She's back...

...winter that is.  How quickly the winds started blowing from the north and within a day the weather changed to its seasonal normal.  Remember the Witch Hazel Bush?

Here it is with a blanket of snow.  I realize a close-up shot would have given the sweet blooms more justice, but I took it from inside the house where it was warm and I could stay in my slippers. 

In the back yard, I caught a glimpse of this male cardinal (now from the kitchen window)... and still in slippers...

Tonight when I was finishing up a baby quilt I was piecing, I realized how much my environment influences my color palette.

 

 We'll see what happens in the spring when the flowers start to bloom to see if my theory is correct.  For now, back to sewing...

On the eighth day of Christmas...

my true love gave to me...

eight vintage patterns...

and then suddenly the "uh oh" moment hit me

  there is a Christmas present I haven't made yet!!!!

I confess, I have been having too much fun this holiday season.  I've been baking since Thanksgiving and freezing everything to get ready to have all the family home.  Between my Etsy shop and putting thoughts down to share with you in this blog, as well as other work commitments, I'm not bored. 

Suddenly we're on the 8th day of Christmas....and while I was pulling out classic vintage patterns to share with you, I came across the last one - which should now be referred to as the "uh-oh" pattern:

 No big deal, just a simple apron.  And then it hit me:  I had promised my daughter I would make an apron for her fiance for Christmas.  How could I have forgotten?  Too many cookies?  Too many boxes of goodies to sort through for Etsy? 

My daughter suggested that her fiance should have his own apron because she was getting tired of sharing her frilly ones that I had made her for her birthday.  This was a moment where many of you who know me would have been proud that I had some filters.  What I wanted to tell her was that if your dad wanted to put on my aprons and go to the kitchen and cook I wouldn't care (as he does make a mean butternut squash dish.... mmmmmm).  She even was sweet enough to send me the links to a nice plaid fabric she thought would look nice because he loves plaid shirts.

It is amazing in the craziness of life when sudden inspiration comes from the least expected place.  Thank you to the blogger out there who wrote about the shirt aprons she had made.  I had never heard of them before, but one thing I did know, I had plaid shirts around the house my husband won't wear.

Considering my husband probably received this as a Christmas present years ago, how appropriate that it will be upcycled and find a new home.

I cut off the arms and shirt back and under the serger it goes.

I was able to get two nice size bias pieces for the ties from the shirt back.

In less than an hour it's finished!

wow....that was fun!  Perfect for the lover of plaid shirts!

I will definitely be looking at old shirts from the thrift shop with a new set of eyes.  Look at these aprons.  My mind is flooded with ideas for presents.  Off to sew now, but thanks again to bloggers out there sharing and giving inspiration to sew many of us.

ps.  About the "uh-oh" apron pattern.  Did you notice the man in the suit with the apron?  This pattern was printed in 1949.  I don't see him with a spatula, meat tenderizer, or something to signify he is wearing this apron because he knows his way around the kitchen.... no, he's reading from a piece of paper.  Wait, could he be reading the recipe or is it a list of chores?  What do you think she is saying to him? 

On the fifth day of Christmas...

...my true love gave to me

five plastic advertising thimbles...

No, I don't collect thimbles.  I am unaware of their history, the diverse materials they have been made from and the years advertising thimbles were produced.  I just thought these were colorful and fun - something we don't see given out anymore.

I do have a jar of thimbles in my sewing room where thimbles that once served a more utilitarian purpose have been tossed in because I just didn't like how they felt on my finger.   Some ended up in the jar because of the frustration caused when my thread would fray and break when coming in contact with its metal surface when quilting. 

I  have had small ones when the humidity was low and big honking ones for hot and sticky days.  My favorite now is by Clover.  It is snug around my finger, yet the tip is sturdy, protective and guides my needle accurately.  Leather ones were nice, but quickly developed holes in the wrong places. 

But, I never thought about them as collectible or for advertising, or having value other than protecting my hands from sore fingers. 

