Mary Ann Crocker Hinman was born in 1817 in Lebanon, New York, and died in 1893 in Lima, New York. She had ten children—the donor’s father was her youngest—and as her granddaughter once stated, “how she had time to make a quilt I cannot imagine.”  The Center Star Crazy Throw is not only smaller and simpler than the typical nineteenth-century Crazy quilt, but it also exhibits a feeling of design restraint on the part of its maker. In this example of the Crazy-quilt genre, the emphasis is on the piecing—a star for the center and fans throughout—rather than on the embroidery, which for the most part is limited to chains along borders and inside the “folds” of the fans. The Japanese influence, a major component of many Crazy quilts, is seen in the pieced fans, but there are none of the myriad appliquéd or embroidered motifs that are typically found on Crazy-patch textiles of the period. The small size of the piece indicates that, like many Crazies, it likely was used as a parlor throw and probably placed on a chaise or sofa back for decorative effect.

Elizabeth V. Warren, "Center Star Crazy Throw," in Stacy C. Hollander, American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 357.