Antiqiue Quilts from the Tyler Texas Quilt Show--2010

Special programs ever 30 minutes were a real treat for the visitors at the Tyler, Texas Quilt Show.  Put on by the East Texas Quilt Guild, this show is always one of the best shows in our area.  The Wacky Pack quilters traveled together to this show.  It was the first trip since the loss of our dear member, Jerri, lost her life to cancer.  We thought we would  be down and out, but the trip proved to be one of the most upbeat in a while.  Seems every conversation brought back memories of precious fun times with Jerri.  We spoke of her jokes, and of her habit to tease us about spending too much money saying "It is Only money".  We laughed and laughed until we--well--you know! hehehehehehehe-----
We traveled seperately for awhile and I sat down to watch a "bed turning".  If you don't know what this is, it is a showing of quilts from a bed, each laid on top of another.  Each quilt is turned down or held up and shown one at a time.  The quilts are privately owned by members of the quilt guild and each was quite amazingly unique and beautiful.  Women of generations past -- making quilts for their family and friends--for what purpose?  For use, of course, but also to demonstrate love--just as we do today.  Love shown when a couple marry, when a child is born, when a friend is sick, a son or husband going off to war, or possibly a family member moving far far away probably never to be see again.  I am very sentimental when it comes to thinking of the way of life of these ancestors.  I wish I could go back in time to at least "visit".  I feel a special kinship to them--perhaps I am reincanated from an early time period-----.  Anyway--for whatever reason, I feel a special love for antique quilts and I hope you enjoy the pictures you are about to see.  I do not remember all the details told of each quilt.  I will relay what I do remember, but I cannot promise all accuracy.

Princess Feather--1880--the quilting is breathtaking.  I believe it was something like 12 stitches to an inch.

If I remember right, this one is dated around 1900 and is made of wools and wovens.

Circa 1880 and is a Floral Wreath

1920 Double Wedding Ring

A woven coverlet - woven in two secions of about 36 inches and then put together circa 1860

Wow!  Amazing how much this squilt faded out.  Sad, isn't it--but very imaginable how beautiful it must have been originally.

Tulip Wreath--I can't remember the date

Gorgeous quilting on this beauty.  One block is faded out.  I believe this one was 1840.

Basket Block quilt.  The flowers are Brodery Perse which is flowers from a printed fabric are cut out and appliqued in.  Usually made by a "well to do" maker as much fabric would have to be wasted to make of quilt of this kind.  Perhaps the maker traded fabrics with her neighbors much like we have swaps today.

1930 Grandmother's Flower Garden--very unusual setting

I don't remember the date of this one, but the star blocks are 2 inches square.

Very unique scrap quilt.  I have never seen this pattern before, have you?  I don't remember the date for sure, but I would guess 1920-30s.

1920s--I don't remember the pattern.

Traditional Grandmother's Flower Garden--1930-40s.

This quilt is made from strips of feed sacks.  The elderly lady who owned this quilt's mother had made it.  She told that her mother made her dresses as a child from flour sacks and her panties from sugar sacks.  She said her mother cut them out and sewed them so the words from the sugar sack were placed just in the right spot across her little hiney ---and said PURE AND SWEET!   How precious is that. 

I hope you enjoyed this antique quilt show.  If you are in Texas next March, you might want to plan to visit Tyler during the annual East Texas Quilt Guild Quilt Show--I will have quilts that the quilters displayed for my next post.  Thanks for looking. 

GRANDMOTHER LAMBERTH'S QUILT

One of my family heirlooms, a quilt made by My Grandmother, Dora Lamberth.  Dora was married to Jim and the two of them had a passle of girls before they had my grandfather, James Garland, whom they lovingly called Buddy. Grandmother was a country housewife.  She cooked, she cleaned, she raised children--not to belittle these jobs, on the contrary--they were and are manditory to our very survival.  Grandmother Lamberth wore an apron everyday as she did her chores.  She cooked on a wood stove, milked the cows, fed the chickens and gathered the eggs, kept a spring and fall garden (which is virtually gardening all year long), and did all these jobs well.  Guess what she did in her free time?  WHAT FREE TIME? you ask?  That is what I want to know.  Then I began to put myself into the timeframe of around the turn of the twentieth century (1900) No television, no electricity, no telephones, outdoor bathrooms--so that's why my mother said grandmother didn't wear any underwear--convenience!!  Five children running all over the place, breakfast, lunch, and dinner to make for her family, food from the garden to preserve and put away for the winter, clothes to make for everyone.  I am tired already!!  The quilts were made -----NOT FOR FUN?  No, not for fun--for warmth-----------------and the winters were colder back then.  The temperatures in East Texas dipped down into the teens often and in the present time it almost never gets that cold.  We are about to have an "Artic Blast" where temperatures will be in the teens and everyone is going nuts about it.  They say it hasn't been this cold in 25 years!  But it did when my great grandparents lived.  The quilts were a nessessity and my grandmother made her necessities pretty.  Would n't you agree.  This is the only one I have, but I am sure they were all just as nice.  This one looks like it was made in the 1930's which was the later part of her life and one of her last quilts.  The patterns is Improved 9-patch.  The fabrics used in this quilt are from sacks that flour, sugar, and feed came in.  Manufacturers were so smart to cater to the farmwife.  Can you imagine what it would be like if these commodities came in fabric sacks now?  I would be the first one to the store to pick out my fabric.  Depending on what I was in need of, I would have a fat quarter to a yard of fabric. 
As the Artic Blast hits and your heat kicks on, pause a moment to think what life was like for your great grandmother.  She might have had to go out and stack the wood by the door so it would be a little easier for her to get to it as she stoked up the fire. Those warm quilts probably were also used to wrap up in as the family hovered close around that fire to keep warm.  I must say that I long for the simplicity of the time.  But it's an idealistic thing with me as I would never want to endure the hardships of the time.  No medications when your kids are sick--no transportation ----EXCEPT A HORSE OR A MULE--and I'm sorry, but that just would not work for me--I need TUNES!

