Flower Friday: June 23, 2023

 

Happy Flower Friday!

This week, Alice shared 2 photos from her vacation in Maine!  This was the creeping dogwood that she saw growing everywhere!  

She also visited 5 lighthouses and did a puffin watching tour!  She said this little guy came right up to her boat!

Sue is not only recovering from a broken hip, but the deer have moved in and eaten a lot of her garden.  Still, despite everything, she shared a photo of her butterfly weed.   She did say the deer have eaten her coneflowers, phlox, etc.  :(

Over at Denise's,  her tiger lilies are blooming!

And her clematis is making a wonderful show!

Her bee balm is also blooming!

Thank you to everyone for this week's lovely bouquet!

Have a safe and happy day!

Meant to Bean

 

Happy Thursday!

The summer season is about great gardens, cool salads, ice cream and outdoor fun!

Today's post is about BEAN BAGS!  It doesn't matter how athletic one is, most people can play this game.  Growing up, there always seemed to be a bean bag game set up at each and every picnic we attended.  The game's origin appears to have gone back to the 1880s.  Since then, there have been lots of variations and now some people, particularly in the south, refer to the game as "cornhole".

Most of the games I remember were of the homemade variety.  But the instruments of the game were sold pre-made as far back as the early 20th century.

1905

1923

My favorite photo of the game was an image of boys playing bean bags in Beantown:

1928

But bean bags were also made into toys for children.  Not the kind for the hole in wood game but lovable characters; beans were used instead of stuffing.

  

1917

Frugal homemakers often made their own bean bag toys and there were lots of pattern offered through the decades.  Long before the smiley face emoji, women made bean bag toys with happy faces like the one below from 1928:

Pattern for stuffed or bean filled pig

1928

1931

The Workbasket magazine offered circular whimsical patterns that could be used for potholders or bean bags.  You can see the pattern here on page 2.

My mother made bean bag toys for my kid brother.  They were in the shape of a frog and another in a turtle and she dutifully filled them with beans.  She might have used this pattern.  It was offered in 1971 and fits the time for my brother to play with them:

There is always a naysayer, a cantankerous grinch who wants to ruin everyone's fun.  A headline from 1934 illustrated such a person:  

Maybe the park commissioner never felt the joy of playing bean bags.  Maybe he just needed to be gifted an hilarious bean bag.

And that brings me to my very favorite bean bag design. It combined another interesting thing that fascinated my siblings and me:  JUMPING BEANS!  Every time I see this pattern, I laugh!

1926

Tomorrow is Flower Friday and we have a special surprise feature as well from Sue.  If you would like to show us your flowers, email photos to allentownquilter@gmail.com.

Wishing you a joyful day!

Designs Still Worth Doing: Blazing Trails

 

Happy Wednesday!

We continue our frolic through McKim's designs today!

Peter Pan was featured in the Kansas City Star as a series pattern in 1926.  The maker of the vintage quilt I have chose to embroider on a thin muslin and then applique it onto pink fabric.

And because of the sheer quality of the muslin, the pink shows through on the pink and black embroidery :(

I chose to use just one of the designs to make a baby quilt or nursery wall hanging.  A lot of the young generation seemed crazy about fairies, elves, and mushrooms.  This is a close-up of the finished embroidery.  I embellished the pattern with different designs to make the character and the mushrooms stand out:

Then I added a few of McKim's "beggar blocks" from the 101 Quilt Pattern book.  I thought they looked like butterflies.

💥I have often wondered if McKim had "come into her own" with her designs.  She already had developed the first (known) series quilt published in a paper and patterns like the Roly Polys had exhibited her diversity.  She created new themes and in 1926 we see her development as an artist.💥

For quilters who love(d) Americana or who are simply interested in sparking a love of history in children, McKim offered a different design.  In 1926, the Sunday Plain Dealer featured the "Colonial Life" quilt series.

This piece is comprised from old blocks that I had found.  A few weren't finished (I completed them).  Still I didn't include all the blocks in the new quilt because I needed it a bit smaller for lectures.  Luckily for me, the original ad was included in the old plastic bag:

The ad appeared to be torn from a religious magazine of some sort.  It is a great reminder that McKim sold her designs to a multitude of publishers.

This appears to be a new concept in quilt design.  Years later in the early 1930s, a similar themed quilt called "All American" was featured in newspapers (designer unknown).  The pattern featured historical themed patterns that weren't just colonial but featured other historical aspects of our country.

Later in the 1930s, a quilt pattern called "Covered Wagon States" relayed the history of 5 western states.  Again, designer unknown.

In 1927, "Bible History" was presented by McKim.  Although there had always  been quilts that reflected a Biblical theme, this is the first time that a quilt pattern was offered that actually offered a variety of stories from the Bible that makers could use.  Better still, the quilt featured aspects of the Old Testament; the pattern was appropriate for Christian or Jewish quilters.

I had found an old top with these blocks.  The sashing was in terrible shape and I took the piece apart to make this piece and snowballed the blocks.  Again, I made the piece smaller for travelling lectures.  One of the most interesting aspects was that the maker signed it:

I'm just not sure why H. L. S. chose the Tower of Babel for her signature.😮

The designs inspired a new set of religious themed embroidered quilts.  Here's one Numo Transfers offered in 1937:

The theme remains popular.  I was surprised a few years ago when I was at a fabric store and saw that Aunt Martha still offers the New Testament pattern:

McKim created enduring themes.  And then...well you have to wait until next week.

