More about Grace´s quilt

Grace´s quilt is finished!!! Just to remember you. The quilttop was originally made by Grace Taylor-Turner, in the 1930s, probably 1938/1939 according to her daughter Doris. She used feedsacks, fabric from curtains, dresses, and even traded little pieces of fabrics with friends and neighbours, consider all the different fabrics. For some reason it was never finished. Marne took the quilttop with her for me, and I finished it. Now I´m busy to find as much information about the quilt and Grace as possible. So I´m still in contact with Doris, her daughter, and Susan her granddaughter. 

The pattern is called `country roads`. How did the women get the patterns in the 1930s? Well newspapers published them. The Kansas City star actually began printing patterns for quilters in 1926, they carried on this tradition 1961. But the Kansas City Newspaper wasn´t the only one, many other rural papers did the same. How could Grace get her pattern? They they lived close to Kansas City.

Well I asked Susan and she asked her mother. They didn´t read the Kansas Newspaper, but they read a local newspaper out of Topeka, called the "Capper´s weekly". Doris thinks that her mother found the pattern maybe in the Heart and Home section of this weekly newspaper. She remembered that this section often had quiltpatterns. So you see, more bits and pieces about Grace and her quilt.

The `Capper´s weekly` started in 1913 and was ceased in december 1986. From 1906 till 1913 it was called the Kansas Weekly Capital. After 1986 it succeeded as the Capper´s.

Sunbathing dog

What a suprise, a warm and sunny weekend. Paco enjoyed it. He's feeling very well at the moment. The last weeks he had some problems with hearing, he didn't even hear the doorbell ringing. But for some reason he's hearing quite well again.

St. Marie-aux-Mines (5) The Amish

Don't worry, this is my last post about St. Marie-aux-Mines. But there was so much to see, that I really had to tell you all about it. There is a special connection between the Amish and St. Marie-aux-Mines, as they say about this village: birth of the Amish. The Amish movement was founded in 1693 by Jacob Amman, who lived here. A very interesting exposition in the church. We had to visit it after 11.30, first there was of course the church services. Different Amish quilts were exposed and they were all for sale. Well on sunday (our last day) we were through our budget but we enjoyed the exhibition. And I think there handquilting is astonishing. Traditionally the Amish make quilts for weddings, births and Amish charities - especially to help member of the community to pay medical bills, since they refuse to take out any insurance. The quilt on the picture is from around 1910-1920, "hole in the barn" is a rare design among Amish quilts. So is the applique quilt, very unusual, normally they don't do applique, too mondaine. In the logcabin quilt (made around 1920), is the yellow really an eye-catcher. Yellow was never used in Amish quilts, but occasionally they found quilts in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. It's motivated by tradition not to use yellow, but none of the Amish can explain why. So perhaps it comes from the Western tradition that this colour symbolises the traitor, the fool, the forger and the adulterous woman.MORE PICTURES TO ENJOY

St. Marie -aux-Mines (4) The dutch

Two dutch ladies Joke Visser and An Moonen in St. Marie-aux-Mines, with two beautiful collections to admire.

Joke showed a part of her collection, antique counted cross stitch samplers made by schoolchildren from the Netherlands, 18, 19 and 20 century. Young girls had to practise their embroidery skills, and made samplers at school.

An Moonen has an unique collection of dutch antique quilts from the 18, 19 and 20 century. They were exposed in the theatre of Sainte Marie aux Mines. Dieuwke and I visited this exhibition every day. PHOTOS DUTCH QUILTS AND PHOTOS CROSS STITCH

St. Marie-aux-Mines (3) Waggas and Cathy Miller

There are always new things to learn. One of the exhibitions we really liked was about old australian quilts and waggas. I never heard of waggas. But waggas, sometimes called woggas or woggers, are australian quilts. Originally made by men from wheat bags or 150lb. jute flour bags. The men would sew 4 or 5 unopend bags together to cover them in the night. Can you imagine how heavy this quilts were.

