Making Vintage Quilts

There is no doubting that winter is here, from coast to coast. And with that comes staying in doors if you can and enjoying the cozy feel. I love the sound of rain drops falling on the skylights. Listening to the rain fall is so rare, I sit or work in silence while it is happening to take the sound and sensation it in when I can. But after a week of fairly non-stop raining and dreary skies I want color back, not to mention the sun and warm temperatures.

I don't know about you, but I think 1930s when I think about colorful happy quilts so I went to my bookshelf for some quick relief, and pulled down Link to the '30s, making the quilts we didn't inherit written by two sisters living in Texas, Kay Connors and Karen Earlywine.


The sisters are vintage style quilt and pattern makers. They design their quilts using period  newspaper quilt columns that offered mail order patterns and old quilts. Small photos of the original newspaper column pattern or quilt adorn each of the 9 quilt patterns featured in this book.

The patterns are from the columns  Nancy Page Quilt Club and Household Arts by Alice Brooks, and one is a McCall's wedding ring pattern., as seen on the book's cover.  Two signature quilt patterns are reproduced. One is from a 1931 quilt with embroidered names, and the other one is made into a contemporary quilt minus signatures.

The quilts chosen are familiar but I seldom see them reproduced at shows or on exhibit, which is nice. The patterns range in difficulty from beginner to experienced quilter. Most of them are mid range to advanced. The more difficult quilts contain curves, applique, and bias edges.

A variety of border treatments were made popular in the  Colonial Revival period between the World Wars  and are reflected in these patterns. Borders include the ice cream cone, prairie points, scallops, tiny half square triangles and the curved vine of petals (think of one Dresden plate petal).

Kay and Karen wrote a quilt stitch pattern book recently, Fancy to Frugal, authentic quilt patterns of the '30s. Here they are describing quilting  from the same time period, although Link to the '30s shows suggested quilting patterns for the borders and white or plain fabric blocks in the quilt.

These two books give you access to excellent patterns and ideas to pull from to make your own combinations of borders and blocks or to reproduce your own favorites. The templates are arranged on pages without overlapping each other for easy tracing, and illustrations are easy to see and understand. Their strip or rotary piecing directions are also easy to follow.

Please post your comments by clicking here http://www.quiltersspirit.blogspot.com/  if you are receiving this as a subscriber. Scroll down to "comments" below the post, click, and a comment box will appear. If you haven't read the great comments about Remembering Adelia, take a peek, even the author wrote in! Links top other

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Remembering Adelia was more than a book to me

Oh it is a busy time of year! I hope you too are enjoying the myriad delights of the holiday season. I do more and more each year. I think it's because I value my family and my friendships, new and old, more deeply than I did when I was younger. I love giving gifts, cards, and coming together for parties and meditations for the new year.

I was drawn to Kathleen Tracy's book "Remembering Adelia" the first time I saw it. In glancing over it I saw that  it was a book of small quilts with patterns and diary entries written by a young woman named Adelia, set in mid-19th century.  I set it aside to read nearly a year ago. During a recent rain storm
I read the book.  It's an easy cozy read in one sitting. The diary narrative of Adelia Thomas is real. She was  a young woman living in the year 1861 in northern Illinois.

My eyes lit up and my jaw dropped by what I discovered!! I grew up and still have dear friends in the same towns  Adelia writes about in her diary. There are also original photographs of the countryside, houses and people living  there in the later part of that century.

It's unique  for this to happen when I'm reading a quilt history book. These are not historically important places today or then. I was born in Minneapolis and raised in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago until I left for collage after high school and to live out west.

Adelia lived in the town of Woodstock, IL, which I have only visited a few times, but it is the other towns that she and her family visited frequently that were my stomping grounds and may be yours too: Des Plaines, Algonquin, Elgin, St. Charles,  Chicago's Michigan Avenue and State Street, and Park Ridge, where she raised her own family years later. Oh the memories!  Dear friends and family are still there  and new memories are made there because of their children growing up in the same towns.

Although the year of diary entires is during the start of the Civil War as Adelia's male friends and family were leaving for military duty and there was change and sadness in her life, the book was a joy to read for me and I think you would also enjoy it if you like diaries of 19th century women who quilt!!

The quilts Kathleen shows are scrappy style made from reproduction fabrics. She picked patterns with significance to the time period.  The quilts are adorable ranging from doll to lap size with fourteen patchwork and two applique quilt patterns and housewif and journal cover patterns.

This is a pattern and story book of historical relevance a beginner would enjoy as much as the more advanced  quilt history enthusiast. I think it would be a lovely gift for a friend, daughter, or yourself, OR for someone who lives in Illinois.

I know there are other diary inspired quilt books with patterns, including Kathleen's first book on Prairie children quilts. If you have a favorite, please tell us about it, the title, author and what you liked about it, or what made it stand out for you. I'd like to have a list handy and I'm thinking some of you would too.

Please post your comment on the blog by clicking here http://www.quiltersspirit.blogspot.com/  and scrolling down to the comments box, or clicking on the word comments. You can read about others favorite diary books there too.

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Thankful for my Dog and you!

I wish you all could smell the banana bread baking in my oven. It's my special recipe. Baking is one of the creative endeavors I have really played with this year. I like tweaking recipes, not following them.  I've baked so much, for so many people, I have acquired a reputation. They hint for more as a show of support....yeah right.  Luckily I can give away most of the results because I find it relaxing to prepare baked goods and a delightful challenge to try out new ideas through food. Waiting for the goodie to bake is tough, so I read a good book and whiff in the smells.  I bake allot this time of year, as I'm sure many of you do too.


Tonight my husband and I along with many special friends are having a Gathering of Giving Thanks and Gratitude at the spiritual center we attend. Afterward, we meet for a dessert pot luck and my bread has a place reserved for it there.

This summer we held a Pet Blessing Ceremony in the same room where I am seen holding my dog, Faith, who is hard to see because she is all black except for her gray eyebrows and snout. It was quite a scene with about 45 dogs and cats (in their carriers) coming together to be individually blessed and honored. Aren't pet people the best people- or is that quilt people? Often they are one in the same, aren't they.

Faith nearly transitioned a year ago this month. She was very sick for many months. Using Reiki, prayer, crystals, change of food, lots of sleep and supplements, I and friends were able to pull her back from the edge. Today she is a young 12 going on 3. I kid you not! She is better than before. In retrospect, and a blood test, we think she had Lyme Disease. I wouldn't take her to a veterinarian when she was sick because I believed based on the experience with my dear cat Sage, that they would have strongly suggested I put her down; saying with authority that her chances of pulling through were slim. I didn't want this in my consciousness. And they would have done a bunch of tests had I said let's try, and I didn't want to see my dog go through that.

