July 25 – 30, 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:
- Keeping Artifacts in Their Original Setting — A continued debate over whether historic textiles belong with private collectors or in their region/community of origin.
- Ceiling-Hung Quilting Frames, Continued — More members describe growing up with ceiling-suspended quilting frames in family kitchens across different regions.
- Basket Quilt Postage Stamps — Members discuss the 1978 American Folk Art series basket-quilt postage stamps and share related ephemera.
- Preserving Family Sewing Traditions — Members share memories of quilting frames, hooked rugs, and other sewing traditions passed down in their families. (see the article on repair, restore, or conserve)
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 | From: Judy Kelius <quilts@>
At 09:48 AM 7/24/2004, you wrote: >It raised a question I’ve often considered—should the finest examples of a >region’s material history remain in their natural context, which will >illumine them for both residents of the region and visitors? Or should they >be dissiminated so many people can see them?
There needs to be a balance. When I started to work at the PA Quilt Museum in Lititz, one of my goals was to bring some outstanding PA quilts back to PA. It seemed to me that most major quilt collections and museums (even those in other countries) featured Pennsylvania quilts, but at the time there was no museum in our state devoted to them. Of course, the various historical societies have examples but as we saw at Norristown, these donated pieces are often in sad state, fragile, stained, etc. – although they are marvelous and well worth studying, few of the quilts in that collection are in display condition. And even when an historical society has good quilts in its collection, they rarely have the space to display many of them and or the funds to acquire other good quilts when they became available. So I saw this as an opportunity to teach the residents of our state and other visitors about the amazing quilting traditions found in Pennsylvania. All of the quilts in that collection were purchased, and several had been published before the museum acquired them.
If the report on the quilts going to the Smithsonian is true, it is sad that once again there will be no museum in PA devoted to quilts other than the new Lancaster Quilt & Textile Museum, which concentrates on Lancaster County quilts and brought back to their origins an important portion of the Esprit collection of Lancaster County Amish quilts. (Although the PA Quilt Museum is also located in Lancaster County, we made an effort to acquire quilts from other areas of the state as well.) And as you say, most of the Smithsonian acquisitions will never be on public view.
I am not surprised that the Smithsonian would be interested in the general store museum – it is an amazing collection, probably the best example of a traditional American general store anywhere. The store opened in the mid 19th century and closed in the 1950s, and until the current owner purchased it several years ago, nothing had been touched. If something didn’t sell, it was not discarded, just put in storage, so the collection spanned a century! The museum’s founder acquired everything, including the rest of the Kready family possessions (there were no descendants to inherit any of it). So the museum became not just a recreation of the general store (which was rebuilt almost exactly like the original under the supervision of the store’s last owner) but also a glimpse into the life of a Pennsylvania German family – many of the household possessions are also on display, and parts of the house like the old kitchen were rebuilt within the large building that houses the general store and quilt museums.
About a dozen quilts made by the grandmother of the last general store’s owner became the nucleus for the quilt museum along with clothing, aprons, and other textile and household items, all of them in pristine condition. Three of the quilts are breathtaking – multifabric medallions with political handkerchiefs in their center, beautiful fabrics, great color sense, worthy of any museum . . . the remainder are excellent examples of more typical Pennsylvania quilts with exceptional workmanship, design, and condition. I hope these family quilts always stay together. It is so rare to have any provenance for an antique quilt, let alone the opportunity to study a group of family quilts within the context of the other possessions of the family. (By the way, some of the Kready quilts were apparently sold off over the years while they were still in family hands . . . there is a nearly exact duplicate of one of the Kready medallion quilts in the Chicago Art Museum, part of Shelly Zegart’s collection acquired by them a couple of years ago. It has been published in a number of books and was obviously created by the same hand or at least a sister, mother, etc.).
I have mixed feelings about this . . . I would like to see the quilts stay in their home state, but it is also an honor to have them in the Smithsonian. Sadly, it is doubtful that many people will see them there unless a special exhibit is planned. On the other hand, they should be properly cared for there and preserved for future generations.
So I think there needs to be a balance . . . and sadly once again it seems like there will be insufficient locations within Pennsylvania to study Pennsylvania quilts.
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 14:09:03 -0400 | From: Patricia L Cummings <quiltersmuse@>
The other night, we attended a concert held by the NH Historical Society/Museum of NH History in Concord, NH. The music provided was that of President Franklin’s Pierce’s life and times. Franklin was New Hampshire’s only native son who became our (14th) president.
Now, we are interested in quilt history here. However, the fellow who provided the concert is a music historian. He sang and played on period instruments: a banjo without frets, and a guitar.
What a fantastic concert! You all would have enjoyed it. Among the tunes that he played was one written by B.R. Hanby, circa 1856, “Darling Nelly Gray”. Bob Killam, the performer, told us that there is a little known verse to the song that he discovered which makes the rest of the song make sense. The chorus is: “Oh, my poor Nellie Gray, They have taken you away, And I’ll never see my darling any more. I’m a sitting by the river, and I’m weeping all the day, For you’re gone from the old Kentucky shore.” Nelly or Nellie was a slave. The unknown verse has to do with how she was bound and taken away in chains. The tune is haunting me.
The running commentary, placing songs within the time period of current events and trends of the day, and within the context of social and political statements, this deft musician made it clear to all of us that he is as fully committed to music history, as we are to quilt history.
There were a number of songs that Bob played that are related to the abolitionist movement and to slavery. Most of the music was new to my ears and I don’t remember any other titles other than the familiar ones like “Camptown Races”, “Old Dan Tucker”, etc. The period in question, he said, was 1840-1862. The Civil War changed everything, including music, so he does not reach beyond it in his renditions.
Back to my endless appliqué block that has taken two days of my time so far.
