------------------------------

Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2000 08:24:31 EDT

From: Chyral@aol.com

Hi all,

Be aware that Florence Peto wrote two books.... "Historic Quilts" and

"American Quilts and Coverlets" are entirely different volumes, with

publication dates of 1939 and 1949, respectively.

-Cheryl

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2000 11:41:26 EDT

From: Kievits@aol.com

It appears that the show about the family living in the times of 1900 is

going to be on PBS Monday June 12 at 9:00 p.m. If you remember, the list had

a few postings about the making of this program and the clothes. The

listing says, "Outside London, a family beats the Y2K blues by spending

three months partying like it's 1900." I'm assuming that this is the one we

discussed and that you haven't had a chance to see it either.

Katha in Cincy

------------------------------

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2000 17:46:25 +0100

From: "Sally Ward" <sward@t-ward.demon.co.uk>

>listing says, "Outside London, a family beats the Y2K blues by spending

> three months partying like it's 1900."

It certainly sounds like the programme, but I think that's a sales pitch.

From what I recall 'partying' didn't come into it much. Quite a lot of

tears and frustration *did*, however. (The Mother cracked only a few weeks

in and bought some 1999 shampoo to get her hair clean<G>)

I'd be very interested to know what you all make of it.

Sally Ward in UK

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 03 Jun 2000 16:10:50 -0500

From: Marcia Kaylakie <marciark@ev1.net>

Hi All, Thanks to everyone who gave me their input! I appreciate it. I did

go this AM and buy the book at the local shop. It is in good condition and

and probably priced about right for it. I consider it a find for my

library. Thanks again, Marcia

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2000 21:12:49 EDT

From: KareQuilt@aol.com

About 3 months ago I went searching for price ranges on all the old quilt

history books. I found 7 copies ranging in price from $125 to $15.00. Most

of them hovered around the $40.00 range. All were dated 1949. However, Peto

did write an earlier book but I found only one copy of it in my search. The

seller was asking $100.00 for it.

Peto, Florence: Historic Quilts ; American Historical Co, NY, 1939.

6-1/4x9-1/4, 210p. The "story book" of quilts in this scarce volume.

Profusely illustrated: the doorway to the type of anecdote that is the very

life-blood of history. Heavy patterned cloth covr and contents are VG

The $125.00 book was described thus: American Quilts and Coverlets by

Florence Peto, Chanticleer Press, cloth, dust jacket, '49, signed by author,

a history of a charming native art together with a manual of instruction for

beginners, with 56 reproductions in color and monochrome and 50 patterns and

diagrams in line .

Karen Alexander

--------------------------------

Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2000 13:25:28 +1000

Dear QHLers,

A friend told me about this mailing list and I'm thoroughly enjoying all

that I'm learning. Thank you.

I have always been intrigued by the idea of a deliberate mistake being put

into a quilt. I've heard it described as 'the Amish mistake', that the

Amish put a deliberate mistake into a quilt because nothing is perfect but

God; or without the Amish connection, for the same reason. I've perused my

books of Amish quilts, and it's certainly not common to all, and hard to

spot in some - perhaps because it's in the quilting rather than piecing? Or

was only observed by some groups of Amish? I've seen old (nonAmish) quilts

on ebay where there is a very obvious change of fabric in a single block,

and wondered if this was making-do or deliberate. Other ones have a single

block rotated, or with the colour shadings differently arranged.

I'd be most interested to learn more about this idea - website refs/book

refs/whatever you may know about this yourself. Most quilts I make, I put

in a deliberate mistake (quite apart from any accidental ones!). One's eye

tends to seek harmony, pattern, balance; but the imbalance and interruption

please my eye somehow too.

If this issue has been canvassed before, let me know where I can look in

archives, if that's possible - it's always a bit tricky when you join a

group, not knowing what may have been discussed before. I know it can be a

bit irksome for old hands when an issue surfaces and resurfaces.

TIA

Cheers

Ruth, delurking.

