Flower Friday: May 14, 2021

 Happy Flower Friday!

Sue asked if I knew what these were and I do.  These purple flowers are English Hyacinth or sometimes referred to as English Woodland Hyacinth.  They spread like crazy.  Sue said they were at her house when she bought it and they were also growing here when we moved in--but ours are white.  

Betsy sent a photo of her pretty columbine and I think that is a lovely Japanese fern in the background!

Betsy's allium!!!  So pretty!

My astrantia is beginning to bloom.  It's on the left of the photo above.  I'm really printing this because I sent Diann some seeds and now that spring has sprung in Colorado, I thought I would share what the foliage looks like if she planted the seeds!

May apple flower!  I got May Apples from my friend Pam and they always make me smile.  She was such a sweet woman and a great gardener.  I really miss her!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!  I intend to spend all my time in the garden this weekend!

Have a safe and happy day!

Those Quilt Booklets...

 Yesterday I wrote about the thin quilt pattern booklets that were sold in the 1960s and 1970s.  Remember the ad?

In comparison to previous decades, the booklets reveal the lack of innovative quilt patterns created during this time.  Most of the patterns are remakes of antique quilts or patterns published in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s.

Some of them are interesting because they resemble more of a quilt you might buy at J. C. Penney than a homemade creation:

Above :"The Scotch Quilt"

Below:  "The Tailored Quilt for the He-Man Who Likes His Comfort"  Both are from 15 Quilts for Today's Living.

One exception was Jean Ray Laury.  While an art student, she began to work in the quilting medium.  In 1956, she produced a really unique quilt called "Tom's Quilt" and dedicated to her 4 year old son, Tom.  What made this quilt exceptional for the time was that she created a truly personal piece that reflected her own world and that of her son's.  Personal quilts of this nature are common now but that was not the norm in the 1950s.  You can see Tom's Quilt here and read about Jean Ray Laury's wonderful contributions to quilting here and here.

Jean was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame in 1982.  I have loved her work for a long time.  She was a strong supporter of the sunbonnet quilt pattern at the same time the pattern was being maligned by other quilters.  She wrote and illustrated a number of humorous books about quilters and used Sunbonnet Sue as the representation of what we all experience as quilters.

Most of all, I love her color and the joyfulness in her quilts.  I hope you check out her work.  Jean passed in 2011 but her quilts live on as a tribute to her wonderful spirit!

Today, I am baking cookies as I write this--which seems very weird considering it is almost mid-May.  It was 38 degrees when I woke up (I don't bake it warm weather).  It's been a fairly cool week here in eastern Pennsylvania but not as bad as our friend Diann who had snow in Colorado last week!

Let us know what is going on in your world by participating in Flower Friday!  Email me your flowers and plant images and I'll share them on the blog tomorrow morning:  allentownquilter@gmail.com

Have a safe and happy day!

 

The Church Ladies

A 1950 photograph of women quilting published in Collier's magazine.

The thing about history is that nothing is ever as black and white as it might seem.  In quilt history, we learn that during the 1950s and 60s, quilting wasn't as popular as it had been during previous decades.  But  quilting didn't die.  It just changed.  There were less free quilt patterns published in newspapers.  It is likely that the commercial aspect of quilting had changed.  I have a ton of thin pattern books from the 1960s that were sometimes advertised in newspapers:

The country changed after the war and society became more consumer oriented.  In part, this may have been due to FDR.  During the war, he had held secret meetings about the country's economy and what could be done to prevent another post-war Depression.  

Eisenhower's Infrastructure Plan didn't hurt either.  In that 10 year plan, our interstate highways were built and helped to insure not only the safe travel of citizens, but employment as roads, tunnels, and bridges were constructed.

But quilting didn't die out.  It just changed.  As one article in The San Francisco Examiner pointed out in 1957:

"...today hand quilting has all but died out as a form of needlecraft, being practiced only in a few rural sections and by scattered church groups."

Quilting articles from the 1950s through to the early 1970s have a one large theme:  Church Ladies.

From Elizabethton, TN: 1963

From Grand Junction, Colorado: 1968

Fullerton, PA: 1959.  These ladies moved out of the church basement when it became too damp and cold to work and set up in a member's home.

The church ladies created their own pieces and could be hired to quilt tops.  The money then went to support the church and often they met weekly or bi-weekly.  It was a good moneymaker for the churches and often a great social event as women chatted around the frame.  