Faith told me with her eyes, as she couldn't move or walk hardly at all, to stay with her and give her my energy and love. So I did, night and day for a long while.  I sent her energy through my hands and my mind in meditation. Friends joined me in both forms of treatment. She was all I paid attention to throughout the holidays and into 2010.  In time I got her to walk, if only a partial block. My husband lifted her everywhere else. We have lots of stairs in our home. We built ramps for her where we could and put her food up higher when she could finally stand up to eat. I fed her from my hands for months.

In late March I met a family practice veterinarian, at a training conference on non-violent communication. She was wearing a sweater that looked like a giraffe's skin. A giraffe is a character in the training, but neither she nor I knew about that when we signed up. The point in telling you this, is that it was the pattern kitted into her sweater that drew me to speak to her out of many people there. She was an answer to my prayers for medical expertise. She is now a close friend and my dog is completely healthy.

She practices a new vein of veterinary medicine, referred to as Family Practice Veterinary Services. Dr. KaLee Pasek is now teaching this approach to Vet. med students at University of  California at Davis. It's wholistic and includes the family and environment. It reminds me of my work as a psychologist, in using a systems approach to diagnosis and treatment planning.

If you haven't read the comments posted to "Do you own your first sewing machine?" click here to warm your heart or post your own experience. I loved the responses that were shared. Thank you all- your love for your first machine came through your creative heart and mind. It's amazing to me how close we hold the memory. I do of my first machine too. It was the one I bought on time payments when I was in college. It was a Viking, made in Germany. Heavy metal and all that, but it was in a case and portable. And yes, I still have it.

It is wonderful to be sharing with you through the blog and emails. Thanksgiving is the time of year to say thank you, but I am grateful every day for all the blessings in my life. Those blessings I hold closest are the relationships I have will all beings on the planet. Yep- all beings around the globe. We are all one. Namaste and Happy Thanksgiving to each of you and yours.

Love,
Kim


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Do You Own Your First Sewing Machine?

Who needs fiction when life is so amazing!  I was visiting a girlfriend's studio recently, admiring the art quilts she makes hung on the walls and stacked antique quilts stored in a tall cabinet. Along one wall were shelves and shelves of small old sewing machines. Some were made as toys, but  I was amazed to hear that most of the 30 or more on view were  not. They were made small with hand cranks in the days before electricity.  The miniature machines were a smorgasbord for my eyes and heart as I envisioned a woman using one.

Next I landed upon a metal machine that looked like the outside of an Art Deco building,  made with variegated green metal. In fact, it looked completely different from all the others. I wasn't familiar with the name stamped in the metal along the front edge.

My friend pointed toward the ground to a smallish square red sewing machine case. Oh, was it heavy to lift. I unlocked the sides, removed the top and voila, there was another one just like it, only this one was stamped Betsy Ross on the front. It wasn't a toy machine, but small for a child to use and it was electric.

She explained that when she found the machine displayed on the shelf, she was called by it looked until one day it dawned on her that it was like the machine she learned to sew on as a child  in the 1950s. Excited about the memory she searched the Internet until she located what was her machine and discovered that yes, they were exactly the same machine!

She bought the Betsy Ross machine on eBay, in perfect condition, case and all. As we looked at it, we wondered if this might actually BE her childhood machine. Stranger things have happened, right?

Then I heard a couple on the Today show this morning, who married in the 1950s and couldn't afford to buy their wedding photos. Recently the wife was searching through a 55 gallon barrel of scrap at a scrap/junk yard.  Digging through photographers scrap, when she was near the bottom she came upon THE  negatives of her marriage ceremony. Apparently the photographer had held on to them for years before tossing them and others out.

I think I'll make a mental list of what I've lost or tossed and would love to have back.  Let's see, there was a beautiful necklace from my Grandmother who wore it as a child herself that was taken by a house cleaning in the 1980s. It's funny what jumps to mind when I hear these stories.  How about you?

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American Folk Art Museum's Super Star Quilts Opened Yesterday

Stars, some of the most important elements of the natural world, are also a beloved and enduring motif in American quilts. Stars appeared in pieced bedcovers as early as the eighteenth century and remain popular with quilt artists today. The "Super Stars" exhibit illuminates one theme in the textile masterpieces from the  American Folk Art Museum's collection that is on display in the NYC 2 Lincoln Square location  from November 16 to September 25, 2011.

Stars do not make a major appearance in American quilts until the last quarter of the eighteenth century, when they were increasingly used as a pieced field motif. This was no doubt a response, at least in part, to the design of the flag of the newly formed United States. Conceived as a “new constellation,” the canton featured white five-pointed stars against a cobalt background, evoking once again the moral certitude of the heavenly canopy, as well as the strength of America’s victory. By this time, stars were also a strong element in the neoclassical lexicon. Their presence on quilts allowed the tenets of the classical world to resonate with the new republic in a highly fashionable manner.

It was not until the turn of the nineteenth century that a single eight-pointed star moved front and center in whole-cloth quilts, usually pieced in a solid-color glazed wool known as calimanco. But with the invention of the kaleidoscope in 1816, art and science took an unanticipated and dazzling turn. Quiltmakers, especially, embraced the refracted imagery produced by the kaleidoscope. Large single stars now blazed across cotton quilt tops, pieced from multitudes of diamonds that scintillated in rings from the center to the points. Staggered rows of repeated stars danced across the surfaces of bedcovers. By the Victorian era, the aspect of stars changed once again with the influence of exotic ideas from the Near East. Star motifs were interpreted for a new age in silk, velvet, and brocade show quilts.

"Super Stars" , curated by Stacy Hollander, highlights the dazzling diversity of this variable pattern as interpreted through more than one hundred years of quilt artistry. The museum has published a book of 200 of their most significant bedcovers in their collection to coincide with the exhibit. If you can't make the exhibit, get the book;  Quilts, Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum or give it as a gift.

 I have long pointed to the the museum's first quilt book, Glorious American Quilts,  as one of my  most prized books on the subject of quilt history. Beautifully written and photographed, it gives so much information helping me learn about the periods and influences on American quilt making.  I learned how to date quilts in part because of this book.

Given that the same author, Elizabeth V. Warren , and former curator of the museum, also authors their new book, it must be fabulous as we know more than we did in the early 1990s when Glorious was written (published in 1996). Also the museum has added about 100 bedcovers to its collection, including a  late 18th century patchwork quilt made with the Hewson panel in the center.  And yes,  it will also be on display for a time during their Year of the Quilt, in the Masterworks Quilts exhibits. (more on that in another blog post.)

Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum  By Elizabeth V. Warren, with a preface by Maria Ann Conelli, a foreword by Martha Stewart, and an introduction by Stacy C. Hollander. New York: Rizzoli International Publications in association with the American Folk Art Museum, 2010. 336 pages.



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Quilts Embellished with Poems, Words, Messages

I find myself dating quilts for people today, some of which are filled with signatures, others with a single name. All tell a story. As I search through my library to gather more information for them, I see the beautiful synergy of words and fabric coming together. Here are a few links for your enjoyment too.

• The Soldier  Quilt and Poets  
• Where Dreams Wait  quilt made for a quilt challenge with the theme  "Indelible Spirit."  It celebrated the indelible spirit shown in those who create art in spite of limitations
• The Seldom-Ever Shady Glades 
• Imagine your favorite quilt while reading this Tennessee  poet's poem
• A thread of poems about quilting, dreaming and nature by Judy Anne. (check out the poem Judy posted  in comments on the last post )
• I saw this fabulous exhibit Talking Quilts at the American Folk Art Museum. scroll down the page to see 4 antique quilts in the show,  click to a large view
• A compilation of photos of text sewn onto textiles for art's sake

Funny thing happened when I was sitting on my studio floor flipping through the books. My eyes caught a glisten of color against the carpet. My eyes followed it until I realized it was a lone thread that had fallen from the sewing table. So I bent forward to picked it up only to see that the thread was still coming up as I settled back down in the Indian style posture. What?

Thread was actually strewn and tossed all across the floor! The kitty had knock it off the table and pushed it all over until finally it went too far under the couch for him to reach. I quickly scanned for more deconstruction, as there were at least 15 spools of thread and 5 bobbins by the machine. I was grateful to see that he had tired after chasing just this one!

Thank you to everyone who has written me since I posted this week and sent wonderful message and shared their sense of sisterhood with the poems Delaine and I wrote. You bring joy to my heart. And to you I write this itty bitty poetry-

Piece for Peace
Live to Love
Shine your Light
for all to see
The beauty in thee

Keep the poetry and comments coming. Soon I'll post a scrappy "landscape with  stormy sky" I recently made.


Kim
http://quiltersspirit.blogspot.com/
http://livingtomakesenseofitall.com/


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Another Closet Poet Quilter

Delaine sent her poem "Into My Journal" in response to my post yesterday. She writes- "Kim, writing has opened my heart to myself, I did not start writing until I was very ill with Chronic Fatigue, I attended a writing for healing group and the doors opened and I feel it was the beginning of my returning to a normal life."

                           Into My Journal

As I open my journal, I step into a secluded windowless cabin.

I shut the door and the world falls away

Light from the outside shines through tiny cracks
This room can be very shadowy, sometimes it’s cold and damp

This is my inner place I have to light the fire

I carry the wood and bank the flames.

I am the keeper of the fire; I must illuminate the space.

If the room is to be warm I must do the work.

I kindle the warm glow of memories to light my way.

The hard emotional times are found deep within

I keep those memories concealed in the dark corners.

I  enjoy the silence and feel sheltered in my cabin.

In my journal I find the freedom to explore my inner fears.

I can take the candle to the dark corners only if I choose.

Yes there are times I will do just that.

With pen in hand I start a fire that draws me in

I seek understanding as my memories warm the room

My journal is a private place where I go to warm my soul.

___________________________________________
I love your use of  fire as an analogy for insight journaling. Bringing light to the darkness, within and without is so important. Thank you for sharing your poetry Delaine.

Delaine Gately also designed the cover of  Changing times: Women's Stories  and her winning story Mattie's Quilt was included inside along with another story she wrote titled The Little Box.

If you haven't tried to write poetry- the secret is to not try, but just free-flow write on a theme that you feel inspired by such as something said, felt or seen. Keep the sentences short, chunk them into stanzas afterward, and there is no need to rhythm.  If it's possible, write when the inspiration hits, as fast and quickly as you can. Your creative neurochemicals' spark is on your side for a short time, so grab it while it's hot. You can go back over it later. Inspiration is everywhere. I'm often grabbed by what someone says or buy a celebration, happy or sad, big or private.

And, of course, keep your poems coming, or post them yourself. I have others I will share if you would like that. Let me know dear readers.

Here is a little reminder about how to post a comment so that others can be a part of a discussion. There doesn't seem to be a way to comment directly from the Feedburner post sent to subscribers. It seems you must be on the Blogger page itself.  So if you click on the colored title of the emailed post you will be taken to the Blogger page it is on  and you will find the comment section at the end of the post.

If someone knows how I can make it possible to comment from the subscriber post, please get in touch with me.


Piece,
Kim

kwulfert@earthlink.net

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The Women's Conference, in Long Beach CA

Hello Dear Quilters!

It's been a long while since I posted to this blog. Only wonderful things have happened. I set an intention not quite 2 years ago to bring my right brain into power and creative action. What I wanted and envisioned was for my right abstract non-language, non-rational side to mingle balanced with the left or dominate at times over my left brain. I love my left brain but I wanted my right brain to contribute in an expanded way, all the time, always a part of my experience and my expression whatever that may be.

I stretched myself, climbed over boundaries and self-imposed hurdles. I  studied and pondered creative processing from a neurochemical POV, a spiritual perspective and reason for being important,  and I practiced dreaming  bigger. Most important I believe, is that I  mediated., regularly and will for the rest of my life. In a group, alone, in silence, in guided meditations, sitting, walking, writing, in service to humanity or for my personal growth.

My intention has become a daily truth and experience for me. I love it! It's natural now to use the right side of my brain, seeing creatively, acting creatively, flowing with it, and expressing it in a myriad of ways. Life is a creative expression when not resisted or twisted.

One of many unexpected creative expressions that has come forth from me  is poetry. It just started flowing out during journaling sessions following silent meditation. The poem  elow came forth, essentially as is,  after attending the Women's Conference, which is put on annually by the wife of the current governor of California. Maria Shriver has produced and designed the conference for the last 7 years, and this was her last. We have term limits here so Arnold's term  will be done in December.

Maria  and her female team put on the most inspirational, loving, informative, joyful and exhilarating conference this year as her final good-bye. Lucky for everyone, it's available free in video on their website. http://www.womensconference.org/. I urge you to watch Eve's (from the Vagina Monologues) and Maria's if you only have time for two. Both are on the Main Event Day on the website. Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, Oprah Winfrey, and Minerva Award Winners are excellent inspiring presentations as well as educative.All of them presented during the Main Event and Minerva Awards ceremony.