Pat Cummings www.quiltersmuse.com
From: “Kathy Moore” <KathyMooreneb.@>
Gail, you’ve written a wonderful description of your fantastic trip. It’s like a small dissertation. Thank you for that. Your literary references always lure me into wanting to read whatever you’re talking about. Keep it up. I might just become literate yet!
And thank you for your comments about AQSG and small study groups. I’ve thought about forming one in Lincoln but can’t do anything till I’m finished with my graduate work in quilt studies. How would you structure a study group if you lived in Lincoln? This is intended to be a leading question and I’d be interested in comments from others on the list.
Kathy Moore ——=_NextPart_000_0010_01C4724F.BBD99C00–
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 14:28:48 -0500 | From: “Kathy Moore” <KathyMooreneb.@>
Gail, your questions and comments about keeping artifacts in their original setting are very relevant. From my recent studies in museum issues and practices it seems these are questions museum professionals deal with every day and they don’t have any better answers than the rest of us.
Regarding the Smithsonian, I am just as frustrated as you are with the way it operates. I wish there was a way to create regional facilities funded under separate funding but overseen by the Smithsonian which could relieve some of the pressure on the Smithsonian to collect everything and stash it in a warehouse somewhere. The national archives does something like that. Why can’t our museum professionals figure out a better way that would allow things to stay in context, yet be properly housed and cared for? At the same time, we need to be mindful of how badly broken the British system is. The system is probably similar to what I have described as regional in nature, but it is administered by rigid bureaurocrats with very little funding and is subject to meddling by politicians. The result is bad for the future survival of many irreplaceable artifacts.
Alas, some things never change. Without well-heeled benefactors we probably wouldn’t have much of what we see in our museums. I think it has always been thus.
Kathy Moore ——=_NextPart_000_0019_01C47253.B2CC4500–
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 15:39:27 -0400 | From: “sue reich” <suereich@>
Every summer evening of my youth, my Pennsylvania Dutch Grandma used to sing “My Darling Nelly Gray” along with “Mocking Bird Hill,” Stephen Foster songs, and WWI era songs. We would swing and sing on her porch in Crawford County, PA for hours and watch the lightening bugs. It was a most comforting song, even though it speaks of loss and death. The melody is very sweet and memorable. Each one of my 5 siblings could sing it again today. How times change, my daughter is a new mother and she cringes each time I sing “Rock-a-bye Baby.” Her initial response was did you ever listen to those lyrics! Wait till she hears me singing “My Darling Nelly Gray.”
My Grandma’ version was;
There’s a low green valley on the old Kentucky shore, There I’ve whiled many happy hours away, A sittin and a singing by the little cottage door, Where I lived with my darling Nelly Gray.
Oh! my poor Nelly Gray, they have taken her away, And I’ll never see my darlin any more, I am sittin by the river and I’m weeping all the day, For she’s gone from the old Kentucky shore.
When the moon had climb’d the mountain, and the stars were shining too. Then I’d take my darlin Nelly Gray, And we’d float down the river in my little red canoe, While my banjo sweetly I would play.
Oh! my poor Nelly Gray, they have taken her away, And I’ll never see my darlin any more, I am sittin by the river and I’m weeping all the day, For she’s gone from the old Kentucky shore.
My eyes are getting blinded, and I cannot see my way; Hark! there’s somebody knocking at the door—- Oh! I hear the angels calling, and I see my Nelly Gray, Fare thee well to the old Kentucky shore.
Oh! my darlin Nelly Gray, up in heaven there they say, And they’ll never take you from me any more, I am coming —- coming —– coming, as the angels clear the way, Fare thee well to the old Kentucky shore.
This web site has the complete song along with information about the composer. http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/master/darlingnelliegray1.html
sue reich
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 15:45:58 -0400 | From: “J. G. Row” <JudyGrow@>
>How would you structure a study group if you lived in Lincoln? >Kathy Moore
Gee Kathy,
Lets assume that your study group will not meet regularly around the conservation tables in the collections rooms with access to everything in those boxes on those sliding shelving units. That would be too much to even dream of. So, let’s assume that you will find a large room somewhere else and will put out a call to locals to join with you in informal study.
I belong to 2 study groups in the same area. One of them is formal in that it has a leader/teacher with a seemingly endless 19th century collection. She sets the curriculum for each quarter, gives out assignments for study and although we are invited, urged, to bring in our own examples for show, most of our learning experiences center around her collection.
The second study group meets at my house. With input from all the members we set a style theme for each meeting which in no way keeps anyone from bringing anything for show that they want to share.. The “tell” portion is non-structured. If anyone would like to do a study on a particular facet of quilt history they may do that to share, or they may bring a “show” to get answers about it from the rest of the group.
The first group uses white gloves, the second group uses clean hands — unless someone asks for gloves to be used when handling a particular piece.
The first group meets in a quilt shop for only 2 hours a month for about 9 meetings a year, and we pay a quarterly fee. When we have to give up the room for the day we are all loath to end the conversation and so we usually go to lunch together, but we go our separate ways after lunch. Many of us spend lots of money at the quilt shop.
The second group meets 6 times a year, on the third Tuesday of the odd numbered months. You can’t forget — the schedule is unchanging. We meet from 10 AM to about 3:30 or 4 with a 1 hour break for lunch — delivered pizza or BYO with contributions of chocolate dessert and salads every month. This group has a wide range of members, from contemporary quilters to antique quilt collectors of long standing; from those who ask which is the first book to buy to learn about quilt history to collectors/historian/authors on quilt history.
Both of these study groups have folks who travel well over an hour to attend meetings. Study Group at my house also has folks who come so far that I put them up overnight for at least one night, sometimes 2.
Both groups have done field trips. Studio quilt study group has done 3 field trips in two years, and we are already planning one for July 05. Most historical societies with regional collections will welcome you with open arms. But don’t be surprised if a curator somewhere thinks of the collection as her personal property and won’t share.
