Stealing Daisy’s Thunder

As usual, I was #podcastdeliquent, but was resolved to make some progress so I listened to some podcasts interspersed with the book, Jane Steele. I had to intersperse the podcasts, because the beginning of Jane Steele was so dark* that I was feeling depressed.

One of the podcasts to which I listened was Lazy Daisy Quilts (and Reads). She is the one who turned me on to Jane Steele. She has been working on Lady of the Lake quilt blocks. That is an old pattern. Since I didn’t see any photos on her show notes, I went and looked the block up in Jinny Beyer’s The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns**.

Daisy's Lady of the Lake
Daisy’s Lady of the Lake

I was confused, because what I saw in the book didn’t jive with what I remembered of this block. I thought my memory was faulty. Still, what I saw was a cool block. Daisy was right when she said the block didn’t have a lot of other names, but it does have a few.

Lady of the Lake n.165-8, 165-9
Lady of the Lake n.165-8, 165-9

First, I saw a Flying Geese type block. I see that there are HSTs****, but they look like half mad Flying Geese. Beyer says about 165-8: “Lady of the Lake, Finley, 1929. See 201-2, 201-3 [these are the same, or very similar, blocks from different sources]. ‘Lady of the Lake, named after the poem by Sir Walter Scott,published in 1810… The Lady of the Lake quilt appeared in a surprisingly short time after the publication of the poem, the one shown here having been made in Vermont before 1820… it is one of the few that seems never to have been known by other names.’ Finley, 1929.***

Beyer says about 165-9: “Lady of the Lake, Aunt Martha series: The Quilt Fair Comes to You, ca.1933. Also known as: Pennsylvania Pineapple, Aunt Martha series: The Quilt Fair Comes to You, ca.1933.

Lady of the Lake n.191-8, 191-9
Lady of the Lake n.191-8, 191-9

Multiple listings were given in Beyer’s book, so I went on to the next one. These look like an evolution from the Cake Stand block, though I don’t know which came first, so I can’t say which evolved from which, if they did.

The above are more like Daisy’s block and more like what I was thinking Lady of the Lake looked like. Beyer writes about 191-8 “Double Sawtooth, Nancy Page, Birmingham News, Jul 16, 1940.” No AKA.

Beyer writes about 191-9 “Lady of the Lake, Ladies Art Company, 1987. Also known as: Hills of Vermont, Nancy Page, Birmingham News, Aug 9, 1938.”

Lady of the Lake n.322-5
Lady of the Lake n.322-5

There is a final reference in Beyer’s book, n.322-5 and it is also named Lady of the Lake. Beyer writes “Lady of the Lake, Nancy Cabot, Chicago Tribune, Jun 17, 1933. Also known as: Galahad’s Shield, Nancy Cabot, Chicago Tribune, Oct 23, 1937.” I find it interesting that the alternative name also references the Arthur legend.

My little spiral into research led me away from the original questions, which was what Daisy’s blocks looked like. She was kind enough to send me the photo above so I could see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*I did end up liking Jane Steele and would recommend you read it. Read Jane Eyre first. Though it is not necessary, Jane Steele refers often to the content of Jane Eyre. I enjoyed Jane Eyre and thought it was one of the better, and less confusing, of the classics.

**If you still haven’t purchased The Quilter’s Album of Patchwork Patterns, you really need to do so. It is such a great resources for inspiration and history. Go buy it NOW!

***While patterns may have been created much earlier, the references in Beyer’s book refers to the first time she was able to find a published reference.

****BTW, if you plan to make this block, check out the Triangle Technique to make eight at a time.

Odds and Ends Thursday

It turns out that I love these Various and Sundry and Odds and Ends posts! I can collect a bunch of stuff I find interesting and then post it here for your enjoyment. The last one I wrote got a lot of interesting comments. Thanks, everyone!