Here is the poem  I wrote:  Minerva's:Architects of Change

BE the change you want to see
I listen as this phrase calls out to me
Again and again I hear the words
As I've not yet risen above the herds

Purpose, passion, fearless ambition,
Discipline, leadership, inspired vision
Invoking these qualities for me and others
All of humanity; my sisters and brothers

Hear their desires, their cries and whispers
See their need, sense their hopes and inner stirs
Dream as big as the moon, the stars and sun
For changes I make will affect everyone

Notice the dark hidden places
See the pain in their faces
Hear the silence and feel the spaciousness
Rise to my own uniqueness

It's time, Maria Shriver is saying
For women who are full-out playing
As architects of change
In communities across the range

The challenge is to find
Minerva within your mind
Then pass it on
Through many lives in time
Many faces and designs
Women pass it on in kind
Through their bodies, hands, hearts and minds,
As the architects of change

Written by Kimberly Wulfert, October 26, 2010 at the close of The Women's Conference held in Long Beach, CA
________________________

Are you a closet poet too? If want to share one of your poems in the comment box- please do. Tell us how you write poetry? What inspires you? Share your thoughts with me on anything I've said. We are all one afterall.

Piece, and blessings,
Kim
http://quiltersspirit.blogspot.com/  Spread the word

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Ruby McKim's State Flower Embroidery Blocks

In July 2008 I posted about some unique (to my eye) and beautiful embroidered state flower vintage blocks that were shown during a workshop I just taught, maker unknown. Soon after, as synchronicity would have it, I came across a quilt of them and found out it was Ruby McKim's state flower blocks. I asked for the readers input. and this post likely has more comments on it than any other. Ruby McKim was great and powerful ! Pigeon-holing her to any one look is a mistake.

The versatility of her designs is amazing and admirable. It is not automatic when I see unknown designs to think of her and it's a pleasure when I hear she was the designer. Wouldn't you have loved to spend time with Ruby in person, learn from her, be a student in her design classes?

Today I received more info as a comment worthy of posting here too and revisiting the other post. The original post about the quilt blocks is linked here and shows pictures, and the comment is from Juanita Moore. She writes:

Juanita Moore has left a new comment on your post "State Flower Embroidery Quilt Blocks Mystery Solve...": Ruby Short McKim was from Illinois and lived in Independence, Missouri most of her life after training at the New York City Parson School of Fine Arts.

McKim became known for her pieced quilt art-deco like designs, which she had prepared in simple lines for machine sewing, according to the History for the Heart Quilt Paths Across Illinois record of the Illinois Quilt Research Project, a book written by E. Duane Elbert and Rachel Kamm Elbert, and published in 1993 by Land of Lincoln Quilters Association.

The embroidered state flower designs were first published by the Illinois State Journal in Springfield, and released Sunday by Sunday to prepare for a contest at the end. There was both a local and a national contest. What a great way to sell newspapers!

Ruby also did newspaper columns on quilts, and ran a studio from which women ordered her patterns. You could get just a pattern for 20 cents and the whole Oriental Poppy pattern with cut-out fabric to piece for $4.50 God Bless!

Today you can find Ruby's patterns for sale here, but don't count on those same prices!
http://www.patchwork-quilt-patterns.com/ This site has the McKim 48 patterns available.

Thank you to all of the readers who submitted comments. it so much more fun when there is a dialogue on my blogs. I have returned to my professional life as a psychologist and I am loving it. I use meditation, mindfulness practices for stress reduction and pain relief and the new ways of talking and relating that help develop integration in the client's brain. These are well documented forms of therapy today that simply weren't known or known to be effective when I was practicing in the 1980s and 1990s. So it is my pleasure to be in the field again.

That said, my love of quilts and history, and talking with other quilters via my blog, is still alive and well, but a much smaller part of my life. When we do connect like this, it's pure pleasure, Thank you all for being there.

Namaste and many blessings, fabric and otherwise,

Kim




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Creativity Breeds Creativity

I'd like to share my pictures set to music montage with you!  It starts to play as the window opens so scroll down quickly to see it! The cover picture is one I find compelling to look at, so take a moment now to look at it here. It fits the song.

There are two small quilts I made in the montage, my cat, and a Rose Parade float detail (bet you can't tell which one it is!)but most of it is photos I've taken of the nature surrounding my home here in Ojai. The song is by a young man who has written a meaningful and soothing song called "Life is Wonderful" and I credit him in the montage itself.

I liked the song  so much when I heard it, it led me to build the montage, as I listened to it over and over again. The song inspired me. Creativity flows from one sense to another, from one expression to another, if you let it.

I've not made a montage before and this service  gave us very limited choices, such as how long a picture stayed in view or shifted out was not my decision. This meant that where the photos landed in the song also wasn't my choice, just the order of their appearance was my decision.

This process reminded me to making a quilt in the stack and slash style - you don't know what you get until you're done. I could harp on how I wish it were different, but I am focusing instead on how many times a slide fit the music and how fun the whole thing was to make.

I also like the fact that it IS done. Finally a finished project in a few hours. Now that's creativity at it's finest!
________________________________

Next I am going to post some more quilts from the exhibit at the Jen Jones Welsh Quilt Center on Women On Quilts blog http://womenonquilts.blogspot.com
______________________________

Welsh Quilts on exhibit at the Jen Jones Welsh Quilt Center

THE JEN JONES ELSH QUILT CENTRE 2009 exhibit photos

The Welsh Flannel geometric patchworks were the focus of the inaugural exhibition at The Jen Jones welsh Quilt Centre. They are thrilled that, at last these wonderful artifacts have become universally recognized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Opening March 6^th 2010

Their new exhibition, 'Unsung Heritage: The Quilts Of Wales'  will be a further revelation in terms of the enormous spectrum within the Welsh quilting tradition.

They will feature the fiery reds including red paisleys and paisley shawl quilts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alongside these will hang the contrasting and diverse cotton patchworks and whole cloths that represent a major portion of the output during the 19^th and early 20^th century.

Early Cotton patchwork Merthyr Tydfil C1840

 Email quilts@jen-jones.com

www.jen-jones.com

My thoughts:

There is joy in viewing Welsh quilts due to the simplicity of the patterns, the contrast of the fabrics and a WOW in the incredible stitched quilting patterns. Welsh quilter's seem to bring the art of quilting (stitches) to the forefront of their work and of the times.

They share quilt styles with the English, and wool contrasting concepts with the Amish, but the quilting, it stands alone, in an outstanding way from most quilts through time. Our American made whole cloth wool quilts, or  are the closest quilts I know with ornate quilting. French made quilts have stuffed quilting with ornate designs, but they mostly favored channel quilting, or straight lines and angled quilting, not the swirls that are common on Welsh and fancy wool whole cloth  quilts.

