July 2 – 6, 2004
These restored messages come from the Quilt History List, an online forum where quilt historians, collectors, researchers, appraisers, and enthusiasts discussed antique quilts and related textiles. The archive dates from 1996 through approximately 2016 and is being restored gradually. Sign up in the form at the bottom of the page if you want to know when a new page is added. Original spelling, opinions, formatting, and inactive links may remain unchanged.
Primary topics of this QHL Digest:
- Mouse Damage in Stored Quilts — A practical discussion of how mice nest in and shred quilts, with prevention and storage tips.
- Quilters Hall of Fame Grand Opening — Members discuss the upcoming grand opening of the Marie Webster House and Quilters Hall of Fame.
- A Feedsack-Themed Email Scam Warning — List members flag a suspicious chain email and warn others not to respond. (see the article on the feedsack story)
- Biscuit Quilts, Continued — The biscuit-quilt reminiscence thread continues with more construction details and batting choices.
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 19:42:20 -0400 | From: “Newbie Richardson” <pastcrafts@>
Dear list, When at the ALHFAM ( Assoc. of Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums – a wonderful group of small and large museum staff and volunteers) meeting at the Henry Ford in Dearborne, Mich. I took a day long trip to visit UGRR sites in Canada. I was interested in actual scholarship, and this came with both the Canadian Park Service and our own NPS guides. To my surprize our Amrican guide was wearing a tee shirt with a quilt patch stenciled on it. I then inquired about whether the quilt code myth would be addressed. Well, he practically kissed me! Long story short THAT book has made it North of the border, complete with display case with “reproduction” quilt blocks illustrating the “code”. The US Park Service has a dedicated team promoting UGRR sites and tours in the US – and with their Canadian counterparts. Appearantly, the staff are very frustrated by the questions about the use of quilts in the UGRR. None of them is a textile/costume/quilt historian, but they are all historians and knew instinctivley that most of this “story” is not quite ‘right’ -and they finally came into contact with me, a real live historian who could debate the issue with some (not as much as many of you on this list, though) authority. There was a very lively discussion on the long drive back to Detroit where I fielded lots of questions. I was very diplomatic and asked if anyone thought that the now defunct myth of George Washington cutting down the cherry tree had had any ill effects on scholarship when it was taught in school? The response was that a charming story can frequently get people involved in their own history – so what was the harm of the story of the quilt code ? I answered in starkly economic terms. The cult of George Washington in the 19th century led to an industry of George Washington fakes which bilked many folks – including museums and auction houses – out of millions of dollars. ( these artifacts are still turning up, and being disproved – with devastating consequences to the owners, when they try and donate to Mount Vernon.) I told them my concern was that this seductive story would lead this first generation of African-American collectors to be bilked out of hard earned money by unscrupulous quilt dealers and dealers in African American artifacts. I think I struck a nerve. So anyway, I have sent information to the guys at NPS: Pat Cumming’s wonderful essay, as well as many other refferences that I have been collecting. We finally have the ear of the type of people who can actually DO SOMETHING about this! Let freedom ring! Newbie Richardson
Date: Mon, 05 Jul 2004 18:57:54 -0600 | From: Xenia Cord <xenia@>
‘Atta girl, Newbie!!!
Xenia
Date: Mon, 05 Jul 2004 19:03:11 -0500 | From: Gail Ingram <gingram@>
Pepper, your father was a minister. Hmmmmm. Re Pepper’s playing guitar on her garter belt.
And this garter belt plunking is a very ingenious trick, Pepper. Oh how I hate I never thought of that. Just proves you have a brilliant mind.
Of course, I did well to survive church services because my Aunt Bunnie sang in the choir and thought she was the choir. She actually had a lovely soprano voice. My friend Margaret and I just wondered what the voices of the other 25 choir members were like.
Once I went to a Baptist Church for 2 years, when one of the 2 bridges over the troubled waters of the Red River was being repaired and the other was many times clogged with military convoys from Ft. Polk, south of Alexandria, LA., impeding our getting to church on time. At the end of each Baptist service, there was an Invitational Hymn in which those interested in conversion and/or joining the church would come forward and discuss their intentions with the minister. No one was ever turned down, as I recall.
