with her husband, Jim, who assists her on many projects.

To see her reproduction quilts and blocks, go to www.baltimorequiltlady.com.

Baltimore Applique Society

The enduring appeal of the Baltimore Album quilts and the need to continue their traditions brought about the founding of the non-profit Baltimore Applique Society in 1993 (www.baltimoreapplique.com).

Centered in Baltimore, where the first of these quilts were made 150 years ago, the society supports the preservation of quilts, textiles and related documents in museum and historical society collections, such as the Maryland Historical Society, Howard County Historical Society, Baltimore Museum of Art, Lovely Lane Museum, Winterthur Museum and the DAR in Washington, D.C. That support includes financial contributions, quilts made as fundraisers, reproduction quilt patterns and hands-on conservation work to further the preservation and continuation of textile art history. BAS also promotes the unique art of applique and quilting perfected by Baltimore women and revived in the 1980s. In teaching these skills and encouraging each other's work, modern applique quilt makers work to extend the Baltimore legacy with new colors, designs and construction techniques. Members are from the Baltimore area, around the country and abroad, and include quilt makers, collectors and historians. The Society's activities are enhanced by a team of professional advisors, who are nationally known teachers, lecturers, appraisers and museum curators.

Janet Esch is past editor of the Baltimore Applique Society's newsletter. She is a retired Laurel High English teacher and lives in Columbia.

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