Flower Friday: September 10, 2021`

 

It's Flower Friday!  The days are shorter, the evenings are cooler, and now I see the kids walking to school.  Clean-up in the garden has commenced as we all brace for the inevitable falling of the leaves in a month.

This week we had a fun photo from Nann of a bumble bee busily collecting pollen from a teasel:

Sue sent a photo of a perennial Ageratum.  In her area, she has a lot of deer and she said this is one of the few flowers the Bambis have left:

In my garden, most of the potted annuals are looking poorly but the salvia that I planted in the ground has come into it's own and is vivid:

The Turtle Head (Chelone) is in bloom with the Beauty Berry Bush that Barb S. gifted me a few years ago:

The roses are valiantly blooming:

Wishing you all a safe and happy weekend!

Stay well!

Scrap Photos

Greetings friends!  Well I'm a little fried today so I thought I would just post some photos of the vintage scrap fabric I'm attempting to use up.  I was given most of the fabric by friends who had quilting relatives that passed years ago.  I've just been hanging on to it and I need to do something.

There's quite a few patches of mid-century fabric.  I like the one below.  For whatever reason it reminds me of the "Big Eyes" paintings of children that were so popular in the late 60s and 70s.  I don't like the paintings but I like this aqua print:

There were a lot of 4 inch patches cut.  I'm using these up now to make 4-patches with leftover white backing fabric scraps that I never threw out.  I've made pretty made four patches but still have this pile left.  I think the top fabric is from the 1960s.

I wasn't even sure what I would do with these blocks but today Diann at Little Penguin Quilts has a photo of a four patch quilt she's working on and it inspired me to consider using a solid alternating patch.  Not sure what color yet since there is a wide variety of fabrics.

Whatever tops I do make, I'll call "Deep Scrap Bags" and number them 1, 2, etc.  There's even a few pieces of home decorative fabric from the 60s and 70s.  I love this brown fabric but only have two scraps of it.

My sewing room is in utter chaos with all these scraps arranged everywhere and I haven't even gotten to the big suitcase of yardage that was given to me:

 Well one step at a time.  I'm sure to tire of this and it's possible I won't tackle the yardage for a while.

Tomorrow is Flower Friday and if you have any photos to share, please email me at allentownquilter@gmail.com!

Have a safe and happy day!

Story Time Stitches: Mary LaFetra Russell

 

Mary LaFetra Russell is very popular with those of us who adore children's book illustrations and in the 19-teens to the late 1930s she illustrated a variety of children's books.  Her art had a gentle charm and tenderness.  Here's just a few of her book covers:

I can't tell you a single thing about Mary though.  I've never been able to find out her birth or death dates, where she lived or even if LaFetra was her maiden name or her mother's.  This is highly unusual but the only newspaper articles I was able to find on her refer to the books she illustrated. 

She also illustrated postcards in the early 19-teens which may signify when she got her professional start in illustration.

She was obviously popular and her work was adopted into sewing as well.

Above is what I think was a kit for an embroidered pillow.  You can barely see the dots at the bottom of the photo which surround the piece to form a square.  This was gifted to me by my dear friend Pam B.

Mary's artwork was used in other embroidery as well.  Here are a few examples from a redwork quilt:

Some of you may recognize her work.  In the last decade or so, Amy Barickman published a cloth panel-book of Mary's Mother Goose Book published in 1914:

Her designs are still sold for embroidery.  Here are a few I made. I think it's high time I sew these into a quilt:

It's so unfortunate that we don't know more about this artist. I am not the only who adores her work.  There are pages of her illustrations on Google and Pinterest and I hope you take the time to enjoy her work!

Have a safe and happy day!

Story Time Stitches © 2021, Michele McLaughlin

This and That Tuesday: August 7, 2021

 How was your holiday?  Ours was quiet, we mostly worked on the house (garden and gate construction).  

I've designated this month as September Scrap month.  Have you ever gotten to the point where you just have to do something with scraps because you felt like you were drowning in them?

The last two weeks I made blocks for upcoming children quilts and probably have made enough for four quilts.  I also put together a quilt for a neighbor's grandchild and a doll quilt for my cousin's granddaughter.  

Jeez, I didn't take photos of anything!!!  I guess that's because of the generation I come from 😁

Now I'm working on vintage fabric that people have given me.  The fabric is mostly from the 1930s-1950s.  I figure if I make a lot of the blocks now, it will be easier to store and later assemble quilts.

What are you working on?

*****

Here are two bibs from my collection that I forgot to share.  I'm keeping these charming redwork bibs.

I'm not sure of the function of this piece.  It's fairly small but it's charming so I'm sharing it with you:

*****

The Covid news here is fairly grim these days.  My vaccinated niece now has it and I feel terrible that I can't go take care of her.  She is only in her early twenties and got it at work.

