Help! & Tidbits & News & Old & New

Help! I bought these handkerchiefs on eBay a few years ago and have been trying to find out WHO these kids are! Jennie, Mortimer, and Jerry. Ring any bells? I was sure I would find they were movie or radio characters.

A friend found this in her mother's sewing room. She wondered what it was. 

 It is marked "Pat. May 22 1900".

I Goggled it and found one that sold on Etsy. The seller had attached information from the patent. It was a seam ripper! Read an article about the inventor and how it was used at American Scissor Stories. Now I want one.

Sunetra from my weekly quilt group made Woven Rust from The Fiona Quilt Block book. She loves it and wants to make another.

I bought two handkerchiefs from eBay, both mint with tags and minor age stains.

Pine Woods Press is writing a book about Lake Superior light saving stations and found my post The Shipwreck Coast, Girl, and a Lamp. My husband's grandmother spent time at Crisp's Point and Vermillion Lighthouse when a teenager. She helped with the children. She received a post card of Capt. James Scott, the Crisp's Point life saving station keeper, and it will appear in the upcoming book! Meantime they are sending me their first publication Storms and Sand about Big Sable Point shipwrecks.

Capt James Scott, dated Sept. 1911

My Shiba Inus both are getting older. They have heart murmurs and now Suki is showing elevated levels for borderline kidney troubles. Poor dears. Suki is about 14, and Kamikaze about 11. Both spent their early years as breeders in puppy mills before being rescued and adopted by us.

Suki

Kamikaze

March has brought snow....the snow we were supposed to get in January. Sigh. 

Meanwhile I finished a quilt started in 1996. I made the Biblical Block Sampler  by Rosemary Makham before I had the skill set for it. It didn't fit together. Several years ago I took it apart and turned it into two smaller pieces. This part was the central Pine Tree.

Quilt Display, Gifted New Handkerchiefs, 1857 Update

My quilt guild has a display at the Royal Oak Public Library. This was my library when I was a girl & teenager, so it is so special to share some of my quilts there! I helped set up the display last night during a snow storm.

I brought my quilt based on the Morning Glory fairy in A Year With the Fairies by Anna O. Scott. It is mixed media using crayon tinting, embroidery, appliquéd silk flowers, beading, and a sheer net overlay. The pink fabric is silk.

 My handkerchief border quilt includes embroidery based on a 1930s greeting card vintage buttons.

A part of my Redwork based on illustrations from Reggie's Christmas can be seen on the shelf below. The book was read by my mother-in-law who got it from her uncle James O'Dell.

The left quilt below is a folded bow-tie. The doggies are wool appliqué on cotton.

 So many cute things were offered for the display, small quilts and pot holders.

 Scott T. Dog uses reproduction 1930s fabrics.

Yesterday morning at my weekly quilt gathering's show and tell I saw a quilt based on The Fiona Quilt Block by Carolyn Perry Goins. I will have a photo later. And a lady gave me some handerchiefs from her collection.

AND, between my morning group and the late afternoon gathering I met with a lady to guide her in making her first handkerchief collage! She had a wonderful heirloom collection of laces, trims, and dress pieces from her mother and grandmother. I want to go back and get photos!

I finished six blocks of the 1857 Album from Sentimental Stitches. 

Little Hazel from Esther Aliu has been showing up on her Facebook page in extraordinary manifestations! The interpretations are remarkable! I eagerly await the next part to be released!

My Newest Handkerchief Finds

I have added to my collection these past weeks. First a friend notified me of a local garage sale with 4 for a $1 hankys! I bought eight. Then I bought two from an antique mall while vacationing 'up north'. Last of all I brought home three shared by one of the gals in my quilting group.

 The brown floral is a heavy cotton fabric.

 The checked above is linen. The concentric squares below is 8" and cotton.

This "F" initial handkerchief was hand appliqued and hand rolled. She used white thread for the hand rolled edge. The fabric is linen in a dark navy. The white is the background showing under the camera light.

This cotton pink floral one has a hand tatted edge. I find quite a few printed hankys that ladies embellished with tatting. Most common are white cotton or linen with fancy, deep crocheted edges.

This sweet cotton hanky has a hand appliqued, scalloped border.

 A cool graphic linen hanky is likely from the 1960s.

 I bought four sheer nylon hankys. I have below the three printed ones; the dotted Swiss didn't photograph well.

 And this one below is hand painted silk.

 This 1986 hanky came with a paper lady holder.

The summer is still young! Who knows what yard sales, flea markets, and thrift shops await!

My Weekend Haul: Hankies and Quilt Tops and Embroidery and 1927 Stamped Linens

The weather is finally beautiful in Michigan and I had a hankering to explore. On Saturday we went to Berkley and the Odd Fellow's Antique Mall, the Council Resale across the street, and The Rust Belt Market in Ferndale and Vintage Vogue in Pleasant Ridge.

On Sunday (after church and lunch with family) I ran down to the Royal Oak Flea Market. Something was calling my name.

It turned out the siren was a Depression era Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt top for $20.00! The lady, who was from Port Huron, also had some linens stamped for embroidery.

First up are two handkerchiefs I bought at the antique mall. They had loads of handkerchiefs, but so do I so I am particular

Next up are embroidered pieces I found at the thrift shop for $1 each.

 Above is the detail of a pair of matching dresser scarfs, nicely finished.

Above is a pillow cover with embroidery on linen. It was never used.

The flea market top is below. The setting is pale pink and Nile Green.

 As you can see, the top does not lay flat. I have preordered the Recycled Hexie Quilts book by Mary Kerr and hope I can use it in the way she shows in the book.

There are some interesting fabrics.

The stamped linen pieces are on a coarse, heavy weave ecru linen. The stamping is light blue. Two came with papers showing color placement and a color chart from Nun's Boil Fast Threads, and there were cut out samples of other items they offered. The patterns were dated 1927!

I can't find anything online about Nun's, except for a post at what-i-found blog: http://what-i-found.blogspot.com/2009/01/nuns-boilproof-thread-catalog-1923.html

UPDATE: I have found a wonderful history on the company written by Susan Wildemuth at
http://www.illinoisquilthistory.com/Buettner.html

 This is black and white image of the linen showing an Indian at his tepee; the chart is below.

The sample that was attached to the Indian pattern.

Another pattern was of sail boats.There were five samples attached.

 The color chart showing the threads.

 The little Dutch girl had no papers or charts.

I spent $29 on all of the above. And $14 for some tea blends at The Rust Belt Market. Lunch at Alex's of Berkley was a whooping $20.00: hubby had lasagna, soup, and desert and I had Greek salad and a gyro. It was a cheap mini-vacation in our own home town! Across the street from the restaurant is Guildcrafters Quilt Shop with great modern fabrics. 

I don't think I shared this eBay hanky find from a while back. There is a hole in the top center but if I use it in a hanging it can be dealt with.

We were trying out the lighting in the house for photographs. Not a great local, but it is the first "hanging" photo I have of my Prince's Feather! I will be showing it in the CAMEO Quilt Guilt show in June. We need to provide photos with the entry form.