Even in this unusual year, the holiday rush is taking place. So, no Honoree this week, but a heart-felt wish for merriment and light from my house to yours.  And a virtual tour. I’d like to welcome you to my home and share my holiday spirit with all my quilting friends.

I live in an 1886 house built by a local stonemason as a honeymoon cottage for one of his daughters.  We don’t have snow yet—I’m still hoping for a White Christmas—so this is a shot from a past year.

The turret is the ideal place for a tree.  This year we have a live Fraser fir downstairs with old-fashioned lights, glass ornaments, and lots of glimmer. There’s a little artificial one upstairs with a funky tree skirt I made.

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I have quilts in every room downstairs.  They make easy decorations and provide a nice backdrop for my collections of angels and the turned wooden ornaments my husband makes.

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There are Christmas tins all over the kitchen.  I started collecting these years ago while garage-“sailing” with a friend; she bought furniture, but all I could afford were the tins at 10-25 cents.  The price has gone up, but the new ones I buy now come with cookies. I think they’re rather jolly.

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We spend most of our holiday time on this back porch with a wood-burning stove, watching classic Christmas movies. Here’s where I show off the Santas, and the third tree.  The quilt is one of four new Christmas ones I made this year—a record, thanks to staying at home.

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And would you like another peek upstairs?  We have Christmas quilts on both beds; blue is my color, and Jack loves red.

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Back to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and cookies. I usually bake at least a dozen kinds of cookies each year.  This year, I made seven kinds of shortbread, plus other recipes.  I can’t share one in person, but here’s a picture from some cookie plates of Christmas past:

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Or how about these that look like quilt blocks?      

If you were here, you could use a cup from my mug tree.  When I was working, I often got a holiday mug in the grab bag, so I found a way to display them all without taking up counter space.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this “visit”. I look forward to having a real, in-person visit with many of you at the 2021 Celebration, but in the meantime, I wish you happy, happy, merry, merry, and all the best of the season.

Your quilting friend,

Anna

After last week’s shopping spree, I am making good on my promise to write about a live Honoree. I don’t know which is harder: the live ones often have great internet links, but I never know how they’ll react to what I say; the ones who have passed are harder to track down for info, but they never complain. I guess I should just be glad that each Honoree is interesting in some way. This week’s subject, Nancy Crow, has plenty of interesting accomplishments (see the link below for her bio), starting in 1979 with her co-founding of Quilt National (a juried biennial exhibition of contemporary quilt art) and coming up to date with her recognition in 2019 as a “Master of the Medium”.

I’m especially interested in Nancy as an artist and what it means to make art (I just make quilts, and sadly, there’s a difference).  The best way to get an overview of Nancy’s work is to take a look at the covers of her books; Nancy has authored half a dozen books, and they are regularly available on Amazon and other sites. If your timing is right, you might be able to score an autographed first edition.

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Or you could get a good impression Crow style from the covers of two books written by Maya Angelou which feature Nancy Crow quilts.

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So, what is Crow style, and how did it get that way? Let’s start with what Nancy recently said about herself: this is her “Artist’s Statement” which accompanies her exhibit, “Nancy Crow-Drawings, Monoprints and Riffs” at the International Quilt Museum:

I have made over 300 quilts.

The purpose of my quilts is to make something beautiful for me. They are a means of expression. They represent my deepest feelings as a response to my life. My quilts are how I see color; how I see shapes; how I see line. They are about complexity, sadness, hope and always beauty. My style of quilt-making is contemporary in that I want to express my experiences now and not copy old quilts. They are traditional only in that they are machine-pieced and quilted.

Here’s the catalog from the exhibit, which is up through March 7, 2021.  There’s also a link below for a virtual tour of the exhibit.

Color, shape, and line… Nancy is academically trained, having earned a B.F.A. in ceramics at Ohio State University, and an M.F.A. with a major in ceramics and a minor in tapestry weaving from the same institution.  If you look at her list of classes taught at her Ohio facility –more on that later– you’ll find other “art” terms like figure and ground, linear motifs, etc. But how does that translate into quilts?

Well, several things help.  First, Nancy has a design inspiration wall that includes varied artifacts, including woven vessels, carved animals, and scraps of weaving. You can see some of the weaving structure repeating in the lines of Nancy’s quilts—especially the warp lines.  Then, Nancy has developed a technique of free-form cutting where she pulls a rotary cutter towards herself –dangerous, but it allows her to see where she is going and to feel that she is actually drawing with the blade.

But the biggest factor for turning training and technique into art has to be work—sweat equity.  Here’s a quilt I could imagine myself doing—alright, maybe not all that piecing, but at least using the same palette. I’m a sucker for blue.

What doesn’t show, however, is that this quilt is one of a series of 22! Crow worked for three years exploring the 45-degree angles interplay with stripes and squares.  Here’s another version that has more movement and “glowing” colors, and a third one that emphasizes the squares but uses “flatter” colors:

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And here’s another pairing. I prefer the one on the left, but I can’t say why. Which one speaks to you?

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Wikipedia identifies over a dozen Crow series, not including the November studies.  I don’t know about you, but by the time I’ve finished one top, I usually don’t want to see the same thing again, so hat’s off to an artist who buckles down and repeats, repeats, repeats for the sake of her art. It’s clearly hard work. (If you watch the exhibit below, you’ll see some of Nancy’s thoughts on this level of work: “totally focused”, “10-12 hour days”, “going forward”, “learning” and more). With all this work and discipline, where do feeling and expression come in? Nancy would probably say “Everywhere”, but I’ll give you two examples. One of Nancy’s series is Passion, a group of five quilts she created while caring for her dying mother. I can only imagine the emotions poured into each of those art pieces. Another is her Chinese Souls series, inspired by an incident she witnessed while on an art exchange in China in 1990.