If any of you visit the exhibit, please let us know more about it. We'd love to hear. You can email me, or leave comments.

American Quilts in a British Museum, New Book Shows Them to US!

Classic Quilts from The American Museum in Britain written by the curators of this wonderful museum in Bath England,  Laura Beresford and Katherine Hebert.

It was Katherine who contacted me earlier this summer, 2009, about the eagle quilt kit pictured in an article about eagle quilts that she had come across on my Antique Quilt Dating Guides website. I introduced her 9by email) to Madge Zeigler  owner of the kit, including the original packaging. The kit is by Paragon, titled American Eagle Quilt. It was first advertised in Woman's Day in the mid-1950s.

Katherine was about to put this book to bed when she saw this kit quilt and knew it looked like the one in Bath. The date-  '63 -is embroidered on the museum's quilt and due to the Federal period symbolism of the eagle in America, and the thirteen stars, swags and pots with flowers situated around its central placement. So they estimated it was likely made in 1763 or 1863, but frustratingly they couldn't say for certain. (How many of us have felt that feeling when it comes quilts we later find out were kits?)

She was thrilled to be able to validate that her quilt was indeed made with a Paragon Kit too, thanks to Madge's help of many pictures and the instructions.

In the book on pages 70-1 you will see stunning photography of the kit quilt and that the one in their collection was made in 1963. They write that this quilt pattern was based on a chintz version made in 1795. How fun is that!

Now I'll tell you a bit about the rest of the Classic Quilts book, but I know you will want it on your self if you love antique quilts.

There are very large detail photographs, including full page detail photos, as well as full views of the quilts. Quilting pattern and fabric prints are easily seen.

Sheila Betterton, formerly the textile and needlework specialist for the museum and largely responsible for getting this collection going at the America Museum, wrote the preface in 2008. Sadly, she passed away that same year. She began as a volunteer at the Museum in 1963. The book is dedicated to her.

The book begins with the history of the Museum coming to be and who do you think influenced the founders Dr. Dallas Pratt and John Judkyn? None other than our own wonderwoman of quilts, Electra Havenmeyer Webb, who founded and filled The Shelburne Museum in Vermont. It's a small world. The chapter includes an overview of the development of textiles and quilts in America. From here to the end of the book, nearly every page has photographs.

The quilts shown include a wool whole cloth, wool applique, pieced chintz, appliqués of every type and era, Amish, BAQ (looks very much like on held in the Maryland Museum of Art's BAQ collection), signature quilts, presentation album quilt, a 1848 hexagon quilt with inked centers in the typical GFG rosette pattern, and many more truly gorgeous quilts totaling fifty-five.

Two of them may be expressing sentiments of the Temperance movement. One is a red and white Drunkard's Path which they titled as Robbing Peter to Pay Paul, made by a Congregational church in Oriskany Falls, NY. c. 1889. The other is the Tumbler pattern, appliqued in red on a white block on point set with alternate red blocks on point. It was made in Texas, c. 1860 at  Mimosa Hall Plantation in Marshall. They refer to it as The Chalice Quilt. The back is machine quilted and the quilting hand pattern is the fan or elbow stitch.  The size is 87"X75".

It is here that you may want to close your eyes as a brief rundown of the Underground Railroad quilt myth is described. They also mention the ongoing disagreement about the validity of the concept followed by this- "Although the decoration of this quilt does not conceal codes for the railroad's conductor's, it none the less contains a hidden message. The repeated motif of the chalice represents not only the bishop but also, more importantly, the freedom of a better world to come, after a life of blood and suffering." This was new to me. You?

The next page shows the Harrison log cabin and cider barrel toile that was used on the back of a chintz quilt. It is the biggest and best photograph of that monochrome I have ever seen in a book.

I highly recommend Classic Quilts from the American Museum in Britain The quilts chosen for the book clearly represent American styles and the true nature of our history of quilt making is evident. Many of the quilts are like those seen in our museums and books. It's really quite fun to read what they say. The pride they feel matches ours. It's all good.

Classic American Quilts will be on exhibit at the museum in Bath in 2010, 13 March – 31 October 2010

www.americanmuseum.org

The American Museum in Britain
Claverton Manor
Bath.  BA2 7BD
Tel: 01225 460503 - Fax: 01225 469160

Reminder- this Thursday, Dec. 10, is my free telecasts on the Introduction to my workshop in January 2010 - 4 Ways to Access Your Guidance Within and the Bigger Vision for Your Life. Get call-in info here. 
(Scroll down to the box, fill in your name and email and the phone number and code will be sent in a few minutes. Check your spam file if you don't see it shortly.)

Open to your Creativity in my new Online Class- free Intro call this Thursday

I welcome you to join the Circle of Evolving Women to learn 4 WAYS TO ACCESS GUIDANCE WITHIN YOURSELF AND THE BIGGER VISION FOR YOUR LIFE.

Circle One- this Thursday, Dec.. 10, 5 PM Pacific, free introduction to the workshop series beginning in Jan. 2010. I'll explain the workshop, answer your questions, and I will give you a brief overview of my story of the last few years that led to the realization of these methods being the best way to find my life's meaning and living it each day totally alive in it, creatively, focused and joyful. You will be able to tell if this may be what you've been (perhaps unknowingly) wanting to have.

Circle Two: Mindfulness -
Define it and why you want it,
How leaders, teachers and other's experiences of it mean to their life,
How mindfulness accesses synchronicity and creativity to deepen your daily life
Experience it
Get tips on how to practice mindfulness during the week

Circle Three:  Meditation -
What is meditation
Effect on you physically/medical, psychologically/relaxation and spiritually/ connection to inner guidance/Source
Some ancient but still used methods described briefly
The simple steps to starting your own meditation practice, I.e. frequency, position, length of time
Experience a short guided meditation from my favorite teacher and share time.

Circle Four:  Journaling -
Defining it as I use it here for connection to inner guidance and moving forward
Describe several methods to use in various situations
How to set up your journaling practice
Experience the journaling process and share time

Circle Five:  Using Your Dreams -
Why bother to record and pay attention to your dreams
Learn an easy and grounded way to interpret them for yourself every time
Demonstrations of interpretation with this method using your recent dreams
How to set up your dream practice

Circle Six:  Intuition Flourishes
From there to here, looking at you from this new perspective,
Wrapping up your thoughts and remaining questions
Your next steps for moving on from here & facilitating the flourishing of your intuition

Optional Individual Circle -
To help you individually with your Evolving Women's Circle process, one private hour with me is available to you during the 5 weeks up to 2 weeks after it ends.

Please join me. For details and to get call-in information, http://tinyurl.com/yznl6tw  Start the new year off with an inner knowing that takes you where you can go. It's bigger and better than you are thinking it is now.

