Spider Web Quilt
80" x 70"
Cotton fabric and batting
Pieced and quilted by Marie Hajek Rochen
Waller, Texas
ca 1930


Spider web quilts are classic scrap bag designs that allowed the quilter to make use of tiny scraps too small for other projects. The fabric in this quilt came from printed flour and chicken feed sacks. It was machine pieced and hand quilted. Eight pieces of fabric come together in the center of each spider web and it takes great skill to piece them so that the square lies flat. Marie Hajek Rochen, who made this spider web quilt, was known as an accomplished seamstress. She sewed all the clothing for her family in addition to making the quilts and feather beds that kept them warm.

Marie Hajek was born in Texas, of Czech immigrant parents, in 1864. By the time she was 17 both of her parents had died and in 1883, eighteen-year-old Marie married John Rochen. Like many Texas of the era, they were farmers. They lived in several locations in Fayette and Lavaca Counties and in 1894 made a final move to Waller County where they built a big house since they now had seven sons. Five more sons and two daughters soon filled the Rochen home and must have kept Marie's sewing machine and thimble working at top speed. Three of the 14 Rochen children died in childhood. The eleven young Rochens all married, they and their families contributed in many ways to the rich Czech heritage of Texas.
Bob Biskup
San Antonio