On the last day of one particularly unprofitable summer revival, when all the lost refused to come forward and confess their sins and all the saved had bravely held forth in their righteousness, the congregation sang 64 verses of “Just As I Am”—-well, not 64 different verses, of course, but 64 verses, repeating the same 4-5 over and over and over.
Oh how we prayed for a lost and struggling soul to walk in the back door and straight down the maroon-carpeted aisle, shake hands with the evangelist, and renounce his wayward ways. The evangelist, President of a local Baptist college, said he just KNEW there was a such a soul amongst us. Yet, despite much craning of necks, no one could spot such an individual. We seemed doomed to spend all Sunday afternoon singing “Just As I Am,” listening to our stomachs growl, and thinking of the fried chicken that waited on us at home.
Finally, in the pew behind us, Marie Carolino’s mother, who had recently been listed in the local newspaper as witness to a bar brawl at the Red Dog Cafe, slapped her hymnal shut rather loudly, sighed, and asked the gentleman next to her to let her pass. Margaret and I held our breaths, for we knew Mrs. Carolino had her limits, and we feared that 64 verses of “Just As I Am” was one of them.
She walked deliberately forward, toward the would-be evangelizing educator. All wriggling and foot-shifting stopped as we valiantly headed into the 65th verse of “Just As I Am” (Margaret was mathematically inclined and could keep track of such numbers). The evangelist bent down, put his hand on the very pretty shoulder of Mrs. C, and they remained in quiet conversation for the duration of the verse. Then still keeping his hand on Mrs. C, he held up his left hand to the choir director and the music stopped.
This was the one, he said triumphantly. He had known there was a struggle going on in the heart of someone, and he had been proven right. Mrs. C. had told him she had fallen astray and had come to re-dedicated her life to Jesus. He besought each member of the congregation to come forward and wish her well in her renewed battle with the Enemy. Of course, everyone was so grateful to her that all but a few cynics did as instructed. As my friend Margaret and I walked up to hug Mrs. C., we didn’t know what to say. She looked at us dead on and said, “Well, SOMEBODY had to end it. It might as well have been me!”
Later I learned that this was her role in that church. Every visiting evangelist was judged by his ability to bring forth the black sheep among us so they could be turned white as snow. Ours was a polite congregation, desirous of being spoken well of by evangelists, but alas, nearly everyone except the toddlers were already members of the church. Mrs. C herself was a member of long standing, but alone amongst us, she tended to drift into places like the Red Dog Cafe. She was young and pretty and a good candidate for rededications, which she dutifully yielded up on a number occasions. The visiting minister always seemed to maintain his grip on her shoulder longer than he did on plainer but clearer strugglers. I think there was a trade off: none of the gossips in the church would say a word about her shenanigans so long as she did not let our evangelists go away with a zero batting average.
Ohhh, I miss being the fifth grade when everything was funny.
From North Louisiana, where, after 2 straight clear days, thunder is rumbling in the west, Gail
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 20:12:14 -0400 | From: “Newbie Richardson” <pastcrafts@>
Any of you who have had the dubious pleasure of cleaning up after mice the Spring after the Fall when a summer house has been inadequately “put away”, will agree with me that a) Beatrix Potter never had to do her own house work, and B) neither did Walt Disney! Garters: I was 10 in 1963 and my grown up gift was a garter belt and REAL STOCKINGS! ( To be worn on “state occasions” only. I spent my early teen-aged years trying to hide garters under mini skirts! Thank God for panty hose. Newbie
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 20:33:14 -0400 | From: “Lucinda Cawley” <lrcawley@>
Hi Judy, I’ll find you. I’ll be there on Sat. all day. Happy plundering! Cinda
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 20:35:24 -0400 | From: “J. G. Row” <JudyGrow@>
Dear List,
I am sure you will agree that we have been thrice blessed this Monday. We’ve had Pepper, Gail, and Newbie to make us laugh and to make us cheer.
Many thanks to Sue Reich for her wishes for the 4th. Right back at you, Sue. And expecially to you on every other day of the year as well. And to our listmom, Kris (and John), the same.
Judy Ringo judygrow@
>Thank you to the men and women of your families who have made great >sacrifices to provide our Country with its freedoms and the right to enjoy >weekends such as this.
