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!

 

Protest Stitches

 

I recently stumbled on a Facebook called "Super Sue Quilts".  Once again, Sunbonnet Sue is illustrating quilters frustration.  The group is here.   

This is the first time the quilt pattern has been used to reflect makers' opinions.  In fact,  Jean Laury wrote that "the sunbonnets mirror the times the pattern is made.  The reflection illustrates our lives as women, our fashions, and in some ways, our technology and techniques."

Vintage Sunbonnet Sue fabric designed by Jean Ray Laury.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this with you.  I'm gardening full time these days.  I'd love to tell you (and the yard waste trash guys) that I'm half done...but I'm not.  Maybe a quarter of the way there.  

Hoping you are having some fun in the garden too!

Have a safe and happy day!

Wall Hangings

 

Happy Monday!

Although I've made a lot of small quilts through the years, I haven't done any since last summer when I made doll quilts. 

A lot of my friends regularly make smaller pieces to use up blocks or to create a variety of projects.  Diann at Little Penguin Quilts makes wonderful table runners and wall hangings if you need inspiration.  In the past I've made table runners and wall hangings but also mug rugs.  I have a whole drawer full of fabric put aside for placemats; our guild collects the placemats to give to folks who receive meals on wheels.

I was thinking of these projects and then I began to wonder when did quilters began to make wall hangings regularly for their homes or others?

Well in 1910, a young woman decided to hang quilts on the wall inspired by the tapestries that once were used to decorate homes. 

 She was an artist and wanted to make her garret more artistic and used suspended rope to hang the quilts that "her sisters had voted out of style...and ultimately discarded."  Although this idea was published widely, it didn't seem to be adopted by the public.

In  February of 1941, I found this blurb:  "Mesdames Margaret Doty and F. A. Ditzler presided at the attractive tea table set before a striking colonial quilt hung as a wall hanging."

Both of these examples were of bed quilts being hung.  But what a quilt made especially to be hung on a wall?

I should have realized earlier, it was Jean Ray Laury who specifically made wall hangings.  Here's a photo from a 1959 newspaper article:

I've written about the designer before (here) but she was an artist who really stretched the concept of quilting by making it personal--and fun.  In a 2000 interview with the Quilt Alliance, Laury stated, "I don't see a big difference between fabric on the wall and paint on the wall."  She was such a strong influence in the quilting world that she was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame in 1982 (read here).

In 1958, her quilted wall hangings were even exhibited at Stanford University:

By the 1960s and 70s, more and more (usually young people) were hanging textiles on the walls.  Pattern companies adopted the idea as well:

The Flower Alphabet pattern was marketed in 1969 as a quilt or a wall hanging by Laura Wheeler Designs.

Although other makers may have created wall hangings, I haven't really found one that made a smaller scale (not quit sized) piece.  Do you know of any?

Have a safe and happy day!