Oh, Mary! Washington Whirlwind: 2024 Block of the Month

 

Mary Todd Lincoln, married to Old Abe, is a fascinating historical

figure. Cole Escola has developed a one-act theater experience that is

a hit in New York where it will run through January 19th.

The premise is that the temperamental Mary is an alcoholic, aspiring cabaret performer married

to a gay President who has many things on his mind.

Cole got to play First Narcissist Mary

Mary's temperament was quite notorious----me, not knowing a thing about the theater comedy---

turned her into a Block-of-the-Month quilt design for 2024. 

The play much funnier than the BOM.

But here are a few finished projects.

Elsie Ridgley did a version in Mary's favorite color.

Another by Elsie

Angi Nelson Wiggins:

Color especially value (lightness and darkness) is the easiest way to contrast shapes. Angi did well on her challenge of contrasting different textures in the same color range.

Denniele, relying on contrasting values,

has a plan.

As does Becky Brown

I considered this set....

Considered it...

Finished!

Here is a link to all 12 free patterns:

https://civilwarquilts.blogspot.com/2024/12/washington-whirlwind-links-to-2024.html

You can buy a pattern packet for Washington Whirlwind ---14 pages to print yourself for $12.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1614892877/washington-whirlwind-blockofthemonth

And post your progress on our Facebook group page: WashingtonWhirlwindQuilt
https://www.facebook.com/groups/2682765051880664

Whirling String Quilts

 

Collection of the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, dated 1889.

Donor Anita Landess purchased it at an Illinois antique show.

See more at the Quilt Index:

https://quiltindex.org/view/?type=fullrec&kid=24-20-216

We've been looking at scrap quilts at the 6KnowItAlls:ShowUsYour Quilts Facebook page this month,  posting pictures of some wonderful combinations of small pieces and ingenious stitching.

Jo Reece Flowers found a silk version in North Carolina

Here's a style of very scrappy blocks without a traditional name. We can think of 

them as Whirling String Quilts or as Nann said: A Cyclone of a Quilt.

The pattern is a version of a string quilt made of the smallest pieces of fabric left over from home sewing or acquired from a clothing factory.

1889 Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum

Several date-inscribed examples in the files tell us the technique was popular in the 1890s till about 1920.

1893 International Quilt Museum

1894 in silks

1898 in cottons

1905, silks with a rather free-form hexagon in the center.

1912

But here's one obviously from the 1950s

Another question: How do you make one?

Lynn Evans Miller's Collection

Mia Koerner's Collection

As it is a string quilt you would want to piece it over a foundation---some were pieced over scrap paper but you might want to use a square of cotton.

Block over fabric foundation

And work your way out....

 What shape to start with?

Triangles

Squares

Rectangles

And some started with an irregular 5-sided piece...

Silk handbag from the collection of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts

The center shape doesn't really matter. The hard part might be to work

in a rotational manner as we are rather used to right angles.

National Museum of American History Collection

1891, attributed to Nancy Rutherford Fisher. See more about

this quilt from me and Louise:

https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2019/12/nancy-rutherford-fishers-marvelous-quilt.html

Ask to join our Facebook group. Each month we share pictures of a particular style.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1413180019082731

Roses in December

Typical roses from 19th c. applique.

Drawings are from Pop-In-Applique,

a source book I'm working on.

Applique artists working in the mid-19th century represented roses with cookie-cutter shapes derived from European folk arts.

 A simple graphic circular shape with 8 lobes was common.

Detail, quilt from an online auction...Abstract roses and buds

Some stitchers looked at roses, their leaves, buds and stems with a naturalist's eye, 

drawing a profile with indications of the petal layers...

...and thorns on the stems with naturalistic buds and triple leaflets.

I've been working on drawing 19th-c. applique patterns and looking closely at their roses. See a post from a few weeks ago...

https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2024/11/computer-aided-drawing-my-pasttime.html

 The blue vase above is drawn from a fabulous rose quilt in the collection of the University of Kansas's Spencer Museum of Art, attributed to Susan Stayman whose family called it Moss Rose when they donated the quilt.

I've simplified it. This project is for the applique artist

with moderate skills.

Read more about Susan Stayman's quilt here:

https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2010/08/moss-rose.html

Print vase with a chintz flair

I'm working on my computer-assisted-drawing skills,

keeping myself entertained and thinking about

applique projects. I decided against converting the one above,

all that bias and a cluttered composition.

Simple shapes. The first volume of Pop-In-Applique is "Roses,Vases & Baskets." All the roses

wind up in some kind of floral container.

Roses with 6 petals

Ten and five....

The next volume: Wreath Shapes and Tulips. The florals will be interchangeable between volumes, which are not pattern books as such but source books of classic shapes. You print the 20 or so pages yourself & cut them up with a scissors or capture and re-compose with your C.A.D. skills (either manual rearranging or digital.)

I'll keep you posted....

Beyond Scrappy

 

We looked at scrappy quilts last month...

https://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/2024/11/the-scrappy-quilt.html

Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum

Bessie Bailey Sanford

Detail

But then there are quilts of shreds....

Maryland Historical Society

And shards

Massachusetts Project & the Quilt Index

Found in an attic trunk

International Quilt Museum 1997-007-0866

National Museum of American History

Signed by Nancy Rutherford Fisher

1899

Vermont Historical Society