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2004 20:48:09 -0400 | From: “Lucinda Cawley” <lrcawley@>
Great news, Newbie. Good for you! Cinda
Date: Mon, 05 Jul 2004 22:23:53 -0400 | From: Patricia L Cummings <quiltersmuse@>
Dear Newbie:
“Pat Cummings” (me) has a big smile on her face in reading the last paragraph of your post re: the UGRR issue.
Newbie, if you are indeed collecting written information, I am happy to announce to you and to the other list members that another, updated article which I wrote on this same subject, is currently hitting the newsstands across America and beyond, in/ The Quilter/ magazine, September 2004 issue.
I am still trying to do my part in sharing information.
Leigh Fellner has continued to do excellent work in tracking more “goings-on” that she has discovered, including a major grant for which relatives of Ozella McDaniel Williams applied from the government. I believe that Leigh has posted this incredible information on her site, and I hope I’m not speaking out of turn in mentioning it. Leigh also was interviewed over a three week span in May/June on a Jackson, Mississippi radio station. She did an excellent job and I really enjoyed hearing both the interviewer’s fine questions and Leigh’s answers.
I would love to know more about how the U.S. Forest Service has been promoting the idea of the secret quilt code. Was it Barb Garrett that mentioned seeing a poster a month or so ago that had actual photos of blocks believed to have been used to share messages between escaping slaves? I looked on their website and there was nothing of the kind ” in plain view”. (Sorry, couldn’t resist!).
The rate at which the secret code is spreading is truly like wildfire, so it does seem appropriate for the Forest Service to get involved. However, I would say that Smokey the Bear is not on the job in this case.
The trouble with the dissemination of information by agencies, schools, and institutions is that the public believes the conveyors of this wisdom. We look to teachers, and yes, even to forest rangers to tell us the truth.
The situation is probably just as disheartening to blacks who want a true accounting of their cultural history, as it is to non-blacks who are simply trying to make sense of things.
Anyhow, thanks for speaking up Newbie. If all of us who know better would respond with our comments when the subject arises, we would be doing our part to make people think and consider the idea that the story is indeed a new American myth.
Pat Cummings www.quiltersmuse.com
Newbie Richardson wrote:
So anyway, I have sent information to the guys at NPS: Pat Cumming’s wonderful essay, as well as many other refferences that I have been collecting. We finally have the ear of the type of people who can actually DO SOMETHING about this! Let freedom ring! Newbie Richardson
Date: Mon, 05 Jul 2004 21:41:02 -0500 | From: Gail Ingram <gingram@>
PepCory: you will never know how I envy you. I never, never, never thought of this. I’m sending it to Jill McCorkle, who came along in the panty hose era but who will love it.
Where did you grow up?
Or did you?
Gail
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 07:28:09 -0400 | From: “Monica MacDonald” <jmacdon6@>
I was just at the Henry Ford a few weeks ago. The kids and I explored Greenfield Village and as they were choosing some toys in the gift shop afterward we found some “American Adventure Play Sets” by a company called Child Light. The Harriet Tubman play set included a “secret sign freedom quilt”. On the box they indicated a website with activities; however, when I went to their website, it was no longer there. They have apparently gone out of business. A lot of this particular myth seems to be aimed at children – books, lesson plans for teachers to use, and now toys. The Child Light logo showed a candle and book and the words, “True Stories”. I sometimes talk with people who have no idea that UGRR quilts are anything but solid, proven fact. Things like this make me wonder what I might be unknowingly accepting as facts and teaching the kids (we homeschool). Which brings me to my question – do any of you ever watch PBS’s History Detectives? I like the way they show them searching through archives to find primary sources and information to verify or disprove the stories that have been handed down with the artifacts featured. Maybe we need a PBS documentary on the UGRR/quilts issue… BTW, I loved Greenfield Village – I left Michigan in 4th Grade so I only vaguely remember a few field trips to the Village as a student. Monica MacDonald in Maine
> Dear list, > When at the ALHFAM ( Assoc. of Living History, Farm and Agricultural > Museums – a wonderful group of small and large museum staff and volunteers) > meeting at the Henry Ford in Dearborne, Mich. I took a day long trip to > visit UGRR sites in Canada. I was interested in actual scholarship, and this > came with both the Canadian Park Service and our own NPS guides. > To my surprize our Amrican guide was wearing a tee shirt with a quilt > patch stenciled on it. I then inquired about whether the quilt code myth > would be addressed. Well, he practically kissed me! > Long story short THAT book has made it North of the border, complete with > display case with “reproduction” quilt blocks illustrating the “code”.