Here’s what she says about those quilts:

“Chinese Souls quilts are my memorial to more than 60 teenage boys who were bound and loaded on two trucks to be driven to their execution for petty crimes. I witnessed this horrible incident when I was an exchange artist in China in September 1990. The boys were all wrapped with heavy ropes. In these quilts, the circles represent their souls and the bull’s-eye embroidery, and the hand-quilting represents the ropes tied around their souls. The colors of the circles represent the individuals.”

No discussion of Nancy Crow would be complete without a little information about one of her other interesting aspects; in addition to being an artist, she’s also a teacher.  She lives on a farm near Columbus, Ohio where a converted 1848 timber barn serves as a retreat center for five- and ten-day workshops taught by Nancy and others. This has got to go on my post-COVID bucket list. I’ve done some dyeing on my own but would love to have expert guidance. Does this look like fun, or what?

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I was going to put a link below for the 2021 schedule, but the classes are already filled, except for one. Oh, what the heck, I will put the link below so you can see what types of classes she teaches and be ready when 2022 rolls around. It will happen—I promise!

Your quilting friend,

Anna

Biographical information https://quiltershalloffame.net/nancy-crow/

Exhibit at International Quilt Museum. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ickEU7SuF5k&list=PL8wATen2F83_TAFneOIiALU5dnD6YiDcS

This link is the first of five segments which walk through the entire show; it will either re-direct you or run right into the following segment(s).

Design inspiration wall https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n61dNeEblM   (wall discussion starts at 1:20)

Workshops http://www.nancycrow.com/artretreatsspring2021.html  

http://www.nancycrow.com/artretreatsfall2020.2.html

I was going to tell you about a living quilter this week, but there’s something time sensitive I need to address.  As I write this, there are only 19 more shopping days until Christmas! But don’t worry; The Quilters Hall of Fame is here to help.  Have you browsed the online store?  If not, I’ll give you some teasers with the individual links here and a general link to the store below. I know that not all of you readers celebrate Christmas but take a look anyway because you might want a gift for another occasion—or even something for yourself; you deserve it this year.

If you’ve enjoyed learning about the Hall of Fame Honorees through this blog, you’ll probably like the book version.  There’s lots of new info I haven’t included and plenty of beautiful pictures.

You’ll find many other books in the store.  They’re written by some of the Honorees so you can’t go wrong.

Or how about showing off your knowledge of Marie Webster with a mask in a limited-edition fabric taken from her quilt designs? On the right is Poppies and on the left is French Baskets.  There are more in the store.

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I’ve started baking my Christmas cookies and I always wear an apron in the kitchen.  I have florals and dogs, Mardi Gras and Halloween, and several general-design ones, but I pull out the Santas and the reindeer for December.  If you know someone who wishes they could be in Paris, why not get a French-themed apron? Or, if you prefer not to “travel”, there’s always candy.

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Didn’t get that holiday sewing done? (I know you had lots of time this year, so you were probably making a full-sized quilt, finishing UFOs and sewing masks.) But if you’re short on a hand-made gift, we’ve got it.

Or here’s one that doesn’t use the traditional red and green and could be out all winter long. I know I would never do so much piecing for a table runner, so this would be worth the price.

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I’m not going to include any pictures of the many bags that are available; you can use the link below.  But who wouldn’t appreciate receiving a tote gift? I know most people aren’t going out much these days, but come summer, we’ll all be looking for something to cram our beach stuff into. Shop ahead.

The homemade items in the online store have all been made by volunteers, myself included, and the sales help support The Quilters Hall of Fame. If you want something for a Christmas gift, order soon to allow for shipping. And TQHF says “Thank you”.

I don’t want this week to be all infomercial, so let me re-visit an idea from last week.  I told you a little about my development of the connection between fashion trends and quilt designs.  Well, it turns out that great minds think alike: The International Quilt Museum just hosted a virtual session on a similar theme called “Mad Men, the Mid-Century Modern Aesthetic, and Modern Quilts”.  It was presented by Luana Rubin of eQuilter.com and Dr. Carolyn Ducey, curator of collections at IQM. (I say “similar” because I was looking at contemporaneous connections, and they took the connection forward from the 1950s to current modern quilting.)  Ahhhh; affirmation!

There’s a link below for more of IQM’s virtual events; be on the lookout for the recording of “Mad Men” (December First Friday) and for upcoming First Friday postings. And there’s a link for Textile Talks too.  So much to “do” this winter; maybe I won’t miss getting out.

By next week, my tree should be up and baking done, so I promise a full post about (who will it be ????).

Your quilting friend,

Anna

Shop.https://quiltershalloffame.net/online-store/

IQM. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8wATen2F838IkHMwslSWnvPPCGb1hYk1

Textile Talks. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8wATen2F838IkHMwslSWnvPPCGb1hYk1

In this video, Susan Price Miller shares with us the process she went through and the history she learned while making “Rising Sun.” This quilt is her admission to the American Quilt Study Group’s traveling exhibit “200 Years of Solid Color: Cultural and Regional Distinctions, 1800-2000,” on display at The Quilters Hall of Fame September 29 – December 12, 2020.

If you own a fascinator, now is the time to wear it; get out your white gloves too because we’re going to meet the Queen. Queen Bertha Stenge, that is—the 1930s-40s “Queen” of Chicago quilting.