When my parents married in the 1950s, the first thing my grandmother did was to commission a church group to quilt an all white bride's quilt.   My parents had it on their bed for decades until it finally wore-out.  To this day, my mother swears that the heavily quilted piece was the warmest quilt she ever slept under.

 And then flash forward to the Bicentennial.

Close-up of a piece of fabric from my collection commemorating the Bicentennial.

In 1976, our local paper published an article on the Church Ladies again but oh how it had changed!  First of all, the piece was a full page and then some; the contents indicated how popular quilts had become.

"Quilting circles in the Lehigh Valley aren't looking for business," the article began.  "They're blanketed with orders."

Of interest is the fact that the ladies were so busy that they were only quilted finished tops that customers supplied.  As one woman remarked:  "You'll have to look a long way before you'll find a church that still makes the entire quilt."  Wait lists could be as long as year and customers at many of the churches were only allowed to supply three tops per their turn.  "The costs for quilting isn't as bad as the wait to have it done," one customer stated.

There was one other change reported by the newspaper and gradually indicated in articles in the late 1960s:  quilting classes.  Often the classes were taught at local YWCAs or other community groups.  By the 1970s, the classes were also being taught at local community colleges (many of you may have even taken them there).

Church ladies' quilting groups were certainly one factor that kept quilting alive during the decades before the Bicentennial.  Hats off to the many Church Ladies that kept our beloved craft going!

Have a safe and happy day!

 

No Flag Quilt for Grace

 Grace Goodhue Coolidge was the wife of our 30th President, Calvin Coolidge, aka "Silent Cal".  

Grace Coolidge was an interesting woman.  She was college educated and taught at the Clarke School for the Deaf before her marriage.  I like any woman who had such an outgoing personality that she was nicknamed "Sunshine" by the Secret Service.  Grace was also known for her sewing, crocheting and knitting skills. 

 "Every girl should be taught to sew, not merely for the sake of making something but as an accomplishment which may prove a stabilizer in time of perplexity or distress." she once wrote.  "Many a time when I have needed to hold myself firmly, I have taken my needle, it might be a sewing needle, some knitting needles, or a crochet hook; whatever its form or purpose it often proved to be as the needle of the compass, keeping me to the course.

After her son passed in 1924, she comforted herself by crocheting a coverlet for the Lincoln bed in the White House:

However, Grace had a strong sense of decorum and her position as First Lady.  In 1925, a newspaper article was published about her and a request from a group of quilters:

"Mrs. Coolidge does not intend to become a party to anything she interprets as misue of the American Flag," the article reported.  "The story came from White Court today that a group of Middle-Western women sent in a quilt on which a large flag was embroidered and asked her to autograph it so it could be sold at auction.  She did not consider a bed quilt an appropriate place for the emblem and returned it without her signature.

Finally when the women sent her a plain white quilt she affixed her name."

Images of the flag offer appear on quilts.  I have two quilts that have flags embroidered on them.  This one is a Ruby McKim pattern:

Another striking example is a Red Cross quilt from Ken Burns' collection that you can see here.

Still Mrs. Coolidge stuck to her position and that has to be admired.  The American flag holds different meanings to individuals.  I remember my father once telling me about when he was a little boy and played marbles with his friends (my father was a champion marble player).  My guess is this occurred shortly after the United States entered World War 2. The story also reveals the speculation and thoughts of these youngsters as the processed what was happening in their world:

"Could you ever shoot anyone with a gun?" asked one boy.

"No, I couldn't do that."   The boys agreed on that point.

"What if someone spit on The Flag?"  The question changed the tone of the conversation.

"Well that's different.   We'd have to shoot 'em then."

Mrs. Coolidge knitting.

From all accounts, Mrs. Coolidge was a fascinating woman and I'd like to read more about her.  She was a lousy cook, an animal lover, and an avid baseball fan--so much so that she was referred to as The First Lady of Baseball.  A great post about her and her courtship with Coolidge can be found here.  Enjoy!

Have a safe and happy day!

Petal Pillow

My great-grandfather was a huckster.  

That caught your attention right?  I was fortunate to have known my maternal great-grandparents although Grandpa passed when I was about 12 years old.  He had worked as a huckster and by that I don't mean the definition that many of us think of as "a cheaply mercernary person."  No Grandpa's work as a huckster fit the description of "person who sells small items, either door-to-door or from a small stall or store".  Actually Grandpa peddled meat, eggs, fruits, and  vegetables at the town square on Saturdays.  Nana Betty always accompanied her Dad to help him.  She was very close to him and adored him.