It's not sure where the name "waggas" came from. Maybe from the town Wagga Wagga, or maybe it was the Wagga Wagga Flour Mill from the Milling company in Murrumbidgee, full in production in the 1890s. Nobody knows for sure. Around the turn of the 19c life changed. Sugar, flour and many other goods came 25. and 50lb. bags. Women used these fabrics to make quilts. Some originally waggas where later covered by patchwork. Nowdays the term "wagga" is often used as a sort of generic term to refer to any improvised functional quilt. Pictures: the applique quilt is made in 1860, the wagga quilts is from the 1930s, so is the nursery rhyme quilt. MORE PICTURES

There even is a song about "Waggas" by Cathy Miller. A singing quilter!!!! Don't miss her on the next exhibition, she's really good, and her songs are really fun, with lots and lots of quiltingjokes. My favorite is the Wagga Song, I did put a short film on: YOUTUBE WAGGA SONG , and the text of the choir so you can sing it too.

I need another wagga.
When the wind blows in the door.
In need another wagga.
When the cold creeps on the floor.
Your man has gone, there's no more wood.
The kids are growing thin.
I'll turning my hand to winter's call.
And make another wagga. "

Sainte Marie aux Mines (2) La Haute Grange

We found this beautiful B&B about 20 minutes from St-Marie-aux-Mines. We were very warmly welcomed by Margaret (originally coming from Scotland) and Philippe. Our evenings we spend quilting in the living room, (chasing all the other guests away, especially the men, with our talking about quilts, quilts, quilts .... : ). Why go out? For breakfast homemade scones, and every day different tableware for breakfast. MORE PHOTOS. A lovely place to be, and relax after an exhausting day of quilt exhibitions.

Writing my blog I'm listening to Cathy Miller, a singing quilting from Canada. More about her later!

Sainte Marie aux Mines (1)

It's good that I got another day free from work (monday). Dieuwke and I spend an amazing weekend in Sainte Marie Aux Mines (France) for the Quilt Exhibition "Carrefour du Patchwork". The exhibtion is divided over 4 little villages, sometimes in a church, sometimes in a villa, chapel or theatre. So much experiences that I can tell you all in one post. So several will follow. The pictures are just a short impression of what we did and saw. Did we buy a lot? No not really, I didn't buy any fabric, but I did a buy an old baby crib quilt from around 1850, so that was easy, no budget left. And did you ever heard of Cathy Miller, well we didn't, she a singing quilter, lovely songs (folk style), so we bought three CD's. And don't your love our B&B?

Holiday continues .....

..... tomorrow morning at 5.30 a.m. Dieuwke and I are leaving for the Quilt Exhibition in France, St. Marie aux Mines. Five little villages filled with quilts. We found a very nice B&B, close to St. Marie aux Mines "La haute grange". Life can be so good.

In the few days I was at home between Paris and St. Marie aux Mines, I was busy with washing and ironing. But I even managed to make a blouse/shirt. Doesn't this french fabric looks sweet with all the roses. I was very proud I made the pattern myself and for the part around the neck I just used a binding. Works very well.

Experiences in Paris

Tomorrow we're going home. We had a lovely weekend in Paris (actually 2,5 day). Here are some of our experiences. We had a rather cheap but very good hotel, quiet and clean rooms. Breakfast was pretty good, not very french. For us dutch they even had cheese. For the americans: serials with milk. Free acces to the internet, and a big public parking space under the hotel, public transport around the corner. For us dutch easy to reach because it's in the north part of Paris. If you do Paris by bike like we did, you can park your bike in the luggageroom in the lobby of the hotel. The hotel is next to the fleamarket (open on saturday and sunday), we spend several hours there exploring antique shops, it's an amazing place. The disadvantage of this hotel, it's not the nicest neighbourhood, there are a few restaurants easy to walk. We didn't visit the museum Louvre or the Eiffel Tower, longs rows, if you really want to visit those places then it's a good idea to make reservations on the internet at home. Safes you lots of times. Instead of long rows we visited the Paris Opera, beautiful inside, and only a 8-minute row. I especially loved their floortiles and ceilings. Cycling experiences: it's crowded, but with our GPS we could easily find our way to the "poi" (points of interest). In the 2,5 days we were here, we cycled almost along every interesting place. Paris is rather flat, only when you cycling around the Sacre Coeur (situated on a hill with a beautiful view) you need your gears. Although they say there is 400 km of cyclepaths, we didn't found them. Most of the time we could use the lanes for the busses. There are a few separate cyclepaths but that's more an expection. At the Tourist Office you can get a free map with cycling tours, but it's not very detailed, we would recommend a GPS. The Bois de Boulogne, is vey nice place if you want to get out of the crowded streets. We had a very nice picknick there. Conclusion: we loved exploring Paris by bike