Of all the blogs I’ve written so far, this may be the hardest for two reasons.  The first is that I have been championing a Stenge contemporary who was also from Chicago, and I don’t like to see my favorite upstaged. (I wrote about Mary Gasperik back in September, and she’ll be the Heritage Honoree at the 2021 Celebration, so it’s all good.) The second and more difficult reason is that there’s not much written about Bertha Stenge. Where were the paparazzi for this queen?  Let’s see if we can remedy the dearth of coverage.

You can read Bertha Stenge’s biography on the Hall of Fame website (link below) and there are a few other places where her basic info is available.  But it’s all very basic, mostly her many awards—not fitting for a queen at all! In fact, of the >250 articles mentioning her on Newspapers.com, almost a third told the same story of how she began quilting during an illness, kept at it for 25 years, and hoped to complete 50 quilts before she was done. Another third used her quote about young women of her day being too impatient to quilt—“too restless”. Most of the remaining entries gave a bare report of her placement in the local fair or quilt show. But I persisted, and found a few interesting tidbits to talk about.

Let’s start out with two of the most famous Stenge quilts, “The Quilt Show” and “The Quilting Party”.

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A few things to note about this quilt-once you get over being gob-smacked by the detail. (All thirteen quilts are actually pieced.) I love the floral motifs in the double-rodded cross hatch quilting; and then the switch-up in the wide white border to signal that these quilts are in the winner’s circle.  This is that kind of attention to detail that puts a jewel in Queen Bertha’s crown. Stenge didn’t always do her own quilting, but I feel sure she designed or at least specified the pattern. And use of trapunto became a signature element for her after her first few quilts. 

Is it fanciful to think that the Irish Chain quilt in the center is “Best of Show”?  It’s the only mini that has a border, so I like to imagine Bertha consciously gave it pride of place if not a ribbon. And she didn’t stop with the central images; she continued her detail into the border motifs, creating a showcase of other blocks that might be seen at a quilt show. These could easily compete with some Dear Jane quilts. And showing that even queens can have a sense of humor, Stenge has signed the quilt in a traditional album block.

“The Quilt Show” above is in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, and you can see their other Stenge holdings at the link below. The next quilt, “The Quilting Party” is at the Illinois State Museum along with several other Stenge quilts, and there’s a link for that too. And while you’re in the link section, you’ll see one for the Chicago History Museum which owns Stenge’s 1933 World’s Fair quilt; it has an unusual quilting pattern which is definitely worth seeing. So, let’s go to the party.

This is another quilt where detail reigns supreme. I saw this beauty in person about five years ago.  Look at some of the tiny, precise additions which add so much to the “picture” in the middle.

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The center alone would have been a tour de force, but again, Stenge doesn’t stint in the borders. How many can you count? And here are some detail shots I took of the fabrics:

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You’ll have noticed that the yellow and red print in the star centers on the right is the same as that used on the “quilt” in the center.  Once again, Bertha is winking at us.  But the fabric also provides a segué into another interesting aspect of Stenge’s quilting career, and that is her friendship with Florence Peto (another Hall of Fame Honoree) and others. Bertha and Florence lived in different states but stayed in touch through letters.

It’s said that Florence Peto was instrumental in convincing Bertha Stenge to work in traditional and center-medallion style. I’m not sure how much convincing Stenge required; her earliest works are pretty traditional.  But I do know that Peto played a big part in getting Stenge to use historical fabrics like that purple stripe in “The Quilting Party”.  Peto often instigated round robins or supplied fabric and challenged Stenge and her other pen pals to use it in a quilt.  Take a look at the sashing in this Sawtooth Star quilt that Stenge made. Those of you who are quilt historians will recognize that wavy stripe and brownish-reds as being old (maybe 1870s?), and it’s just the kind of thins Peto used and shared.

We can also look at another example, “Gazelle”, and wonder if some of the fabric came from Peto. Here’s the photo I took at the Intenational Quilt Museum.  The first detail has fabric in three colorways, and could have been a challenge. I don’t know what to think about the floral in the second one because Stenge seems to generally rely on solids and tone-on-tones; this could have come from Peto, but there’s no proof.  Either way, my heart warms with the thought of these ladies sending around their quilting missives, sharing their progress much like we do today online. And who wouldn’t want to be the Queen’s correspondent?

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As an aside, “Gazelle” was made from a newspaper pattern—something unusual for Stenge who largely favored her own original designs.

No discussion of Bertha Stenge is complete without mention of her artistic talents. Here are some examples of how she used her formal art education in her quilting.

This quilt is pieced in a secondary palette of purple, orange and green, showing a good grasp of the color wheel, and inverts the central medallion format in a way that is innovative while still being controlled.  Stenge made other hexagon quilts which can be seen in the Illinois State Museum collection.

Here’s a quilt that shows how Stenge could break out from her traditional preferences and emulate the Art Deco Style.  It’s also whimsical with blocks representing sardine cans, and celery and tin-opening keys in the quilting. (OPA was in charge of rationing during World War II.)

And speaking of whimsy, look at this detail from “American Holidays”; the Valentine is being mailed to Bertha Stenge!  The Queen can poke fun at herself.

What?  The Queen pays taxes?  Well, at least she was a good sport about it and saw the ironic side of things.  Stenge didn’t compete for the prize money (her biggest award was put into war bonds).

I’m going to wrap up with my favorite Bertha Stenge quilt, Iva’s Pin Cushion. I love the subtle coloring and design symmetry, and the trapunto work and quilting are exquisite.

