Every year Mr. Podunk takes a couple of fishing trips back to his home state of PA. On his way back last week he stopped by his sisters. She loaded up his truck with 3 bolts of decor fabric, 1 large garbage bag of fabric and this box full. His sister's not a quilter. They were given to her by a friend who's mom had recently passed. She knew just the gal that would appreciate them...ME! Most of it was things I would never use, so they were donated to the Goodwill.
Free fabric is always fun to receive, but the old quilting books and magazines are the best! Most of them were dated from the early 70's. But I saw a few things that looked really familiar.
It makes me wonder how a quilter can put a copyright on a pattern. We seem to be copying what has already been done several times and several ways.
And the hexie craze we see today...well it looks like someone else thought of that also.
Funny how the more things change the more they stay the same.
At last something original. I had to really look at the picture below, I thought it was a rock. Can't say that I've ever seen anything like it before, have you? I know that all of you are just dying to make one for yourself. So just leave a comment and I'll send you a copy of the pattern....wink wink.
The one thing that you won't find in the older books and magazines is quick quilting tricks such as making HST's from 2 squares. It all templates and graph paper drawings that show you how to draw your own.
The best thing in my box of goodies was the quilters notes and templates. It's a shame that in her passing the family found these useless. While reading through the papers I found a name on a receipt, I'm assuming it was her name. So as I continued reading I tried to put a face to the name and wondered if she too was obsessed with quilting or just a crafty woman that enjoyed sewing. Seems kinda silly to feel a connection to a woman I've never met, but I did. So I'll be adding these to my vintage sewing collection...priceless.
~ Lea Anne ~
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That Book in the first photo is the one that set me on my "modern" quilt journey. That was the first quilt I completed. When I say modern, the book was exciting because although it didn't use rotary cutting it showed how to make blocks with out hand piecing. I was off and away! I haven't stopped since!
ReplyDeletesome treasures you have got here. So glad we have all the gadgets these days and ways of making things easier to do. I cold never have managed drafting my own templates. A friend has inherited a house full of things from a neighbour, not given directly the relatives hired skips following a death and threw everything out but another of her neighbours climbed in a removed stacks and stacks of sewing bits and hundreds of needles. more or less everything but the kitchen sink!
ReplyDeleteAs a fairly new quilter (four years) but an older woman (almost 60), I, too, have been amazed at the modern quilters who put their "brand" on so many patterns - somehow, to me at least, it seems dishonest. I enjoy looking through older books and magazines and see the latest, new "must make block" and wonder how any one person can claim the idea was theirs. Love my quilting hobby; love reading good posts like yours, to help me on this quilting journey.
ReplyDeleteI also adore vintage finds. Whenever I see an old abandoned quilt at the thrift store, I have to stop and look at it. I imagine a granny sitting in her chair handpiecing the blocks out of old clothing scraps and the hours that it took. Gone are the days where people repurpose clothing into quilts and such, much less by hand. Granted there are a few people that still do that but not many. I have a profound respect for old vintage finds so I completely relate to what you were saying!
ReplyDeleteI understand about the woman's family just giving up such a personal thing as her notes. I bought a cookbook that was just notebook paper in a little notebook at a garage sale. The book was full of recipes and notes about them. Where they came from, what family members thought about them and the occasions for which they were made. When I saw how personal it was, I took it back (it only had $1 on it). The people didn't want it back, even though it was full of their Grandma's notes and it broke my heart. Partly because I know my kids will get rid of my things like that. So sad. At least quilters leave something that will be around for a while. Hope you have a happy day! XO
ReplyDeleteI have always felt that the "new designers" of these very same patterns have put copy right on their directions - the way the pattern is written then on the design itself - after all these patterns have been out for years. It is amazing how the quilting world has evolved into a multi million dollar industry. I seen in one of those photos a "house pattern" this one is making a comeback right now and showing up all over the place as new
ReplyDeleteI've been around long enough to realize that what is considered modern and new has usually been done before with other methods. The use of white as a background is the way my grandmother made her quilts. She made scrap quilts and white went with everything. .
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for whomever ends up sorting through my sewing room!
ReplyDeleteI know baby, most of those girls haven't been around long enough to realize that 99 percent of it was already though of
ReplyDeleteI can't figure out why some designers seem to thing the pattern is their property when it is so simple that I know how to make it by looking at it, or just because they colored it differently that now the pattern is theirs... I know that pattern from the quilt book by the Gutcheons in the early 60s.
ReplyDeleteGood thing all that fabric and magazines got saved, and her notes. I'd love to have had anything written by my Grandma. Enjoy your acquisition. We are all glad it didn't go to the landfill.
Hugs
I agree with you that there a no new ideas, just reinvented ones. LOL
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