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 06:43:45 -0500 | From: “Karen Erlandson” <quiltercooke.net>
Here is an update on the quilt. When the questions came out a few weeks ago, I had recently completed the top and was waiting for my quilter, who has had some health problems – but now, the top, batting and backing are being sent to Christine Thresh, who will take over the quilting situation. I would have written back with an immediate answer, but needed to wait as some hurtful emails were sent my way – silence seemed the best answer then. I will be brief with explanation – since those who understand don’t need it and those who don’t understand hear only an excuse: When this all began, I had time to do the top -then, I couldn’t get in touch with Lori East for a very long time – but – she was having computer problems and health issues that I didn’t know about, lest anyone be quick to judge. when I finally got the other blocks from Lori East, my time had become less available by then and the result is that the blocks had to wait. It is not as I would have chosen, but it is what happened. I will send a photo of the top to Kris and I am sure the top will be finished quickly – Christine sounds like she has a quilter that can get to it right away, unlike my quilter here. There were not enough blocks for two quilts as reported, only one. I am sure that Kris will enjoy the quilt, late in coming or not.
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2004 08:42:28 -0400 | From: Joan Kiplinger <jkip@>
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I would like to applaud Pat, Newbie, Leigh and Kim and all others who are working to dispel the UGRR myth. Last month I finally got around to reading the book prompted by list discussions for the past two years. Not being a quilter and thus not familiar with the many “code” designs, I first found it difficult to get past the dust jacket blurb, especially the three-year wait. Deepthroat has a rival were my first thoughts, the land of Oz my later thoughts. I also found the book difficult to navigate as it switched authors which kept you guessing whose chapter was whose and thus interrupting the thought process. And the ending reminded me of all those westerns which trail off into the golden sunset. My final thoughts were that even if no one disputed the coded quilt story and it were factual, this book was not the vehicle to carry the message. I had a friend read it, a non-quilter also, but one who like me loves history. She gave up after the first few chapters in disbelief that anyone could buy such a tale, let alone publish it. What carried me through the book were the findings by those quilt detectives which pointed out so many fallacies via this list and their websites and which I would have not otherwise been aware of. And then the further investigation by Leigh into the geneology of Ozella’s family which turned up some amazing age discrepencies. Let’s hope your messages continue to reach those who may unknowingly be spreading the wrong story. I’ve pointed many quilt friends to the UGRR websites so that they may be aware of the controversy.
Monica MacDonald wrote:
>I was just at the Henry Ford a few weeks ago. The kids and I explored >Greenfield Village and as they were choosing some toys in the gift shop >afterward we found some “American Adventure Play Sets” by a company called >Child Light. The Harriet Tubman play set included a “secret sign freedom >quilt”. On the box they indicated a website with activities; however, when >I went to their website, it was no longer there. They have apparently gone >out of business. > > > >
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 07:46:52 -0500 | From: “Barbara Vlack” <cptvdeo@>
As I started to read the biscuit thread here, I was thinking of the biscuit wreath I made for my best friend. It was in the 70s. I stuffed the biscuits with shredded pantyhose. That sucker was HEAVY and eventually sagged from the round shape to quite oval before my friend gave up on it. I didn’t remember there were actually instructions for stuffing it with pantyhose, and my memory was that I was clever to think of that. The “clever” trick of the nylon stuffing must not have been my own idea, though, since it was mentioned here. It was bad enough stuffing biscuits with pantyhose for a “decorative” item. With the weight that produced, I cannot imagine trying to sleep under a biscuit quilt stuffed with nylons. Oh, yuck.
Cutting off the tops of the hose meant cutting off the panty part of the hose. But Pepper suggests it could have also meant the tops of stockings.
That leads me into other “fond” memories of the era, some of which were learned from my very frugal mother, who has never gotten out of the Depression mindset of “Wear it out, make it do, use it up, or do without.” Well, Mom taught me to cut off the ruined leg of one pantyhose and wait for the next pair to do the same. Then wear both so you’d have two good legs – but double the top. I bought into that for a while.
