Happy Spring

Fabric in vintage pin wheel quilt - hand quilted

Happy Spring from along the front range.

The crocus that bloomed last week are covered in a fresh blanket of snow.  The great thing about getting a big snow here is it doesn't stay around for long.

That's not stopping us from thinking about warm weather and flowers.

We have lots of rabbits in our yard so anything we plant is at risk of becoming their dinner.

This vintage applique crib sheet is hand stitched.

The curtain is dimensional.

The words of the entire nursery school poem:
(First published in 1784)

Bye, baby bunting,
Father's gone a-hunting,
Mother's gone a-milking,
Sister's gone a-silking,
Brother's gone to buy a skin
To wrap the baby bunting in.

Cry, baby bunting,
Daddy’s gone a-hunting,
Gone to get a rabbit skin
To wrap the baby bunting in

Some of our song birds are returning. This is my lead in to eggs ;-)
I first saw these sewing eggs on Merilyn's Quiltminstrel blog.   HERE

I told here I had never seen the Singer Eggs in the US.  I still haven't, but I have found a few sewing eggs.

I'm pretty sure the gold egg is good luck!

Here are the eggs opened.

The gold egg holds a velvet pin cushion with a tape measure in the bottom.  The thimble sits atop the cushion with a little clamp.

The red egg is a mending kit complete with thread, needle and thimble - no brand.

The egg might be a painted milk glass darning egg - more research needed on it.

Happy spring or fall depending where you live!

References:

Nursery-rhymes.org (Longer verses and history)  HERE 

More about baby bunting HERE

Crib quilt with the same name HERE

Bluework 1927 Ruby Short McKim Colonial History Quilt

Inked Betsy Ross below the flag embroidery

This blue work quilt is one of the items I bought on a recent antique shopping adventure.

See update below - identified as a Ruby Short McKim quilt!

Each block is 7.5" with an outer 7" border.

The embroidered blocks each have an inked description.

The lower right 'final block' is dated 1927.

The quilt is bound in applied cream fabric that matches the backing.
The blocks in the first column have a roman numeral inked with the description as if following chapters, maybe a history book?  Or 4 quarters of a school year?
Was this a classroom aid?
The 24 inked block descriptions include:
(Alphabetical, not the order they were placed in the quilt)
   Balboa
   Betsy Ross
   Cabot The First English
   Captain John Smith
   Champlain The French Explorer
   Colonial Justice
   George Rogers Clark
   George Washington at Valley Forge
   Henry Hudson
   Indian Home Life
   The Santa Maria
   Lord Baltimore
   Narragansett Challenge
   New World Mission
   Penns Treaty
   Peter Stuyvesant
   Primitive Indians
   Priscilla
   Sir Walter Raleigh
   The Meeting House
   The Minute Men
   The Norseman
   The Puritans
   The Standard of England
 

The Standard of England block

III. Indian Home Life block

The quilting in the alternate blocks and borders is beautiful.    Cream thread on the blue fabric throughout the quilt.

The embroidered blocks have single line diagonal quilting.

the real color is more blue than this photo illustrates

The borders are quilted in cables.

The quilt is in excellent condition.
No hanging sleeve or signs it was hung.

Let me know if you would like to see any of the other blocks up close and I will send you pictures.






Have you used a quilt in a non-quilt classroom?
Have you done any blue work?

Have a great week!
UPDATE:  Thanks to a reader the pattern has been identified!
The patterns have been reprinted HERE   Item #QS208
Ruby Short McKim:
"The Sunday Plain Dealer has arranged to give its readers a service that will make special appeal to the boys and girls as well as to their mothers and grandmothers, and we’re pretty sure that father and the baby too, will like the finished result.

"This is the Colonial History Quilt, designed especially for a boy’s bed, but girls who love stories of heroes may make it for themselves. If grandmother decides to make it for that lad, it will become an heirloom, a thing of joy and beauty to be used and treasured for years."

Color Note:

In the United States, there was no established rule in the 19th century. A 1927 survey of ten department stores reported that pink was preferred for boys in six of them and for girls in four.  (Jo B. Paoletti, Pink and Blue: Telling the Girls From the Boys in America (Indiana University Press, 2012), 87

Read more about Ruby HERE
See more like it HERE and HERE
Also The Quilter's Hall of Fame HERE

Antique Shopping

I had a great day out antique shopping - thought I would share some pictures.

The pink stripe sashing on this quilt top caught my attention.

The nine patch blocks are in groups of 5 by color, alternating with pink stripe blocks...add pink sashing.

You can never have too many pink stripes!

It is all hand pieced.

This booth had a wonderful mix of transfer ware, lace and sewing treasures.
This pin cushion had some type of metal gasket to attach it to something - rather odd, but a nice brown velvet.
The sewing box is three levels - two level are more common.  Oddly, it only has two thread holes on the side top.  That, along with the gap at the top makes me wonder about inaccurate repairs.

Case goods/small items are fun to look through.

It is like an "I Spy' game
Can you find the:
   Broken clamp?
      Thread box?
         Emory?
            Woven Hair Fob?

Effective use of small transfer ware plates for display.

A mass quantity of carved bone implements.

Sterling handled darners, Sterling glove darners

This case has some nice sterling pieces.

The mother of pearl game pieces were interesting to look through.

I bought the bone pin cushion clamps in the upper left corner.

I also bought a couple quilts, but you have to wait to see those!  I'm writing a separate post on those.



I hope you enjoyed a look at the antique show.
Have a great week!