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

Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 08:55:12 -0400

From: maria@lostquilt.com (Maria Elkins)

Regarding databases of quilt books

I recently put together a list of my quilt books similar to what you are

talking about. I didn't have the time to go through every book myself, so

my solution was to HIRE a teenager (my daughter who tends to be a

perfectionist). Summer time is a great time to find a teenager to do these

kinds of jobs. I paid her $5 per hour. She was thrilled. I was thrilled

and now I know what I have :)

Note: if you have them do the updating directly into the computer, first

make a copy of your file on a backup disk, just in case...

Maria

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

Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 09:19:05 -0500

From: "Sehoy L. Welshofer" <sw4quilt@bellsouth.net>

Judy and all - I keep a data base of all my own quilts - those I've made,

not bought. I use File Maker Pro 5.0 to do this. You can control how the

information is entered, in what order, etc. It also allows me to put an

image of the quilt right on the page with the data. I can print out

individual records or a list with whatever specific information I want. It's

a good way for me to keep track of all the little differences in the way I

handled each quilt. It's amazing how quickly I can forget what kind of

batting I used in a particular quilt - but it's in the data base! <G>

Sehoy

Visit Web Threads, the Newsletter for Net Savvy Quilters at:

http://www.welshofer.com/WebThreads/

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

Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 15:30:59 -0400

From: Christine_Grant@pch.gc.ca

Hello.

It is true - you never know when a quilt will appear in a movie, or which film

is likely to include a quilt. How about "Blues Brothers 2000". The young boy,

Buster, is shown sleeping under a handsome Log Cabin quilt in his 'bedroom' in

the trunk of a car.

Enjoy the summer solstice everyone.

Chris

Cornwall, Ontario

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

Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 22:30:12 EDT

From: Feathrwate@aol.com

After I'd said I would help a little with a traditional crafts emphasis at

our local childrens' center, I was told the quilting would follow a session

about the above book, and that we would then be making blocks from the

"Underground Railroad quilts". I really wouldn't undermine the speaker, but

how might I proceed with the children, not wanting to present this

information as fact? It would be interesting to have a South Carolina forum

to study this whole issue, right where presumably it got started..

Linda Harral

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

Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 11:49:24 -0400

From: Newbie Richardson <pastcrafts@erols.com>

To pick up on the thread from last fall...I find fault with the fact

that the family got very little training in how to use the "appliances"

of the period.

I cooked on a wood stove in our New England house for years. I was

taught how to tell whether the stove was the "right" temperature at a

very young age. It's like learning to drive a stick shift: practice,

practice! Also, the family has no network, they are isolated - we all

know that would not have been the case for real. (Except in the pioneer

homesteads - then everyone pitched in with the "heavy" work). Finally,

there would have been a hired girl to help out. Middle class city

dwellers had hired girls, diaries are full of the tales of woe when one

does not work out - or leaves! the problem with the premise of the

show is that it is done out of context!

IMHO! Newbie

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

Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 11:30:16 -0500

From: grapes <grapes@flash.net>

DH and I have been watching the 1st 2 episodes. Most of our discussion

has been about how unprepared the family is for living during that time

period. No training, and a very fairy tale/fantasy view of what life

would be like. All fun and games and swirley dresses. Mom had no idea of

diet during the period or health standards. For someone who is a

vegetarian we were surprised she had not studied dishes and menus before

the move. As a Vegin she should practice this in her daily life to

ensure daily dietary needs. She would have already been familiar with

the foods eaten by a 1900 family and realized that it might not be for

her.

Even from my childhood (I am only 42) I recall that we did not bathe

every day and surely only shampooed about 2 times a week. That was the

standard then. DH and I had been discussing that we would have begun

acclimating our skin, scalps, etc. to be used to the new environment

(less washing) prior to the move so that we would have been much more

comfortable.

As for the people who set up the house, they NEVER should have moved

the family in until that stove was fixed and running properly. That

alone would have saved a lot of stress on the family.