NEW Signature Quilt Database is online now at The Quilt Index & Quilt and Antique Sewing Machine links you'll want to check out

I hope your thanksgiving was a blessed and joyful one with family, friends and quilts to keep you feeling good. The end of this fabulous year is nearly here. I have some opportunities coming to you in 2010 if you want to intensify the good in your life and live it to the fullest.

I've placed some links you might want to check out for your quilting pleasure below the fabulous news of the Signature Quilt database now online at The Quilt Index! WE thank you so much!

As you may have heard, the Quilt Index recently launched its expanded website, with more quilts, a new look, and new zoom and comparison tools.

One of the most compelling components of the expansion is the Signature Quilt Project (SQP). In all, 61 signature quilts were uploaded to the Index, surpassing our goal. In addition, QI staff identified more than 2,000 signature quilts that had already been added to the Index by contributing institutions.

They were categorized into themes for easy navigation-

The Beginnings of Signature Quilts: The 1840s Signature Quilts: Friendship and Family Signature Quilts and Westward Expansion The Golden Age of Signature Quilts, 1876-1910 Redwork Signature Quilts Community, Club, and Church: Public Signature Quilts Contemporary Signature Quilts Love to Wini: Signature Quilts for Healing and Comfort

You can find the Signature Quilt Project at http://www.quiltindex.org/signaturequiltproject.php. Here, you?ll find an essay, ?Researching Signature Quilts,? by Amanda Sikarskie, Marsha MacDowell, Karen Alexander and Nancy Hornback, a bibliography of recommended reading on signature quilts, and eight curated galleries that group the SQP public submission quilts thematically:

We have also created a special search page for signature quilts at http://www.quiltindex.org/signaturesearch.php. You can quickly browse all of the SQP public submission quilts by following the links.

We invite you to try using the Quilt Index?s new zoom tool with the signature quilts. A good one to try (because of the large file size of the original image) is the Jamestown First Baptist Church Quilt, contributed by Jane Evans Leonard, http://www.quiltindex.org/basicdisplaynew.php?kid=4-15-5C.

An interview with Merikay Waldvogel on Collector's Weekly, http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-history-of-american-quiltmaking-an-interview-with-merikay-waldvogel-part-one/

I'm also including a link to our quilts page in case you haven't seen it:http://www.collectorsweekly.com/folk-art/quilts

Here's a clue to the last link I'll send today.

- September 25th, 2009 at 6:12 pm Lisa Said:
"I just listened to episode 2 and I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it. I have never heard an interview quite like this on any quilting podcast. I loved hearing about quilting from a psychologist’s perspective. Quilting really does have healing powers!
Keep up the good work!"

This podcast interview was done by Marceli Botticelli, a mother, wife and an architect in Boston, who also loves quilt making and antique Singer sewing machines and their history. She requested an interview with me in the summer and was a joy. her lovely accent may fool you a bit. She is from Brazil originally but has lived all over. i was honored to be her first interview for this new blog.

http://wholelottasinger.blip.tv/posts?view=archive&nsfw=dc has episode 1 & 2 in blip TV or go to her blog http://wholelottasinger.wordpress.com/

That's all for now. Wish you each a pieceful week. I have some yummy DVD and Book reviews for you coming up and the other stuff I mentioned at the top. Love you all! Kim



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Quilts and quilted items sewn in Nigeria to benefit orphans & women

Hi All,

As we move into the gift-giving season, I wanted to let you know about a non-profit organization that could fill allot of your quilting gift needs and help women suffering HIV/Aids. "Women of Hope is a dynamic sewing program that provides income for women and orphans infescted with HIV/AID. We believe in equipping women with skills so they can support their families." Your purchase will support them.

If you want to go straight there, here's the website- www.womenofhopecreations.com and blog
http://womenofhopecreations.blogspot.com

I receive a snailmail newsletter from the Mashiah Foundation in Jos, Nigeria and this one came with a full color brocheur of quilts and quilted items made in Nigeria. The items include David and Sarah Dolls dressed in typical Nigerian attire, fabric (prairiepoint)trivets, table runners, oven mitts, aprons, gift bags, yoyo bags (purses), notecards, cards with fabric on them, and of course pieced quilts for bed and walls.

Remember that next Wednesday, 11/11/09 my guest on Women On Quilts' tele-interview is Andi Reynold's, Executive Editor of America Quilter's Society. To get the phone number and details go to http://womenonquilts.blogspot.com



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Reminder AQS' Andi Reynolds, Wednesday 11/11 Tele-Interview

Have you ever dreamed of having a particular job, or kind of position that you knew would make your heart sing every day you were there? Andi did and she got it! This interview is for all you who have ever dreamed. But if you are afraid to dream too big or to believe in yourself enough you are getting in your way. Andi will tell us how she got to the position of Senior Book Editor at American Quilter's Society. She did not work her way up in the org, nor does she identify herself as a quilter, yet she has made quilts. it's a fascinating story that gives hope to all of us.

There is a picture of Andi and more details here about her and the topic.  She will be my tele-guest, and yours, on Veteran's day, the second Wednesday in November, 11/11/09. The lines will be open discussion. Bring your questions for her about AQS book submission, authorship, editing, writing articles or a study group magazines, as she was editor of "Pieces of Time" for the IL/Iowa quilt study group before taking the position in Paducah. If you prefer, email me your questions in advance and I'll ask Andi on the call. Reach me at interviewsbykim@gmail.com

Phone number for the call is 1-218-862-7200. The access code is 349853. Enter it at the voice prompt after you call in. You can use your cell phone. The interview is FREE. Any phone charges are yours. I believe the number I use goes to the Midwest. Please be in a quiet room so that when the lines are open (not muted) we can all hear Andi easily.

Please help me spread the word. It's only two weeks away before the holiday rush sets in.

If you missed the teleinterview with Kyra Hicks yesterday, the recording will be Women On Quiltsblog by Thursday. We had a great group and discussion. It was fun with all the input. Let's do it again on Nov. 11!

Quilt of State Flower Embroidery blocks

http://quiltersspirit.blogspot.com/2008/07/state-flower-embroidery-quilt-blocks.html  First, read this post above and the 11 comments with it to know what generated this post.

This post comes to you today with much thanks to recent comments with info and interest in the embroidered state, flower and bird block quilt pictures in the post I wrote last July for this blog.

To every time there is a season! I may walk like a snail on this blog at times, but I do get there. As promised, here are pictures of a quilt from a reader, Lisa Fisk, whose mother has had the quilt with the same elegant blocks that I featured close-ups of in the post linked at the top of this post, hanging on her wall for 35 years!