***********************************

Ruth in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000 07:35:29 +0000

From: Bobbie Aug <qwltpro@uswest.net>

Ruth,

Some years ago, I used to teach Old Order pre-1940 Amish quiltmaking. I had a

lecture on this topic also. There were several "myths" that I had heard. 1)

the Amish always quilted a heart into their work 2) they never broke a cable -

it was one continuous cable when used 3) there was a deliberate mistake, etc.

Well, I had an opportunity to go live for a week with an Old Order Lancaster

County, PA Amish family. Sadie and Aaron had finished farming and were about to

move to the grandparent's side of the house and Sadie was excited because she

would have even more time to quilt. By the way, they were quick to point out

that the black buggies in Lancaster were Mennonites (the Amish call them Black

Buggy Mennonites) and the Amish had the gray buggies, which I rode in several

times. Under no circumstances did they want people confusing them with the

Mennonite community.

Well, back to quilting. Sadie said that an intentional error is saying just the

opposite - that there work is perfect and that they would have to be purposeful

in order to make mistakes. That the rest of my "myths" were hogwash too!

Sometimes they don't break a cable because it's easier not too, but there is no

"rule." That applies to using hearts, feathers, pumpkin seeds, etc.

About the same time, I heard a lecture given by Barbara Brackman (a researcher)

on "Deliberate Errors in Quiltmaking." She said that while people romanticize

about this happening, there is no factual information to support this theory.

No documentation. So, in this case, I don't believe theory is fact.

This is not to say that some people somewhere did not do this as the Amish

religion relys on interpretation by the leaders of the sect and a great deal of

interpretation of the Ordnung (bible) is regional. But, as someone who sees

thousands of quilts a year x about 15 years of very active appraising and about

30 years of collecting quilts, I can say, based on the information I have

gathered to date, this was never a popular quiltmaking trend.

Sorry, as I am a romantic too!

Bobbie Aug

Ruth in the Blue Mountains wrote:

>

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000 10:46:50 +0400

From: Xenia Cord <xecord@netusa1.net>

Operating entirely out of my own thought processes (very scary

idea<G>!), I wonder about the whole concept of "intentional mistakes"

and its origin. Sounds like a "they say" to me. If intentionally

making a design flaw in order to avoid the perfection that is relegated

to God alone is done to keep the maker humble, isn't this in itself a

kind of arrogance? ("i.e., "I'm so good that unless I mess up

intentionally, I am perfect.") Where's the humility in that?

And of course, is there a quilter among us who is so good that she makes

NO errors in piecing, joining, appliquing, or quilting (that can't be

fudged or covered up)? Don't most of us aspire to better points and

corners, better applique stitches, smaller quilting stitches etc.?

Seems to me that the whole "intentional flaw" thing may be the

observer's way of trying to explain why an unknown quilter, who has made

something the observer can't make, would have left that piece upside

down, or that heart slightly lopsided, or that line of quilting

unfinished.

IMHO -

Xenia

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000 14:34:34 -0500

From: Shirley McElderry <tigersoup@lisco.com>

Actually, Florence Peto wrote 3 books. The first, "Historic Quilts," was

published by the American Historical Company, Inc. in New York in 1939.

The second, "American Quilts and Coverlets" was published by the

Chanticleer Press of New York in 1949. Her third book was about her

daughter Marjorie's career as an Army Nurse, and was titled "Women Were

Not Expected." Florence had started the book in August of 1946, and in a

letter to a friend said that "we will self-publish." I presume the book

was finished and published, but I have never seen a copy of it.

This Florence Peto was a little tiny whirlwind of a woman; she not only

wrote the two books about quilts; she wrote many articles for several

different publications; from about 1939 to the late 1960's. She gave

lectures, radio broadcasts, was a quilt judge, and later was a designer

of crewel work for Paragon, then Bucilla. Peto was also instrumental in

the acquisition of antique quilts for several museums. From her various

correspondence to different friends, we can get a glimpse of just how

dedicated this woman was about old quilts and their history. And the

quilt history world is so much richer for her contributions.

