Morris The Earthly Paradise

If you do a web search for Morris Earthly Paradise--- fabric is not what comes up.

You will see this book.

The Earthly Paradise is William Morris's famous literary work, a poetic saga.

He published it in many forms beginning in the late 1860s.

I love his utopian idea of an Earthly Paradise

although I don't read many epic poems.

The most collectible edition is Morris's own Kelmscott

Press edition, which he was working on when he died.

Printed on vellum in an edition of about 200 it sells in the thousands of dollars.

Morris designed the fancy letter designs associated with his name

for the Kelmscott Press and the pages are gorgeous.

But my favorite is this inexpensive, popular version printed in the 1890s.

I like the simple floral that floats around on the cover.

Print this JPG out at 8-1/2 x 11"

And you'd have a lovely applique design for some Morris prints

or a wall stencil for a period frieze. 

Morris Hexathon 7: Avebury Stones

Morris Hexathon 7: Avebury Stones by Becky Brown

This week's hexie is three pieces, a hexagon, a diamond and a half a hex or tumbler.

Avebury Stones by Bettina Havig

I named it for a neolithic monument

that fascinated the young William Morris with its connection

to England's Druid past.

The Avebury Stone Circle, the largest found in Europe, is now a restored prehistoric monument similar to the better-known Stonehenge.

The village that grew up around the upright stones was recorded in 1723.

In the distance St. James Church, built about 1000 AD.

When Morris was fifteen or so he first visited the Avebury Stones, writing to his sister of "a Druidical circle and a Roman entrenchment both which encircle the town." He returned to make a study of the Norman church. The combination of ancient myth and medieval architecture became a life-long interest.

In 1876 he wrote wife Janey of a visit he and daughter Jenny made:

"We had a delightful drive to Silbury & Avebury on Saturday through a stormy afternoon...not many of the huge stones are left now..."

The particular block has a BlockBase number 241 and the rather uninspiring published name of Three Patch, given to it by the Laura Wheeler/Old Chelsea Station pattern company in the mid 20th century.

Pattern for an 8" Hexagon

(4" sides)

To Print:

• Create a word file or a new empty JPG file that is 8-1/2" x 11". 
• Click on the image above. 
• Right click on it and save it to your file. 
• Print that file out 8-1/2" x 11". The hexagon should measure 4" on the sides. 
• Adjust the printed page size if necessary. See this post for adjusting information:
• Add seams when you cut the fabric.

Avebury Stones by Ilyse Moore

Here's the same block in an early-20th-century hexie extravaganza,

recently sold at Gildings Auction in the U.K.

The maker used the block for a ring around the center.

If you made all six diamonds red you'd get the look.

See a large photo here:

http://www.gildings.co.uk/blog/clothes-fit-for-a-dragon-king/

One could fussy-cut hexagons from striped fabric and get the same effect.

Above early-19th-century patchwork that looks like a 

half-hexagon but it's cut from a stripe.

Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations

Or make your own stripes by cutting from half-square triangle blocks.

http://www.canoeridgecreations.com/2012/02/half-square-triangles-hexagons.html

Mid-20th-century postcard

The Avebury Stone Circle, restored in the 20th century, is now a National Trust Site. 

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/avebury/

One More Inspiration

Half a hexagon in a Cosmati floor mosaic 

Inner City by Jinny Beyer, 1980

A New York Quilt Project 100 Years Ago

"All Saints"

Watercolor of an antique quilt by

Virginia Beauchamp,

Onondaga County Public Library

Between 1919 and 1923 New Yorker Virginia Beauchamp recorded quilt patterns she found in local families. She painted watercolors of the designs with a little information about the antique quilt. Below she recorded the blocks and the border with an inscription apparently on the quilt.

"The Forbidden Fruit. Mrs. K. M. H.

Mrs. Ireland's quilt."

This looks like a picture of the words appliqued to the quilt.

Pattern names on the quilt are quite rare.

There are 419 watercolors in the Beauchamp collection at the Onondaga County Public Library. 

