Works in Process--Books to Come

I have the corner appliqué to finish on these new 1857 Album blocks from Sentimental Stitches. I will do the embroidery on all of the blocks when the blocks are all finished. I am so enjoying these blocks.

Since making my William Shakespeare portrait I want to make more poet portrait quilts. Next up is Edgar Allan Poe. He was quite a craftsman as a writer. You can read how he wrote The Raven in his Philosophy of Composition here.

I want to drape a 'purple curtain' over the quilt because of the beautiful lines in the Raven: "And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain/Thrilled me-- filled me, with fantastic terror never felt before."

Little Hazel by Esther Alui is sadly being neglected. I failed at machine piecing this block and started hand sewing it. I dislike hand sewing (although I like hand appliqué--go figure) and this is as far as I have gotten...a quarter of a block.

I finally started hand quilting my Austen Family Album by Barbara Brackman, finished a year ago. I expect it will take me a year of quilting to finish!

Quilt Books news:

I will be reviewing Suzie Parron's Following the Barn Quilt Trail from Ohio U Press! They are sending me the book. Perfect timing since last month Suzi was at my quilt guild and I took her workshop.

I have Bill Volckening's new book Modern Roots--Today's Quilts from Yesterday's Inspiration from C&T Publications to review. Bill has an amazing quilt collection. You can see his quilts shared on his blog Wonkyworld.

And the Schiffer Publication's books Inspired By The National Parks and Hmong Story Cloths are on my NetGally shelf.

Also, my review of Thomas Knauer's The Quilt Design Coloring Book will come out in August.

Fiction & Nonfiction

I was happy when St. Martin's Press reached out to offer me Lisa Scottoline's new book Damaged. Apparently they liked my review of Corrupted shared on Amazon. Having lived in Philly for 15 years my hubby and I appreciate Scottoline's books for the setting and enjoy her characters and stories.

I am currently reading Mad Enchantment about Monet and his water lily series and the novel Lucky Boy through NetGalley, and from Blogging for Books The Apache War.

Scheduled reviews to come include the Antarctic love story My Last Continent by Midge Raymond; David Abram's Iraqi war novel Fobbit; the Taming of the Shrew re-imagined in the Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler; Larry Tye's new biography of Bobby Kennedy; an exploration of race in Absalom's Daughters by Suzanne Feldman;  Angels of Detroit by Christopher Hebert; Rae Meadow's Dust Bowl novel I Will Send Rain; the time spanning Mr. Eternity by Aaron Thier; first published in 1864 The Female Detective; The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore (soon to be a movie); The Illustrated Book of Sayings from around the world; and Tara Clancy's memoir The Clancys of Queens.

My NetGalley shelf also holds Victoria:The Queen by Julia Baird; Candace Millard's Hero of the Empire about Churchill during the Boer War; Alice Hoffman's Faithful; The Electrifying Fall of Rainbow City by Margaret Creighton about Buffalo, NY during the 1901 Pan American Exhibition; and The Language of Dying by Sarah Pinbourough called "A beautiful book, honestly told" by Neil Gaiman.

Whew! 

Handkerchief Souvenirs From Home and Abroad

New York City Central Park Zoo by Tammis Keefe was part of her NYC landmarks series

Handkerchiefs were popular souvenirs, easily packed colorful reminders of happy travels. Cities, states, countries, landmarks, museums, and fairs were depicted. Here are some from my collection.

City Souvenirs

New York City landmarks

Chicago by Tammis Keefe

Milwaukee, MN

Wilmington, Delaware by Tammis Keefe

Windsor and Niagara Falls Canada silk hankys

Tammis Keefe did a series of Philadelphia landmark handkerchiefs.

Benjamin Franklin Parkway

Rittenhouse Square

John Wanamaker's, "Meet Me at the Eagle"

Including historical landmarks.

The Liberty Bell

Independence Hall

Landmarks, Museums, Historical Interest

Independence Hall

Pennsbury Manor, home of William Penn

House of the Seven Gables

Mt Rushmore

Governor's Palace, Wilmington DE, Tammis Keefe

Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI by Tammis Keefe

Greenfield Village, uncut material, Tammis Keefe 

Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, MI by Tammis Keefe

Museum of Costume, Bath, England

 State Handkerchiefs

Michigan

The Great Lakes States

Hawaii

Around the World

Chinese handkerchief

New Zealand

Crossing the Equator

Great Britain

Bern, Switzerland

The Taj Mahal

 The New York World's Fair souvenirs

A handkerchief bag New York World's Fair

Silk New York World's Fair showing world costumes 

Years ago I saw this state handkerchief quilt on eBay. I started collecting these state hankys to make my own. I still need a dozen more.

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley: Information vs Entertainment

With the all the buzz about Noah Hawley's Before the Fall I got in a NetGalley request at the last minute and the publisher quickly responded. Two days later I had finished the novel.

Yes, it is that good a read. I gave up going to see Love and Friendship so I could finish the book.

The book begins with a private plane that crashes into the ocean. One man survives and rescues a child. The rest of the book explores, person by person, each passenger 'before the fall', alternating with the investigation and lives of the survivors. This stretches the suspense and drives the reader.