I’ve made some of my most intense and lasting friendships through quilt history study groups. The sooner you get started inviting others to share your passion the sooner you’ll enjoy the camaraderie and friendships that study groups bring.
I’m rethinking my first paragraph, and in your situation I think the opportunity to get a group together to volunteer to open and refold quilts in the IQSC collections is absolutely ideal for study.
Judy Ringo judygrow@
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 12:59:44 -0700 | From: “Christine Thresh” <christine@>
Great news. I took Kris’ quilt top (the chimney sweep friendship blocks) to the quilter today. It should be finished in five weeks, or if the quilter can’t get it done before her vacation, it will be ready in mid September.
Karen Erlandson set all the blocks with black sashing and a colorful, wide piano keys border using fabric sent along with the blocks. Karen supplied a nice red backing and good cotton batting.
I am so pleased that this quilt will be completed soon. Thanks to Karen for all her work.
Christine Thresh http://www.winnowing.com
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 17:52:26 -0500 | From: Gail Ingram <gingram@>
>> >> I guess that of greater concern to me are private collectors who don’t allow >> their collections to be cataloged.
I am not sure I understand the meaning here. Clarification?
I understand that public bodies are under obligation to disclose holdings, but why would private collectors be obligated to catalog or have cataloged their personal holdings?
Curious in LA, Gail
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 17:32:20 -0700 (PDT) | From: Joe Cunningham <joe@>
It has become a sort of law that you must baste a quilt and start in the middle, but that law was created in the 20th century. Before that, for hundreds of years, quilts were quilted on the full-size frame from the outside in, with no basting. I have quilted many dozens of full-size quilts this way. I quilt with a group at a local church sometimes and they use a frame just like mine, have been quilting for 60 years and have never had a pucker in the middle. It is the way all of the quilts we love from the 18th and 19th centuries were quilted. The three layers are held taut throughout the process, so no fullness can accumulate. It is fascinating to see the extent to which this recent “law” of quilting from the middle out has taken hold.
In fact, I have a frame at my exhibition in San Francisco in which I have just completed a quilt. But if you come by before August 8 I will be happy to show you how to use the frame, how to quilt away from you and anything you want to know about hand quilting.
Joe the Quilter in San Francisco
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 22:17:47 -0400 | From: “Patchwork Secrets” <patchworksecrets2@>
I have always quilted on a frame just like the 4 generations before me quilted. Baste the backing on the frame by using a large needle and thread and sewing in a barber pole fashion to attach the backing to the frame. Then lay on the batting and then the top. Lightly stretch and pin the top to the backing around the outer edge, squaring and straightening as you go.
The frame set I have that were from my grandmothers all have holes drilled in them about 2 inches apart the complete length of the frames. The frames were then joined by running a carriage bolt through the holes and adding a nut to hold together. As you roll the sides and work towards the center you just insert the bolts to hold them. My great-grandfather worked at the local buggy factory and sold sewing machines off of a wagon on the side. My grandmother said she can remember him drilling holes in one set of the frames for her mother with a hand drill. The frame was a gift for Christmas one year.
The only difference that I use when quilting on my old style repo frames I made is I stapled fabric around the edges so I can pin instead of basting on the frame like my grandmother’s did. Also I have stands that hold each corner since DH doesn’t want me putting pulleys and ropes on the ceiling in our living room like granny had….VBG I never knew there was such a thing as basting a quilt and finishing it in your lap or on a small frame until I hit my 30’s…lol… Now I use the old style frames ( I have 10 sets of different sizes) or my grace ratchet frame depending on the quilt. Recently I finished off three quilts for a local lady that her mother had made the tops back in the mid 50’s. Per her request I could not take apart the tops to correct gathering or square it up. To do these types of quilts and be able to deal with the odd shape and size I find the easiest way is the vintage frames. And yes I really can quilt out a lot of the problem areas with a lot of patience and a little creativity…..lol…
I find more and more of my recent customers who want a top finished into a quilt prefer you make no corrections to the top because it loses its character from the original maker. The customers mother had quilted for years but in her later years her eye sight started going and Alzheimer’s reared its ugly head. Lynn said she wanted to remember the way her Mom fought with all she had and kept sewing up until her last days. Correcting the flaws would have lost the importance those tops have for her and her family.
There was a frame put out by Sears in the mid 30’s/40’s time frame I think. I have thought about adding one to my collection but haven’t gotten around to it. It would be interesting to find one with original directions to see exactly what was recommended in that time period.
From: “J. G. Row” <JudyGrow@>
My dear husband found a beautiful quilting frame for me at auction for which he only paid $25.00 . The x-stretcher is solid walnut and there is a ratchet or gear at either end that the craftsman made from old circular saw blades. This system allows you to regulate the tension on the quilt as you roll it. But the quilt really has to be basted somewhere else first. I don’t enjoy quilting on a rigid frame so I rarely use it. I prefer my hoop on stand and the Q-snap floor frame.
A number of years ago DH also made a basting frame for me. It opens to over10 feet square. This frame comes together with carriage bolts dropped through holes drilled through every 2 inches. At every inch a nail protrudes. The backing fabric is pushed down over the nails and then the batting and the top are pinned and then basted to the backing. It looks very much like a curtain stretcher, but bigger and using heavier wood. I use it propped up on chair backs outside on the lawn, and when my arms can’t reach any further in I stand the thing up and lean it against the house to finish basting. It sure beats crawling around on the floor to baste.
I’ve used that basting frame for at least 10 years, but lately, as I’ve gotten a bit more achey, I have found that the best way to get basting done for hand quilting is to send the whole thing out to the long-arm machine quilter! I’m thinking I’ll send the frame up to Vermont where I am sure some worthy people will get a lot of use out of it.