The next frugal thing she did was cut off the waistband elastic and use it as a very large rubberband. Actually, she still does this. She ties up storage boxes this way. And she flaunts them in public. My line that this exceeds was drawn a long time ago. I’d rather use duct tape.
In the great UGRR debate, I am intrigued with the focus of getting the facts straight for the purpose of avoiding deceptive practices of offering unsubstantiated items to museums or historical sites in exchange for money or tax benefits. Hmmmm. I hadn’t thought of that as part of the rub, but I accept it!
Barb Vlack cptvdeo@
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 15:13:13 +0200 | From: Margareta.Faustcec.eu.int
Yesterday I saw a report about an exhibition in Germany (Berlin) of handkerchiefs embroidered by Bosnian refugee women in memory of their menfolk killed in the Balkans in the 1990s. The women worked in groups led by a German therapist, and they embroidered the names of their husbands, brothers etc and some other motifs they connected with them. They explained that this was a way of forming links with the men, whose bodies often had not been found and thus not given a proper grave.
That report made me think of the – maybe universal? – therapeutical value of needlework, as we see in 19th century mourning quilts and more recently in the 9/11 quilts. Margareta – back in Europe after a wonderful Quilt tour. Thank you Kim, Kris, Candace and everybody else on the list whom I met in Pennsylvania and New York!
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 09:28:33 -0400 | From: “Newbie Richardson” <pastcrafts@>
Xenia, I kept wishing that the whole list could have materialized behind me. Talk about being on the hot seat…. N
From: Sylvia Adair
Another note on biscuit quilts–in the 70s my grandad’s mother made a pillow from lots of “fancy” fabrics (acetate, brocade, velvet, etc.) and stuffed the biscuits with old support hose. It was kind of pretty, but not comfortable, more for show than use. My grandmother wouldn’t have it in her house, so she gave it to my mother. This was Gran’s second marriage, and she and her mother-in-law didn’t get along. Gran was 10 years older than Grandad, and his mother mentioned that fact whenever she saw them. Gran did keep the quilts Grandad’s mother made, but they were more practical and useful (and were out of sight in the closet). Just chiming in, Sylvia Adair in Wisconsin
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 2004 09:47:03 -0500 | From: “Karen Quilts Texas” <karenquiltstexashouston.@>
I keep an eye out for crafting books to sell in my Ebay biz, and (I almost hate to tell you this), but there was actually a book on making things with hosiery. I ran across is a number of months ago at a yard sale where I picked up several old crafting books. I believe it was made in the late 60’s, when all those handcrafts, like macrame, and such were hot. Recycling was also very big… I spent an evening looking through it, as it was so bizarre! It had (of course) how to make “real” looking “granny” dolls of pantyhose stuffed with – more pantyhose, and stitched to look like remarkably real faces, hands and feet! If you’ll remember, all things “granny” were “in”…. Granny glasses, Granny dresses, big lace up granny shoes with long skirts – well, I’m dating myself now!
It had a number of items made using hosiery for stuffing, and recommended using them to stuff dolls, pillows, or anything that needed a filling. Makes sense to me, since it’s basically the same substance as polyester fiberfill! Probably not a bad idea. If I had a $1.00 for all the panty hose I’ve ever bought and thrown away…but then that’s another thread – eh?
It also had purses crocheted from twisted lengths, bathroom rugs, and even a HAMMOCK! Of course the pictured items were modeled by very 60’s looking folks… lots of bell bottoms, ponchos, and floppy hats!
I remember that it actually sold on Ebay…for about $10.00! I put in in the “Really Weird” category. If anyone is interested, I’ll search my database, and see if I can come up with the name.
Karen Spring, TX
—–Original Message—– From: Alan R. Kelchner Sent: Monday, July 05, 2004 6:10 PM To: Quilt History List Subject: [qhl] Re: Biscuit quilts–very strange!
I actually was shown a worn out, but completed, example of this in Florida once – stuffed with all sorts of the ladies’ used undergarments (not just hosiery). And here I thought it was a complete oddity. It appeared to have been made somewhere around 1970.
Alan
Alan R. Kelchner Textile Artist http://www.alankelchner.com