So, its a good beach read and will soon a movie coming to a theater near you.

No, wait, there is more to Before the Fall than plot-driven suspense. Hawley uses the story to explore the role of television journalism and its propensity to manipulate news--to drive profits via increased viewers, even at the expense of the innocent.

Scott Burroughs is climbing back up from a complete meltdown. His early promise as an artist was frittered away with partying and playing the field. Only after reaching rock bottom and dealing with his alcoholism was he able to recreate himself. His sister had drowned as a child. Scott's new series of paintings probes the disasters that await us.

At the farm market Scott had an informal friendship with a wealthy mother and wife, Maggie Bateman. Maggie learns Scott is going into New York City to organize a show of his paintings on the same day her family are taking a private plane there. She invites him to tag along. Eighteen minutes after take-off the plane dives into the sea. Scott thinks he is the only survivor, and as a swimmer hopes to make it to shore. Scott hears Maggie's son JJ calling, and with grit and determination he miraculously saves them both.

Scott should be considered a hero, or a victim of a terrible disaster. To Bill Cunningham, David Bateman's television network star, Scott is an opportunity. Cunningham is arch conservative, a bulldog, who promotes his opinion as 'news.' He begins a campaign that questions if Scott is the villain behind the tragedy. Scott's heroism arises again as he takes arms against notoriety. Even imperfect failures can be heroes.

I was glad to have read this novel and will recommend it to my book club as a great discussion book. Those who like a character or plot driven novel will like it, and it will spark discussion of contemporary media/news practices.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.


Before the Fall
Noah Hawley
Grand Central Publishing
$26 hard cover
ISBN: 9781455561780

Hillbilly Pixies Quilt Pattern

Years ago I saw a quilt on eBay with appliquéd and embroidered elves. Some time after that I found the pattern in Blue Ribbon Quilt Patterns by Ruby Hinson published in 1973.

the eBay quilt

Here is the pattern.

"For the next two issues I am going to give you one of the cutest and most unusual crib or youth quilt patterns that I have ever seen. This pattern was designed almost forty years ago but has never been published before. The pattern was sent to me by the present owner of the original quilt, Mrs. Evelyn Bernard, an aunt of the designer. The following is taken from the pattern as it was sent to me:

"This quilt was started in 1933-34 by Virginia B. Howe, who is the niece of Evelyn Bernard, who is the owner of the quilt. Miss Howe drew the little pixies free hand, so these are her own originals. There were 34 of these little 6-inch blocks made up at that time. They were kept for 32 years in a protected place by Evelyn Bernard, and in 1966 she sent the 34 made up blocks to a pen pal, Winona Clocker, with enough material to make the other blocks and finish the quilt for her. The quilt diagram shown is the original setting for this long loved quilt. The quilt arrangement of Winona's made the little 6-inch blocks seem larger and if you look closely the little pixies will run in a circle.

"All hats are appliquéd of different prints, no two alike. Embodier the scarves, ties, and collars in a color picked from the print hat. All faces are embroidered in black outline stitch. Hair may be any color desired, such as yellow, red, brown, black, white, gray or tan. 

"There are two hat types which are called "Split Hat" and "Bell Shaped Hat" and thee have both a right and left facing pattern. You can see from the diagram that two appliqué blocks are set alternately with two plain blocks and these are then surrounded with strips to form a larger square. These strips on the original quilt were made from pink and yellow solid. Sew two pink strips together, on the short triangle seam, to form one half of a square. Sew two yellow strips together, on the short triangle seam, for form the other half of the square. Sew this around the 6-inch block to form a frame. Join the last small triangle corner of the yellow strip to complete the square. Watch the diagram of the quilt for the correct way of arranging the pink half corners and the yellow half side of the square strip frame, when joining the whole blocks together.

"Since this quilt was designed and made some time ago the diagram and material needed is for a small quilt top but if you prefer a larger top just add more blocks. This just shows a finished quilt in size 75" x 90".

"You will need: 60 each 6-inch appliquéd blocks; 2 1/2 yards pink, 2 1/2 yards yellow. Additional for quilt lining. Quilt cotton (dacron) batting, 1-inch wide print binding for the edges of the quilt.

"Seam allowances are given on the hat appliqué patches to turn under when you appliqué the hat in place. If you prefer to appliqué the hats with your zig-zag machine then it is not necessary to allow for seams or if you appliqué by hand and use a close buttonhole or blanket stitch no seam allowance is necessary.

"To place the pixie designs on the 6-inch blocks, use a transfer pencil and trace them on tissue or tracing paper and then place this tracing face down (traced side against material) and stamp with a hot iron. To quilt your quilt after it is completed, you can just quilt about one-half inch from both sides of all seams on all pieces except the little Pixie hats. This will be enough quilting for the complete quilt, since the pieces are all small pieces. Quilt around the seams of the 6-inch blocks, frame strips and the border."

Blue Ribbon Patterns p-640 Vol. 1; Quilt Patterns by Ruby Hinson. Tower Press publications.