Too Hot Today

I'm working at home today. It's the fourth day of heat wave conditions and I'm pleased to be in the same room as the air conditioner.  Two days ago lightening strikes started a fire in the state forest about 30 kilometres away but there is currently no threat to private property.  The wind is blowing the smoke away from our house so this morning I washed blankets and hung them out to dry.

I been distracted from the 19th century events in Chester County, Pennsylvania by life in the 1930s at the opposite end of the USA.  I've been working on reproducing the blocks from my 1937 sampler quilt made in Malaga, Chelan County, Washington.  It's a signature quilt made by a group of women for one of their friends.

I bought this quilt on eBay last year.  When I started making the Malaga blocks I wasn't going to research the quilt makers.  Unlike the Chester Criswell Quilt it wasn't made my ancestors so I didn't think that the women's stories would be of interest.

I was wrong.  I created a family tree on Ancestry.com so I could see the relationships between the 25 names on the quilt.  There are now 158 people in the tree and I'm about halfway through the names.  There is a mother and daughter pair and also a mother-in law and son-in law's sister's pair.  I have found a woman who made friends with the local Indian tribes; a Scottish migrant who lived in Chicago during the Roaring 20s and a housewife whose son grew up to be a Senator.

The story of this quilt is on my blog Patchwork Bits and Pieces.  You can also see a picture of it on page 58 of the latest Down Under Quilts.  I was asked to contribute to an article on buying antique quilts online and the quilt's photos made its way into the magazine. Again.

Photos of Blocks 15,16,17.... Anything!

The posts for your photos have got a bit behind, so now is a good chance for a show and tell.

Block 15 Alice McClellan

Block 16 Adeline Gibson

Block 17 Criswell Gibson

If you have blogged about your blocks, please follow the instructions to link your post.  If you have finished one of the earlier blocks, why not link it too - the more the merrier!

Do you make New Year resolutions?  I don't really but I do think about what I would like to achieve in the next twelve months.  A lot of people focus on their UFOs  - unfinished projects that have been hidden away. I have as many UFOs as the next person, but I leave them hidden.  Occasionally one surfaces and gets completed but I try not to feel guilty about them.  I had fun making them, and when they stopped being enjoyable I put them to one side.  How do you treat your UFOs?


1. Write your blog post. Publish it on your blog.
2. Copy the link of the specific blog post. This is not just the link to your blog itself (www.chestercriswellquilt.blogspot.com), but the link to the specific post: (http://chestercriswellquilt.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/hows-it-going.html)
3. Click the blue link up button below and paste your link into the box.

Happy New Year 2014

Happy New Year!  Hope your 2014 contains everything you wished for!

In October I received a photo album from my aunt in Tennessee that had photos of the Criswells as well as other relatives.  My sister flew to Tennessee for Christmas and I sent a copy of The First Year as a thank you for the photo album.  It was well received and appreciated by my American cousins.
My aunt and uncle are in the process of moving to a smaller home and their family was told, take anything you want.  My sister happened to see this photo frame on the wall and brought it back to Australia for me.

These are photos of Jesse Jackson Smith and Mary Criswell Smith, taken about 1870 (according to  my grandmother's handwriting on the back of the picture).  I will need to take the photos out of the frame to make a good copy, but I couldn't wait to share them.  Do you see the carpet that Mary is standing on?  It's like one of the applique patterns from the quilt.  How many yards/metres of fabric would it take to make one dress?  And how many petticoats are under the skirt?

Block 17 is on the website now.  The fabric I used is Moda's Collections for a Cause Friendship.  The ring of flowers around the centre was a nice surprise.

Almost Christmas

Isn't it good when you get a chance to work on an idea that has been buzzing around in your brain.  

Summer Tulips

I have been wanting to make some six inch blocks based on the Chester Criswell patterns.  This is the first one.  I've used the small flower pattern from Block 14 and added some cheddar too.  I like the colours but I like just red and white too.  I'm not sure which colour scheme to continue with for the next blocks.