Have a safe and happy day!

    

Tuesday's This and That: June 20, 2023

 

Good morning and happy Tuesday!

I've written about Louise before, she is the author of the blog, Quilt Papers that you can explore here.  She recently asked if I heard of a duo that wrote and illustrated a column in the Philadelphia Inquirer.  I'm publishing on the blog what I have for her to use since I don't really have time to co-author an article these days.

The duo was Helen Baxter and Jean W. McDowell.  The column, "Live Chats with Women At Home" was published in the women's page in the Philly Inquirer from 1914 until 1936.   Baxter wrote the column which covered everything from domestic and cooking tips to editorials on parenting and marriage.  I had saved a lot of patterns from them that I thought I might want to embroider some day.

One of them was this applique pattern meant for a bedspread and published in 1923.

The first pattern did not have a name for the flower.  The second was a canterbury bell, the third a lily.

I liked this pattern because it reminded me of a wagon wheel quilt that I own and coincidentally, Louise owns a similar one.  I wrote about it here.

It also reminded me of a wonderful book I've had for years that was published in 1950.  Pricilla M. Warner was a British illustrator.  I overlooked her in my Story Time Stitches list.

An extract of the book can be found here.

My big problem is that I was never successful at piecing hexagons or English paper piecing.  Maybe once my hands are better, I'll try it again.  If you like this style of quilt, you can search Pinterest using the phrase "embroidered hexagon quilts" and find a number of inspiration pieces.

Have a safe and happy day!

 

And happy Juneteenth!

Many years ago, I saw Harriet Powers' "Bible Quilt" at a museum.  It filled me with awe and to be honest, I don't think I even realized right away that she was an African American quilter.  If you've never heard of her, I am providing you with some links today to study her work.  Powers was born into slavery in Georgia and lived through the Civil War.  She is known for her two surviving quilts which take the idea of a narrative quilt to new levels.

A discussion about both of her quilts is here and here.

This article is about her descendants and provides some insight to her family and their relationship to the quilts.

Wishing you a day of reflection and happiness!

The Sunday Garden

 

Happy Sunday!

Yes it is another unusual Sunday post to entertain you and our friend Sue.

WE GOT RAIN!  We've had three bouts of rain during the last week.  It is such a relief not to have to water.  Despite this, the entire state of Pennsylvania is now under an official drought watch.  Lack of snow and rain of course are the culprits. 

My husband and I had already begun drought mode, recycling grey water, buckets in the shower to catch rain, etc.  I'm hoping the rainfall continues.  We sure could use it.

***

The ground bees are acting normally again.  Molly, the bee keeper that lives down the street, suggested two reasons the bees were acting so erratically :the smoke haze and the lack of water.  Ever since the rain, I've seen the bees acting normally.  No more crawling around the ground in distress. Thank goodness.

***

I was concerned that my nikko hydrangeas would not bloom this year but I have a few beginning to bloom.  I'm certain the bushes won't be as profuse as other years but am grateful that some of the bushes are flowering.

The Lace-cap hydrangeas are also blooming but they need a good pruning later this year.  There sure is a lot of dead wood on this bush and it's looking a bit disheveled.

On the other hand, the Oak Leaf Hydrangea and the Annabelle (snowball) Hydrangea are going full gang busters.  They are the most prolific bloomers and nothing seems to deter them.  One difference is that the Annabelle has smaller blooms.  This is actually a relative comparison.  Most years the blooms grow larger than my hand span.  This year the blooms are smaller but the bush is still full of flowers:

The Oak Leaf Hydrangea shows no sign of drought at all.  It is now about 7 feet high and will probably grow taller.  I prune this every other year down to 3 feet and it must like it because it comes back year after year!

One plant that appears impacted by the drought is the Astilbe.  It is flowering but the stems are low to the ground at leaf height.  I've never seen this happen before.

***

"The finches are back!  I haven't seen them for years!" my husband was excited.  Actually I do see them in the later part of the season when the Rudbeckia and Echinacea starts to set seed.  Husband isn't always home to see them then.  But this time of year we rarely see them.

Due to the drought, I didn't do any of my usual garden maintenance except to water.  In particular, I usually deadhead my garden regularly but didn't do any of that the past month and half.  One of the plants I prune regularly is the catmint.  I don't like when it goes to seed (it springs up everywhere) and the new growth is so much prettier.  As it turns out, the finches LOVE catmint seed.   

Finches are skittish.  They hear or see one little thing and flee.  They must really love that catmint seed because they now sometimes perch of the arbor to ascertain the danger.  It takes a lot of patience to get a photo of them.  

I've been reading about finches and learned that they often next much later than other birds.  They await for plants to seed and hold off on mating until they know their is a good food source to feed the young.  I occasionally see house finches with them (they are brown with a little red).  Years ago, we had green finches as well but I haven't seen them in at least a decade.

So that's the tour of the garden this week. 

Have a safe and happy day!