Jan 21, 2003

From Judy: What we saw today... Tuesday, January 21, 2003. I hope I've got this all down correctly. Again, Thanks to Barb Garrett for being our scribe! It must have been hard to continue to write everything down Barb, what with constantly wiping the drool from your chin! We missed those of you who weren't here today. Plan on being with us on March 18th. Bring quilts that look green, small quilts, and everything else wonderful! From Kris: These pictures were taken at the January 21st meeting. The theme was "log cabin", although we certainly saw other wonderful things! They are thumbnails - click on them to see them close up.
Judy started the meeting by showing us 3 quilted petticoats (below) belonging to various people. The green one is wool. The black one is silk and dates to the 1850's. Click on the thumbnail to see the beautiful handquilting. The quilt on the left is one she made for her son in 1990 It is a Log Cabin T-quilt in soft colors of rose, blue, green, and ecru, with the fabrics forming overlapping diamonds. Inspired by Emiko Toda Loeb.

(above) A black silk hand quilted petticoat from the 1860's. The quilting is in chevrons, feathers, and triple cables. The bottom is edged with a fine black crocheted lace. A blue-green quilted petticoat with a wool backing and blue wool crocheted lace at the bottom. The machine quilting is in triple cables and straight lines. A white cotton petticoat machine quilted in straight lines and triangles. It was edged with an ecru crocheted lace border. The three petticoats were bought from the same dealer within weeks of each other at the Lambertville Flea Market and could have come from the same family. BG also has a machine quilted petticoat from the same dealer (the most intricate of the machine quilted ones as I recall) bought at the same time.
Jan showed us a log cabin she had restored. She had been give a very dirty and damaged log cabin quilt. After a great deal of washing, she discovered it was a red and white quilt. She took the quilt down to it's blocks, then repaired what she could and remade the quilt. It was worth the work!
The three pictures below are of a quilt Jan is restoring. The owner still had the original kit pieces and diagram, a Paragon kit #1046 from the 30's or 40's. The design is a sunflower in a wreath of leaves. With the quilt came a box of unused blocks and preprinted panels, both for the applique blocks and the alternate plain quilted blocks.

A wool foundation pieced log cabin top in bright solids in a barn raising setting. Colors included lavender, bright peach, more than one deep purple, and aqua. Late 19th century
Another wool log cabin
Log cabin with half square triangle center. Click here to see an individual block. We discussed the double blue in this block, discovering that it is also called Lancaster blue or Pennsylvania blue in different parts of the country.
The block to the right is a closeup from a two color quilt with a pinwheel for a center block. VERY graphic!
Here is an unusual set for a log cabin block
Chinese Lanterns or Courthouse Steps Set
Streak of Lightening Set
Don't forget these pictures are all thumbnails. Click on them to see them close up.
This log cabin quilt has a border of squares
Aren't the fabrics in this block great? You can just barely see a stamp in the upper yellow strip.
Proof of a pre Abraham Lincoln log cabin quilt. Made about the time Harrison was running for President, (1840) this is done in a madder red and butterscotch.
Another early log cabin, this one a crib quilt.
Two different quilts with almost identical borders.
Home is where the heart is - made in the late 80's using vintage fabric. Note how the houses are fussy cut to make the best use of the fabric design.
A beautiful cretonne print on the back of this block. I couldn't resist, I had to look up the definition of cretonne: "CRETONNE, originally a strong, white fabric with a hempen warp and linen weft. The word is said to be derived from Creton, a village in Normandy where the manufacture of linen was carried on. It is now applied to a strong, printed cotton cloth, stouter than chintz but used for very much the same purposes. It is usually unglazed and may be printed on both sides and even with different patterns. Frequently the cretonne has a woven fancy pattern of some kind which is modified by the printed design. It is sometimes made with a weft of cotton waste."
Cheater cloth backing on the back of a log cabin quilt.
A very early trip around the world variation. The thumbnail to the right shows a closeup of the corner with a twill binding. The stripe is the backing.
There are some great early 19th century fabrics in this quilt. The thumbnail to the right is an extreme closeup of the center signature block.
The Stars aren't obvious at first glance. This quilt has a variety of double pinks, or Norwegian prints as they were once known in Massachusetts, because they were an inexpensive print the Norwegian immigrants could afford to wear.
Spider Web quilt top to brighten up our winter doldrums! Click here for a closeup of the block
Recognize this block?
A nosegay to brighten your day. Click here to see a single block

The Mothers Day top
Another Mothers Quilt - Sue Reich made this for her son for his graduation present from West Point . The thumbnail to the right is of the center signature block - large center square with signatures gathered secretly from his friends over a year ’s time was surrounded by blocks of photo transfers of his 4 years at the Point and had triple sashing with stars at the corner blocks. everyone he went to school with, collected in secret.

From Kris: We also spent some time debating turkey blue and turkey green as well as the pronunciation of Xenia's name...

From Judy: After much debate of what was and wasn't Turkey red, or Congo Red, Sue Reich read an involved recipe from the 1890's for making Turkey red dye from one of her new (old) books. Lunch was soup and sandwiches, and we thank Jan Drechsler for bringing her own birthday cake and even her own candles. Since there were only 3 candles we figured it was her 30th birthday, but we didn't ask if we were correct or not. And don't you ask either!!!