The Half Square Triangle-My BFF

I just finished up three little quilt tops, made from my best friend--the half square triangle.  Scrappy was the theme for these three little ones.  My finished HSTs are 1 inch finished size.

Number 1

the border is  a deep navy with gold motifs

Number 2

Number 3

Number 3 with it's antique doll quilt inspiration

Strips for next project.  No HSTs in this one.  I wonder what it will be...

An Early Reminder

I will be particpating in this fabulous show in October.  First time in one of the PA Guild's show for me.  I am very excited and working hard to make some new, extra special quilts.  Hope you local folks can attend.

For more details visit: http://www.pacrafts.com/pacrafts/site/default.asp

My vacation is winding down...lots of quilts to show you

It's back to work in a couple days.  We had a nice family trip to Washington DC, Saturday through Wednesday.  We visited many of the usual spots but the highlight for me was the Library of Congress.  We had taken a tour of the Capitol and at the end the guide recommended that we visit the Library of Congress, which is easily accesible by an underground tunnel from the Capitol.  I didn't see any books, but I saw one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.  Polished white marble staircases, mosaics, paintings, sculptures.  It was breathtaking--they don't build them like that any more. 

After the Washington trip, I visited two local quilt exhibits.  The first was at the Schwenkfelder Library and Museum in Pennsburg, PA.  They graciously allowed me to take photos; here they are:

I'll make that 9-patch fit no matter what...

My favorite

With matching pillow cases.

Unusual for three reasons--they cases are quilted, they are lined with a print fabric (I have only ever seen plain white lining) and they have a scalloped edge.

Love the nine patch in the center of the log cabin.

A top; love the border.

Later quilts--1930's to 1950's

The other exhibit I visited was at the Allentown Art Museum.  The quilts were from the museum's collection and were quite stunning.  No photos allowed unfortunately.  It was worth the trip, although the admission was a little pricey--$13 for me and $11 for my son.  Now you might be wondering why my son went.  Well, I wanted some company on the hour drive to Allentown so I bribed him by promising to stop at the L.L. Bean store just south of Allentwon on the way home.  We did stop and got a big suprise.  Kate and her "eight" were there being filmed buying a back pack.  It took a long time and one of the older kids was having a meltdown.

Back from vacation...Now I can share with you

The latest edition of Quilts and More Fall 2010 should be on the newstand now so I am allowed to blog about my latest published project.  (It's so hard to keep a secret!)  A pin cushion design of mine has been published and it even made the cover.  Not only a calendar girl, I am now a cover girl.  In addition to using antique fabrics for quilts, I like to play around with colorful overdyed wools now and then.  These pincushion are so easy to make.  Hope you take a look.

 

The perfect addition to the quilt lab

What could be more perfect for me, than my latest find on ebay?   It is a 19th century book covered with a beautiful purple calico.  And guess what the subject matter of the book is?  Chemistry of course!

The title of the book is "A Laboratory Manual Containing Directions for a Course of Experiments in General Chemistry", by Ira Remsen, c.1890.  It is covered with this awesome purple calico, which we don't see often because the early purple dyes were not light-fast.  This book must have been stored away.  It has a few spots where the color has faded to tan but for the most part the purple remains, especially inside the cover.

Here's a view inside the cover.  You can see how the fabric and thread ties have stained the inner cover; this is a sign that this is an authentic antique piece, not an old book recently covered with fabric.  If you look closely on the left side, there is piece of filter paper (circle of paper) tucked under the fabric.  It too is stained by the purple fabric so it has been in there a long time.

As you can see, the student has written his notes for experiments 36, 37, and 38 on this page  He made soap bubbles filled with hydrogen and then lit them with a match.  What fun!

I read about purple dyes from the chemistry perspective a while ago and wrote a newsletter on the topic.  Here is an excerpt. 
Early natural purple dyes were not colorfast, often fading to a tan color in the presence of light. In 1856, William Henry Perkin, when he was only 18 years old, did a chemical reaction with a derivative of aniline (hence the term aniline dyes). Instead of throwing away the black junk that formed in the reaction, he extracted a purple compound, which he called mauve. It turns out that an impurity in his starting materials, gave rise mauve, the first stable purple dye. Like many discoveries in science, the accidental result turned out to be the most interesting result. This chemistry was the start of the synthetic dye industry, which eventually became dominated by German companies by the time of WWI.
Reference: Introduction to Organic Chemistry, A. Streitwieser and C. Heathcock, Macmillan Publishing Company, NY, c. 1985.

Where were you in 1976?

I am bringing up 1976 because of what I found last night.  While waiting for my sons' band to start playing at a "First Friday"  celebration in a nearby town, I wandered into a thrift shop.  I found this fabric from the 1976, obviously made for the big bicentennial celebration that year.  The two yard piece cost me $1.62 including tax; I wonder what it cost new in 1976?  I bought the fabric not necessarily to make it into anything, but because it made me feel a little nostalgic.  The bicentennial would have been the summer before my senior year of high school.  I don't remember too much specific about the bincentennial celebration except that it was a really big deal and our town had bigger than normal fireworks.  I do remember the class of 1976 were the best ever class in the history of the universe, and our class of 1977 just couldn't measure up.  What do you remember from 1976?

Looking through old photos...

Here some pictures from the first craft show I ever did.  It was at my sons' elementary school.   The table cost $15.  I sold one quilt.  It was the one on the white folding quilt rack, bottom left, folded in half with pink and green borders.    I think this was around 2005.  I've come a long way since then but I wish the booth fees were still $15!

Here's another favorite picture of my cat.  She's gone now, but she was a great cat who lived to 18 years old.  She always found the best spot--no cheap blaket for her--it had to be this rare 100+ year old crib quilt.