Searching

I read a blog called ResearchBuzz for my job. I often find interesting tidbits that allow me to find more quiltmaking resources on the web. I also find that testing using quilt terminology is a lot more interesting that my work subject matter!

Recently, ResearchBuzz talked about the reorganization of photos and graphics at the Library of Congress. She writes “Oh wow, I was SO glad to see this article in the Library of Congress Blog yesterday. The LOC has an incredible archive of prints and photographs (over 1.25 million!), the but nav for them has always been icko. The blog announced a new version of the Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, now available at http://www.loc.gov/pictures/.”

Of course, I did a quilt search and came up with some interesting photos. On the first page, there were a few from Gee’s Bend, one of Calvin Coolidge’s shoes, bathrobe and quilt! I noticed a number of the photos were taken by Dorothea Lange.

Fame and Fortune?

I mentioned that my blog was mentioned by Linda Poole on Pat Sloan‘s podcast. That was right after I received two books from Lark Books, so I was feeling pretty high on the hog. Today I was listening to the Sew~Stitch~Create podcast (#41, if you care) and BryeLynn mentions that she heard about me on Pat Sloan’s podcasts. She raves about my website and mentions the blog TWICE!!! I need to redo the website and am slowly (like a snail, actually) working on that. I thought it was really nice that she liked my quilts. Also, she thinks that Pat Sloan should interview me! I laughed at that, but am also very flattered. I am not a fabric designer and I only teach beginners at work. The plans I have are still plans, so I am not sure what Pat would ask me. She did talk about using the Creative Prompt Project for writing prompts for her daughter, which I think is awesome! What a great use of available resources. I can’t wait to see what her daughter comes up with! Finally, Brye thinks I should start my own podcast. We all know that is not going to happen. I like you thinking of me in one of those cute 1940s style suits with a smoky voice and would hate to ruin that illusion. 😉

On the Web

Have you looked at the Quilt Index lately? I am friends with them on FB and get a notice of their Quilt of the Day. I liked this quilt, Thomas Sykes Album quilt, that showed up last Thursday as their Quilt of the Day. they have new functionality where you can zoom in on quilt. They also put as much information as possible into the record associated with the quilt. I like to read that and think about the people making the quilt. Meg Cox, the new president, was on Pat Sloan’s podcast recently and discussed the project and programs. I’d love to have my quilts included!

Spiderwebs seem to be popular again. Oh Fransson has put up a small quiltlet with 4 Spiderweb blocks in it. She has such a wonderful sense of color. While her choices aren’t my style, I do like the combination. I have had in the back of my mind that should finish mine this year. Cross your fingers.

Jen of Quiltin’ Jenny is a new reader and one of those who commented on my Various and Sundry Thursday post from April 1. I went to take a look at her blog a few days ago and found that she does something called Wordless Wednesdays. One of the things I love about the web is that people are so clever and I get to see their cleverness. WW is a photo that she puts up with no words. I might try that instead of my Inspiration [insert day of the week here], except that then I would be stuck with only posting inspiration on Wednesdays. Hhhmm. Perhaps I will leave that great idea to Jen!

I went back a few days ago to see what was up and found that she had just finished a DENIM quilt. I am not a big fan of denim since I made the denim bag for my stepdad for Christmas (my mom calls it his man-purse!) and broke two needles in the process. I also don’t own jeans that I wear. I have a pair that I love, but they don’t fit anymore. 🙁

The other cool thing that I found is that I WON A PRIZE. WOW! I can’t believe it. Go take a look at Jen’s blog!

Reviews

Lark Books gets kudos for updating their Pretty Little Mini Quilts record on Goodreads to include a photo of the book. I use Goodreads to post reviews here, because it kills two birds with one stone and makes the reviews attractive.

I had emailed the lark Books people about the photo when I notified them about posting the review and never heard anything. I went last week to update my review with a photo. Having that big “photo not available” was unattractive and had been bothering me, so I finally went to do it. On a whim I checked to see if Goodreads had received a photo before I did the HTML work on my own and voila! they had received one from Lark Books. The update when much faster than I had anticipated.

