I was at the October CAMEO Quilt Guild meeting to see
Beth Donaldson give a presentation on the Detroit News and Quilting in the 1930s. Beth works at the
Great Lakes Quilt Center, a part of the Michigan State University Museum. Her career at MSU has included the development of The Quilt Index. The
Detroit News History Project was the basis for this presentation.
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| Vintage Detroit New Quilt Pattern shared by Theresa Nielson |
Quilt patterns published in newspapers, including the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, were popular in the 1930s. The Detroit News started the Edith B Crumb's Quilt Club Corner Column which shared quilt news from across Michigan. An actual club of quilters met in Detroit. The News held quilt shows in the 1930s which drew up to 88,000 people to see up to 2,000 quilts. The winning quilts were to be based on patterns published in the News.
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5th Detroit New Quilt Show in 1938
http://www.whyquiltsmatter.org/welcome/resources/image-resource-galleries/quilts-matter-history-art-politics-episode-7-image-resources/ |
The first Detroit News Quilt Show winning quilt was based on the pattern series of Horoscope symbols, as seen in the pattern below which was shared with me by Theresa Nielson last month.
Beth shared 1930s quilts from her collection. Sadly I forgot my camera and only had my cell phone for photos.
This quilt featured signatures.
A Rainbow Quilt Block Company quilt.
My weekly quilt group friend Betty Carpenter made this quilt that has been displayed at the Blair Memorial Library. The pattern reminds me of the
quilt made by Jane Austen and her mother.
Betty recently also made this very cute elephant quilt.
What's hanging on my wall? I made the door blocks based on photographs in a book. I added silk leaves, scanned actual rocks and printed them onto fabric to applique onto the quilt. I printed out a quote from Thomas Wolfe's book
Look Homeward, Angel. Read more about my quilt at https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2014/03/roots-of-understanding-thomas-wolfe-and.html
"Remembering speechlessly we seek the great forgotten language, the lost lane-end into heaven, a stone, a leaf, an unfound door."
The book's protagonist returns home when his brother is dying of pneumonia in October, 1918. The scene is based on the death of Wolfe's own brother.