Judy Ringo judygrow@
Re: clubs — Thoughts raised by Teddy’s interesting reports on early Florida ladies’ clubs. In Port Arthur Texas, a town that in the 1940’s was the largest oil refining center in the world, my mother belonged to The Culture Club and The Department Club. Because she died when I was a child, I have no clear understanding of what they were or what they did, but I do know
we children NEVER set foot in their building until teen years when our Tri Hi Y rented it for dances. Piano teachers rented the frame building for their recitals, too. I don’t know through which club, but do remember Mother helped bring Community Concerts to our town, the Knife and Fork Club (It sponsored noted speakers following dinner. Once I got to stand in kitchen door and hear Helen Keller speak.), and a first awareness of Mental Health. Teddy’s sharing has made me wish I knew more about those ladies’ clubs and alas, there is no one to ask. Mother’s last friend turned 100 last month and is not totally alert. Re: quilting frames — In Southern California in 1968 I basted the layers of my first quilt together on the floor and quilted it in a large oval hoop from Sears.Later I worked with Head Start mothers in the early 1970’s and one woman from the South presented me with a quilting frame her husband made for me of 1 x 2 boards with nail holes through which one placed large nails to hold the short pieces to the long pieces at the corners. My husband loaned me C-clamps which held the corners more firmly. We wrapped the long boards with fabric and sewed the long sides of the quilt backing to it. Then laid out the batting, then the top and rolled it from both sides, quilting from the center out. I was taught this by the same woman, for had never seen a quilt frame in my growing up years. I cannot recall where she was from originally. We balanced the
frame on dining room chairs and I actually had a quilting bee to teach friends how to quilt. (Audacious me: I was only one quilt ahead of them!)
Later when my son was in 8th grade shop class(still in Southern California), he built me a ratcheted oak quilt frame using the Mountain Mist pattern (pattern cost 75 cents!) His teacher was SO THRILLED because most of the boys were making skate boards. He wanted to build
it of walnut but the cost was prohibitive. I still have the frame but
do not use it now since arthritis has ended my hand quilting days.
Since I moved to Alabama in 1975 I have seen both ceiling hung and chair or saw horse-supported frames like the one I was given earlier. Pat Kyser in Alabama
From: “Candace Perry” <candace@>
I’ll just add my little PS to Judy’s…I encourage everyone to be supportive of the New-York Historical Society…it is a wonderful, august institution. Candace Perry
From: “Candace Perry” <candace@>
I’m gonna save them for my show on cotton next spring…hope to get Some more new goodies by then too. Candace Perry Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
From: “Charlotte Bull” <charlou@>
Quick comment re quilt frame in kitchen 1. Might be that the wood cooking stove kept you warm in the winter when a house had little sources of heating i.e. my log cabin has no heat or a/c sources on the second floor! I’d not want to quilt in a spare bedroom!
2. Might also be that you could quilt while cooking! I know I’ve burned less pots of beans etc. ( VBG! ) since I started cutting, pressing & doing handpiecing in the new diningroom – a kitchen extension. Once you start quilting you forget about soup on the stove!!! You even , somehow, do not hear the little timer binging!!!
3. Might possibly be that the housekeeper/cook who quilted was a servant!
4. You may find me quilting in my kitchen/dining room this winter, using the diningroom table to hold the weight of the quilt, since I no longer use a frame or hoop on a stand. I am the rebellious one who does “Clutch Quilting” – works for me!
From: “J. G. Row” <JudyGrow@>
One of the largest hospitals in this area, The Doylestown hospital, (in Bucks Cty, PA) was started and is still run by a women’s club. “The Village Improvement Association” first met in 1897 and began the hospital in 1923. The VIA is nationally recognized as the only Women’s Club to own and operate a community hospital. Fourteen women atended the first meetings. Today there are over 400 members.The hospital and associated health systems has grown to over 500 beds.There are 8 women and women only listed on the Board of Directors. http://www.dh.org/about/via.htm
My MIL moved into their Adult Community and then into the assisted living complex, then through to different levels of their Health Center. She received the best care she could have gotten. I can’t sing the praises of this women’s club loud enough!
Judy Ringo judygrow@
From: “Charlotte Bull” <charlou@>
Opposite story for me. When I returned home after a 2 day honeymoon, with my new husband, we started to pack up my books, clothes and girl stuff and put it in the car so we could take it to Our New Home! My mother had a major emotional fit and lay on the couch crying!!! Because I was taking my stuff away! I explained factually that I needed my Books and clothes and she certainly should understand that I needed my Wedding Gifts too so that I could cook and keep house! My older sister just shooed me out of the house! This was never discussed later! I do believe that it was the only emotional event she ever had! She was normally very calm, reserved and in control. Odd: We were only going across town! We were not pioneers leaving for CA, never to return!
Funny: When I cried (well, I got teary eyed) while watching a Visiting daughter leave my home after a visit a few years ago, I was crying at the departure of my quilt masterpiece – a trapunto whole cloth quilt!
I knew she’d treasure it, but my baby was leaving home! We mothers are So strange. But, I’ll swear that my husband almost cried when he sold
His vintage tractor! And I know my daughter has never truly forgiven me For discarding her teddy bear, which had been mine, but she’d been really sick and it was seriously contaminated. So I told her the story of how every toy, book & quilt of my sister’s had to be burned after she recovered from scarlet fever in the 19s! That was customary then! Every sheet & curtain went too! A tough act to carry out, I’m sure.
My mother really was a tough gal back then! I’ve only begun to appreciate her ability to carry through those years. But I shall never understand how she could have sold all of my grandmother’s quilts and personal items in her 3 floor Victorian and not kept one single thing!!! I still wish I understood why she disliked quilts so much that she chose them to represent all that was difficult (sad and bad) about the difficult times in her personal life. Could she really have hated being forced to piece a quilt top when she was 9??? There are days when I try to write a story to explain that. Don’t you wonder what our kids will say in the future about us? Yeah, “My mother threw away my Lincoln Logs when we moved!” or “My mother always loved my little sister best!” OR “My mother wouldn’t give me the quilt I slept under as a child when I got married. She just left it to me in her will.” : )))
From: “Jennifer Van Haaften” <jasvanhaaften@>
Ooooo, I’m so excited that my questions touched off the discussion of quilt frames. Thank you all for your wonderful responses!