Just my .02 cents.

Jo in Tx

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

Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 13:24:32 EDT

From: JQuilt@aol.com

i think the real problem is getting the hot water boiler to heat the water

for a bath..more than it is the stove for cooking....

i agree that everything should have been working in a1 condition...when the

family moved in...

when i lived in the boonies in vermont..i heated and sometimes cooked with a

wood stove and it was not a delite...if i wanted to stay in town, for a

movie, after work... it meant coming home to an stove with the fire "gone

out" and in the winter that was really a pain..

jean

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

Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 15:54:34 -0400

From: Barb Garrett <bgarrett@fast.net>

Hi Linda and others -

I talk about the concept and specifically this book in my quilt history talk in

the section I call "Romanticized Quilting Myths". I first talk about the

"black centered log cabin theory" -- which has been around awhile -- and then

talk about the book. In essence what I say is --

Some of you may be familiar with a book called HIPV published by the popular

press last spring. While not published by the company as a history book, many

took it as such. The authors have now clarified that it is the oral history

account of how one family used quilts in the Underground Railroad Movement and

does not represent a universal code or usage of quilts in that Movement. At

this time research is being done to try to substantiate the use of quilts in the

Movement and the publication of this book may help spur that research.

Reactions have been interesting -- One teacher in NJ told me she was very

surprised by my attitude about the book -- those were her words -- because there

is a teacher in her elementary school who is getting large grants of money

because she is developing a MAJOR unit on quilts in the UR based solely on this

book and how dare I contradict what she is doing. Interestingly, another

member, who I later learned is very intensely involved in local quilt history,

overheard our conversation and agreed with me that the authors have now modified

their position. The teacher was stunned that 2 people would dare to express

this opinion.

Linda, perhaps it would be possible to talk to the speaker well before the

program and see if you can both be coming from the same point as the authors --

that this is an oral history passed down in one family as to how that family

used quilts in the Underground Railroad. She may only be aware of the

tremendous popular publicity the book has received and not know that it isn't

what the press has made it into. Then you aren't undermining her, hopefully she

will be glad to know the truth, and you will be relaying to the children the

true intent of the book.

Barb in southeastern PA

As seen on Simply Quilts! -- Friday, June 23 at 9:30 am

Visit my newest line of Historical Doll Quilt Patterns at

http://www.hickoryhillquilts.com/with.htm

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

Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 14:42:32 -0700

From: "Robins-Morris, Laura A" <lrobins@fhcrc.org>

It wasn't a quilt, but I noticed something in the movie Key Largo (Bogart

and Bacall) that many folks might miss. It was toward the beginning of the

movie and it was a shirt that a character was wearing. The man was supposed

to be a local native (was his name something like Indian Joe?) and I sort of

remember that he was piloting a boat, or was he the murderer? (I'm terrible

at remembering movies.) But what was interesting was his shirt. It was

sort of busy and plaid/checkered (black and white move) and in the colorized

version (I hate those!) it was kind of all one color, sort of an ugly

chartreuse. But what I realized was that the shirt was all Seminole

piecing. (For those who might not know, Key Largo is in Florida, where the

Seminole Indians live, and where Seminole piecing originated.)

I'm sure the film colorizer didn't have a clue about the shirt, and

probably wouldn't have bothered taking time to add that detail anyway. And

unless you're interested in textiles, you probably wouldn't notice the shirt

at all. I imagine the actual shirt was quite spectacular. It's

interesting that the wardrobe person, or whoever, added that little detail

of authenticity to the movie for such a brief scene, when you couldn't even

get the full effect in a black and white movie.

At least I thought it interesting!

Laura in Seattle

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

Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 18:07:45 -0400

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

I have a question for our Australian QHLers. A fellow member of the Bayside

Quilters here on the Eastern Shore of MD will be spending a month in Perth

(Sept.-Oct.). She's been asked to teach a class at a local quilt shop and

is wondering what she might offer that would be particularly American and/or

of special interest to Australian quilters. She is an experienced teacher

and acomplished quiltmaker and she would be very grateful for suggestions.

