Shirting Quilts

I have a few quilt tops from various flea markets that some day I intend to quilt. That day seems to be getting further away each passing year! I loved that these men's shirting fabrics. All those lovely stripes! So 1970s. The menswear shirt designers were getting pretty bold and exploring new colors like pink and tangerine. They were not 100% cotton, and some were even all polyester, the new wonder fabric.

The next quilt is made of leftover fabrics from a factory. There are stamped numbers on the edges of the pieces. It is a 'summer quilt' with a pieced top and backing but no batting or quilting. It was another cheap eBay find. Our son uses it for his summer quilt now.

The second quilt I ever made was a memory quilt using Mom's painting smocks. Mom was an oil painter, starting painting in an adult ed class when I was a little girl. She favored polyester blends and red tartan plaids.

I used some of her daily blue and beige shirts for a lap quilt for my grandmother.

And more found their way in a quilts I made for my Aunt, mom's sister. Looking at a book my mother-in-law had from her local library I found and traced a pattern called Dobbin's Fan, which I used for these quilts. The fan base was one of mom's shirts, as were some fabrics in the fans.

After my father-in-law passed, I was asked if I was going to do a memory quilt with his shirts. I have the blocks made, but need to set them together. I want a dark  blue print for sashing but have not shopped for it yet. Here are blocks made of Herman's shirts. They were newly bought and rarely worn. Herman was  96 when he passed, and preferred the same old shirts he had worn for many years. Several in his closet had been made by his wife, Laura, who used to sew all their clothes. Herman had  saved the new ones for 'special'. An they will now make a very special quilt.

American Quilt Society Grand Rapids Show 2013 - Caohogan Way and Guild Challenges

Thanks to a friend who has a house in Grand Rapids, I was able to spend six hours at the quilt show and not have to drive one and a half hours to get back home. It has been eight years since I last saw a major show. And this one was wonderfully diverse.

I will offer several posts with some of the quilts I found of particular interest to me. The major winners are readily found online, and very much worth seeing. So I will concentrate on other quilts in the show.

The quilts that most stayed with me were in my particular interest areas, of course. Words on quilts, literary or historical quilts, embroidered quilts, quilts that bring a smile or a laugh, and just creative never seen before original quilts.

Celebrate the Caohagan Way was a fun and uplifting exhibit at the show. The quilts are from a Philippines Island and made by about 80 quilters who have been quilting for about 15 years. Junko Yoshikawa, a Japanese quilting teacher,  taught quilting to the women of the island, and the craft now provides about a third of the island's income! They can be ordered for $300. The exhibit was an overview of the 15 years quilting tradition on the island.

I loved the SLO Quilters of San Luis Obispo, CA Guild Challenge for words on quilts. Edgar Allan Poe was a favorite poet of mine when I was about 11 years old. This is Nevermore by Sue Barker.

The Flying Geese Quilters Guild of Irvine, CA had the challenge History Lesson- An Event in American History. This is Follow the North Star, with Harriet Tubman, by Sandy Ingraham.

The Prairie Quilt Guild of Wichita, KS had the theme In Living Color. Sharon E. Smith offered Maranda Reads little Red Riding Hood. It is a quilt about reading that includes the story and a photo of a baby reading. Whats not to love?

Under was the challenge theme for Across the Square Quilters from Charlotte, MI. Under Cover was made by Carol Randall. My child loved to make a hide-out of our dining room table. So this brings back memories.

The Ann Arbor, MI based Tuesday Night Friends theme was I've Got the Quilting Bug. This winning quilt guild had amazing quilts like Jewel Box Beetle by Sue Holdaway-Heys.

I could list so many more, but will save them for another day.

Vintage Fabrics

I have a small collection of vintage fabrics, culled from various sources over the years including garage sales, thrift and collectibles shops, and flea markets.

I love these prints. The pink and aqua is unusual as mostly I find the prints in browns.

I love kitchen prints. So much fun!

This towel was in mint condition. Kendall towels are very collectible. I got this for $3 at a flea market.

At the same flea market I found a set of kitchen curtains in wonderful shape. I paid $5. Imagine the kitchen that had fabric will metallic gold on the curtains!

Speaking of metallic gold in prints, this remnant of drapery or upholstery fabric is wild! Gold, turquoise and olive green. These are the  decorating colors people had when I was a girl.

Over 15 years ago I found a lot of decorating fabric samples. They are all from the same time period and each pattern had several color ways. Gold shows up again.

The bottom pic you can see a snippet of the kitchen print shown above. So I know they are all from the same time period.