I’ve realized that my family has come to quilting late in the game. None of my great-grandmothers were quilters as far as I can remember (two of them lived well into their 90s), and I am sure if they were avid quilters, we would have known. Neither of my grandmothers quilted around me. I know my paternal grandmother did some quilting in the 50s and 60s, but it was simple patchwork, not even regular squares, more like a crazy quilt of 50s and 60s fabrics, but every piece had right angles more or less, probably no batting and all were tied! We slept under probably about 8 or 10 of those when we visited grandma’s southern Iowa farmhouse in the winter where they didn’t have heat in the upstairs rooms. My maternal grandmother died when I was 8, so I don’t know much about her sewing talents at all. I’m going to have to ask my own mother how she herself got into quilting, again. She enjoys historical info, but is much more into the contemporary quilting. That would explain why I never really had extensive experience with how quilts were put into frames. The frames my mom used were pvc pipe set ups, large hoops and other contraptions. Now she just pieces and hires someone with a quilting arm to do the rest. (me, personally, if I had more time, I would enjoy hand quilting, I like hand piecing too). Some of my quilt construction knowledge comes from working at living history sites, but with each passing year of working in the history profession, I find out how little I really do know (don’t we all). So I love quilting and enjoy it vicariously through my mother. I want to do more, but time seems to be eaten up by work, caring for a house, a husband and a four and one year old. Yup, ladies, I am a young one (as they keep telling me at work! and I thought I was maturing nicely), just into my early 30s. Tee hee.
I come to historical quilts with my love for historical clothing. I absolutely love studying the fabrics that made clothes, and clothing styles and construction and have forever (seriously…side note, my favorite Halloween costume, at age 8 or 9, I believe, was my “Pilgrim” costume). If I could afford and had the room to own beautiful historical quilts with the lovely variety of fabrics, I would. Instead, I have to satisfy my yen with books.
Anyway, what this comes down to, is that I see my family is shorter on generations in quilting, so I am glad to be on this list to experience the depths that the rest of you have collectively. Thank you so much for sharing and keep it coming. Also, it makes me wonder, how do quilt traditions pass laterally. If my mother is learning about quilting from other women in quilt clubs across central Iowa, from magazines and books, it is interesting to see how her work has evolved and how different it is from the more historical traditions I see discussed on this list. Are quilting today women as apt to abandon certain traditional methods to try out more progressive tools and techniques? Could that have been said of women of the past (how fast did they adopt the sewing machine in piecing and/or quilting, etc?). My mother said to me that if they hadn’t invented the rotary cutter, and
developed fast cutting techniques, she may have never gotten into it. Oh, and the revival of cottons helped too. (side note–I’m going to my first International Quilt Show in Houston this year with mom of course! yay. Thought the 30th anniversary would be a good one to attend. Went to the first Chicago one, but Mom said that the Houston one was much bigger and better. Looking forward to it!)
Also, I wanted to comment on what Gail Ingraham (sp?) said earlier: “The real answer to folks’ uncritical accepting misinformation is the ability to think. Wish more schools encouraged students to question cliches and saw they had the reasoning skills to follow their questions to logicalconclusions.”
As a museum educator working with school systems, I fight even the most elementary of misconceptions everyday. Teachers perpetuate the myths,
unknowingly, or just because of lack of knowledge, but they don’t have the time to research every little thing they hear or teach, just to make sure. But I’ve been saying to my father [a retired high school principal] (and anyone who will listen) that students need these critical reading and
thinking skills more desperately than ever. I didn’t get a real taste of critical reading until college. I really think I could have used it in high school history. Since students are exposed to a burgeoning smorgasbord of sound bytes, news flashes, and web surfing, they have to be more critical than ever of the sources of information and understand how to question and double check, rather than taking everything at face value. Maybe rather cynical of me, but with the Internet and news ticker tapes rolling during news programs, there’s so much information. Yes, we are an information age, but it just makes life harder wading through everything to find the actual truth. This is true in the subject of history and in contemporary issues. All we can do is keep hammering at it and encouraging everyone we meet to question, look further and be as informed as possible.
Keep up the good fight!
Jennifer Van Haaften Museum Education Coordinator in IL email: jasvanhaaften@
From: “weemsjm” <weemsjm@>
Many of the list members have written about the negatives of quilts being in private collections and how bad that is. Let us remember that if it were not for the quilt dummies many of you
would not have all of the great ( cheep ) finds to share with us on this list. I just hope to find a cheep treasure myself one of these days to add to my collection. We should preserve what we can and try to teach people that have the treasures ( quilts ) to treat them properly.Some will listen and some will not.
I had to watch a great turn of the century quilt in very good shape go home with an aunt because she could out bid me. The quilt was the best quilt work from any of my ancestors I have seen. The quilt is surly worthless today because my aunts home smells like a bowling alley of league night.I told her how the quilt should be treated but her love for the quilt and need to have it with her I guess is more important to her than the quilt being around for generations to come.
I hate that I could not get more of the family quilts but I am grateful for the ones I have and will do my best to make sure they will be preserved for years to come. I plan to do my best to teach both of my boys that old family treasure are their link to there past. I am also photographing and writing down the stories of the items to go in the family tree.
I make quilts to be loved and used I hope some of them out live me but if they are loved to shreds before I pass well then that is OK to.