It's three sleeps until Christmas and I am looking forward to Christmas afternoon.  After church we will be driving to our Christmas rendezvous. No cooking for me, hooray!  We have three grandchildren and one more on the way so Christmas is a great time to be with family.  

Hope your holiday plans are just what you ordered.  See you in the New Year.

Inspired by Quilts in the Barn

When I visited Quilts in the Barn in September I bought about a dozen fat quarters.  I was inspired by the fussy cut hexagons and hour glass blocks on display and I decided to make my own little quilt.

I made the hexagons first, and then I made some hour glass blocks.  I was stuck with how to get started when a quilting friend mentioned Di Ford's Antique Wedding Sampler.  I used Block 15 from that quilt as a beginning, then just kept adding rows.

Fussy cut hexagons are great fun.

This star didn't make it on the front, it had to settle for the back of the quilt.

This blog is going to be quiet for a little while, Christmas does seem to take a lot of energy.  Block 17 will be on time on 1st January 2014.  In the meantime, enjoy what ever the Christmas season brings.

Block 16 Adaline Gibson

Block 16 is on the website now.  It's nice and easy, just right for busy December.

You can find it here at Two Bits Patches.

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We have a winner/s!

I've won a prize in the Blog Hop - I can't believe it!

Thank you all for adding a comment to my Blog Hop post.  The random number generator has chosen Leonie from Germany, Cheryll from New South Wales, Debra from Oklahoma, Renata from South Dakota and Janet from Yukon Territory, Canada. Congratulations to the winners, your patterns are on the way.

A big thank you to Michelle from www.quiltinggallery.com for organising the party, I'm looking forward to the next one.

To everyone else - don't despair, the patterns are all available at www.twobitspatches.com.  The Australian dollar is losing ground at the moment, so it you live in the USA the patterns are even cheaper for you.

The new pattern is Adaline Gibson's block and it will be on the website on Sunday 1st December.  It's a quick one to make ... which is just as well, Christmas is 27 sleeps away ....

Blog Hop Party - You are All Invited!

This is my first Blog Hop Party, come and help me celebrate!
Thanks to Michelle at the Quilting Gallery for organising it, must be a lot of work Michelle!

My Giveaway

this giveaway is now closed

I am giving away five single patterns of the Chester Criswell Quilt.  The patterns are applique reproductions of my red and green signature quilt made in 1852.  15 patterns have been released so far and are available at  my website Two Bits Patches.  If you are one of the five winners you can choose any one pattern from the fifteen available, or you can chose to have the pattern for Block #16 which will be ready on 1st December.

Block 1       

Block 2     

  

Block 3    

Block 4    

Block 5   

Block 6  

Block 7  

Block 8   

           

Block 9  

Block 10

Block 11

Block 12  

  

Block 13

Block 14

Block 15

The patterns are downloadable pdf files, so you don't have to wait for the mail.  Each pattern has the template and instructions and a story about the wedding guest who signed the quilt.

To enter, leave a comment with the pattern number you would like to win, and tell us where in the world you are from.  One entry per person. The five winners will be chosen at random after the blog hop finishes on 26th November.  I will contact you if you make your email address visible, if I can't get in touch with you by the end of November I will chose another winner.

HINT:  Block 1 is free on the website, so you can go to Two Bits Patches now and download Block 1.  I can send the winning patterns to any email, so you can chose to have a pattern sent to a friend or even as a Secret Santa gift or Kris Kringle.  I'm good at secrets!

Photos of Mary Wilson's Block 14

Have you finished Block #14?  If you have we would all like some show and tell.

Block 14 Mary Wilson

I was working on this block while DH and I were away on a short holiday break.  Whenever I see it I think of the beach we walked along and the lovely bed and breakfast accommodation (complete with sauna and massage).  This block makes me smile.

Do you make associations with quilts you are working on?  I know a lot of women take hand sewing along while waiting for children's swimming lessons or sporting activities; some women are sewing in hospitals or sickrooms.  How does the context of your stitching make you feel about your finished project?

