Well Used Quilt
Can someone tell me the name of this block?
I don't have a date or any information about this quilt except it is hand quilted and I remember it on my bed in 1950. It has been washed many times and the binding is worn.

Another Oldie but Goodie
I should know the name of this pattern but can't think of it just now and I'm too busy to go look it up. This is another of the quilts my mother had saved. It is 72 inches square and hasn't been used. Either two colors of muslin were used for the background or some of it has now
aged more. I'm glad I got it out now as it needs refolded with acid free tissue paper. As you'll see in the close up views in the next posting, it was made in 1930, the year my mother graduated from High School. I have no idea who the initials are. It is also possible that my mother bought this quilt a little later. After attending Central Michigan College in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, for a year she began teaching in rural schools. She lived -around which meant that she stayed with the families of her students. But she was also paid some money. My mother had two red and white quilts that were beautiful. She kept them unused too but I saw them. She said she bought them from a woman who sold them to get money to pay the taxes so they wouldn't lose their farm. These quilts were lost when my mother gave them to a lady who collected old quilts for a local museum. Soon after I found out my mother have given the quilts to her, I went to the lady to find out more about what was happening with the quilts. I found out the lady gave them to someone who lived in Chicago. I tried to get them back but she wouldn't give me the name of the person who got them. I'm sure she knew it. I was told the lady who got the quilts had wanted an old quilt for some time and the lady that my mother gave them to decided the quilts were made in a slightly different area than her museum so she gave them away. I was really sad about the loss of these quilts - the ones I knew the story about. Anyway, it made me think that my mother might have bought this quilt too. But she never told me anything about this one so my best guess is this was a graduation gift.

Close Up Views

My guess is that both the piecing and the sewing of the blocks together was done by machine but not the old treadles. But after seeing the tiny hand stitches made, maybe it was all done by hand. All the quilting was definitely by hand.

This is the only info on the quilt. What do you think that middle initial is? Maybe an "U"? Interesting that she put a period after the year.

I'm wondering if the binding is original but suppose it is as the quilt has not been used.

Old Unused Quilt
Among my mother's things I found this finished quilt. It appears to have never been used or washed. The post following this one will show individual blocks up close.


This is the only name in a white spot. I wonder why she didn't get a block of her own. Not enough blocks? Could this mean she quilted it?

Close up of Blocks
This block indicates the date. I remember hearing the name Denslow mentioned but I don't believe they are relatives.
T

This is my mother's block. She was 15 years old. I think this quilt was made for her. Her birthday was in April so it is not to celebrate that. She would have graduated 8th grade from the country school she rode a horse to get to and would then be attending Weidman High School. Could it just be a "hope chest" quilt?


Since there is no block made by my grandmother, I think this is hers. It would make sense that she would just sign "mother", if the quilt is for her daughter, my mother.


This is my mother's aunt, (father's sister). My mother was named after her.

I located a historical museum near where the people who made this quilt lived (northwest corner of Isbella County, Michigan)and planned to make arrangements to donate it to them. Before I could get more information, I was asked to exhibit it in the Planetarium at the Crossroads Quilt Show in September. All the quilts there must have a star theme.

More Bow Ties Pictures

These are more pictures of the old unfinished quilt I have. The fabrics are so interesting. Since this quilt was never finished, the fabrics appear to me to have never been washed. They are in excellent condition, at least for as old as they are. This is amazing since they must have been stored and moved many times. I had been keeping them in a cedar chest but now keep them in a special acid free box I bought.

As I said, I believe they came from my mother's family. I never saw them before I found them after my mother died. There are no family members left for me to get more information.

This is what I do know about my mother's family. Both her mother's and father's families lived in mid-Michigan since the mid- 1800's. My mother's family had come from West Virginia and I am able to trace her family back into Pennsylvania before the Revolutionary War. My mother was the oldest in her family, as was her mother. Her mother was a child at the turn of the century and lived in mid-Michigan (Isabella County) and went to the lumber camps with her mother who was a cook there. My grandma told me once that she and some other children went looking for berries and got lost. When the lumbermen came in for dinner (noon), they had to go find the children and were not at all happy about having to do this. My grandmother was married and my mother was born before her mother had her last children - two boys, I believe. After my great-grandmother died, my grandmother raised these boys. So my mother had two uncles, younger than she was living with her for part of her life.

I never knew of my grandma to make a quilt but don't know why she wouldn't have. She taught me how to sew. This was in the 1950's when she stayed with me during some summers when my mother had to go to college. (Oh, what I'd give to have asked her more questions about her life.) After graduating from High School, my mother attended one year of college and then started teaching a in one room rural school. She continued to take classes, while teaching, and it took her 20 years to graduate and get her degree. During some summers my mother went on campus to take classes and that's why my grandma stayed with me.

My mother saved old family things but didn't share them with me. She had old dishes that I saw and I asked her to tell me about them. She did write some notes and put in some of them. When I was a child, some of the old quilts she had were used on beds and as utility quilts to be put on the ground and such. They were not considered special. Only after my mother died, did I find special quilts that she had never used but had saved. This unfinished quilt was among them. I'll share more about the other quilts later.

 

 

Old Bow Ties
This is an unfinsihed piece consisting of 81 blocks of 7 inches. The blocks are intricately hand sewed and they are combined using a machine. The hand sewing is very accurate but the machine work was not done so accurately. It makes me wonder if the same person did both.

The fabrics are wonderful. Some are so thin.
There are so many interesting fabrics that I think I will photograph all of them. The most unique one is the alphabet.

I believe this was made in the 1920's or 1930's. What do you think? Probably hard to know from a pic, huh?

I am fairly certain that this was done by someone in my mother's family but not sure who or when. I have old finsihed quilts that I will show soon.

Bow Ties
These are among my mother's things I found after she died. Sure wish she could have shared information about them with me before she died. They have started to be put together but there are some individual blocks and some taken apart. The blocks are hand sewn and then put together with machine.

Visit
I'm home from a visit to some of my grandchildren.
They have such a beautiful view from their deck. The pic doesn't do the sunset justice.



Pin Cushion
One of my DGDs made me a pin cushion. Such a cute idea which I'm sure was her Mom's. Of my three children and six grandchildren this one seems to be the only one interested in sewing type things. She had her 9th BD while I was there so I have hopes. Any ideas for projects that would be good for us to do together?
DGD's Pillows Finished
I have finished my DGD's, who is graduating from HS, pillows. The last two are strictly scrap with orange backs. There should be enough of them now for her and her kitty.

I included the close up as it shows the true colors better.

Back Soon
Going to visit grandchildren. See you in a few days.