Read about the collection:

http://www.onlib.org/web/lh/finding_aids/xml_files/QuiltPatterns.xml

And see the watercolors here:

http://nyheritage.nnyln.net/cdm/singleitem/collection/srr_ocpl/id/391/rec/505

"Poppy Pattern"

From Mrs. Bench

Not all have a pattern names.

But some that do are a little surprising.

"Tray and Snuffles"

"Tree of Heaven"

She apparently recorded this at the 1919 New York State Fair.

"Ladies' Wreath"

"Postal"

Beauchamp recorded several rectangular patterns she

called Postal, meaning the patches were shaped like a post card.

Virginia Beauchamp (1858-1923) was born in Skaneateles, New York, to William and Sarah Carter Beauchamp. In 1865 the family moved to Baldwinsville in Ononadaga County where Rev. Beauchamp was minister at Grace Episcopal Church for 35 years. He was also a folklorist and archaeologist, considered a "great early authority on the culture, history, and institutions of the Iroquois."

Baldwinsville, New York in 1880

Virginia was the eldest of four children. She received two degrees from the University of Michigan in 1889 and 1894 and taught languages in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for twenty years. 

"From Mrs. Brewster"

A classic New York pattern. Unfortunately it's unnamed on the watercolor.

At retirement Virginia returned to her parents' home in Syracuse, New York. 

Sketch of an island in Skaneateles Lake in 1852 by 

William Beauchamp

Her father continued his pursuit of local history and folklore. He kept notebooks, for example,  "Antiquities of Onondaga" with 15,000 drawings of Indian relics.

Virginia began a folklore project of her own in 1919, painting pictures of antique quilts in the area. She apparently copied quilt patterns from women in the area, recording designs from Cayuga, Onondaga, Oswego, Nassau and Wayne County New York plus Northampton County, Pennsylvania.

Based on her paintings the quilts look to date between 1840 and 1920. In most she recorded the owner's last name ("From Mrs. Brewster") and occasionally a name for the pattern.

From Mrs. Winchell

She died at about 65 in 1923. In 1945 her younger sister Grace Beauchamp Lodder donated the 419 paintings to the Onondaga County Public Library. They have recently been scanned and all are online.

A sampler from Mrs. Daveys

Mrs. Munson's quilt

I post this because I'm crazy about quilt patterns. Like the Beauchamps I just like to collect the information.  I've started a new blog just for patterns. It's called A Cloud of Quilt Patterns and my theory is that I post my files up on the digital cloud and the information will trickle down.

See it here:

http://encyclopediaquiltpatterns.blogspot.com/

Adjusting Quilt Pattern and Printing Size

If you are having trouble printing the pattern do not despair. Becky and I have some solutions.

We originally wrote this in 2016. Revised in 2020.

Evil printer

1---Get someone to advise you on coordinating your printer with your computer. This will make your life easier in the long run. You know----long term gain versus short term pain.


2. Naah! You are looking for a short term fix.

2A. Use a proportion wheel or a proportional scale.

Self Portrait with Proportional Scale by

 Sofonisba Anguissola (1532-1635)

A little Photoshopping

I recall when every artist had one of these simple cardboard wheels on her drafting table.

Print the page. Using the wheel (there are YouTube videos that tell you how to do this) figure out how much bigger or smaller the printer has to print the image.

 If the square that is supposed to be 1 inch measures 1-1/2"  you need to reduce the page by 66%. Tell your printer to print it at 66%.
Another option is to reprint it on a copy machine at 66%.

2B. Figure it out mathematically.
Becky sez: "If you don't have a "wheel" you can do the math:
Desired size divided by present size = percentage of change.
Example: 1" divided by 1.5 = 66.66%.

2C. Use a digital proportion wheel.

This is an online tool that will do the math for you. Try Knight Printing's calculator from Fargo. 

http://www.knightprinting.com/help/tools.html

Adjust your printer to print at the correct percentage.

Look at this whole thing as an opportunity for personal growth.

Or  buy the pattern. You can buy it as a PDF to print yourself. Or I will print the whole pattern out for you and mail it to you. See my Etsy shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/BarbaraBrackmanShop?ref=l2-shopheader-name