Shirley Mc from Iowa

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000 16:07:59 -1000

From: Laurie Woodard <lwoodard@hawaii.edu>

If you're planning a visit to Hawaii in June-July, don't miss the

Houghtailing Family Hawaiian Quilts (Na Kapa `Apana a ka `Ohana Hapakela)

June 6-July 22, 2000. These quilts were first discovered though the Hawaiian

Quilt Research Project.

The exhibit includes nineteen quilts made before 1930 by four sisters,

Sophia, Emmeline, Olivia, and Eliza who quilted together on the lanai

(porch) of their home in Kapalama. They had two quilting horses set up and

must have always had a quilt waiting in the frame. The grandchildren--five

cousins--have between them, thirty quilts including Hawaiian applique,

Hawaiian flag, Hawaiian redwork, patchwork and kit quilts. Examples of all

will be on display--all those lovely pastels we associate with Colonial

Revival quilts as well as the earlier red and white quilts. Xenia Cord has

lent items from her collection so visitors will know what kit quilts and

blocks were and can compare mainland styles with Hawaiian-style quilts of

the period.

The exhibit is in the 1831 Chamberlain House on the grounds of:

Mission Houses Museum

553 S. King Street

Honolulu, HI 96813

(808) 531-0481

email: mhm@lava.net

web: http://www.lava.net/~mhm/quilt.htm

Also the Maui Quilt Guild has a quilt show up til later this month at the

Maui Performing Arts Center. See the Maui Quilter site:

http://www.themauiquilter.com/mqginfo.htm

--

Laurie Woodard

Researcher

Hawaiian Quilt Research Project

http://openstudio.hawaii.edu/hqrp/default.html

------------------------------

-

Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 10:08:20 EDT

From: RBCochran@aol.com

Based on Marjorie's letters from Europe during WWII, this book, "Women Were

Not Expected," was published in September 1947. While listing Lt. Colonel

Marjorie Peto as the author, it was really a joint endeavor with Florence

writing and editing during the day and then consulting with Marjorie in the

evenings when she got home from work. The initial printing was 1,000 copies,

and by June 1948 the Petos had only 300 copies left. They self-published to

retain editorial control, and felt the whole project had gone pretty well.

--Rachel in NJ

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 09:51:38 +0400

From: Xenia Cord <xecord@netusa1.net>

I know this is slightly commercial, but I hope I am forgiven for using

QHL to reach as many as possible (I'm stressing).

If you received a class schedule/competition entry form brochure from

Quilt America, be advised that the entry deadline for slides has been

extended to June 23 because the printer delayed our materials for so

long. Please do NOT send slides by UPS, FedX, Priority, or Special

Delivery - postmark is sufficient.

Thanks -

Xenia

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 09:48:41 +0000

From: bettina havig <bettinaqc@socket.net>

As the author of two books on Amish quilts and after twenty years of

research and longstanding friendship with Amish quiltmakers I think it is

safe to say that this is pure nonsense--the sort of stuff myth is made of.

Ask an Amish quilter and the answer will be..'I make enough mistakes without

making them on purpose'. It is just one more attempt to romanticize an

aspect of quiltmaking. I have written about and talked to Amish quiltmakers

in Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania and have yet to find any

evidence that would support this grand old folk tale. In fact I have seen no

evidence of any sort of quilt superstition popping up in quiltmaking among

the Amish.

Bettina

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 11:30:50 EDT

From: KareQuilt@aol.com

Anyone on this list have a contact with FAPE - the Friends of Art &

Preservation in Embassies - that might be able to tell us something about the

"Civil War era quilt" which FAPE included in its "Gift to the Nation,"

reported on in today's Washington Post (June 5), second page of the Style

section under "Embassies Display America's Artistic gifts"? There are no

further details about the quilt. It was simply one of several items listed

that had been donated by the group.

Karen Alexander

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 17:09:19 -0400

From: Ricki Maietta <rmaietta@csrlink.net>

Maybe someone has already answered Ady Hirsh's comments from a few days ago:

>I've always been of the (minority) opinion that having served their

>(scientific) purpose, these finds (and again, I stress, only the ordinary,

>plain vessels found by the hundreds in any dig) should be auctioned off

>to the highest bidder, and thus help replenish museums' ever dwindling

>funds.