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Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this visit with Bertha Stenge. Do you agree she earned the title of “Queen”? She showed humor, a quick wit, a command of her art, and loyalty to friends. To top it off, she was modest (“The two things you need most in making quilts are plenty of patience and a warm iron.”).  That adds up to regal in my book.

Your quilting friend,

Anna  

Hall of Fame bio https://quiltershalloffame.net/bertha-stenge/[AH1] 

Wasserman blog http://annquiltsblog.blogspot.com/2018/06/quilts-at-art-institute-of-chicago.html   

Art Institute of Chicago collection https://www.artic.edu/artists/36792/bertha-stenge (I was puzzled by the name of one of these quilts, Toby Lil;  then I read that it represents English crockery known as “Toby” jugs and was named for or given to a friend, Lillian.)

Illinois State Museum http://www.museum.state.il.us/ismdepts/art/collections/daisy/gallery.html

Chicago History Museum Century of Progress World’s Fair quilt https://collections.carli.illinois.edu/digital/collection/chm_museum/id/3197/rec/2

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I hope the Michigan tourism office doesn’t mind my referencing their slogan as I write about an Honoree from their State.  Maybe after reading this, you’ll want to visit some of Mary Schafer’s quilts in East Lansing, so I think it’s a legitimate use.  But before we “travel” to the Great Lakes/ Wolverine/ Mitten state, there’s some unfinished business from my earlier blog about Carrie Hall.

You may remember that I told you about the magazine article I purchased on eBay. Well, it arrived, and I can share it with you. First off, it cleared up a misconception I had: Hall actually had two, not one, periods of doll dressing.  I wrote about her latter-day making of historical dolls, but she had an earlier period of making fashion clothes for 27-inch mannequins.  I’m not sure whether/ how she used these dolls to promote her couture business, but they coincide with her dress-making career.

The magazine article is written by a doll collector who won several of Madam Hall’s creation at an auction. Before the auction, the author read up on Carrie Hall; he learned all the facts I told you plus he found a weak clue that Hall had designed clothes for Susan B. Anthony.  At the auction, he chose to bid on dolls that he thought were most representative of the fashion trends that Hall had written about in her book “From Hoopskirts to Nudity”.  Here’s what he came away with (remember, these are 27 inches):

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Some week, I want to take a side trip into the connection between fashion and quilting, but right now it’s time to move on to Mary Schafer.  You can read her bio at the link below. You can also learn more from someone who knew and worked with Mary through these books, available on Amazon and many other sites.

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Although Mary was trained in needle arts as a child, she didn’t take up quilting until her forties.  She bought a quilt kit (design unknown), but was daunted and returned it to the store. A few years later, she decided to try again, and made a Rhodendron quilt similar to this top (which I would have found daunting as well, but she persevered):

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But Mary’s real journey into the world of quilting and quilt history for which she is famous, came from restoring and then replicating an old quilt that her son had used at a beach party. That set her on the path of researching old quilt patterns and making copies of them. For example, Mary discovered a picture of this quilt in Florence Peto’s “Historic Quilts” and she made a copy as a tribute to her. Peto wrote back (they were regular correspondents, and Mary also exchanged letters with Hall of Fame Honorees Joyce Gross and Lenice Bacon)  saying, “Do you know I have never seen another ‘Lobster’ quilt since the one pictured in “Historic Quilts”; I am happy to know you are keeping the design alive.” I, too, have never seen another “Lobster”, so I question whether the design is still alive.  Does anyone out there want to revive it?

I usually include more photos from the Quilt Index when I write, but there are too many to choose from, so I’ll suggest that you browse on the link below.  Some of the quilts are made by Mary, some are ones she finished, largely with blocks and tops made by her pen pal, Betty Harriman, and some that Mary collected herself. Here’s a photo from the Alliance for American Quilts showing Mary working on some of the odds and ends she preserved.

Michigan State University Museum acquired part of her collection–developed over a period of 40 years–of more than 200 quilts plus quilt tops, fabrics, and quilt blocks representative of most quilt styles and periods in American history. They have a traveling exhibit available for a fee if your guild is interested.  The exhibit was shown at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, PA a few years back, and it was visited by several bloggers (not me, sadly); check out their sites—links below–  for some good views of Mary’s work.

The Quilters Hall of Fame has over a dozen blocks that are the result of Mary’s very active round robin participation, two quilts finished by Schafer and an unfinished partial quilt top.  You can see these at the link below, but I also want to show you this quilt that Mary called “Single Chain and Knot.

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Our Collections description says of the knot: “This design resembles a Pennsylvania Dutch fylfot.”  It could also be called a lauburu or Basque cross, a traditional celtic hooked cross with four comma- -shaped heads. Today, Lauburu is a symbol of the Basque region; it is also associated with Celtic peoples, most notably Galicians and Asturians. 

If there’s one thing that got Mary Schafer into the Hall of Fame, I think it must have been her message of quilting as being worthy of respect. She started making, collecting, studying and talking about quilts in that doldrums period after World War II and the Whitney Museum exhibit. She quietly (but publicly) went about the business of telling us that we should honor our work.  She lived by the words of Marie Webster in “Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them” : “To raise in popular esteem the most worthy products of home industry, to add to the appreciation of their history and traditions, to give added interest to the hours of labor which their construction involves….” I don’t know about you, but sometimes that message gets lost for me—like when I’m bored from making 96 half square triangles—so it’s good to have Mary Schafer to remind me that I’m engaged in a meritorious pursuit.  Others will talk about the beauty of quilts (and Mary did as well) or the creativity involved, but sometimes it’s enough to think about diligence and competence in the process.  Yes! Thanks for that, Mary Schafer.

