Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Crazy Quilt with Masonic York Rite Knights Templar Symbols
1885
Maker not marked
USA
Silk; satin; velvet
overall: 62"h x 73"w
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. George J. Jung
75.42

Masonic York Rite Knights Templar Crazy Quilt made with black satin, colored silks and velvets. Foundation-pieced by hand and machine with twenty 12" square (roughly) blocks. Sashing embroidered in yellow silk thread. White central square has a Masonic Knights Templar cross and crown surrounded by keystone, square and compasses with "G," square and level, and skull and crossbones. Block above the cross and crown symbol has an American flag. Embroidered between these two blocks is "In Hoc Signo Vinces." Embroidered below the cross and crown block is "1885." The crazy quilt blocks are embroidered with initials, figures, animals, and other decorative embroidery. Pale green silk backing. Single outer border with embroidered decoration. Corded bias-applied binding. No batting.

Two blocks in this quilt stand out from the rest. One features a well-known symbol, the United States flag. In the other, embroidered emblems of York Rite Freemasonry surround a large red cross, with the motto of the Knights Templar in the United States, In Hoc Sino Vinces (In this Sign, Conquer), above. Knights Templar and other forms of York Rite Freemasonry developed much of their iconography to suggest the crusading knights of the Middle Ages. In the rest of the quilt, the unknown maker included pieces cut from fabric and ribbons, portraits (possibly of popular actresses) lithographed on satin, painted flowers, and embroidered images, all of which were common in crazy quilts.