Thank you Lisa for the pictures and information you have graciously sent about the quilt to be posted here.

The quilt was made by my great-grandmother Ivy Lett in the early 30s.  100% is hand stitched even though she had a machine.  Ivy Lett quilted the Little Boy Blue pattern when my grandmother had my father in 1935, she was relieved when my grandmother had another boy and not a girl since she didn't like the other pattern as well.

(I, Kim, think the enhanced version shows the blocks better, so I have taken the liberty to enhance the pictures, back to their original coloring perhaps. Here is a side by side of the current picture (L) and enhanced (R))

Ivy Lett made mostly patch work designs, most of them did not survive her daughter's care.  My grandmother (Birdeena Dooley) put all of the quilts in the thin plastic from the drycleaners to keep them 'good' ... in a closet in her house, most of my great grandmother's best work mildewed and could not be saved.  Only two of her other quilts have survived, my sister has those.

 

My grandmother didn't learn to quilt/applique/do any handiwork until she was over 50 and needed projects for a club she was in.  Five of those quilts have survived, four of the others almost mildewed to death but were saved by my mother.

Fun, huh? If you have information and pictures of any vintage state flower bird quilts and want to share them, send them to me and I'll post them on Quilters Spirit.  Any comments on this quilt or pattern, please leave your thoughts below. We'd love to hear more about this genre of quilts.

Piece,

Kim

Andi Reynolds, Executive Book Ed. at AQS & and Old Menswear Made into Quilts Exhibit

Join us Monday evening, Sept. 21, when Andi Reynold's is my guest on Women On Quilts, with open lines for your questions. For much more info about Andi and the call in number go to Women On Quilts.  Tell your friends about and gather around your phone (It's Andi's Birthday!!! No charge for girl's night out)

All cotton, men's shirting stripes and a variety of conversation prints depicting men's sports, especially baseball.

MASTER PIECES: Haberdashery Textiles in Antique Quilts. Curated by Laura Fischer at NEQM NOW until Nov. 15 in Lowell, MA
The antique quilts on exhibit are made of menswear fabrics recycled from suits and shirts, neckties, pajamas, military uniforms, work clothes—even woolen underwear and socks. Some also resulted from the artful salvage of menswear swatch sample books and fabric mill remnants.The tradition of making unique, often very personal quilts from repurposed menswear textiles gained popularity around 1850, and lasted through the 1950s. The quilt below is made from their vests and hatbands.

The 40 quilts made from menswear, much of it recycled clothing, are intriguing, graphic works made from simple utilitarian fabrics long overlooked in the study of antique quilts.  Popular for about a century, these quilts are compelling and often whimsical. Simple squares arranged in a diagonal pattern prove on close inspection to be made from scraps of patterned jersey socks.

A shimmering kaleidoscope of diamonds in rust reds and yellows is pieced from 1950s neckties. Thin lines going in every direction look like a contemporary drawing are actually random scraps in a c. 1915 crazy quilt pieced of fine, striped silk shirting.

The narrow serpentine strips in the blocks of a 1905 Amish quilt are cuttings from woolen long johns. Bright, dimensional flowers are embroidered on a century-old, unlikely foundation of tailor's wool suiting swatches, as are a flock of vividly colored birds on branches.

Visually stunning and strikingly modern, these antique textiles make distinct graphic statements out of the most everyday materials.

The quilt on the left is made from suiting material.

The guest curator for the exhibit is noted antiques dealer and author Laura Fisher of FISHER HERITAGE in New York City.In addition to the quilts themselves, the exhibit will feature historic advertisements, swatch books, and catalogs from menswear companies, dating from the 1880s through the 1950s, including several items from the vaults of Brooks Brothers, the chief sponsor of the exhibition.

Today, the tradition revives in memory quilts made from old T-shirts and clothing that has personal sentiment. Recycling these materials is now considered environmentally aware, adding further appeal to their inherent design potential. Contact the New England Quilt Museum for programs and more info. Photos courtesy of Laura Fisher

For Andi Reynolds interview info go here.  It's happening this Monday evening, 5 PM Pacific, 7 Central, 8 Eastern.

Fabulous Antique Eagle Quilt Collections Now on DVD!

I want to tell you about my dear friend Susan Wildemuth's new DVD of quilts with eagles on them dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. Sue describes her DVD, Eagle Quilts – Antique, Vintage, and New this way --  "My Eagle Quilt History Study CD is a mixture of photographs and descriptions. It is part quilt exhibit – part quilt history study – part timeline of the evolution of the eagle quilt motif in the United States.”

Here is one of my favorite quilts in her collection -- (scroll down for another unusual 19th century quilt).

Sue told me, "The reason I collect eagle quilts is because I love quilting, and the eagle motif reminds me of my dad. Dad had his own brand of magic. Like Ben Franklin, my dad read everything he could get his hands on. His intelligence did not come from college studies; Dad went to the University of life, and like many parents from my generation, got his post-graduate degree in WWII. He is “the eagle” and the reason I collect eagle quilts."

This will be the first in a series of Quilt History Study CDs created by Sue  The other CDs in this series are still in development. Each focuses on a one-of-a-kind quilt history topic and will be uniquely different from the others. All are carefully researched and thoroughly documented.

“Eagle Quilts – Antique, Vintage, and New” is a PowerPoint-formatted presentation of the eagle motif in U.S. quilting history.  Utilizing photographs and descriptions, the study eagle quilts DVD is $9.95 --http://www.illinoisquilthistory.com/sale.html to order.

Sue has so much to offer you online and in print. She is an author, historian and quilting aficionado. Her research, writing and photographs have been published in national, regional and local quilt and textile history publications. Her web site Illinois Quilt History: Quilt History from the Midwest http://www.illinoisquilthistory.com/ was established in 2008, and her blog Eye of the Needle: Quilt History Conversation from the Midwest http://sew-eyeoftheneedlequilthistory.blogspot.com/ followed in 2009.

New Book about African-American Quilters, Past and Present

Hi Everyone!

It's been a fun filled, busy working, magical summer. I hope you are having a good summer.

Whew! It is hot hot hot in my town, going on 3 or 4 weeks now.  With the a/c on I can get allot of reading and writing done, but when I am trying to hold off to help prevent electrical overload it is dripping hot. I moved my "office" downstairs and I love it. I am using a 19th century sewing table as my desk. it is exactly 36" long with a yardstick measurement carved into it near the bottom edge, but not on the edge. It is 18" deep and the legs fold up!!

I wanted to link you to this touching video, seen on ABC news, about quilts being made in the Black community today. Black quilts: From slavery to the White House 

This new book is written by Patricia Turner,  a professor of Cultural Studies at University of California at Davis.

