Crazy Handkerchiefs I Love

 I really love handkerchiefs with strong geometric designs. Here are some from my collection with circles, squares, lines and such.

 Cogs?

 This hanky had a paper pinned to it, showing it was likely from a handkerchief exchange.

 This one give me vertigo!

The next two handkerchiefs are by Erin O'Dell, a midcentury designer.

 Faith Austin did this unusual handkerchief, very unlike her typical designs.

 Ann McCann was another mid-century designer.

A Gift of Handkerchiefs

Last Sunday a friend gave me her mother's handkerchiefs. She had seen my handkerchief quilts on my blog. She kept the ones she remembers her mother using, mostly white linen with tatting. These are a nice selection of typical mid-century handkerchiefs.

You can't see it well in the photo, but the background on the red roses has white on white scenes of Paris!

Quilting Projects Going Slow...

I have my 'Green Heroes' quilt on the quilt frame but have hardly touched it all summer. The frame is set up in the dining room, which is basically my husband's home office/open area since we gave away our dining room set before we moved. It never fit in in the mid-century parsonages with no formal dining rooms. There is a radio, but no television. I could use books on tape while quilting, but listening to reading out loud puts me to sleep. And I am disgusted by my quilt stitches. Its been too long since I used the frame, and my fingers are not what they used to be. I am quilting a background to the portraits that represent their areas of interest.

I have been working on a difficult hand applique project started by Esther Aliu on her Yahoo groups page. Love Entwined is Esther's pattern based on a quilt pictured in Averil Colby's book Patchwork Quilts, a 1790 wedding coverlet. You can find out more at her blog: http://estheraliu.blogspot.com/2013/06/introducing-love-entwined-1790-marriage.html

I have done a lot of applique over the years, and prefer the needle turn method. Perhaps because I am basically lazy! I know how to use freezer paper templates, or how to do any number of applique methods to create perfect pieces. Still, I persisted in going along in this disorganized way and the piece looks too embarrassing to share with the hundreds of gals world wide who are making this quilt. The photo gallery is full of amazing, and amazingly different, interpretations of this pattern. I chose a great green background, and am using bright fabrics from my stash, many with a polka dot theme. I may finish the center piece and then start over, doing things the right way this time. Next up are floral baskets in the corners. Then there are seven borders, four with applique...What was I thinking?

Life has been throwing me curve balls lately, plus I started the etsy store and am trying to prepare more patterns for sale. I have books and collectibles I need to sell or get rid of, as part of downsizing to fit into our retirement home. And I am working with a contractor to upgrade the energy efficiency of the retirement home, which means lots of research about things I never knew about, or had to know about since I have spent my married life in a church parsonage! So instead of playing with fabric, I am learning about hot water heaters and fiberglass entry doors! Plus my husband had a bacterial infection, with 40 minute trips to town to see the doctor. The doctor gave him an antibiotic and he soon was  feeling better. And then I found our dog had fleas! This is a BIG house with all carpeting on both floors! That is a lot of vacuuming.

I just want to go into my sewing room and play. I have some great handkerchiefs I want to make into my collage wall hangings. At least I am good at that. I need a confidence booster right now!And most of all, the regenerative peace and strength that comes from the creative process!

Choosing embellishments for this basket of flowers hankdkerchief I bought recently on eBay. Sigh. Must get back to it.

More Favorite Handkerchiefs

Here are some more favorite handkerchiefs from my collection. I stated collecting handkerchiefs in 1993 so I could make a handkerchief quilt. Back then I found them for fifty cents or a dollar as yard sales and dumpy flea markets. Later I started to buy on eBay as well as in antique malls and flea markets. Now I have six or eight hundred in my collection, some meant for cutting, some for quilting, and some just because they are lovely to behold.

This mint with label peacock has more intense colors in real life . I believe it is from the later 20th c, 60s or 70s even.

A painterly presentation of trees, this hanky is in Pat Gardner's book Handkerchief Quilts. I was lucky to find one of my own on eBay.

I loved this later 20th c Japanese handkerchief so much I made it into a wall hanging. I added borders that continued the hanky design elements.

A literary souvenir handkerchief is of The House of the Seven Gables which inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne's book of the same name.

I was born near Lake Erie, moved to Michigan, and for some time have lived along Lake Michigan. This Great Lakes hanky from the 50s is one of my favorite souvenir hankies.

I love this natural looking flower garden with the light blue background.

I have a collection of hankies with leaves on them, which I have always planned to make into a bed quilt some day. This is one of the more vibrant ones.

I also collect handkerchiefs with violets and pansies. Have planned to make a bed quilt with them some day. I wonder if I will live long enough to make all these quilts I want to make!

I hope you enjoyed seeing some more vintage handkerchiefs!

Some of My Favorite Hankys from My Collection

In 1993 I saw an ad for the book Handkerchief Quilts by Sharon Newman. That photo on the cover of a handkerchief quilt was all it took--I started collecting handkerchiefs immediately! I did make a quilt like on the cover, and then several more patterns from the book. But I did not know where to stop, and have ended up with about 800 or so handkerchiefs in my collection! Some are for keeps, some are to use for quilts. Here are some of my favorite 'for keeps' handkerchiefs in my collection.

