Bertha Stenge (1891 - 1957)
Mosaic or Grandmother's Garden, circa 1945
hand-pieced and quilted cotton, 108 by 98 inches
Illinois State Museum collection
Gift of the Frank Mason Family 

Bertha used the hexagon in several of her pieced quilts. The pattern for Mosaic came from a picture Bertha saw in a book of an early 1800s quilt from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She borrowed the idea of using striped fabrics for her hexagons to give the center medallion a starry look, and to make the wavy line of the border. Her color choices were the popular yellow, pink, and turquoise of the 1940s. 

Which areas of the quilt most look like a Grandmother's Garden pattern? 

Bertha Stenge was a quilter from Chicago. Many people consider her one of the greatest twentieth-century quiltmakers and designers. She made quilts in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s from her own designs. Her quilts won numerous national awards and appeared in national magazines. Her quilt Quilting Party is featured in the appliqué section of this Web unit.