Your quilting friend,

Anna

Bio https://quiltershalloffame.net/mary-schafer/

Mercer Museum exhibit photos on Dawn’s blog http://collectorwithaneedle.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-mary-schafer-collection.html

Mercer exhibit on Triplett’s blog https://www.quiltandtextilecollections.com/blog/the-mary-schafer-collection-a-legacy-of-quilt-history

More Mercer photos http://www.quiltyhabit.com/2017/07/visit-to-mercer-museum-mary-schafer.html

Quilt Index, Mary Schafer Collection https://quiltindex.org/view/?type=specialcolls&kid=12-91-471

Hall of Fame Schafer Collection https://quiltershalloffame.pastperfectonline.com/webobject?utf8=%E2%9C%93&search_criteria=%22Mary+Schafer%22&searchButton=Search

While doing some research today, I came across this story in Ruth Finley’s book, Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them. While discussing antiques and their ability to defy age, wear, and tear, Ruth writes about her Aunt Thankful’s sheets.

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There is scattered among the members of my family a set of twenty-four sheets, discolored but unworn, spun and woven from flax grown in the Connecticut hills. The pair that belongs to me is marked No. 12. Under the numbers are embroidered a heart and the initials T. S. The whole marking is so delicate that it covers, in the upper right hand corner of each sheet, less than a square half-inch of space. It is executed in cross-stitch done in a woman’s hair.

Thankful Smith was the twin sister of a greatly removed grandmother. The two girls each spun, wove and marked for their dower chests twelve pairs of linen sheets, while waiting for their lovers to come back from war. The betrothed of the twin who was my ancestress came home. She was married; and her children and her children’s children wore out her dower sheets. But Thankful’s lover never returned. Visiting among the family households as the patient drudge that was the role of the spinsters of her day, Thankful had no need for the domestic linen of a home. The dower sheets she had marked with bridal hearts in her own hair were never used. They are today as smooth and fine and strong as the day they left her loom.

Finley, Ruth E. Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them. Philadephia: J.B. Lippincott, 1929. Reprint 1970, pp 24.

If you would like to read more about Ruth Finley her biography is here: https://quiltershalloffame.net/ruth-finley/

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In looking for material for this week’s post, I noted an article in American Quilter titled “Thread Witch: The Magic Artistry of Ruth B. McDowell.” I was unable to locate and read the article, but the label for this Honoree stayed with me as I looked at her work. She really cast a spell on me, and I think you will be enchanted as well.

As a professional artist, all of Ruth’s art quilts as shown on her web site and in this article are unique one-of-a-kind pieces. They may not be copied, reproduced, or reprinted without specific written permission from Ruth. No patterns for these quilts are available. You may not attempt to make your own pattern from these images. This is exactly the same copyright as in the world of paintings.

Ruth McDowell is a trained artist with a Massachusetts Institute of Technology B.S. in Art and Design and a brief stint as a technical illustrator in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She started quilting with traditional blocks, and her first books follow this theme.

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But then she found Ruby Short McKim (another Hall of Fame Honoree who published quilt designs during the Depression).  Or, at least that’s what Ruth says: “I was fascinated with the designs I found in Ruby McKim’s 1931 book, 101 Patchwork Patterns. Her original blocks based on poppy, iris, rose and trumpet vine were graphically interesting, botanically recognizable, and straightforward to piece with traditional methods…. The trumpet vine I found especially fascinating.”

Well, I wondered about that, because the line from McKim’s designs to McDowell’s quilts is anything but a straight one. Look at these three side-by-side comparisons and tell me if you see any connection.

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Yes, in both versions the Daffs nod, the Nasturtium leaves retain the pentangle veins, and the Poppies have tall stems.  But McDowell has taken McKim’s simple shapes and turned them into something completely different.  And if that isn’t witchcraft, I don’t know what is.

Like most magic-workers, McDowell has some secrets up her sleeves.  But they aren’t really secrets; she has shared her methods in ten books.  I own Fabric Journey: An Inside Look at the Quilts of Ruth B. McDowell, and although I’ll probably never make a McDowell-style quilt, the text is perhaps the most self-revealing I’ve run across in the quilting world.  And this openness seems typical of McDowell; for example, many of the photos on her website (link below) are accompanied by a personal comment, a tip, a little story about her inspiration source, etc. You don’t ever need to ask “What was she thinking?”—Ruth will tell you!

And, in addition to the wonderful quilt pictures and artist’s commentary, Fabric Journey gives me a little insight to the McKim/McDowell connections. I can look at McDowell’s line drawings in the book and see the similarity to the stylized McKim flowers. Phew!  I’m relieved: it’s not witchcraft, but it’s still bewitching.

Of course there’s more to a McDowell quilt than the initial sketches, and you’ll find information about fabric selection, piecing considerations, and border choices for each quilt in the book.

Here are some of Ruth McDowell’s other books. 

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All of Ruth’s quilts are pieced, right-sides-together, with templates. This is a very particular technique, which has an enormous impact on her imagery. That is the technique that she teaches in her books. Also, as you see, nature plays heavily in McDowell’s choice of subjects, and I think you’ll enjoy seeing a few quilts on that theme.  All of the photos, unless noted, are from McDowell’s website—a virtual show in itself.

“Witch Hazel Jelena”. International Quilt Museum Object Number 2006.011.0001  (See more IQM quilts at the link below).

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I chose these two because I have rudbeckia in my garden, but I am having no success in establishing the Solomon’s Seal. And the one below, Rue, is a plant that was reputed to repel evil spirits (not that I would want to repel “The Thread Witch”, but I did grow rue at one time).

