A Nice Surprise in the Midst of a Big Mess

I came home to a nice surprise today.  An unexpected package arrived and it held this book.

It came to me from the editors at American Patchwork Quilting.  When I paged through it, I got an even bigger surprise.  They included two of  my little quilts in the book.  I had no idea about this until today.

You may recognize the quilts as they were published in AP&Q magazine previously.  What a nice surprise and compliment to my work to be included in this book.  It was especially nice in light of the mess in my house.  See below.

My lack of blog participation recently can be explained by the fact that we are in the middle of a major (down to the studs) bathroom renovation.  Every day holds a new surprise.  First the 1929 plumbing turned out to be worse than the contractor thought (ok, so not really a big surprise, should plumbing last much more than 80 years?). 

Next, I was informed that some of the tile we picked is not available for 6 weeks.  Wasn't somebody supposed to check on that before we started?  (not me)  Third, a large hole opened up in the ceiling above our computer yesterday.  No one mentioned it to me, but it was repaired by the time I came home from work today.  Nothing is ever easy in an old house.  We will survive.  And have a beautiful new bathroom.  With 21st century pipes.

What's new? Antique Pillow case and quilts inspired by it

A few weeks ago I treated myself to a day trip a big antique show in Kutztown PA (I wrote a post on the topic previously).  One of my finds was this bright Pennsylvania German pieced pillowcase, dating to ca. 1870.  It measures 21"x16".  The yellow and green squares in the nine-patch are 2.25" (They're huge!)  Patchwork pillowcases were made almost exclusively by the German immigrants who came to southeastern Pennsylvania.  You don't see patchwork pillowcases from New England or other parts of the US.  The Germans did not bring a quilting tradition with them when they arrived in the 18th and 19th centuries.  They were weavers who adopted quilting from their English neighbors in the Philadelphia area.  And, as you can see, they loved bright colors!

I have made a couple small quilt tops to play around with this design and color combination.  Of course I had to make some changes.  I used a finished size of 1 inch for the nine-patch squares (maybe still a little large, what do you think?) and did a couple different border treatments.

My ultimate plan now is to make a four block quilt using the color combination of the quilt on the left.  So it will be like putting four of those together with red for the sashing between the blocks.  I am going to make the pink and red borders a little narrower, so the yellow corner square is the same size as the squares in the 9 patch.  Will it be 1" or 3/4 " finished?  Hmmm, don't know yet. 

My best work and it's not a quilt

My boys...playing with their band yesterday.  Happy Mother's Day everyone!

More pictures from quilty field trip

Here are some additional pictures from my trip to Ephrata, PA.  In addition to the privy bags, the museum had some small items on display in a case.

pot holders

sewing roll-ups, pocket, pin cushions

pillowcase with stuffed work

pair of patchwork pillowcases

doll quilt

another doll quilt, seed bags, dolls, toys

sewing implements, another pillowcase

Centennial Fabric

Barbara Brackman recently wrote a blog entry on the identity of the fellow in this 1876 centennial print.  You can go here to read her conclusions.  I was particularly interested in her post because I have a crib quilt that contains a piece of the centennial print.

The centennial print dates to around 1876 but other fabrics in this quilt are much later, some from the early 20th century.  I have always liked the colorful mitered border on this crib quilt.  It is from Pennsylvania.

Quilt Field Trip-Part I

I spent a great day yesterday with one of my quilting buddies.  We take quilt-related field trips 3 or 4 times a year; there are so many things to see in Southeastern PA we never run out of places to go.  Yesterday we hit two venues--the Historical Society of Cocalico Valley in Ephrata which is showing the privy bag exhibit.  AND the quilt and textile museum in Lancaster where they have a new show called:

 Family & Friends: Quilts and Their Connections

March 22 though December, 31, 2010

The lovely people at the Cocalico Valley Historical society allowed me to take pictures of the privy bag exhibit and I will share some of them with you today.  This exhibit is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for those interested in antique PA quilts.  I am not sure that these rare bags will be seen again together in public.  Go soon--it ends May 15!  These pieced and applique hanging bags are quite rare to see, so to find so many in one place was amazing.  They range from the simple homespun

To the not-so-simple fine applique.

Some of the bags are dated and signed.  The earliest example was from the 1830's; the latest from the 1920's.  Enjoy the rest of the photos.  I will be posting more later.