I am always a little behind in my computer reading - but, I can give you a

couple of reasons why it is not a good thing to auction off what seems to

be multitudes of the same or similar artifacts.

In my own case, I have done alot of amateur (Native American) archaeology &

alot of volunteer work in my local museum. Several times we have had

archaeologists come to our museum to study exactly what you are talking

about - many of the same thing. Sometimes there is something to learn from

the "common-ness" of something, or from sheer numbers - the fact that it

was made for a long time the same way over a period of time. After awhile

subtlties can be found in how something was constructed ever-so-slightly

differently from one region to another or another time period. It is only

when you study a large number of something that you can begin to notice

things that are the same, different, etc., etc.

I hope this is clear, what I am trying to say. . .

Also, in archaeology, you assume that better methods of study will become

available over time. Sometimes portions of a site are left uncovered for

future archaeologists who may have some dating methods better than

carbon-14 or dendrochronology. . . . They are using sonar & x-ray now to

see what is under water & under the ground - 20 years ago I don't think too

many were doing that.

These are just a couple of reasons I squirmed in my seat at the thought of

museums auctioning off collections just because they had alot of something.

(Of course, I realize that, to some extent, they already do that. . .)

Not meant as a flame to Ady - just another side of the coin.

Ricki in PA

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 17:36:49 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)

From: Mary Persyn <Mary.Persyn@valpo.edu>

Here comes Mary writing in her librarian mode again as a

follow-up to various messages about the value of notes and

bibliographies in books. Tangentially quilt-related, but

scholarship-related.

My biggest concern with the new plan of publishers to

publish the notes and bibliographies of scholarly

publications on the web is how the academic/research

libraries are going to track the information. We can

always insert "hot links" in our online catalogs to the

URLs for the notes and bibliography, but what happens if

the publisher decides after 2 years (for example) to delete

that web site? Should libraries make a copy of each web

site and store it somehow in paper? What if the web site

is a dynamic one that is continually being updated? Should

we take a "snapshot" of the site every week, month, 6

months, year? Or will the publishers publish two versions

of every title - one for libraries, containing all the

notes and bibliography and one for the reading public?

I shutter to think of the complications.

BTW, one of my colleagues was telling me the other day that

he was reading a new book on copyright that listed a bunch

of web sites. The first website he checked was no longer

active.

Sigh.

Mary

-----------------------------------------

Mary Persyn (219) 465-7830

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2000 19:09:06 -0400

From: "Jan Drechsler" <quiltdoc@sover.net>

Westminster, VT had their quilt exhibit this weekend. About half of the

show was antique quilts.

One quilt from the 30's stopped me cold. It was a Dresdon Plate variation

and was described as being derived from a pattern in a Farmer's Magazine

(Farm Life?) in 1905 and 1930.

Last month I finished extensive restoration on a wedding quilt which was

seriously chewed by a pet bunny.

While the quilt I repaired had one more row of plates, in all other ways

they were IDENTICAL. The same 4 points on the plate, the same areas had the

main fabric, the same ice-cream cone scalloped border, and most

impressively, the exact same medallion quilting pattern and the same hatched

fill lines inside the plate. This was the Twin Sister quilt. Except that

one was made in the 30's from a farm magazine and the other was made in the

70's from a McCall's pattern which included all the above instructions as

well as the exact quilting diagrams. The owner of the quilt had loaned me

the McCall's pattern from which it was made.

I stood babbling next to the quilt on the wall but I guess no one found it

offensive that McCall's had lifted it straight from a magazine and made

money from it.

Has anyone seen this commercial exact duplicate situation?

Jan Drechsler in Vermont

Quilt Restoration; Quilting teacher

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/bobmills/jan.html

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000 21:39:59 -0700

From: susan silva <woody@ior.com>

Greetings QHL friends

I was wondering if anyone can tell me about a new line of fabric that

has to do with the beautiful colors we see in the Baltimore Album

quilts. Someone told me there is such a thing but I can't seem to find

anyone who knows about it. I've decided to finally do one, and I want it

to be classic so the correct colors are essential. Thanks for your help.

