Happy Valentine's Day

Several traditional applique patterns contain hearts. Below are a few reproductions.

The first: by Karla Menaugh

Feathered Heart

Below: Deb Rowden

Topeka Rose

Below: Barbara Brackman

Wreath of Hearts

Below: Another of Karla's

Heart to Heart

And here are some pieced heart designs---mostly  from the 1930s and '40s. I typed the words "Heart" & "Valentine" in my BlockBase program and these four were among those that came up.

Hearts & Gizzards

from Ruth Finley

Valentine Quilt from the Kansas City Star 1934

Bride's Quilt from Laura Wheeler newspaper pattern

Hearts & Rings from Quilters Newsletter 1976

More on the Swirl Design

I've learned lots more about the swirl pattern I showed in my February 8th posting. Denniele remembered an old example from the Indiana Quilt Research Project Book,  Quilts of Indiana, in which they showed a picture of the one above, possibly made in Connecticut about 1890. "This blue and cream swirl pattern rates as the most unusual pattern among the over 6,400 quilts registered by the IQRP."

The curved swirl looks a lot like the Indiana Puzzle quilt on the cover of the book.

A few people wrote to say they'd made one, either obtaining the pattern in a class or using templates for the design sold by the Ardco template company.

Sally Ickes made the quilt below in a class. She used Japanese-inspired fabrics.

I found the version below at Jane's Fabric Patch where they teach a class.

http://www.janesfabricpatch.com/Quilt_camp-2009.htm

And see another one made from the Ardco templates by clicking here:

http://quilting.about.com/od/picturesofquilts/ig/Circular-Themed-Quilts/Apple-Swirls-Quilt.htm  

See more about the templates here:

http://www.ardcotemplates.com/yyw.shtml   

Chrome Orange & Chrome Yellow

Mariner's Compass - 1880-1920

Many quilters working from about 1880-1920 used chrome colors as the neutral or the background in their quilts, a rather radical idea that very conservative women in Pennsylvania and the South found quite acceptable. Here are a few more pictures of quilts using yellows, some as accent, some as theme. The one below is from the Quilt Complex. I'm dating them fairly loosely from these snapshots.

Feathered Star 1880-1920

The two below are from dealer Laura Fisher

Princess Feather 1880-1920

Delectable Mountains 1860-1890

The rest I found in online auctions.

Star 1880-1910

Sugar Loaf 1880-1910

The block in this one is hard to figure out. Here's a diagram from my BlockBase software program.

For more about BlockBase click here:

http://www.electricquilt.com/Shop/BlockBase/BlockBase.asp

Pincushion or Orange Peel dated 1887

Ann Champion's blog shows a lot of antique quilts. She's fond of yellow.

http://annchampion.com/

Variation of the Whigs Defeat, 1850-1920

Monkey Wrench Variation 1890-1920 (It looks like a tiny Log Cabin in the corners of the block)

Log Cabin 1880-1920

Now go out and buy some yellow fabric. The boss reports that yellow doesn't sell as well as other colors--like blue, red or green. That's a shame.

Mystery Pattern: Swirl

For years the owner of this quilt and I have puzzled over the pattern.

She's drawn it up. She is going to make it, she says.

I am not.

But it does stick in my memory because it is so odd (and so difficult to draft---much less sew.)

I was looking at the pictures of cheddar quilts that Kathy Sullivan has collected and came across a cousin.

It's similar in its kind of yin-yang design but this doesn't repeat in the same complex way. (See below for the true Yin-Yang symbol.)

Neither are in my BlockBase computer program or Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns.

This is the closest I can find---but it's a distant cousin. Carrie Hall called it Spinning Ball.

The date on the red and white quilt is probably 1930-1950. That curvy ice-cream cone border makes me think it's after 1930 and so much Turkey red would not be likely after 1950.
The chrome orange block quilt is probably early 20th century, or possibly late 19th when so many Southerners made graphic designs with solid-colored cottons.

Thanks to Barbara and Kathy for the pictures.