From: Debbie Clem <deboraclem@>
I have yet to see a response regarding Alabama but yes, my fondest memories are of playing beneath my grandmother’s quilt frames hanging
from the ceiling in the “good” living room (meaning the place where you hosted company and therefore not used on a daily basis). This was
in northern Alabama, Elkmont to be exact.
TTFN, Debbie in Atlanta with frames hanging from the ceiling
From: “Teddy Pruett” <aprayzer@>
So, list – my question to you and information for us all: Your location, please, and are ceiling hung frames the common practice in your area? I can speak for Florida and southern Georgia, and they are very common down here. When I worked for Century 21 (don’t ask) a homebuyer called to tell me about four big hooks in the corners of the living room ceiling in this old house. DId I know what they were? You betcha I did! Teddy Pruett
From: “Pam Weeks Worthen” <pamworthen@>
Dear all,
I have been enjoying the wonderful thread on quilting frames, suspended from ceilings in the South,on chair backs in the North. IN my New Hampshire family, we only have evidence of two quilters. One was my father’s father’s grandmother, and the only extant piece of hers is a shard of a pretty ordinary crazy quilt. My father’s mother’s great-aunt did lots of piecework, and we have a top of hers, c. 1880.
My father’s sister, my Aunt Jo, was the next generation to quilt, as it skipped two generations. Her mother was a marvelous craftswoman, braiding and hooking rugs, but not quilting. Aunt Jo’s mother-in-law was a quilter in central NH and from her, Aunt Jo inherited the type of frame already described–1X2’s with holes at 1″ intervals, assisted by c-clamps. That frame is now in my attic, and I dragged it down a couple of years ago
for a “bee” for the new members of our guild who had never heard of such a thing.
So, I got to thinking about the ceiling thing. What is the height of the ceilings where these frames were hung? In my 1750’s house, and Aunt Jo’s 1780 cape, anything suspended from the 6′ 8″ ceilings would have strangled someone walking through the room in the dark. Do you have much higher
ceilings in the south?
I’m not very knowledgeable about New England architecture (yet–it may be coming) but the ceiling height was generlly pretty low until mid nineteenth century. OF COURSE THIS IS A GENERALIZATION, and depends on the socio-economic status of the home owner. But even in the three “fancy” Georgian Colonial mini-mansions in my historic district neighborhood, those ceilings are not much over 6;10′, maybe 7′.
Pam in NH, staring at the ceiling and wondering…would he notice a quilt frame?
From: “Jan Drechsler” <quiltdoc@>
Hi Su, Back in Feruary/January 04 we had a discussion about the Spy Museum andUGRR that was extended. If you search the archives during that time period,you should find all of the old discussions.
Regards, Jan — Jan Drechsler in Vermont Quilt Restoration; Quilting teacher www.sover.net/~bobmills
From: “Candace Perry” <candace@>
In one of my past lives I worked for a small museum in NC…the director there was very interested in quilts (way before my interest!) Anyway, at one point we were looking at a 1740s-50s house that was going to be donated to the museum (it was being used as a storage shed at that time) and she was intent on looking for holes in the ceiling where a quilting frame would be mounted. Seems terribly early to me, but that part of coastal Carolina (the Albemarle) had EXTREMELY early settlement of landed folk (as opposed To urban rabble, I guess!) I think we actually did find some holes in The ceiling…spaced appropriately…but I have no idea if that was true. Since our Germans here didn’t quilt that early, I haven’t thought about that for years! Candace Perry
From: Gail Ingram <gingram@>
If people will lend some of those quilts Carolyn and I saw last week—a good many and we would like to choose, please—we would go to the Spy Museum and explain the whole wretched mess to them. Straighten them out once and for all. Would fly up from the South, like geese in fall. We would confuse the spy folks with our accents, Carolyn’s flat Texas accent and mine somewhere between that and that lovely soft Middle Georgia accent. Then–well, then is a secret. Spys don’t give away all their secrets, after all. Of course, we get to keep the quilts—in case the museum calls us back. Or something. Small price for y’all to pay, I think.
Gail
From: Mary Persyn <Mary.Persyn@>
Jocelyn wrote:
“Internet scholarship is advancing by leaps and bounds, and I anticipate that the doctoral students of years from now won’t be compelled to travel to their documents at all.One of my colleagues is in Europe, tending to an ill parent…and accessing all the documents she needs to complete her degree by internet…even more easily that I am, because peak time there isn’t peak time here!:) For those of you who remember hours of Xeroxing, that’s already obsolete- the library just emails the journal articles to you, or they’re available online from the publisher. In years, there won’t BE journals being printed.”
————— A librarian’s comments on everything being available in electronic form in years –
One of the ways to efficiently deliver interlibrary loan requests to library patrons is to either scan an article or get it from a digital
archive and pass it on to the patron electronically. However, I am not aware that anyone is keeping an archive of scanned articles outside of specific digitization (try saying that word 3 times fast) projects.
While it is true that projects such as JSTOR and HeinOnline are going
back and scanning old journals into machine readable form, and that many new journals are publishing an online version, not everything is
being scanned and the online version may not be the complete issue of
the journal. Also, many of the periodicals we are interested in are not candidates for retrospective scanning. Is someone going to go back in time and digitize Ladies’ Home Journal, the Farmer’s Wife, or
the craft magazines of the s?
Many digitized versions of periodicals are text only and do not contain charts, graphs, diagrams or pictures that appeared in the original.
Most online versions of journals cost money to access. Some states make some materials available for their citizens, Indiana does for example, but otherwise a researcher is at the mercy of their local public or academic library as to what materials are available. For example, as a result of a question that came up at the quilt seminar in Lincoln this summer, I’ve been looking at information on cotton production during the Civil War. I used an index called America: History and Life, which my undergraduate library subscribes to, to find possibly relevant articles. I then went to JSTOR to find copies of the articles. My undergraduate library only subscribes to a sub-set of JSTOR so I was not able to get everything I wanted from that source and had
to use interlibrary loan.