Susan in Sunny Spokane Washington

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000 22:05:57 -0700

From: susan silva <woody@ior.com>

To: QHL <QHL@cuenet.com>

Greetings Friends!

I've been attempting to update my antique quilt inventory list and a

thought occurred to me. Perhaps it isn't an original idea but here it

goes. When a quilter signed a quilt, do you think that was the only one

she signed? Probably not. If she took pride in her work then I would

suspect that all her quilts bore her name. Wouldn't it be awesome if

there was some centralized location of all quilts with names of the

makers or signatures. Then you could check your quilt against any other

quilts also bearing that name. By doing this perhaps more history could

be shared. This occurred to me as I was looking at my beautiful 1860

carpenter's wheel, signed in beautiful quilting with the name

"Susan A. Surinall" It is a masterful piece an I just know this woman

made other quilts. I purchased this quilt and the lady who sold it to me

did not know about the signature. As I was looking at it closely and

holding it up to the window, the sun shone rite through it and that

signature just popped out. Also being a "Susan" you can just imagine how

exciting this was. It is very possible that alot of quilt history could

be gleaned from some centralized data base. Just a thought, and love all

the posts.

Sincerely,

Susan C.Silva in Sunny Spokane Washington

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 20:28:02 -0400

From: "John Cawley" <cawley@goeaston.net>

The Ordnung is not the Bible. The Ordnung is the set of rules which embody

the social order of the Amish community. These regulations represent the

consensus of the leaders and the endorsement of the members. The older

regulations, dating from the sixteenth century, have been written down; they

clarify the basic principles of separation, nonresistance, etc Each church

district has its own set of contemporary rules governing daily life. All

members know the Ordnung of their congregation which generally remain oral

and unwritten. Some of these rules have direct biblical support; others do

not. The rules of the Amish church cover the whole range of human behavior

and although the rules may differ from one community to another the primary

goal is to keep the world out.

Source::

Amish Society by John A. Hostetler

Johns Hopkins University Press

ISBN 0-8018-2334-X

Cinda on the Eastern Shore

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 20:40:23 -0400

From: "Martha Duff" <Martha@quilt.net>

Last week a quilting friend of mine from Florida came to Washington D.C. to

help her daughter move into an apartment on Capital Hill. I met my friend

for lunch on Thursday and after lunch we decided to walk around her

daughters new neighborhood. We ended up walking into the Library of

Congress located just across the street from the U.S. Capitol grounds. I

was absolutely blown away by the beautiful mosaic tile work on the floors

and ceilings of that building. Just incredible. Oh the quilts you could

make with those designs!

My office is a 15 minute walk away from the Library of Congress, but I

hadn't been in that building in 20 years. I spent my lunch period the next

day filling my camera with pictures of this beautiful stuff. I've dreamed

about those designs every night since I saw them. I can't stop thinking

about them. I had fallen behind on my QHL reading and was excited to find

that mosaic designs are a current topic. It is fate. I am destined to make

a quilt using these designs.

The Library of Congress building was completed in 1897. I've been looking

for books that might have pictures of the floors and ceilings and

information about the designers, but I haven't come up with anything that

pleases me.

The next time any of you find yourselves in Washington D.C., I think you

should take the time to stop by the Library of Congress. Bring your camera!

Martha Duff

Silver Spring, MD

--------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 19:22:11 -0700

From: "Beverly Dunivent" <bevquilt@sprynet.com>

Help: I somehow threw out my order form for the new Rhode Island book.

Would someone be so kind as to send me the complete name of the book,

shipping price and address. Thanks

Beverly Dunivent

http://bevquilt.home.sprynet.com

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000 22:37:08 -0700

From: "Eileen Trestain" <ejtrestain@home.com>

The book "Dating Fabrics" does not include all the footnotes, but does

include a bibliography of sources of information. To have printed all the

footnotes which were written to support the information provided there would

have doubled the size of the book, which was certainly cost prohibitive in

terms of printing.

------------------------------

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