 I do have one special thimble given to me as a gift by my son after his visit to Bath, England.  I keep it on a shelf in my kitchen with some other curiosities ....  the Monopoly thimble game piece, sewing machine salt and pepper shakers, a card with a flower made of shells, just little things given to me by friends or kids that I treasure.

Here's a blog I found - Simple Thimbles  - for those of you who are fascinated with advertising thimbles.  Olly writes that she currently has 400 thimbles!  Maybe I should send her some plastic ones!!  :)  

0n the fourth day of Christmas...

...my true love gave to me

four pairs of pinking shears...

They aren't glamorous and its even hard to photograph them to look exciting.   Does anyone even use pinking shears today?   In my house, family members will take them from the sewing room and use them when they can't find a regular pair of scissors.  For those of you who love your scissors, I know you can find comfort in my anxiety that one day they might take my good pair of Gingher shears to violate their sharp accurate blades on coupon clipping or present wrapping. 

Today I'm not sure if households even have a pair of pinking shears.  The serrated wheel on the rotary cutter or a serger have doomed their existence.   Pinking sheers were indispensable when I was learning to sew.  If your sewing machine didn't have a zig-zag function your pattern pieces were usually "pinked" to help tame the edges from raveling away the seam allowance.   To me their blades seemed to dull quickly making cutting out patterns difficult resulting in your hands getting blisters from the handles.  Of course the blades may have dulled quickly because they found their way to cutting paper.

Pinking shears have only been on the market for the last hundred years as they were first invented and patented in 1893 by Louise Austin, of Whatcom, Washington.   However, I have observed on historical clothing from the 19th century an embellishment created with an edge that was "pinked".  I observed this mainly on black mourning dresses which were void of extravagant embellishments.

One inch strips of the black dress fabric (taffeta or silk) would have both raw edges pinked.  These pinked strips would then have a running stitch down the center.  The running stitch would be pulled   gathering the fabric strip which would then be applied to the bodice front or whereever some design interest was needed.  It was a very effective way to adding some interest without purchasing additional lace.  

Well, here's to you pinking shears before you fade from use and Webster's dictionary.


 

On the first day of Christmas....

....my true love gave to me... 

a vintage one patch quilt

1900-1910 Tumbler Quilt from Central New York

A one patch quilt design is when one basic shape or template is used for the entire quilt top.  There are no holes or gaps on the quilt surface.  Other one patch quilt designs originate from template shapes of triangles, diamonds, hexagons, squares.   Today a plethera of new designs are formulated on computer models to ease graphic designers for rendering shapes.  *whew*

I like to think of Escher growing up (after all he was born in 1898) and having slept as a child under a beautiful one patch quilt.  While my speculation is purely conjecture, think of it as "the artist having their finger on the pulse of society" (which is what a favorite art history teacher said in EVERY lecture). 

Often with one patch quilts, the quilter would use a different fabric for each template creating a new category of quilts called "Charm Quilts."  The tumbler quilt above is not a charm quilt, but there are some wonderful fabrics to study in indigo, red, double pink, manganese-bronze style, cretonne, plaid, mourning prints and some great neon black prints. 

 My favorite is a conversation print of a dog lapping up water from a bowl.  Just a charming little surprise, especially for those fond of their pets.

Accuracy in cutting templates was a must.  How easy it was to have the design starting to wander or even pucker.  While it looks easy, it takes practice and patience.  A good all over quilting design can easily mask some of those "pucker" problems.  Uh oh....starting to creep up on the right.

 The one patch diamond shape above with the color placement has 19 different regional names according to the Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns by Barbara Brackman (which is now out of print!).  I have always referred to them as Building Blocks or Baby Blocks. 

Some more one patch quilt pieces pulled from vintage scrap bag with sheets from An Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns by Barbara Brackman when loose-leaf double sided sheets were copied, printed and compiled for a three ring binder in the 1980's.

 More treasures to follow ...

Red and Green

Back in 1994, I had a major obsession with red and green quilts.  It started when the Quilt World December '88 magazine ran a 1860's design of the Princess Feather in its traditional four block design.  The front cover had an older woman in a moppet hat sitting and quilting this beauty with a hoop in her lap. 