I’m lucky. I have access to the subscriptions offered by an, admittedly small, academic institution. What about the independent quilt researchers? Do they have access to a public library with enough funding to subscribe to many of these electronic resources or are they limited to what they can find available in paper? One interlibrary loan I requested cost $25. Can everyone afford to borrow materials at that kind of cost?
I estimate that about 30% of the materials in law are currenly available in electronic form. I think that eventually about 50% of the material in law will be available electronically. Maybe 100 years from now the technology to convert everything to electronic form will be so cheap and the demand great enough that publishers or institutions will go back and convert their holdings to electronic form.
I also think there are some areas of study that have much more electronic information available than others. My two areas of expertise are law and history. Neither of these subjects are going to have everything available electronically even if every new journal issue published is available in that format.
This is not to say that current students don’t think that everything IS available electronically. Once our students learn how to use Lexis and Westlaw, the two major legal databases, they think that they have access to everything they will ever need. I don’t know how many
times I have had a student put in hours on Lexis or Westlaw without finding what they need ask me what other searches they can try. When I suggest looking at the books, I get the strangest look. When I lead them to the answer in a book in about 5 minutes, they are amazed.
Our students have “free” access to Lexis and Westlaw, i.e., the law school pays an annual subscription for their access. When they get into law practice, depending on which deal the law firm has cut with the vendor, it can cost anywhere from $5 a search to about $250/hr to
run searches.
Many deans and faculty members have already adopted the “it’s all available online so we don’t need books in the library” philosophy. I think that they are doing a disservice to their students.
Now totally off topic, there is aways going to be a need for librarians as information professionals to guide students of all sorts to the information they need, no matter what the format. The developer of Google said something to the effect that he thought in about 300 years IT types would be able to develop a search engine that would work as well to find information as a librarian does today.
Stepping down off my soapbox now. 🙂
Mary — Mary G. Persyn 219-465-7830 Associate Dean for Library Services
From: “jocelynm@” <jocelynm@>
Well- I said that I thought there wouldn’t be journals being PRINTED in years, not that I thought that everything would be available electronically . Considering that it’s been over a decade since our card catalog went online, and they haven’t completed the task of transferring over ALL the pre-1960 books, I know it’s unlike that all journals will eventually end up with all editions in electronic format- but I am optimistic that years from now, no one will be publishing solely in print and not having electronic versions of new journals.
From: “Julie” <quiltappraiser@>
Both my grandmothers were quilters. My Mother’s mother lived on a farm and the upstairs were two huge rooms that they had many beds in at times. Downstairs was their bedroom, large dinning room (wood burning stove for heat) Kitchen, one bathroom, parlor, and guest room. Grandma Audiss had a quilting frame upstairs or in the parlor all of the time. She used to give me scraps to play with under the frame and let me thread her needles from the time I was a toddler. They lived between Portage and Endeavor, Wisconsin.
My Father’s mother also lived on a farm in Carthage, Missouri. I remember her quilting in the living room. This is what my father said about both:
Julie funny that you would remember those quilt frames, I talked toMother about her mothers frames and she thinks and is quite sure she used saw horses. My mother was a quilter she had to with 4 boys and a couple ofgirls one after everyone was grown but she had quilt frames up mostly in the living room where you couldn’t even get through but after she rolled itdown to about half she would move it to their bedroom and it was supported bysaw horses cut to just the right size so she could set and quilt. Dad madethe saw horses to fit her exact needs. Quilts is all us old boys used no sheets but pillows and pillow cases.
Julie Crossland, Hudson, NH where I have a Grace frame and a short arm quilting machine in the basement.
From: “Christine Thresh” <christine@>
I first saw a quilting frame suspended from a ceiling in 1972 in Santa Rosa, California. My young son met a neighbor lady and really liked her. He used to tell me he was going to Mrs. Cunningham’s house to thread needles. He spent quite a bit of time there. Mrs. Cunningham made quilts “for old people and poor people.” She was in her 80s at the time. She used blankets for batting and her quilts were very heavy. She sewed her tops on an old treadle machine. As her eyesight began failing she tied her quilts instead of quilting them and she still used her frame. One day I was invited to visit her little cottage. The quilting frame took up the whole living room! She and my son crawled under the frame to get from one end of the room to the other. I just stood in the doorway. Perhaps she cranked it up to the ceiling between quilts. The frame was had pullys on each corner. I was not a quilter at the time. I missed a great opportunity to learn about quilts. My son really loved Mrs. Cunningham.
Christine Thresh http://www.winnowing.com
From: Margareta.Faustcec.eu.int
I have just acquired a set of the US stamps from the 1970s representing basket quilt blocks. Even on paper, they look wonderfully real! I would like to know the story behind them: if it’s known what quilt they were drawn from (date? region?), who designed them… Margareta
Hi Lynne:
I might be all wet but I remember something about a quilting frame being lifted to the ceiling when not in use, in Bath, Maine, in a museum which has a lot of crazy quilts. I haven’t been there in ten years and the name of it escapes me at the moment. They also have limited hours. If Wendy Reed is listening….maybe she can chime in.
Over to Wendy….
Pat
From: Feedsackfanatic@
I had a great aunt that lived in Medford, MA, and she had a quilting frame hanging from the ceiling. I can remember seeing it in the late
1940’s when I visited her house. It was given to me after she died, but I had no use for it, so I donated it to a church in Napoleonville, LA, where a cousin did quilting.
