Signature Blocks

As I was cleaning out my little red cupboard yesterday, I came across some signature blocks that I have collected.  These blocks never made it into a quilt obviously, but signature quilts were popular in the mid 19th century.  As you can see, some of these are dated in the late 1840's.

 Turkey red, again very popular around 1850.  This one says Elisebeth Seiverd 1846 in tiny cross stitch.

 William Glendining 1846

 Lean Garman 1846

 The next two have ink stamped names.  M. Glendining.

 M A Wilsonor (?).

 Prussian blue, again a clue to ca. 1850, this color was very popular in quilts at that time.

 May House. Windsor. Oct, th 10, 1848.  Written in ink.

 H. S. Kunkle, Harrisburg Pa.  I wish I have a yard of this cheddar fabric!

 In beautiful script, David S. Raber, Lebanon, Pa. January 12, 1848

Catharine Landis 1846.  The name is a well known name in Lancaster County.  There is a museum called the Landis Valley Museum, and, I suppose, there is a Landis Valley to go with it.

Holiday Weekend

I have been enjoying a relaxing holiday weekend.  I pulled out the patriotic decorations and got busy today.

kitchen

 living room

front hall

 quilt lab

front porch

Happy Memorial Day.

Thank you to all who serve and protect us.

Mother's Day Trip

My husband and I took a trip out to Adamstown, PA for a little antique shopping on Mother's day.  If you don't know it, Adamstown is Antiques Capital USA.   It's true.  We visited the outdoor market at Shupp's Grove.  The weather was perfect for wandering around from vendor to vendor.  I found this milk carrier and pint bottles.

 I purchased with intention of displaying lots of cut flowers from my garden this summer.  These flowers are from the grocery store, but you just wait.  I need two more old jars to fill in the empty spaces.

I found tons of vintage rulers and yardsticks, but controlled myself and only bought 5 rulers; they were a dollar a piece, how could I resist?

The small rug beater came from our next stop, The Mad Hatter Antique Mall, which is is an old hat factory.  This is a cute little beater, only about 14 inches in length.  It will look nice hanging on the wall or standing in an old jar or box. 

Our next stop was the Black Angus, which is my favorite antique place in Adamstown.  They are open only on Sunday.  I found these two little doll aprons that just tugged at my heartstrings.  One is a brown "homespun" while the other is a brown stripy print.  There were many beautiful quilts and even a pair of pillowcases, but with college bills looming in 2013, I resisted the temptation.

Our last stop was for lunch.  We tried a new place for us, The Black Horse, which from the outside didn't give us confidence, but the food and atmosphere turned out to be great.  They had a regular menu and a vegetarian/special diet menu.  Lots of fresh vegetables in all their dishes.  Yum.

Happy Mother's Day

Around the house today

I am enjoying a quiet day around the house  The boys are on a trip to DC with their high school jazz band and my husband is on an all day bike ride with his club.  I am doing a little gardening and a lot of sewing. 

I am working on a little quilt that requires 256 half square triangles of unfinished size of 1.5 inches..

 I start with 2 inch squares, trim the hst to 1.5 inches, then end up with 1 inch hsts in the finished quilt.  Note my pile of trimmings.  Making the hst a little larger then needed and then trimming down is key for me when making my little quilts.

A second project I am working on that will also involve hsts is being inspired by this antique fragment. Oops, I guess the red she used was

not colorfast!  I don't know how many hsts this project will require.  I usually start with a general idea which then evolves as I go. 

Am I in trouble?

I have several of my little quilts and some nice vintage items for sale in my shop on etsy www.etsy.com/shop/annhermes1

Please take a look!

Bass and Quilts

My living room really is a living room, lots of living goes on here, including my son's bass playing.  I thought this was a cool photo.

Flowers in the garden; flowers on a quilt

The garden is slowly coming to life.  I planted this clematis last season and it didn't look so good.  I wasn't even sure it would come back.  Well...it did big time.

Honeysuckle, which I bought many years ago at a wildflower sale,  keeps coming back year after year.

 Here are some flowers on an antique quilt from Pennsylvania, ca. 1870.  I love the bold design and colors.  The light blue is not faded from another color, I believe that is the original color.

 Blue leaves and green leaves, randomly placed.  Did she run out of blue?

 Need some cheddar in the flowers, of course.

 My modest fabric-covered book collection.  Small enough to fit in a doll cradle.