I had admired the quilt for six years before I finally started the applique.  I was quick to finish one block, then, years went by without  the ambition to complete the remaining three blocks. 

A few years ago I decided the last three blocks just weren't going to happen.  That is when I had a brainstorm to just put the one feather star block on point and fill in the outer corners with half square triangles.

While I enjoy this quilt, especially during the holidays when red and green fills the house, I still think about the original quilt design.



This past fall, while I was browsing through Etsy, I came across a red and green quilt from southwestern Ohio.  I think I only looked at it for two seconds before I "clicked" the purchase tab.  The classic four blocks of the Princess Feather in red and green could still make my heart skip a beat.  

Isn't it beautiful!   Do you notice something else just wonderful about this quilt?  It is an early machine quilted quilt.  The "feathers" are masterfully appliqued onto the white background by hand and then each block section is quilted independently of each other.  When finished they are joined together and then the seam is covered over with binding.  The borders are then attached and the seams are again concealed on the back.

Barbara Brackman discusses the history of sewing machines in American Patterns of Progress: Quilts in the Machine Age.   Woman who were fortunate enough to have a sewing machine wanted to display their skills and machine quilted their quilts.  This quilt was sure to have been a family treasure. 

 The applique was finely executed.  The background was quilted in a grid work pattern while the feathers have only diagonal line quilting.

Look closely at the binding.  It was also applied by machine!

I admire this early quilter.  She was skilled with her machine and she didn't hesitate to put her beautiful applique workmanship under the needle.

A Christmas treasure for our family for many years to come!

When you're least expecting to find a treasure....

Anyone who knows me is aware of my love of sewing; especially quilts.  But lets just make it simple and say anything having to do with creating with a needle and thread brings me joy.  I have been known to leave the house with bits of clipped fabrics and threads attached to the back of my sleeves or dangling from my pants where I am the least aware of their presence.  It doesn't bother me, just as a gardener is not alarmed having a bit of dirt on their hands and nails; often their badge of caressing the earth and flaunting it.  At times, for me at least, those threads were conversation icebreakers with those next to me waiting in line at the post office or grocery store. 

So you are warned....stare at the threads, you're getting a story about what is underneath the needle of my machine!

I have always found writing difficult.  For this I apologize.  But, hopefully, I can share enough beautiful quilts, vintage fabric and funny stories to coerce you into returning to my blog.  So, I will begin...

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This past summer, I reluctantly decided to go to an estate sale.  Reluctant and garage sale are seldom in the same sentence for me, I even feel akward writing them together.  However, for some reason, this day I had prematurely decided from the estate sale advertising that it really didn't fit my needs.  Maybe it was the location of the sale, or the goods listed, or just that it was one too many rainy days in a row, but I went late in the day, and I was wrong.

I was warned the house had been "picked over" by the crowds who came early, but there were still plenty of counters filled with china sets or holiday decorations and odd pieces of vacation memories.

But, how many had passed over this early piece of quilting history?

Personally, I know the style to be a Medallion Quilt.  The fabrics are early 19th century.  I inquired with the woman whose household good were on sale as to how she had acquired it.  She said her mother had gotten it from the Humes Family from Watertown, New York. 

The quilt design, style, fabrics, quilting, backing, binding, appliqued shapes - everything was consistent with dating the quilt to the 1840's.

At the sale, the quilt had been draped on a rack with a late 18th century chintz quilt with family provenance from Ireland pinned on the back.  The hefty price tag of the chintz quilt was still pinned next to the quilt's paper history.  The price was a deterrant to attracting a new owner.  I understand how the medallion quilt may have been deemed the ugly duckling next to the more pristine quilt whose fabrics did not have the daily use.  Its colors were not faded from the sunlight, washings and everyday use.  The chintz quilt had well established fold marks which indicated its value and seldom use.  I wondered how many times it had ever been brought out in the sunlight for others to admire in the past two centuries.

This quilt speaks.  It says it served its purpose with its worn bits of fabric.  I believe it says it has loved and been loved.