Paula in GA
From: <kerrybrack@>
> i would love to know also. i purchased two key rings with double sided basket stamps from the bma store in may 04. i would love to know the history too!! since coming back to australia from my holiday in usa i have seen a picture of the stamps in sally collins book. i intend to somehow remove the stamps from the key ring and set them alongside a miniature basket block. if anybody knows a source for these stamps i would love another four stamps so i could make one for my mother.
i was lucky also to go to shipshewana and purchased an amish miniature quilt kit designed by a tammy kelly which included four amish stamps.
i love the basket stamps and amish stamps! thanks for raising the topic. my interest has been piqued! are there any other quilting stamps that are commemorative. cheers kerry in paddington sydneyx >
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 04 16:44:55 -0700 | From: <chrisa@>
These stamps were issued in 1978 and were one part of the American Folk Art series. Fawn Valentine did a great job of describing what quilt they came from , so I direct you to a December 17, 01 message from hr in the QHL archives. It was Monday night at 7:43 PST. Subject US Postal Stamps.
I also have the keychain, first day of issue envelope, stamped Charleston WV, March 8. And I also bought a puzzle made of photos of the stamps, 8 total with a frame around them, like a quilt. This was part of the Commemorative puzzle series, Scott # 1745-48
For further info on collecting particular stamps, which I can tell you is so fun, try these websites, www.stamps.org www.americantopicalassn.org www.stampsonline.com
There are many different types of needlework and women’s commemorative stamps, made internationally. Not too many quilt ones though!
Kimberly Wulfert www.antiquequiltdating.com
When do you think that quilt frame was installed? I’m curious about the question of quilting frames hung from the ceiling in early New England houses (pre-1900 anyway).
Thanks for the info!
Best, Lynne
> I had a great aunt that lived in Medford, MA, and she had a quilting frame > hanging from the ceiling.
From: “Laura Syler” <texas_quilt.co@>
Lynne and all, This discussion is really dusting the cobwebs off the old memory! My grandmothers home in Temple, Texas had 10 ft ceilings in every room. My grandfathers home place in Moody Texas (about 10 miles outside of Temple) had 10 ft ceilings throughout, with the exception of the sleeping porch. It had an 8′ ceiling. My great Aunt Annie, the oldest of 7 and the only girl, who never married and stayed at the farm with her youngest brother Neil. She was the only one that quilted ( I have her C-clamps) and the quilt frame was hung from the ceiling in the parlor, where she also kept the player piano and her treadle sewing machine. That was her fun room <G> My DH just walked in and was reading over my shoulder, so I told him what our discussion was. He said that his grandmother in Durant OK had a quilt hung from the ceiling, over the dining room table. She had only 7 ft ceilings. He says he knows this because his cousin is 6’7″ and had to dodge light bulbs!!! Laura Hobby Syler in Soggy North Texas
From: “Steve and Jean Loken” <sandjloken@>
Charlotte, Sure would love a definition of clutch quilting. Is it what we call Here stab quilting; i.e. sticking the needle straight down with one hand and then back up with the other? Otherwise, I’d love to hear the meaning. Thanks, Jean in MN
From: JBQUILTOK@
My mother-in-law gave us a double wedding ring quilt for Christmas the first year we were married (1977). She’d had it machine quilted in those swirls that look like mattress quilting. Perma press sheet for the background & cheap cotton for the arcs. The binding worked its way off, the arcs disappeard & the polyester batting appeared. I’ve learned a lot from that quilt – like you have to wait till she’s dead & buried before you can get rid of it even though you can never let her see it again!
A poor qualtiy quilt doesn’t mean it was imported – it may have been made by someone who thought they were doing a fantastic job when they
weren’t!
Janet
From: AndreaBlackhurst@
I’m just a lurker on this board, but when someone at my guild meeting asked for help making an Underground Railroad Quilt with her elementary school students, I just had to speak out. I sought her out after the meeting, and she was thrilled, because she thought I was volunteering to work with her on this project.
I told her that I just had to inform her that there was quite a bit of controversy on the subject and the “experts” really feel there is no basis for this story. Her feeling was that since there were several books about it, it must be true. I explained best I could, and she believed me! I offered to e-mail her the information I had so she might make her own informed decision, but she declined. I think she was a little glad not to have to do the project. That’s one for us!
Andrea
From: “Maureen” <maureen@>
Shortly after I began quilting, I found a floor frame at auction in rural Wayne, Nebraska. The frame was just 2×4 boards with duck cloth pinned to the boards, C-clamps and saw horses. I was so excited I almost couldn’t breath, particularly because it was only my second auction. Growing up in New Jersey, this auction thing was incredibly stimulating and so very different than shopping at Teppers in Plainfield. The auctioneers grew accustomed to my nodding and dancing to the cadence of the call and stopped accepting each as a bid. When the frame came up, I bid on it right away, standing close to the auctioneer, nodding and dancing to the call. I poked him in the stomach about 6 times as he went through the call, not knowing I was bidding against myself as he went through the routine. I won the frame at $6.00.
That floor frame lived in our living room for six years, my dh stepping over it and around it when ever I took it down to work. In the seventh year, he talked to another quilter and bought me a compact Grace frame which I
love very much.
Best regards,
Maureen, now in Ashland, Oregon.
From: Edwaquilt@
I have much more information about this project than is in the book as I was there. I have autographed copies of the program for the First Day of Issue signed by the artist etc. I will write a bit about this in a few days. I curated the quilt show in Charleston WV for the ceremony when the stamp was issued and was fortunate to see the design of the stamp many weeks before the public. Just a note also…..there are quilt blocks being sold in antique stores and passed off as blocks from the quilt or at least related to the quilt. This is not so but rather blocks that were made by one of the quilting cooperatives down in West Virginia and sold during the events surrounding the issuance of the stamp. But if anyone is interested I’ll write up all of this later.
Holice
From: Edwaquilt@
I may have missed some of the postings about this subject. But when I was small there was a quilting hanging from the ceiling in one of the rooms at the farm where my grandparents and two aunts lived. They quilted during the winter. It was hanging from the celiling on light ropes and at night or when they needed the room, they would “wind” it up high enough not to bump heads. This was in the panhandle area of Texas.
Holice
