Things Worth Sharing
Quilt Inspiration
I’m deep in a quilting project, but I can’t share it with you because it’s a secret. Instead I thought I would share some quilt inspiration from a book I picked up this past weekend on a trip to visit my Aunt Barb in Virginia. Whenever we visit her we make it a point to go to this fabulous used book store near her house. It always delivers some real treasures. This book I happened upon is called Crib Quilts and Other Small Wonders and it was published in 1988. It’s quickly become my favorite new inspiration book. The selection of quilts is varied and each one is a masterpiece.
Here are some of my favorites.
First take a look at these Amish quilts! I love that the Amish quilts are solid, no prints, it makes me think of the simple clothes they wear and how they could be repurposed into a quilt after they wear out, or made from remnants after their garments were sewn.
Clockwise starting from the top left there is “Baskets” 1910 Ohio, “Streak O’Lightning” early 20th century Ohio, “Grandmother’s Dream” 1890-1910 Lancaster County PA, and “One Patch Variation” early twentieth century Ohio.
And Lordy, look at this wonky lettering. Gah it steals my heart.
“Louisa” 1851 New York State
Here are some more Amish treasures.
Left: Log Cabin- Straight Furrows 1925 Ohio
Right: Log Cabin Light and Dark variation 1925 Ohio Amish
Cross Variation 1875 Pennsylvania. This one stated that there are two possible slip-ups, one of which may have been the “Devil’s Eye”, a deliberate flaw to show humility. Can you spot them?
These simple graphic stripes feel way more modern and fun than their 1895 date of creation.
And this rainbow from early twentieth century PA is just delightful. The book states, “this was probably made by the young daughter of a Mennonite quilt maker attempting to imitate on a small scale the stately beauty of a full-size Joseph’s Coat.”
Left: Simple but effective repeating triangles 1880
Right: Star of Bethlehem 1880 Pennsylvania with appliquéd tulips and vines.
This quilt pattern is called Philadelphia Pavement, and the name alone makes me want to make one for myself. 1930 Iowa Amish
And this final Log Cabin quilt is what I’m drawing on most for inspiration for my project. I’ll show you when it is finished!
Now onto a few more things worth sharing:
When we go to visit my aunt Barb she always has endless homemade iced tea for us and chopped veggies with ranch dip and cheese and crackers. It’s the best.
If you want more quilt content Maura Ambrose of Folk Fibers has a great Substack.
Definitely adding this to my watch queue. I also mentioned this in another newsletter but it’s worth mentioning again.
Zak Foster has the such a chill voice and his Seamside quilting podcast is great.
If you want to go down a beautiful rabbit hole, look up crib quilt books on the internet archive.
I just finished reading James. I had put off reading it because I knew it was going to make me sad. It’s the reimagined tale of Huckleberry Finn from the slave Jim’s perspective. It was sad, but it was also very good. More than anything it made me think of how we will never have a great understanding of the experience of slavery because it was illegal for enslaved people to read and write. They were robbed of a voice! So few primary narratives written by enslaved people are recorded. It made me want to read some of the stories that by some miracle ended up published.
I’m currently reading A Gentleman in Moscow and now Jason and I are both listening to Russian history podcasts trying to get a better understanding of the time it takes place.
I made a salad bowl planter and it’s making me super happy. I just filled this wide low planter that my aunt Cathy gave me years ago with potting soil and then added a packet of mixed lettuce seeds. It’s great if you want to do some low effort gardening.
The internet has told me several times to create routines this Summer over a bucket list. Like pick a few things from your neighborhood and do them weekly like the pool, the library, a movie night etc over bigger adventures. What do you think? Are you team simple happy routine or team novelty bucket list? I personally think you need a little bit of both, but I’m curious what Elliott has to say.
I signed up for a hip dentist. It’s a startup that feels like it wants to disrupt the dental industry or something. lol. I definitely fell for it, mostly because we don’t have dental insurance. You pay a flat fee for the year, and then you get unlimited cleanings, x-rays and whitening. They don’t do major dental work, it’s really just for maintenance. It’s called Wally. Do you know anyone that has tried it? I got $100 off during their Memorial Day sale so it ended up being $150 for the whole year which is nearly what it costs me for one regular dental visit. I’ll keep you posted on my experience. *not an ad
Ok! I think that’s all. Thanks for being here! Heart this if you made it to the end.
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