https://folkartmuseum.org/exhibitions/quilts-masterworks-from-the-american-folk-art-museum/ Crazy Patch Quilt Leah Zook Hartzler (dates unknown) Mifflin County, Pennsylvania; Black Topper Amish, Peachey Group Dated 1903 Wool and cotton with cotton embroidery 88 x 75 in. American Folk Art Museum, gift of Mr. and Mrs. William B. Wigton, 1984.25.15 Photo by Schecter Lee

According to family history, this quilt was made by Leah Zook Hartzler for her sister, Lydia, on the occasion of Lydia’s marriage to Daniel J. Yoder in 1903. While obviously influenced by the silk Crazy quilts popular in America in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, this Amish maker from Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, imposed order and regularity on what is by definition a disordered and asymmetrical design. The Crazy patches are set off neatly by pumpkin-colored squares at the corners, and close examination reveals that even the Crazy patches themselves are ordered by a traditional Mifflin County four-patch pattern. Unlike typical Crazies that are usually tied and often lack a filling, this is a real quilt, composed of three layers joined together by a variety of quilting motifs.