Flower Friday: October 16, 2020

 It's Flower Friday and before I go any further some inspiration from you all!

From Nann regarding the 6 question post:

My stash is enormous. Not only have I gotten bargains at estate sales, I have also been the beneficiary of two destashings and a giveaway this year. I've paid that generosity forward by sending fabric to other quilters. Re: the two flimsies you no longer love and don't particularly want to quilt. I'd give them to another quilter, either someone who does a lot of charity quilting or someone who would like quilts to practice on. The point is to get them out of your sewing room where they are a drag. Then you can make something new that gives you joy!

And from Libby:

Yes, I have a huge stash. I'm only buying mainly for "need" during the pandemic -- borders for a pair of twins and wide backs for finished tops. My scraps are in deep Art Bins and I forget to look in them. Yes, I have made scrap quilts but they need to be "controlled." I have far too many finished quilt tops but my LAQ is now accepting projects again. Simple is always best in my book. I let the fabric be the star.

Beth sent an interesting link to share with you!  Fascinating if you embroider or do wool work.  Read here.

Flowers from Libby are gorgeous coleus which seem so fitting for fall:

She sent two other photos of coleus but unfortunately, I can't download them for some reason 😕

Sue sent this photo from her garden in June:

Nancy's Clematis:

Esther's asters:

Hope you have a wonderful day today!  Any additional flowers I receive I'll share next week!  Stay safe!

How about you? 6 questions to while away the day...

I need a diversion.  I think you do too.  Instead of writing about history today, I thought I would ask you some questions.  I'll supply my answers but I'm really interested in what you have to say.  My email is below if you don't want to write in the comment area.

1-Do you have a big stash of fabric?  

Well yes I do.  I was fortunate to have been given a lot of fabric by retiring quilters and I've been sewing for a few decades.  A lot of my friends have shopped my stash as well.  I'm always happy to pass fabric along.

2-Are you buying fabric during the pandemic?

 I'm playing a game with myself these days.  During the pandemic, I'm trying to refrain from buying anything but neutrals.  

I've had to purchase black and white fabric once and chose to go with an independent store that would ship.

3-What do you do with your scraps? How do you store them, what kinds of projects do you do with them?  

Mask making reduced my bigger scraps.  I'm down to one drawer, primarily smaller scraps but not including vintage fabric:

My guild has a lot of projects that use up scraps:  placemats for Meals on Wheels, pillow cases, quilts for premie babies.

Before the pandemic I was making hearts with my small scraps and orphan blocks.  

I had joined the "I Found a Quilted Heart" program (here) and left hearts at parks and near the school.  I also embellished a lot of them with buttons and doo-dads.  It was a lot of fun, especially when someone reported that they had found a heart and it had made their day brighter.  

Once the pandemic broke out, we were encouraged to stop leaving them and I did.  But I still make them.  Maybe for Valentine's Day this year, I'll hang some of them on my little tree out front for decoration.

4- Have you ever made a scrap quilt?

Yes but most often, I do this as an I-Spy kind of quilt.  I made this "Cup of Cheer" quilt from Christmas scraps:

and another Christmas scrap quilt, snowballs for a friend's granddaughters (I made two of them):

I'm thinking of doing a "Tiny House" quilt now with scraps using the Missouri Star Company's tutorial here.  A lot of quilters were making this kind of quilt during the lockdown but called it "Shelter In Place."

5- Do you have a lot of quilt tops completed?  Do you have any that you don't like anymore?

Unfortunately, yes and yes. I'm not worried about quilt tops that I want to finish but I do have two tops that I just can't stand anymore.  What do you do in this case?  I'm thinking of taking apart one and making donation placemats out of them (or making it smaller and making a hospice quilt).  The other piece is smaller and I still have no idea what I'm going to do with it.  Suggestions?

6-Lastly, what kind of quilt patterns are you gravitating towards during the pandemic?  

Anything that makes me happy or is simple to make.  I am most definately NOT interested in patterns that are complicated.  There's too much chaos and I need simplicity these days.

Well that is enough questions for you for one day.  Tomorrow is Flower Friday and if you have a photo/image of flowers or floral textile, etc.  Email me at allentownquilter@gmail.com

Quilt Pageants

 I think we are all in need of a dose of simplicity and sweetness these days.  So I wanted to feature a slice of a bygone era.  If you are anything like me, you hear the word "pageant" and some interesting images come to mind...

I have a file on "Quilt Pageants" with a different meaning.  Quilt Pageants appear to have become popular during the Great Depression and began to wane off during the 1960s and 1970s.  I  speculate that this time coincides with the rise of quilt guilds and when I read more articles on pageants, I wondered if quilt guild programs derived from these kinds of events. 

Of coures there were always quilt shows:

1932, Iowa

But the pageants appear to be quite different. They were meant to be entertaining, informative, and for the public.  Quilters went all out at these events and the programs included songs, poems, dances and history.

I know that for some people making a performance out of quilting might seem hokey and even ridiculously sentimental but it was a different era.  In most areas around the country, people purchased a piano because it provided entertainment.  Folks did not feel self-conscious about singing together and entertaining themselves.  My brother and I are probably the last generation in my family to experience this.  As a child, I would play at the piano at family gatherings while my father and grandfather (both tenors) sang tin pan alley classics and Irish ballads.