Fabric Doing Good

Here is my excuse to finally try out making a pillowcase. I have been thinking about it for a long time and just never get around to it. American Patchwork and Quilting and AllPeopleQuilt.com have launched a project to donate 1 million pillowcases to a variety of causes supporting cancer patients, foster kids, domestic violence victims and nursing home residents. Jean at the Quilted Cupcake blog and podcast asked all of her listeners to make 5. She had a good reminder and that was that boy themed projects are less common than cutesy pie girl projects. I will commit to making one boy pillowcase and see how it goes. I was rummaging around in the bins in the back of the fabric closet on Monday and found a couple of large pieces of fabric that would work well, so I am all set.

You can download instructions to make a pillowcase embellished with leaves from their site.

Making

The members of one of the guild meetings I attend exchange ATCs. We invited some new folks one time and a few of them did not know what ATCs were. I found this guide on how to make them, which gives the basics.

Industry News?

Need some textile industry news? Want to know what is going on in Congress? Textile World is your place to go! Someone who I know from a work related endeavor who is not crafty or quilty sent this to me. The fun thing I saw when I looked at it yesterday was that the town I lived in in Austria is having some kind of textile industry event.

Mother’s Day Gift Guide

Mother's Day Quilter's Gift Guide

Flowering Snowball (was Cross Block)

I am a researcher at heart. After Sarah started my mind spinning quickly, Leslie just added to the melee in my head about the real name of the Cross Block. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I started rummaging around in Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns and the Kansas City Star books to see if I could find the block. I hadn’t gotten very far when I decided to e-mail the AQSG list and see what they had to say. They found both blocks (mine and Leslie’s grandma’s) right away.

According to Barbara Brackman my block is called Flowering Snowball (#3081 in the numbering system of BB’s book). It is from Aunt Kate and has the reference 7/65 next to it. Accordng to BB, Aunt Kate’s Quilting Bee was published between July 1962 and July 1967. In is part of Pattern Category #16: Nine X.

The block that Sarah found and Leslie’s grandma made are Raleigh from Hearth and Home OR Tennesse Circles from Prairie Farmer, Bk.1, 1931 (#3083). There is another one (#3084) that is exactly like Raleigh from Hearth and Home with slightly fatter proportions called The Royal (Ladies Art Company #282) OR Grecian Cross from Rural New Yorker 5/23/31 OR [ta da!] Royal Cross from Carrie Hall.

I saw this picture of ladies working on a Cross Block/Flowering Snowball quilt. It is really the only piture of this block in a quilt on the web, though there is a ClubEQ project that includes the Flowering Snowball (Cross Block) block in it.

I am thrilled and I’d like to know more, but thanks for starting me on the journey!

Cross Block and Royal Cross

The research of the real name of the Cross Block started with a stray comment I made on a list saying I wondered what the real name of my block was.

That sent Sarah on a frenzy of Googling, where she found that the Library of Congress has quilt photo called Royal Cross that has similar bones to the Cross Block. Sarah also found that Tazzie has a pattern for the Royal Cross.

Then Leslie chimed in with the sudden realization that she had a quilt from her Grandma in this [Royal Cross] pattern. She posted the pics, which I have reproduced here.

Full quilt


Detail


Comparison between the Royal Cross and the Cross Block.

Blocks are constantly modified to suit the needs of the maker and I am sure that these blocks are no exception. My block and the Royal Cross look similar in the middle, but the outside of the Royal Cross looks like it is meant to draw attention to those squares in the corner. I can’t say much about that as I went on and on in one post about the center of this, among other patterns, not actually being the center. I’ll have to look through the Barbara Brackman book and the Kansas City Star books and see what I can find. If all else fails I’ll post a picture on the AQSG Yahoogroup and start sending photos around to various quilt historians.