Some of these prints look similar to things popular today. Today's designs are less detailed and fussy, and more graphic and modern. Novelty print,s like the kitchen curtain print with coffee urns, are still popular. But I have yet to see a fabric decorated with microwave ovens, Cusinart blenders, and Keurig coffee makers! Or with iPads, smart phones and flat screen tvs. Although I have wondered why we don't make album quilts showing modern cars and fashions like the 19th c ones with horses and steam boats!

Friendship Ring Quilt Guild Show

The local quilt out of New Era, MI has an annual quilt show in the village park in Mears, MI. These small Up North towns have prolific quilters!

New Era has about 450 population. Mears is a small village close to Silver Lake, one of the Michigan sand dune/beach/boating tourist attractions. Just down the road from Mears is Hart, MI, which offers the closest grocery stores and pharmacy to me.

 This area of Oceana County has an abundance of farm land, with  many small family organic farms. The Farmer's Market in Pentwater is filled with their produce twice a week. Believe me, we eat real good in the summer around here!

The guild displays the quilts cloth pinned to clothes lines.

For a remote area, we are lucky to have several quilt shops and several other places for fabric, and there are two guilds in Oceana County and another in Muskegon County. So the local quilters keep busy.

My quilting friend, who just started quilting while we were in Montague MI seven years ago, had a half dozen quilts in the show. Sandy made a quilt for the guild's 20th anniversary.

Sandy made this quilt for a challenge with a Michigan theme. Oceana County is the" fruit basket" of Michigan,  producer of most of the asparagus grown in the country, and also has some fine wineries. Like Western New York State where I was born, the Great Lakes create a perfect climate for these farms. I love how she added a net curtain to make the black background less stark on the bowl of cherries.




I loved the two black and white quilts, Diane Kelley's Shadow Play with a touch of red,  and one by Penny Carlson with a brilliant pink.

This vibrant and fun quilt Friends are Friends Forever was made by Penny Carlson for a granddaughter.

The local Christian school made this wonderful hand print quilt.

A striking Hawaiian quilt was made by Lois Huth who was 95 at the time! It was one of the few that was hand quilted in the show.

 This quilt by Helen Pioche seemed very modern with the white background and bright solids.

There were several raffle quilts. The leaves had a 3-D edge and was for the Oceana Historical Society. The purple sampler behind was for the Friendship Ring Quilt Guild.

It was a beautiful day for their show.

Gees bend Quilt Revisited

The owner of the Gees Bend quilt, obtained in the early 1970s, was thrilled to hear from Jeff Cunningham that his brother Joe informed that the quilt was worth quite a bit more than she ever imagined.

The quilt was in the Pentwater Quilt Display in July, which the quilt owner and I organized. I was curious about a man who was talking to people about the quilts like someone who knew what he was talking about, and went over to meet him. I was surprised to find out who he was. He had been in the area for the Art Fair and heard about the quilts. He enjoyed the venue and encouraged us to continue the event.

Educating people about the proper value and care of their quilts is so important.

Reggie's Christmas, an 1881 children's book

Many years ago my mother-in-law showed me a children's book that was given to her by her uncle James Nelson. Reggie's Christmas was published by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1881. The hard cover book is small enough for a child's hands, a mere 5 1/2 " by 3 1/2" . 

Laura O'Dell Bekofske's father's brother James Nelson first owned the book. His inked signature appears on the front page. He then wrote "Book. Keep it clean. April 17 1890" and we find Laura Grace O'Dell's name written in pencil.

It was perhaps her only children's book. The story is about a family whose oldest son is lost in a shipwreck coming home from studying in England, but surprises the family by coming home on Christmas. His sibling's and mother's life is shown as they wait to hear news of their beloved Reggie. 

I used some of the line drawings of the children's life to make a little Redwork quilt.

Mabel goes to her mother, who is sewing by firelight, for a little chat and to dress her doll. The twins look at a book with children in a candy store, and a girl afraid of a sheep. Ben comes home from school and mother has to tell him that his elder brother was lost at sea. But after Reggie returns, the father goes out to buy presents for Christmas. At the shop are poor children wistfully looking at toys for "the rich children" but not for them. The father feels such joy at the gift of his son's life being spared, he buys the poor children presents for their whole family. At the end we learn that Reggie  had clung to a plank and was picked up by a steamer on its way back to England. Sadly the telegraph was out of order, and he could not wire home of his safety. Reggie boarded the next steamer to America, and so surprised his grieving parents.

It may seem a sad story for children but I fear that in 1881 it was too common a tale. Not unlike books for children today meant to mirror reality. I especially like the example of the father responding to the poor children. After all, when we understand what really matters, and have been given the greatest gift of life, we ought to share that bounty with those less fortunate and hence bring them great joy as well.