Historical pageants were very common during the Colonial Revival era and I'm sure that the quilt pageants were a natural by product of that kind event.  Wallace Nutting made a living selling photographs that depicted this kind of thing:

I thought you might like to read a bit about quilt pageants so I scanned some articles that you might find fun to read.  The performances are so interesting because often the women placed special meaning not only to the quilt but the pattern:

From Bangor Maine, 1934:

 Vineland, NJ, 1934:

Elizabethtown, Illinois, 1941:

Have you made a quilt that you would be comfortable featuring in a quilt pageant?  If so, what quilt is it and what entertainment would you like as the quilt was exhibited?  Humor me with thoughts or photos at allentownquilter@gmail.com

Have a safe and happy day!

Rainy Monday: Noah's Ark

 

It's a rainy Monday and all of the gardeners here in the Lehigh Valley are sighing with relief.   I can't say the same for my dog.  She looked outside and returned to bed.  Scout has decided it's a good day to sleep in.  For me it's a good day to do a rambling post.

It's no surprise that I love textiles and I love paper.  The Nancy Page Quilt Club Scrap Book combines both of these loves.  Florence La Ganke Harris was the author of these patterns and you can read more about her here.  In 1931, the Nancy Page Quilt Club offered a suggestion for storing quilt patterns--women should put together a scrap book or patterns!

"Keep quilt patterns in beautiful scrapbook," the author declared. 

So you received a copy of the cover and then were to embellish the words with fabric, crayons, etc.  Over at the Sentimental Stitches blog, there is actually a photograph of one of them (here).  

Even before I collected quilts, I had amassed a pretty large collection of quilters' notes in the way of copies of patterns (embroidered or diagrams).  There was never anything personal written on the notes but I always figured if the quilter had taken the time to save these notes, I should too.

I think it is unlikely that our local women decided to start a Nancy Page Scrap Book.  I couldn't find any articles in Lehigh Valley newspapers.  I think it was exceedingly clever of Florence La Ganke Harris to legitimize all the ephemera quilters saved and encouraged a "Scrap Book."  How do you store your favorite patterns?

So because of the rain, I've been thinking about Noah's Ark patterns.  Through the years, there have been quite a few kit quilts done on this theme.

Nancy Page Quilt Club published a pattern of Noah's Ark in 1929. 

I thought this was fascinating because it was published as a wall hanging.  The pattern was to be appliqued and each week, a new part of the pattern was published.

I've never seen this piece completed but would love to--if you have, please email me!

There's an appliqued Noah's Ark quilt here.  The website dates it circa 1930.  It's actually a Paragon Kit quilt from 1943.  There were quite a few Noah's Ark quilt kits in the later part of the 20th century and it remains a popular pattern for children.

Another Noah's Ark pattern is from after World War 2 but it is for embroidery.  It was published in a UK sewing magazine called Needlecraft and Needlewoman.  Frequently, the magazine included a page of iron-on embroidery transfers.  I've collected a few of the magazines that I found locally.  One of the magazines had a Noah's Ark wall hanging.  I made this small wallhanging 7 or 8 years ago:

Noah's Ark is a fun pattern for any child's room.  I like how similar it is to the Nancy Page wall hanging.  If you are interested in making something like this for a youngster in your family, I sent the pattern to my friend Martha many years ago.  She put a copy on her blog here and it should be an easy pattern to copy!

Have a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday: October 9, 2020

 

Happy Flower Friday!

It's Friday and we brighten up these autumn days by posting anything floral!  Thank you Libby and Betsy for sending these wonderful and happy photos!

From Betsy in Pennsylvania:

What a gorgeous color on her fading hydrangea!

What is this yellow flower Betsy?  It's lovely!

From Libby in Tennessee, her amazing knock out roses!

Libby share her "encore azaleas" which bloom twice! Wowsa!

I'm excited because my clematis is blooming.  It's been a slow starter but such a pretty flower!

Asters from my brother:

Mountmellick Embroidery

 

Mountmellick embroidery is a white on white type of embroidery.  It is heavily embroidered and the stitches used create an amazing texture.  It is believed to have been created by Johanna Carter in 1825.  It is considered to be one of the few needleart techniques that originated from Ireland.

When the Great Irish Famine broke out in 1845, Quaker communities set up food kitchens throughout Ireland.    One million people starved to death in just 1845-1851.  It has been estimated the population declined for the next century.  The Irish were treated so badly that Tony Blair formally apologized to the Irish in 1997.

In 1880, a Quaker woman named Mrs. Millner created  The Industrial Society of Mountemellick for Distressed Gentlewoman.  She taught and  employed local women the embroidery technique--in a southern Irish town called Mountmellick.  Only 10 years later, 50 local women were employed by the society.  The embroidery and the technique remained popular until World War 1.

When President Kennedy visited Ireland in 1963, he was welcomed with gifts including a Mountmellick bedspread.  I couldn't find a photo of that exchange but thought you might like to see at least one example:

Tomorrow is Flower Friday and if you have a floral image, textile, or actual flower you wish to share, email me at allentownquilter@gmail.com

Have a safe and happy day!

And more about Sue...

 Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I had internet issues until last evening!  I wanted to do an updated post on our friend Sue.  I talked about "A New From Old" last week and that theme continues.  Often I find quilting ideas from antique quilts I see and so does Sue.  Here is a quilt she saw for sale on the internet.  It was a variation of Joseph's Coat, circa 1880 and cost $3,995.

Sue made her own for a friend based on this antique quilt:

Gorgeous hand quilting!!!

I was surprised to see that there were comments on Sue's handkerchief quilts from the Netherlands!  One of the comments was from Gerry van der Lugt, a well known and award winning quilter from the Netherlands.  You can see some of her quilts here and here.

Thank you for your inspiration Sue and Gerry!

Have a safe and happy day!