Farm life seems to be another area of interest for McDowell. It’s one thing to capture a leaf in a line drawing and turn it into a quilt, but quite another to capture muscle, movement and personality. McDowell can do it! 

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She can also do architecture—which should be no surprise given her skill with line drawing and her background as a technical illustrator. But these quilts aren’t just blueprints in fabric; I can smell the mustiness and feel the age of the wood.

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If you’re not already impressed with Ruth McDowell, let me tell you a few other things. She has had numerous solo exhibits in the US, and has been featured in invitational art quilt exhibitions in this country, Japan and Germany. Like several other Honorees, she was chosen for inclusion in “The 100 Best American Quilts of the Twentieth Century”, but in her case, it’s for two quilts, not just one. She has quilts in the permanent collections of many museums, and her work is also in corporate and private collections. You can read more about her life and achievements on the Hall of Fame website.

I’m going to leave you with one more McDowell image.  This one is perfect for this time of year.  And there’s nothing witchy about it.

“Sunshine and Shadow: Maple Leaves”. International Quilt Museum. Object Number 2008.040.0228. Byron and Sara Rhodes Dillow Collection

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Your quilting friend,

Anna

International Quilt Museum McDowell quilts: https://www.internationalquiltmuseum.org/search/node/Ruth%20B.%20McDowell

McDowell’s quilts for sale: http://www.ruthbmcdowell.com/clients/rbm/catalog.cfm  Navigate from here to other parts of the website to see more quilts.

More bio information: https://quiltershalloffame.net/ruth-b-mcdowell/

Even more quilts on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ruth-B-McDowell-303778260912

As I do my background reading to write these posts, I usually find myself wishing I could meet the Honoree.  These women and men are always remarkable, and there’s often some twist that makes them real for me.  But that isn’t the case with this week’s subject, Carrie Hall; I had a hard time warming up to her.  But read on, and maybe we’ll find something interesting.

Let’s start with the quilt stuff. Carrie Hall lives on today on eBay, Amazon, AbeBooks and other sites through two things:  the book she wrote with Hall of Fame Honoree, Rose Kretsinger, titled The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America and for Bettina Havig’s book titled Carrie Hall Blocks.

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Both books include photos of the hundreds of quilt blocks made by Hall between 1900 -1935.  She, like Hall of Fame Honoree Mary Barton discussed in an earlier blog, went on the lecture circuit during the “Colonial Revival” of quilting, and used actual blocks to punctuate her talk.  Here’s Carrie dressed for a performance/ lecture, followed by a few of her blocks with the names she gave them;  if you look at all of them on the site below, you’ll find that you may call some of the blocks by different names.  In some cases, Hall was a stickler for historical accuracy, but in others, she didn’t mind being creative or redundant. Makes me wonder what she said in those lectures, but I shouldn’t be too critical because glamorizing the past was a shortcoming of many early quilt history efforts.

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I like to call the one on the left “Going to Chicago” (that’s where I’m from), and you may know it by one of its several other names.  Hall used the first recorded name from an 1884 publication—probably what she grew up with. Names are funny; the same source that named “New Four Patch” called it “World’s Fair” when they put it out again 55 years after the original.

She lived in Leavenworth Kansas while she was making these blocks, so maybe that accounts for the one on the left.  She is the only source cited by Brackman (Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns) to give a name to this pattern, and I guess she wanted to honor her home town.  As I said, sometimes she’s historically accurate, and sometimes she’s creative. 

And look; here are two very different blocks with the same name, and there are at least two other blocks also named “Rose of Sharon” in the Hall block collection:

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Not only was Hall inconsistent and repetitive in naming, but she took great license with botany as well.  I’m not talking about the stylized, pieced, modern pansies, etc; no one expects those to be accurate.  But look at these two versions of the same plant:

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Am I getting a little waspish? Sorry; I told you I couldn’t warm up to her.  But I really do admire Hall’s work; some of the designs require more sewing skill than I can muster (I sure wasn’t piecing LeMoyne stars at age seven and winning first place at the county fair at age 15), and I can’t imagine making that many blocks.  With over 800 of them (1,057 by Brackman’s count), varying from 8 inch pieced blocks to 16 inch applique blocks, she could have made over a dozen quilts!  Wait, she did make quilts—many for charity, and probably few, if any, for the contests that captivated her contemporaries.  Here are two examples:

I love this one for its blue and white border and for the red in the trees to represent cherries, and the axes masquerading as a frame.  I love the next one because it’s all blue/white and reminds me of the old ceramic tile patterns that used to be in the entries of 1930s drug stores and five-and-dimes (and old bathrooms).

The block and quilt images are all taken from the website of the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas.  You can see more of the items donated by Carrie Hall at the link below.  Be warned: there are 92 pages and many of the blocks have no image available, but starting at about page 87, you’ll find quilts and clothing made by her co-author, Rose Kretsinger which are worth seeing too. 

Well, that’s the quilting aspect of Carrie Hall’s entre’ to the Hall of Fame.  She had another interesting career in the world of fashion.  And really, aren’t fashion and quilt fabrics related? That’s the topic of another post, but let’s see how Hall segued from one to the other and back again.

After a stint as a teacher (how many of us were teachers? I had 7^th and 8^th grade for science, religion and art—what a combo!) and later as superintendent, Hall turned to dressmaking.  Under the title “Madam Hall, modiste”, she developed a thriving couture business catering to local society ladies, and included General MacArthur’s mother among her clientele. In 1938, she wrote a book I think should be required reading in all college fashion design programs: From Hoopskirts to Nudity, calling it “A review of the follies and foibles of fashion, 1836-1936”.  The cover of the 1946 edition even emphasizes the silliness of her topic, showing two “fashion” figures on the teeter-totter of time.

