I wonder if you go in sewing phases too? Right now, I just feel like piecing. I finished making 16 patches from a jelly roll I had and then...put them in a drawer. I felt like piecing more blocks and not arranging a quilt.
So now I'm using up charms and making disappearing four patches. I hadn't used that pattern in years and I've been having fun with it. I like the relaxation that piecing the same block brings. At first (because I didn't remember the block that well), I diligently followed instructions but then something kicks in and it just becomes a relaxing activity.
I end up doing as many as I can with no particular quilt in mind but simply and completely enjoying the process. For now, I'm just enjoying the crisp stack of blocks I complete. I know that later I will be grateful for having the blocks when I do feel like assembling a quilt.
This kind of peace is not unlike when I hand quilted or knit. Do you know what I mean?
I hope I always enjoy this process. In 1929, a newspaper article in Missouri reported that Aunt Katy Brooks was 2 months from her 100th birthday. Aunt Katy spent her time piecing as well. By the September issue of the paper, she had just completed her seventh quilt of the year. You go Aunt Katy!
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Another article I found was published in 1914 and did not discuss the peace of piecing. It was from a woman who enjoyed piecing and had a point to make:
"Well reading in the Independent Farmer, I noticed an article about piecing quilts. The woman who wrote said it was a waste of time to piece quilts. Now there is nothing nicer than a lot of quilts...everybody here pieces their own quilts and uses them too when they are finished....
...people now days think that pieced quilts are old fashioned so they work for months at a time on a piece of fancy work that doesn't amount to anything when finished. It is only made to look at. While they are glad enough to sleep under a lot of home made quilts on these cold winter nights..."
Throughout our history of quilting, there have always been articles about quilting revivals.
1869
1899
For a while I collected these articles and headlines during the 19th and early 20th century until it seemed silly to me. The truth is that quilting never really went out of style. What I think differed is that the Who's Who in determining what should make news had taken notice of what women were doing (especially when more affluent women took up quilting).
I suspect that you share that love of peace we find in the making of a quilt (sometimes I think it is better than the joy of finishing).
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Tomorrow is Flower Friday and if you have any photos you can share, please email me at allentownquilter@gmail.com!
Have a safe and happy day!
I always snicker when read that quilting came back into style because of the 1976 bicentennial. It had never gone out of style where I live!
ReplyDeleteI definitely do find peace in piecing, and miss it when I can't get to the sewing machine! Fun to read the historical notes that you have collected about quilting!
ReplyDeleteI liked your comment; "better than the joy of finishing." I was commenting to my SIL about how I wish I was as good a housekeeper as she was. She mentioned how satisfying is was to have the whole house vacuumed and see the lines of vacuuming in the carpet. My brother chirped and and said, "It's like when you finish a quilt." He has no idea what it's like to work on a quilt for months and then finally have it completed. It compares in no way to something that takes only a morning to accomplish. Although I'm grateful my SIL takes pride in her clean home because it is always really lovely. But, it's not the same thing. Mainly because the satisfaction of completing a quilt is wrapped up in the knowledge that now you can start the next one. I love the peace of hand quilting. It's like a gift
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