My husband is expected to travel to Canada later this week and needs a negative Covid test result to get in the country.  We thought it was going to be easy for him to get a test but it is turning out to be more challenging than we expected.   Everyone is booked up and one site told me, "don't send him here if he is healthy, we are not a safe site!"  

Local Montgomery County has now declared that people need to wear masks indoors and out because the pandemic is so bad there.  

All this to just stay, double mask and stay safe!

*****

Finally, here is a cushion to make you smile.  I couldn't resist it because of the funny stuffed tail!

Have a safe and happy day!

Happy Labor Day: September 6, 2021

 Happy Labor Day!

Normally I would post a vintage or antique postcard that commemorated the holiday.  Today I thought I would do something different.

Today I celebrate a local quilter named Irene (Boger) Schock (1916-1996).  I don't have a photograph of her but I wanted to acknowledge a woman who worked outside the home.  Here is the story.

Years ago, I attended an auction and bought a box of things which included two quilt tops.  I was lucky.  I knew the auctioneer but whenever I bought something from this particular auction and requested the name of the family who submitted the quilt or top, my requests were ignored (versus some other auctioneers who would actually put me in touch with the families so I could acknowledge the quilter).

But on this particular day, I struck gold.  As I went though the items I found a large wooden box full of quilt patterns, cardboard templates, and (kawabonga!) envelopes of patterns that had been delivered to the maker's house.

That is how I learned Irene's name.  I cannot tell you how delighted I was and even more so when I found templates for the tops I had purchased.

Irene's Mohawk Trail Top.  It is unfinished.

Note that she had chosen to applique the piece:

Irene was from Germans Corner.  She and her husband John were married in 1933.  The couple had 3 children and celebrated their 60th anniversary before John passed.  

Irene didn't have a glamorous job.  She worked at a potato packing plant until her retirement.  Her box of treasured patterns illustrates her passion for quilting.  Not only did she save the patterns but her box was full of diagrams she had made and notes which conveyed her love of sewing.

A humble paper bag was used to create her design for a Lemoyne Star.

Irene's Orange Peel top.

Irene's treasures apparently were cherished by her daughter as well.  The tops and patterns didn't go to auction until Irene's daughter passed away.

All the postcards that I found to commemorate Labor Day featured men.  But many women often worked outside the home and today we celebrate all the people who work tirelessly to support their family and make the world a better place.

Have a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday: September 3, 2021

 Happy Flower Friday!

We are enjoying a brief spell of cool weather in the Northeast part of Pennsylvania and it's wonderful to comfortably work in the garden.  

Sue sent this wonderful photo of her hydrangea:

and her Garlic Chives in full bloom:

Sue says this is her last rose of summer.  Fortunately they made it through the storm:

My moon vine began blooming last week.  Here is the first flower that bloomed:

These are the seed pods from Balsam that I talked about before.  The touch me not seeds aren't quite completely ready to harvest but I'll show you the seeds when they are!

Another 4:00:

Our celosia or cock's comb haven't been performing well this year.  I noticed that my neighbors aren't either.  Have you had a good crop of that annual?

Our pretty hibiscus continues to please us.  It just keeps on blooming!

Decades ago, HGTV used to have some wonderful gardening shows.  This is a pretty common form of a variegated hosta.  But as soon as I saw this plant this morning, I realized I had to work on it.  I recalled an old HGTV show that taught that when you see green leaves forming on a plant like this, you have to cut them out right away or the plant will become solid green.  That's on today's list in the garden!

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Hug-Me-Tight

 I have two formerly stuffed animals in my collection.  I never found a pattern for them but that doesn't mean there wasn't one available:

The fraying at the side of the rabbit and the bottom of the dog is where the stuffing was inserted.

I suspect these are from the early 20th century.  A few years ago (and perhaps through until today) crafters were making what they referred to as stuffies, maybe it was the new hip name for stuffed animal.  Often the toys were homemade patterns of animals or even monsters or aliens that people made for their kids.  I found a different name years ago that I prefer:

Hug-Me-Tights.

Hug-Me-Tights says it all doesn't it? 

This article was published in a needle art book published in 1917 by the Virginia Snow Studios in Elgin, Illinois.  There is a blog article about the studios here if you are interested.

The designs for these Hug-Me-Tights were created by Grace Drayton.  I'm sure the designs were panels not unlike the stuffed toy panels we have seen for decades.  Drayton apparently had a variety of these printed because I found this one on pinterest:

It's well loved hugged, isn't it?

Tomorrow is Flower Friday and if you want to share a photo, email me at allentownquilter@gmail.com.

Have a safe and happy day!