This will be a one time only, one day workshop. Is anybody on the list from

that area? Thanks.

Cinda on the Eastern Shore

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

Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 16:12:35 -0700

From: "lynda chenoweth" <lchen@saber.net>

Hi,

I have a quilt made in New Jersey, perhaps by a Dutch woman, around

1876-1880. I know it could not have been made prior to 1876 because it

has 1876 Centennial fabric in it. The quilt is a herringbone design and

is comprised of ten strips of diagonal fabric strips in front. It has

quilting only on the back and I think I have figured out how it was put

together. I will describe this the best I can but what I really want to

know is if anyone is familiar with the technique of construction, what

it is called (if it has a name), and whether or not it might be a

European technique.20

This is how I've decided it was put together. The lengths of diagonal

fabrics were made from pieced fabric strips. The backing (a lovely palm

frondish fabric with chocolate brown) was also prepared in strips that

matched the width and length of the finished diagonal fabric strips. A

thin batting (silky to the touch) was lain between the front and back

strips. The front strip with it's diagonal fabric pieces was then sewn

through the batting to the backing by flipping it up to the first

diagonal under seam, sewing with a running stitch along the inside of

the diagonal under seam (thereby attaching it to the backing through the

batting), then bringing down the next diagonal fabric element and

pulling it taunt, flipping it back, and sewing again along the diagonal

under seam through the batting to the backing. This technique was

repeated until the entire front strip was attached (along it's interior

seams) to the backing. Once the strips of front, batting and backing

were completed, she machine-sewed the front strip side-seams together

(keeping the batting and backing away from these seams), and then

whipped stitched the backing seams together after tucking the seam lines

under. The result is that you have evidence of the backing completion

every ten inches where there is a fold under and whip stitching. The

front is smooth at the strip seams. There is no quilting seen on the

front (not even in the "trenches"), but the diagonal sewing (quilting)

used to affix the inner seams of the front strip through the batting and

to the back can be seen on the back. Once together, the quilt was bound

with a thin cinnamon pink, floral binding.

I hope I've described this in a way that it can be visualized! I've

never seen a quilt constructed this way although one friend suggested it

might be an early "lap quilting" technique. HELP!! I want to know if

anyone knows anything about this approach. Many thanks!!

Lynda in Sonoma, CA

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

Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 21:13:59 -0500

From: "Karen S. Bush" <Birdsong@worldnet.att.net>

I agree with everybody on the family being 'plunked' right into the house,

and one day with a Living History museum to show them the way! geeze...

I know if it was me and I got that phone call to 'move in'....I'd Demand

to find out how many cooks and 'tweenies' I had before I moved in!! haha..kb

http://www.geocities.com/karenbushquilts/index.html

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

Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 22:26:26 -0400

From: "KYRA E HICKS" <KHICKS1@prodigy.net>

Judi,

Thanks for the address and lead for the store in California. Can you check

the phone number - this one listed seems out of order. I'll drop them a

snail mail note.

Betty & Johns

Pattern Palace

P O Box 1905

Arcadia Ca 91077

818-447-6015

They deal a lot with paterns from the 30's and 40's.

It might be worth a call or a snail mail letter. The pattern I have is

called Kuddle Up With Koko. There are 11 blocks in the series.

Does anyone else know about the Little Brown Koko quilt patterns from the

1950s?

Thanks!

Kyra Hicks

Khicks1@prodigy.net

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

Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 22:35:48 -0400

From: "KYRA E HICKS" <KHICKS1@prodigy.net>

Hello! I am looking for information about museums with quilts in their

collections. Specifically, I'm interested in identifying museums with

African American-made quilts in their collections. The most recent resource

I have found to date is Lisa Oshin's "Quilt Collections" book from 1987.

Thanks for any assistance,

Kyra Hicks

Khicks1@prodigy.net

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