        

                         

Having been in the fashion business, Madam Hall knew whereof she wrote. She gives detailed descriptions of designs and construction techniques, along with plenty of information about accessories. But throughout, she expresses an amused, almost disdainful attitude toward fashion.  She encourages her readers to develop their own style, to wear what is becoming to their own figure, and to choose what is most compatible with their own personalities.  She knows how fickle fashion can be!

Her writing is at times chatty, at times moralistic, and always peppered with literary references.  You won’t be surprised to learn that Shakespeare had a lot to say about dress, but would you have thought she could work in quotes from Confucius and the ancient Greeks? Within two pages, she cites Ben Johnson, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Carlyle. There’s also lots of doggerel too, just to keep it from getting too high brow. And in case you are wondering about the title, it’s appropriate: she not only reviews the “Flora Mc Flimsey” modes of the 1920s, she goes so far as to include a photo of a nudist colony. Daring! (And I’m not gonna cut and paste that; find it yourself.)

The ups and downs of fashion that she wrote about turned personal for Carrie Hall.  A combination of the ready-to-wear market and the Depression saw the end of her couture establishment. She re-invented herself in quilting, but that didn’t last either, as travelling for lectures became difficult and her finances declined. But Hall was a survivor; she had “braved it all” (grasshoppers, crop failures and more) as a child of Kansas homesteaders in the early 1870s, and the difficulties of her later life weren’t going to keep her down. Her final career was as a doll maker.

These weren’t common playthings.  Here are some excerpts from an article in the Kansas City Star, May 39, 1948 that record the subject-matter variety and detailed construction of the Hall dolls.

Also mentioned in the article were 50 dolls representing biblical figures (now in the collection of Nebraska Wesleyan University) and dolls made to order from old photographs.

Hall’s dolls are sought after by collectors today, and she’s occasionally written up in the antique doll magazines.  I’m not into dolls myself, but I couldn’t resist purchasing a five-page article about Hall’s fashion dolls on eBay. It should arrive in time for an update in next week’s blog. Below are some of her items sold on the RubyLane website.  Look at the fabulous detail and remember that these are not full or even half size—they’re doll clothes.

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Well, I think Carrie Hall has turned out to be more interesting than I first found her.  And definitely more admirable. I’m glad I kept digging and was able to introduce myself and you to this skilled, creative, whimsical, resourceful Honoree.

Your quilting friend,

Anna

Bio info  https://quiltershalloffame.net/carrie-hall/

Blocks at Spencer Museum https://spencerartapps.ku.edu/collection-search#/search/works/Carrie%20A.%20Hall

Road trip!  Who wants to go to a lovely little quilt shop in Wisconsin? Well. at least virtually that is. 

But before we go, I’m sorry to report it, but I have Bloggers’ Block. I spent the time I should have been writing on Sunday in virtual study centers offered on Zoom by the American Quilt Study Group.  I learned a lot and got to see some old familiar faces, but now it’s hard to get down to work. So I’m going to reprise some information I have on hand about last year’s Heritage Honoree, Mary McElwain.  If you’ve been in one of my regional study groups and heard my Power Point already, or if you learned about Mary McElwain at Celebration 2019, then you can take a pass; but please come back next week.

So now let’s get on the bus and head to Walworth, Wisconsin, the site of the Mary McElwain Quilt Shop.  It’s just about an hour from Chicago going Northwest into an area of moraine hills, woods, and clear, deep lakes left by the last glaciers.  You would love this scenery even if it weren’t for the quilt shop. Nearby Lake Geneva has been a favorite tourist destination for Chicagoans since the wealthy travelled there to escape the 1871 Fire. In 1968, the late Hugh Hefner built his first Playboy resort at Lake Geneva, and there is still a resort on that site. On the left is a resort hotel from the days when Mary had her shop and on the right is the Lake today.

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Mary opened her business in 1910 in a corner of her husband’s jewelry store on the town square in Walworth, but quilts soon took over. By 1933 (at the height of the Depression) the space was expanded with a double archway to access the shop next door. The expansion was marked with a two-day event where 500 people saw two new quilt designs, had tea, and were entertained by Miss Jean Radebough who sang old-fashioned songs to her own melodeon accompaniment. Here’s the shop in 1932 before the renovations and an interior view with some of the gift items offered in addition to the quilts.

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It took a lot of work to develop the McElwain enterprise, and Mary was tireless in her efforts.  In the early days of her business, Mary would take quilts around to small towns in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, giving lectures and exhibiting her collection at local club shows, fairs and bazaars. She also took her show on the road to other cities such as Rochester, NY and St. Petersburg, FL. (I suspect she was combining business with pleasure; there are lots of McElwains in both areas, and maybe she was visiting family.) She promoted her business by writing an article for “Hobbies” magazine called “Heirlooms of Tomorrow”, and by speaking engagements, including one on WLS Radio. In March, 1933, Mary was invited to exhibit at Navy Pier for the Garden Club of Illinois, and later that year, she was one of the judges for the Sears contest at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair. Phew! Here’s Mary (on the right) with the other judges at the fair.

 Mary’s shop also became famous as a destination for groups as well as for individuals who enjoyed a drive in the country. She displayed quilts not only on the walls, but also had what may have been the original bed turnings. When she wasn’t having turnings, quilts were displayed on beds as well as on the walls of the shop. This is Mary and her husband, William, with a Daisy Chain quilt on a handsome spindle bed.  If you look carefully, you’ll see that there’s not much unused wall space. No wonder a trip to Mary’s shop was such a treat!

