A Fun Couple of Weeks

I've had a bit of a lull between repair projects these last couple of weeks, and have been enjoying working on projects that are mostly for me, meaning they mostly don't have anyone waiting at the other end for me to finish them.  So relaxing!

Here's what's been on my worktable:

Booming!

My friend Julia of Basya Berkman Vintage (the person who supplies me with all the fun clothes needing creative repair solutions that you see in these posts) has told me that I need to do this bit of shameless self-promotion.  This is not in my nature.  At all.  But I am following Julia's advice.....

Firstly, my book has celebrated its first birthday.  And there is Big News here in the land of self-publishing:  My book is now on the shelves at both the museum shop of The National Museum of Quilts in Paducah, KY, and the shop at the Museum of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Washington, DC!!!  I am absolutely thrilled!!!  And I am very grateful to these organizations for their votes of confidence in my work.

A Book With My Name On The Cover.  It's still a source of much amazement for me. Wow!

Buttons in Boxes and Baskets

 

 

Well, let's just say that when a button collection gets so big that buying two new storage boxes isn't enough, well then, that is a big button collection.  Guess how I know.

Recent Vintage Clothing Adventures

There's always something new and interesting when repairing vintage clothes for Rare Jule Vintage! I'm sharing some highlights of the last few months of creative repairing.  From buttons (of course there will be buttons!) to darning to alteration to a fun accessory. 

   

Improved 9-Patch

I really enjoyed working on this quilt.  It's a kind of quilt that I have dubbed a "quilt-y quilt" - meaning it personifies what lots of folks think an old quilt ought to look like.  A traditional pattern, scrappy, cozy and bright.

The pattern is called Improved 9-Patch, and with all the curves and narrow points, probably not a beginner's quilt.  The stitching, both the piecing and the quilting, is very well done.

Well at any rate, when I first laid it out to study it and make an estimate, we became friends right away! On top of that, the quilt is still in the family, and the current owner shares info and photos of the maker below.

I thought I'd let this quilt illustrate making fabric selections for repairs.  I was pretty pleased with the fabrics I found.  Sometimes I'm not quite this pleased, so yes, I am showing off a bit.

The Melrose Quilt - Statistics and Stories

 

Now that all the excitement and preparations around the exhibit have come and gone, I'm publishing the compilations of statistics and stories I discovered about life in Melrose, MA, at the end of the 19th century.

A previous post describes the exhibit and events.  Links to many chapters chronicling the research process can be found below.  I hope you enjoy the saga as much as I enjoyed it!

Here are links to the data.  (Depending on your browser and browser settings, you may see the pages here or you may find them in your downloads.)

List of Names on the Quilt - Includes names as written and more complete names when found

Census Records Closest to 1895-1900 - Household members, ages, professions, stories

Census Data Used to Date the Quilt 

Summation of Interesting Facts and Stories

Names Listed in Order of Street Name and Number - In case you visit Melrose and want to look for houses where these people lived

Age Chart - Ages from census records closest to 1895-1900 

Here are all the previous posts:
Part 1 describes the quilt and the initial research.  Part 2 details how I narrowed down the dates, and relates some of the interesting family stories I began finding.  Part 3 tells the story of the Phinney, Dyer, and Hersey families.  Part 4 has general observations on life in the late 1890s.   Part 5 sums up my research.  Part 6 shares the first information from librarians and historians in Melrose.  I wrote a little aside about the fun of being able to look at original records online.  And, since the quilt did initially come to me for repair, and I did eventually stop reading census forms and do the repair work, and wrote up the techniques and choices involved.  And then I went back to the research, and continued to find lots of great information.  After the events, I described the homecoming experience and the exhibits, and wrote about the little quilt I made that was inspired by the historical quilt. And a very astonishing coincidence with another quilt and a family tree.  I was given a photo of one of the people named on the quilt. 

Two Family Quilts

Here are two heirloom quilts that came to me in need of some TLC.

   

At some point, someone affixed typed labels that identify the quiltmakers and the quilts' histories.  This is what's called "provenance" in the antiques biz, and is always a good thing!

Quilt #1