Jeckyll's Sunflowers

Thomas Jeckyll (1827–1881) was an English architect best known today for the metal work he designed. This pair of brass andirons is an Arts and Crafts classic that has influenced artists over the last century. Jeckyll also did at least one fence of these sunflowers. (There are two spellings of Jekyll's name. Pick your favorite.)

A detail from an andiron and 2 appliqued sunflowers

I designed and stitched the sunflower on the left with my first William Morris fabric collection and Pam Mayfield pieced and appliqued the one on the right with the second, The Morris Workshop. Buy the Arts & Crafts Sunflower pattern for $7.95 from Star books by clicking here:

https://www.pickledishstore.com/productDetail.php?PID=1120

Georgann Eglinski did two versions, one with a pieced sunflower

Above are two paper interpretations.

Left: a contemporary poster, the right one a reproduction wallpaper poster from Bradbury & Bradbury.

The Spencer Museum of Art owns a Jeckyll drawing.

See more of it by clicking here:

http://collection.spencerart.ku.edu/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalSearch&module=collection&fulltext=jeckyll

See a rail from Jeckyll's fence in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum:

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O7753/railing/

See more Bradbury & Bradbury wallpaper at their site:

http://www.bradbury.com/posters.html

See a black & white picture of the andirons (firedogs) that are now in the Freer Gallery by clicking here:

http://osbornandmercer.com/sold.htm

And read about the Freer's Peacock Room, for which they were designed, by clicking here:

http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/peacock/default.htm

Susan Weber Soros and Catherine Arbuthnot have written a book about Jeckyll.

Arts & Crafts Sunflower by Pam Mayfield, 42" x 16"

Butternut and Blue in the Civil War

Borderland Sampler by Jeanne Poore, Overland Park, Kansas 2005, 91" x 91"

The quilts above and below are from a book I did a few years ago

 called Borderland in Butternut and Blue.

Butternut & Blue by Ilyse Moore, Overland Park, Kansas 38" x 38".

 Ilyse redrafted the blocks to 12 inches and added her own border.

When I taught the class on which the book is based, we used navy blue and yellow ochre to symbolize the Confederacy and the Union in the Civil War.We tend to think of Civil War colors as "the blue and the gray," but many Southern soldiers had no access to official Confederate uniforms and wore their everyday clothing made of home-dyed butternut. 

Sketch of a Missouri guerilla fighter

from the Library of Congress collection.

Guerilla fighters were referred to as "Butternuts."

Click here to see my guest blog about butternut and blue at the Kansas City Star's Pickledish site.

http://pickledish.kcstar.com/?q=node/1005

I think the color combination symbolizes the North and the South so well I've done two books on the topic.

Borderland in Butternut and Blue features a sampler quilt with some stand-alone projects.

Click here: https://www.pickledishstore.com/productDetail.php?PID=765

Buttermilk and Blue by Dorothy LeBoeuf, Rogers, Arkansas, 85" x 85",

a combination of two blocks from the Borderland book.

Butternut & Blue: Threads of the Civil War contains several pieced and appliqued designs.

It looks like none are available if you check the big online book sources (or they cost twice the original price) but a few quilt shops still have copies. Here's one online source:

http://www.aquiltersfabricgarden.com/books.html

And Quilters' Warehouse sells it. Click here:

http://www.quilterswarehouse.com/p-6533-butternut-blue-by-sunflower-co-op.aspx

I've also used the colors in my Moda collection Civil War Homefront that is in quilt shops now.

Swatches from Civil War Homefront in Sassafras Tan, Sorghum Brown and Ironclad Navy

These new reproduction prints would look great in any of the projects from either book. Below are two reproduction quilts by Karla Menaugh from the Butternut & Blue book.

Western Sun by Karla Menaugh 45" x 45"

Midnight Garden by Karla Menaugh 40" x 50"

I know it's confusing---all these Butternuts and Blues, but I like the way the words sound. And to make things even more confusing Terry Thompson and I did a fabric collection called Butternut and Blue for Moda several years ago, from which the two quilts above were made.