Mom's Christmas Ornaments and BOM Thoughts.

I have so much I want to post about--I should post more often instead of trying to put it all in one post, but here goes anyway.  The following pictures are Christmas ornaments made by my mother.  As most of you know, she is now 83 years old and has Alzheimers.  She has always made Christmas special for my sister and I.  My dad grew up very poor and never had much Christmas, so she had to basically teach him the joys of Christmas too.  These are homemade ornaments that she made in the 1980s.  She made enough for everyone in the family to have a set. 

This is an angel ornament that belonged to a set that decorated our tree as long as I can remember.  The head is china and the body and wings are wire stretched with a sheer see through fabric like batist.  The arms are pipe cleaner like with a bead on the end.

              This is a Victorian style crazy quilt stocking with hand embroidery.

This Old World Santa quilt measures approximately 16 x 16 inches and is machine applique.  It also was made in the 1980s.

This is a book that my mom got for Christmas as a child.  It is a shaped book about 6 x 6 inches.  Inside is a poem intitled Annie and Willie's Prayer.

You can go here to hear the poem.  Mom read this poem to us each Christmas until she got sick.

I am still in dilema about a block of the month for 2010.  I have tried three and am not happy with any of them.

Of course you have seen the Texas Boot BOM for January.  I still have not done enough embroidery on it.

This is the pattern for February in the drafting stage.  Just a sneak peek of possibly nothing! LOL

This is a BOM that I worked on at the end of last year.  The trouble with it is the pattern is drafted where you make two blocks at a time and if you did n't make all the blocks alike, you would only be able to use 1/2 your blocks in one quilt but have enough for one to give a way as a gift!  I am thinking that each month you would use holiday or season appropriate fabrics.

Two of my test blocks-----I wanted to use wool for the contents of the baskets as it is so easy to work with and looks so dimensional.

An angel pattern that could easily be adapted to themes for a BOM with the clothes being different each month and the item she is holding being different.

Then there is my Christmas Tree idea.  I embroidered this tree.  I thought if I embroidered a different tree each month (color, shape, size, decorations different), it would make a fun BOM and then the following December you would have blocks for a new Christmas Quilt.

This is a drafted pattern for another month's tree.

I guess you can see why I am so confused about a BOM.  If you see anything you think is BOM worthy, please say so.  I may just post patterns as I think someone would like to have them for free and then ask if you take them to please leave a comment and post on your blog so that I can see them.  That would be fun.  Thanks for listening to me ramble. 

SUNBONNET SUE SUNDAY #18

It's Sunbonnet Sue Sunday time and I am just now beginning my post. No research ahead of time, no previous thoughts as to what I will include----oh boy--well--first the result of a quick search was successful in finding a pattern that I don't think I have seen before. I don't remember as well as I use to, but if I have included it, I apologize ahead of time. The pattern for the block at left is HERE. I love the Holly Hobby look of this one. This pattern did not evolve as a quilt pattern, but a cover for a yearbook. A quilter patterned it (of course!) and posted it for all us Sue lovers. How wonderful quilters are. We all share our sh----- stuff!

These two are so dimentional!! Look closely at the embroidery floss hair, real dried flowers, lacey undergarment and who knows what the boots/shoes are but doesn't look like just fabric! the folds in the fabric for the apron, buttons on the jacket, maybe wire on the basket. Ok on to more`-`-`-`-`!

Go to the Sunbonnet Sue Blog to find some really neat history, patterns and quilts. You can stay here for a-w-h-i-l-e. The author is a collector of articles pertaining to Sunbonnet Sue and she buys and then researches the items. She has bought penny squares from Ebay and then found the exact picture it came from. This site is a MUST.

I wanted to post new pictures of all of Mom's blocks that I have shown you in previous posts. I have a new camera and I took new photos and thought you would be able to see more detail with new pics. But Blogger is not cooperating with me today. I am not able to move the pictures down to the bottom of the post as I have always been able to do. Maybe it is a glitch that will be fixed soon. I will post Mom's August Block--------

It's a warm Sunday in August and Sue's beau walked her home from Church. As they visit in the yard, he offers to give her a push in the swing. He pushes her high until she could touch the branches of the tree. Her beautifully embroidered bonnet shields the sun from her face, but her ringlets blow from underneath the back of it. Is it proper for an eyelet petticoat to peek out from a lady's skirt? It doesn't matter today! Sue is having too much fun!
Next Month Hopefully I can repost all the blocks thus far so that you can better see them. Until then--Happy SunBonnet Sue Sunday and Have a great AUGUST!!!

ONE MORE ROUNDTOP ANTIQUE SHOW POST--THIS TIME~~~~QUILTS

Antique Quilts from the Show were really great! I took pictures of the tags so you could see the going prices.

I had to take a pic of this Penny Quilt hanging among many more. You can click on it to view the very vintage redwork. GREAT! No tag for this one. I ask the lady for a picture and hated to ask to photo THE TAG!! LOL So I have no idea what the going price was. ENJOY!!