1) Boy's Arctic Walrus Hunters Handkerchief
This on eBay find is so cool!. It is a child's handkerchief in its original box, with its originally glued on tag and the gift tag. In 1911 Howard White received this Christmas gift from his Uncle Eddie.

The handkerchief is not politically correct by today's standards by any means! No way would anyone today give a child an illustration of  men clubbing walruses! But in 1911, Arctic and Antarctic exploration has all the romantic appeal and excitement that space exploration had in the 1960s.

In November, 1911 Robert Falcon Scott began his race to reach the south pole before Roald Amundsen.. Before submitting to the elements in early 1912, Scott left a last entry in his diary: "I do not think we can hope for any better things now. We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far. It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write any more." Roald Amundsen successfully  reached the pole. Previous polar explorers included voyages by Peary and Cook, and in the 1840s the lost Franklin expedition captured British attention as expeditions to find Franklin were sent out one after another. The Arctic and Antarctica explorations caused huge national and international excitement.   

What little boy would not have been thrilled with this handkerchief!

2) Herbert Hoover Campaign Handkerchief

This silk handkerchief was described on eBay as a circus elephant. Well, I did not believe for a minute it was a circus elephant. It was obviously a Republican political hanky. I bid on it-- and then did research. The blanket on the elephant's back has a prominent "H" and a smaller "C". That lead me to look at Herbert Hoover.

In 1929 Herbert Hoover was elected President of the United States, with Charles Curtis as his Vice President. Today we mostly hear about Hoovervilles and Hoover's failed policies regarding the stock market crash and the ensuing economic disaster we call The Great Depression. What we forget to tell our school children is that Hoover was a compassionate man who organized humanitarian aid to Europe during and after the great World Wars, feeding friend and foe alike. Curtis was a supporter of the five-day work week with no reduction in wages, enabling job sharing, as a solution to the lack of jobs during the Depression. Some day I will donate this to the Hoover Historical Center, as they had not seen it before. It gave me great satisfaction to know I recognized an important bit of textile history!

3) Korean Mission Handkerchief

There are literally millions of these embroidered hankies of two pig-tailed girls playing on a teeter totter. They are found everywhere. I had one in my collection but thought nothing of it until this collection appeared on eBay. The letter and booklet with the handkerchief told the story of am amazing mission in Korea called Operation Hanky.

"Father Al" Schwartz was a Roman Catholic priest assigned to Busan, Korea in 1957.  In 1963 he initiated Operation Hanky Self-Help Embroidery Program, employing 3,000 impoverished women. The women were given cloth and embroidery thread, and the work was done in their own homes.  His early experience as a Fuller Brush Salesman led him to develop a letter campaign with a hanky as a premium. The appeal had a one out of three success rate of response, compared to a 7% response before adding the handkerchief. In 1964 there were one million mailings!

Father Schwartz used the proceeds from Operation Hanky to build a hospital, two dispensaries, and orphanage  and old-age home, a school, a day care center, an irrigation project, and a cooperative farm program! In addition he granted funds to hospitals, leper colonies, orphanages, schools and charities across Korea.

Is it any wonder that Father Al is being vetted for sainthood?

4) Declaration of Independence Handkerchief by Tammis Keefe

Tammis Keefe is one of the best known and most collected textile designers. In the recent past her rarer handkerchiefs have sold for between $50 and $100! When I started collecting her handkerchiefs, they could be found at flea markets and garage sales for a quarter or a dollar. Find out more about Keefe  at http://www.tammiskeefe.com/ . Keefe designed souvenir handkerchiefs for many cities and tourist attractions, including Philadelphia. 

We moved from the Midwest to Philly just before the Bicentennial, and it was amazing place to be during those years! We wore "Ask Me" pin-back buttons as we spent our Saturdays visiting the many museums and events, proud (although new) residents. I don't recall many tourists actually asking us anything. As a girl I was interested in Colonial and Early American history. Being in Philly we had the chance to visit the historical sites we had read about.

So this hanky reminds me of those great days in Philadelphia.

5) "Meet Me At the Eagle: Handkerchief

Another Tammis Keefe favorite of mine, which I have in four color ways, is this Meet Me At the Eagle! 

We used to ride the subway, trolley, or el to downtown Philly for shopping. In those days, Lit Brothers, Strawbridge & Clothier, Gimbel Brothers, and John Wanamaker had massive stores a few blocks from each other. http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/department-stores/ has a great history of these stores. There is nothing like shopping in one of these old department stores. They are beautiful. They have whole floors dedicated to whatever you are looking for. They had women's lounges to rest your weary feet. 

Wanamaker's can be seen in the movies "Mannequin", where the hero saves the store owner as she leaves the store and in  "Blow Out" with John Travalta crashing into a display window. You can read more about Wanamakers  at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanamaker's

After moving to Philly we soon learned what "Meet me at the Eagle" meant. Wanamaker's Grand Court was  amazing! It was built for the Centennial Exposition to lure in tourists from across the world. it includes one of the world's largest pipe organs. And it included a massive bronze eagle that came from the St Louis World's Fair. Soon people were arranging to "meet at the eagle". Wanamakers is now Macy's, but the eagle is still there. 

I think I will do a few more posts on some of my favorite handkerchiefs. This has been so much fun!