If you have posted about Block #14 just follow the instructions below.  If you haven't a blog you can send me your photo and I'll add it here.

1. Write your blog post. Publish it on your blog.
2. Copy the link of the specific blog post. This is not just the link to your blog itself (www.chestercriswellquilt.blogspot.com), but the link to the specific post: (http://chestercriswellquilt.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/hows-it-going.html)
3. Click the blue link up button below and paste your link into the box.

The Quilting Bee Part 1

I enjoy buying books about quilting almost as much as buying old quilts.  My latest is Ruth Finley's "Old Patchwork Quilts and the Women Who Made Them".  This is an ex-library copy, but it is a first edition from 1929.

It's a surprising interesting book to read.  Finley was born in Akron, Ohio (just like my sister) and became a journalist and a collector of quilts.  There is a fascinating article about her here at thequiltshow.com. She did many interviews with women about their family's quilts, trying to capture the social context as well as the quilts.

I set Alice McClellan's story at the quilting bee where the CCCQ was being quilting.  I was quite pleased to then read about quilting bees in 'Old Patchwork Quilts'; especially about quilting a bridal quilt.

"The quilting (bee) was in those days considered the most solemn and important recognition of a betrothal." 

"The dower chest of the old-time bride was supposed to contain at least a "baker's dozen" of quilts.  Twelve of these were fashioned with a view to every-day use; the thirteenth was a "bride's quilt", a piece de résistance so elaborate of design in both pattern and quilting that it was to all intents and purposes a counterpane.  The bride's quilt was planned and executed only after a girl was definitely engaged.  The others, so far as piecing went, were the work of the years of maidenhood.  And, as top after top was finished, they were laid away to await quilting.  There were several reasons for this latter custom, the most important being that the real cost of a quilt came only when the wadding and back had to be supplied.  This expenditure was pointless until such time as a new home was about to be furnished.  So to invite guests to the quilting of a girl's "tops" was the equivalent of announcing her approaching marriage."

I guess UFO's weren't such a problem as they are today!

Ruth Finley also writes about the friendship medley quilt.  This was a surprise party, often organised for a newly engaged woman by her best friend.

"At such a party the guests arrived early in the afternoon.  Each brought her own material, and the first thing to be decided was who would piece which pattern.  This was a merry task, for no two blocks might be alike and some were far harder to construct than others.  The rivalry though was for the intricate designs rather than the simple; it was an occasion for displaying one's deftness with the needle.  But there was not too much delay; for it was etiquette that, by the time supper was served, the blocks should be both finished and set together and thus the entire top done.  The material for the set was furnished by whoever it was that got up the party.  Of course, the boys put in an appearance for the feast.
"It was obligatory for the girl honored by a surprise medley to give the quilting bee that must follow to the same list of guests.  I have never seen an unquilted "Friendship Medley" top."

Photos of Alice Criswell's Block 13

Block 13 was a big one, wasn't it.  But I know that a few are finished now so it's time to share your creations.  It's easy to share your blog entry, the instructions are below, or you can send me your photo and I will add it to the post.

1. Write your blog post. Publish it on your blog.
2. Copy the link of the specific blog post. This is not just the link to your blog itself (www.chestercriswellquilt.blogspot.com), but the link to the specific post: (http://chestercriswellquilt.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/hows-it-going.html)
3. Click the blue link up button below and paste your link into the box.

Block 15 and a Winner

Block 15 Alice McClellan

Block 15 is available at www.twobitspatches.com. It's a fun block and not too hard.  I've called it Oak Leaf Pinwheel.

There were a lot of buttons in the jar - 253 buttons in fact.  Sandy O is the winner of the Second Year patterns, well done Sandy.  You have one week in get in touch with me.  (Your Blogger profile is set to 'do not show email', so I can't get in touch with you.)  To everyone else, thank you for your guess, better luck in the future.