"Crafted Lives, Stories and Studies of African American Quilters"I have not read the book myself. The publisher's summary follows:

"

In Crafted Lives: Stories and Studies of African American Quilters, Patricia A. Turner explores the culture and recent history of African Americans through the creations and wisdom of nine quilters. Turner profiles quilters who exemplify the range of black women and men dedicated to the making of quilts, and she shows how their craftwork establishes order and meaning in their lives. The artisans comprise eight women and one man, ranging from teenagers to octogenarians, representing an array of education and income levels, and living across the United States, including Alaska.

Turner also probes the ways in which African American quilts and quilters have been depicted, discussed, criticized, and characterized. From the displays of Harriet Powers's creations at the turn of the twentieth century to the contemporary exhibits of such black art-quilts as those promoted by Carolyn Mazloomi, and such utilitarian expressions as the celebrated examples from Gee's Bend, Alabama, Turner uses quilts to assess the level of control African Americans have had or have not had over the materials they craft and the art they leave as legacy to new generations.

 

Stay cool!

Review of Kyra Hicks new book "This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers' Bible Quilts and Other Pieces"

 This I Accomplish: Harriet Powers' Bible Quilt and Other Pieces is the new book by Kyra E. Hicks. In it we learn facts never revealed about Harriet Powers, the former slave, born in 1837, who became the recognized quilt maker known today for her primitive style appliqué quilts depicting tales from the Bible and American history.

Kyra’s intimate style of revealing her research findings, step by step, feels like a Nancy Drew mystery unfolding before me. It is a page turner. “This I Accomplish” is intended for adults, but certainly would be enjoyed by younger history buffs too.

What little has been known, until now, of Harriet Power’s life has been documented in several publications and exhibits. Her workmanship displayed in her quilts have always been heralded as joyous, remarkable for their colorfulness and creativity. Yet, often Harriet’s illiteracy was used to justify or explain the primitive quality of her symbolism of Bible stories in appliqué figures and shapes. As Kyra’s research findings prove, Harriet was reading the Bible herself from a young age.

Mary Lyons, author of “Stitching Stars, the Story of Quilts of Harriet Powers,” shows a corollary between her animal shapes and those of appliqué cloth-workers in Abomey, Dahomey, (now Benin) in West Africa.

The intimate quality of this delightful book about a wonderful African-American 19th century woman is Kyra’s passion and joy exclaimed at each successful juncture in her discovery process. Reading her portrayal of the process of researching quilt history is like watching a reality show. Her highs, lows, questions, assumptions, hopes, surprises, searching and deciphering are all included in this informal yet packed with details book. The genealogy of all persons involved, a little to allot, is a large part of the book. The impact covers a broad range of people in America’s history.

Kyra establishes beyond a doubt that Harriet made more than two quilts. She delves deep into the history of the Pictorial quilt, which features blocks depicting both Bible stories and weather events in America’s past. Kyra’s deep respect and admiration for Harriet is easily sensed throughout the book, making Harriet became a real person and furthering my appreciation of her life.  (Read more here)

This I Accomplish is available on Amazon.com now. It is a book of high value for  many genres of people, not only quilters and quilt history students, but women's history, genealogists, those people wanted to see research in process, and American history enthusiasts.

Kyra Hicks, with her book, will be my guest interview in October on Women On Quilts. The lines will be open for Q & A.

My Transgenerational Quilt, 1835-1945 & 19th Century Fabric Swatch with Purchase Offer Extended to July 18th

The winner of one set of Antique Quilt Dating Guides on The Quilting Gallery's Friday Give-Away is Diana Higdon from Clarksville, Indiana. Congratulations to Diane.

Last week one set of my Antique Quilt Dating Guides...by Style were the featured Friday Give Away on Michele Foster's Quilting Gallery here -http://quiltinggallery.com/2009/07/03/antique-quilt-dating-guides-by-style/   Here is a shout out and big thank you to Michele Foster, the creator and publisher of The Quilting Gallery's many offerings.

My offer for a 9" swatch of 19th century calico (cut from antique yardage I was lucky to find years ago) with your order for a set is being extended to July 18, this coming Sat. until midnight. Michele asked if she could extend the offer from her website so again I decided to follow suit. Thank you to Janet Dykstra for answering my question about the origins of "following suit," which came from playing card games such as bridge or hearts. Of course now that I hear it, it comes back. I was an avid card game player during cold Chicago winters as a kid and I was good. We played gin, canasta, and double solitaire, but Michigan Rummy was my favorite when 4 or more were playing.

Here is the deal for you:

For each set of AQDGs ordered I will enclose a 9" swatch of late 19th century fabric, ca. 1880-1900. Until I run out of either fabric, you can chose the print you prefer to receive as your gift with purchase. They are like new, in perfect condition from my antique stash. The double pink photo looks fuzzy, but the fabric is perfectly clear.

Simply write Double Pink or White Floral on the comments line on the order page at www.antiquequiltdatingguides.com This offer has been extended until next weekend, July 18 midnight, PST. You can get 4- 2.5" squares, 4- 3" sqs. , 2- 4.5x9" strips, or keep it as one block in your quilt or fabric collection.

(left-This Guide is for 1900-1950 quilt styles only. On the front is a check list of the main features of a 20th century vs. a 19th c. quilt) The Guides will help you date the era of a quilt or decide upon the style you'd like to make with that great repro fabric you just had to buy!
_________________________________

This is one of my favorite quilt in my collection and this is why; the puss in the corner, or elongated nice patch blocks are made from beautiful intact, not faded early chintz and calicos, ca 1835. Steam and mineral dyed chintz, my favorite ones, often in ombre tones and wood blocks prints and early roller prints are combined with plain muslin that was bleached in it's day and now has a beautiful patina.

Apparently the blocks were put away until later in the century, like in the 1880s and put together with sashing in a Pepto Bismo pink color. Yikes! And again it wasn't finished, but folded away until the 1940s or there about.I assume that because if it were used as a top on another back there would be more evidence of use or fading I think, but of course, can not be sure. At last, someone who loved the blocks as much as I gave this top a back. She chose a fabric popular in her time that had a similar color of pink, in a paisley of pink and yellow-gold with thin black details and outline on the paisley shapes. She tied the layers together with floss through a thin flannel blanket for batting and it remains intact and safe today.

My Dating Guides would have alerted you to the fact that this quilt wasn't from one era had you been basing your thoughts on the fabrics. Dating quilts is so much fun!

Check out my next group discussion/interview tele-conference on Women On Quilts that I just posted. We are getting together on Monday. Please join us!

Have a great week everyone!

Kim