After the open-air market closed, the two would pack up the leftover wares and Nana would pack a basket.  As they traveled home, she would stop and go door-to-door with a basket of the leftover produce and ask folks, "Would you like to buy some nice celery?" or whatever else was left.

When my Nana was approaching 90 years old, I made a quilt to celebrate her life.  I knew all her stories and included an applique basket on what block celebrating this fond memory of her childhood.

The basket was actually a pocket and I sewed some stuffed carrots for it that I placed in there.  The carrots are packed away separately and I didn't feel like digging them out this morning (sorry the grandkids like to use them when they played store).

At the bottom of the block I had embroidered "Helping Dad"

That round image is actually a photo that I printed on fabric.  It was a pillow Nana at this age.  She gave it to me when I was a young adult and told me this story.  "When I would go door-to-door, there was one house where this woman lived and she was always sewing.  She had these beautiful fabric scraps and some were on the floor.  Finally I asked her if she was throwing those scraps out, could I have them?  She was more than happy to oblige and I made this pillow out of them when I was a little girl."

Of course I still have the pillow:

Back:

A while back I found an article from 1927 that provided instructions on making a "Petal Pillow" apparently it was a fad back then:

The pillow was meant to represent a dahlia or a mum. The fabric was folded to simulate petals and attached from the outer edge to the inner circle.  Nana's pillow is made of different colors of sateen.  The article states:

"We all rejoice in the thrill of 'making something from nothing', or in other words, the creation of an article of real utility and beauty from scraps of material which are of no value whatever until our inventive genius is brought into play.  It is really surprising how many pretty things can be evolved from the odds and ends sure to accumulate in every household which boasts a piece-bag to hold them."

Wishing you a day of making things beautiful as my grandmother always did!

Have a safe and happy day!

Flower Friday: May 7, 2021

 It's Flower Friday and time to appreciate all the beauty of spring!  We had lots of photos submitted this week!  Thank you friends!

Early in the week, Betsy sent these lovely photos from her garden:

Gorgeous Tree Peony!

It's Lily of the Valley time!

Creeping Veronica!

Such a lovely and delicate lilac!

Sue sent photos of her Irises!

Sue also shared with us her Bleeding Hearts coupled with Solomon's Seal:

And her Dame's Rocket:

Libby shared photos of her indoor herb garden:

Rosemary, Thyme, and another Geranium

And this geranium that the local agricultural high school students!  How cool is that!

And from the countryside, Linda sent these lovely images from her garden:

Ajuga and below, a closer photo of these lovely flowers:

Wild violets (lower right) and I think that is a lilac bush in the background.

What a pretty scene to inspire us to get out and enjoy this lovely season!

Thank you to all of you who submitted these gorgeous photos!

Have a safe and happy weekend!

Dogwood

 

The dogwood trees are blooming!

Most of us are familiar with vintage dogwood quilt patterns.  This is the one that usually comes to mind:

Actually there were tons of different dogwood patterns that designers created in the 20th century.  Marie Webster did this one which I think is called "Dogwood Baskets"

These quilts always remind me of the movie, The American President because at one point, the President wanted to send the official flowers of Virginia to the female lead.  There was a fun banter as to whether the dogwood was a flower or a tree (it's both).  McKim's design for the State Flower included Virginia's choice:

The Kansas City Star offered a Dogwood pattern that was less literal:

Laura Wheeler offered a pattern that would make a good and portable applique project.  The flowers were featured on the blocks:

But my favorite dogwood pattern is the pun intended crib quilt!  I've never seen a completed quilt of it.  I love it because of course, it features dogs 😍 .   Apologies in advance for the illustration, this is the only image I have of the quilt layout in my file:

I may not have a completed quilt of this but I do have an unfinished top.  I thought of finishing it but quilters do like to see kits from yesteryear and to be honest, I'm not that good at applique.

This quilt kit was from the 1950s and I don't know the designer.  In the 1940s and then again in the 1950s, there was a similar crib pattern offered called Pussy Willows:

This version is from the 1950s. 

Tomorrow is Flower Friday!  Why not share what is blooming in your world and email images to allentownquilter@gmail.com

Have a safe and happy day!