Vintage Thursday Thingie: Vintage quilt book

Today I'm sharing a sort of "double vintage" treasure...this 1977 State Capitals Quilt Blocks book from Dover is composed of patterns collected by the editors from the 1916 Hearth and Homes Magazine series.

Hearth and Home was published from 1868 until 1933 and ran several quilt block series...their first and most famous was the State Block series that ran from 1907 until 1912. They simply asked readers to submit sewn blocks that they thought would be fitting representatives of their state. The editors then chose 48 blocks-one for each state. It was such a success that the magazine continued with an Outlying Possessions series followed by the State Capitals series.

This book is totally 1977...check out the little calicos used in the blocks on the cover...

now this is much better...bright colors for the illustrated blocks on the front inside cover...
and the back inside cover!
Some of the blocks have the original statements made by the women who sent in the blocks to the magazine...I particularly like the story that Mrs. L.W. Mathewson tells, "This design, pieced of blue and white, made a very attractive album quilt for a ladies'aid society, and sold for many dollars-everybody taking a share. The names of those who contributed were written on the white diagonal strip through the center, and outlined with blue marking cotton..." (Blue marking cotton would be blue embroidery floss or pearl cotton used to mark sheets with the owners names or initials).
Now remember these blocks are from 1916 and the templates given are all for hand piecing...no seam allowances are included. This was also very often true in 1977 quilt books! :) All of the blocks are said to finish 12" and these were not simple blocks!

I just love this Tallahassee block...you can see it above in bright pink, orange and yellow...and it is not an easy block at all. C.H. sent in the block and recommends sewing the quilt with all pieced blocks...yes, it would be lovely-you can see from the drawing but oh, my not easy!Hope you enjoyed the State Capitals Quilt Blocks and are maybe even a little inspired...anyone up for trying their state capital block, send me an e-mail and I'll send you the scan of your state's page.

For more vintage treasures, hop on over to Coloradolady...VTT's lovely hostess, Suzanne holds the key to all the wonderful vintage goodiness being shared this week.

Vintage Thursday Thingie: More Quilt Blocks

This week I'm sharing quilt blocks and bits and pieces from my "study collection" that are mostly from the 1930s.





First, this is a piece of a what was once a wonderful Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. No, I didn't cut it up, I bought a "mystery bag" at a quilt show and this was in it. The bag also contained alot of the smaller flowers already cut out of the quilt and some of the larger. (I think the original cutter must have had a plan for them...I've been trying to think of what to do with them too).





Wasn't this a wonderful setting? I've never seen a Grandmother's Flower Garden quite like this one-the mixture of the larger and smaller flowers is just charming! And the quilting is wonderful...each hexagon is outline quilted. This is the best part of the quilt: close to the way it must have looked new.

But I'm not surprised it ended up a cutter...there is alot of damage to the fabrics and also some large stains.

This is a piece of an interesting flying geese quilt top - with the geese flying both north and south! Some interesting fabrics here so don't forget to click on it to enlarge.

Here you can see some more "frugal" sewing...but this isn't as nicely matched as last week's.

Here's a 9-patch set in an interesting way...creating 4-patches between the 9-patches. You can tell that this was hand pieced, a machine sewer would have to love set-in seams to do it this way! I love the background fabric.

This next group of 6 blocks reminds me that just because something is old, doesn't mean its beautiful! I think these are the latest blocks, probably the 50s and maybe even the later-funky, huh?

And now two of my favorites:

Check out the pin holding the pattern pieces on the sewn example! The pattern was traced in pencil on the type of tissue paper used for dress patterns. Isn't it beautifully basted! I feel like I know the woman who made this test block...hope she enjoyed the finished quilt. (The block is sitting on the back of Grandmother's Flower Garden...doesn't that quilting look great!)

Last: a simple sailboat block. I have wanted to make a sailboat quilt since I started quilting. I'm the closest I've ever been...I've put fabrics aside in my closet! :)

Hope you enjoyed this peak into my this and that quilting "study collection". For more wonderful vintage treasures, go right over to Coloradolady.