Some of Mary’s customers were society ladies who included the wife of an ex- governor of Illinois, a Rockefeller, the wife of the Norwegian Consul, and a visitor from Paris, France. But she also served the local women and shoppers who drove up from Illinois. Mary had connections with large department stores too. A store like Carson, Pirie & Scott in Chicago would have made her products available to the many Park District quilt clubs which were active in the 1930s and 1940s.

McElwain’s connections weren’t just local.  And her success in one tourist area led her to another.  In the late 1920s, St Petersburg, FL became a popular winter getaway, especially in 1929 when the city opened the “Million Dollar Pier”. Mary McElwain was right there with them, offering her goods in the McIntosh department store. The green benches on the sidewalk outside the store are still a tourist attraction. The upscale Wilson-Chase store also carried Mary’s products, but the chicest location for her line was the McElwain shop on Beach Drive.  It was located in the posh Ponce de Leon Hotel, just across from the yacht club. Here are some Florida shots—just to make this a real virtual road trip:

Million Dollar Pier. Mary’s shop is in the hotel to the left of the pier , just under the word “The” in “The Sunshine State”.

Green benches at McIntosh department store which carried Mary’s goods.

Ponce de Leon Hotel.  Mary’s shop occupied the street-level corner on the left side.

So, what did Mary sell?  Mostly, other people’s products, but she did design one pattern called “Daisy Chain”. This may be her most-recognized pattern because it was on the cover of her catalog, which I’ll tell you about in a minute. “Daisy Chain” sold at 35 cents for a paper pattern, $12.50 for a stamped or cut kit, $25.00 for a basted top and $85.00 for a finished product.  The “Painted Daisy” crib quilt was available in pink or blue, stamped at $1.75 or finished at $7.50.

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Other patterns and quilts sold by the McElwain shop were traditional designs like Drunkard’s Path, re-named “Gypsy Tears”. Mary wasn‘t shy about giving her own names to common blocks and settings; for example, what we know as Trip Around the World was sold as “American Tapestry”. Other patterns were based on old quilts in Mary’s collection, or came from well-known designers such as Marie Webster and Ruby Short McKim.

There is no evidence that McElwain took out ads for her patterns and kits, but the shop did provide little brochures of its offerings.  In 1934, Mary compiled a catalog-cum-commentary which she called “The Romance of the Village Quilts”. This 34 page booklet cost twenty five cents in the store. The catalog contained photos of finished quilts that could be purchased as a paper pattern, a kit which was either stamped or cut, a basted top, or a completed quilt.  Mixed in with these were a romantic essay on quilts written by Mary, a poem describing the bed turnings (written as a tribute to McElwain), interior shots of the shop, and an Edgar A. Guest poem in praise of the afghan. 

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Mary used quality products for the finished quilts she sold and offered those same products through the catalog for those who were making the quilts themselves.  She carried fabric, rulers, stencils, batting and bias binding.

The quilt patterns and kits that McElwain sold were mostly traditional, but she had something for other tastes as well. Here’s a “Modern Rose” on the left (made by next year’s Heritage Honoree, Mary Gasperik) and a “Pines and Wreaths” on the right made by Esther Swingle Weter, who stored it with a note saying, “Pattern and material from the McElwain shop in Walworth, Wisconsin.”

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McElwain not only sold directly, she also distributed her patterns indirectly through other companies.  Rock River batting from nearby Janesville, WI, was carried in the shop and catalog, and was used in the finished quilts that Mary sold; in exchange for this placement, she arranged for a McElwain pattern to be included on the batting wrapper. Rock River Cotton Company also purchased patterns from Mary, which they printed on tissue paper and sold as a set of eleven. Here’s a photo of a Rock River batting wrapper and the listing for the batting in the McElwain catalog.

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 McElwain’s patterns were distributed on Mountain Mist labels as well, but there is no indication that their batting was sold by McElwain.  Mary also had a working relationship with the Boag Company of River Forest, IL.  Mary would sell Boag’s quilt and pillow kits at her store and through her catalog, and in return, Boag would slap a McElwain label on his Julia Fischer Force catalog.

This is from the inside of a Boag/ JFF catalog, and below is the cover with the McElwain label.  Look closely and you’ll see the glue outline from the original Boag label around McElwain’s name.

How’s that for marketing?

As you can imagine, the McElwain enterprise took a lot of workers.  Mary began with her own work and items made by local women; her husband helped with the accounts, and her daughter, DeEtte, was a mainstay.  Eventually, McElwain teamed with a Women’s Exchange of nearly 60 workers who made the completed quilts.  Mary’s granddaughter delivered projects to their homes and was paid a nickel per item (even if 3 items went to same house).  The local girls who helped with the large bed turnings were friends of the family and they were “paid” with a soda (or do you say pop?). One of Mary’s pattern designers, Lillian Walker, became famous in her own right.

Well, I’ve taken you on a virtual road trip and introduced you to a quilt entrepreneur of the highest order. Sadly, you can’t take a real trip to the McElwain Quilt Shop because it closed in 1960.  But the Walworth Historical Society has a permanent exhibit displaying quilts and giving information about the shop.  Not all of these items are McElwain’s, but I think I see a Webster kit which she would have sold in the first picture, and some of the patterns from her catalog in the second. Who knows what else they have?

That’s it for now.  I promise to be back on track next week.

Your quilting friend,

Anna