SAMPLERS.

I mentioned I had taken pictures of samplers to a friend who wanted to know, "...is that like people who eat lunch at Costco by sampling all the little bites of food they put out to try and get you to buy them?" We both laughed. No. It was a reasonable assumption, I had just returned from a trip to Costco. But, she had never heard of the type of sampler I meant.


This one is a cross stitch sampler, with a clever verse, and signed. Most likely a pre-stamped pattern to work. Samplers were designed to teach young girls how to embroider or cross stitch in homey designs that also taught them the alphabet and sometimes included numbers from 1 to zero.


Samplers are highly prized and my cousin had them hanging under glass in a bathroom and a somewhat poorly lit bedroom. Since I love collections, I had to photograph them.


Few letters, and no verse, the scene is appealing and tells a bit about the times and gave the person a lot of practice making stitches. Needlework was considered a necessary skill for young women to learn.


Most of the samplers were unsigned.


This is an embroidered sampler, much harder to work than cross stitch. This one from a modern era and most likely hand drawn. A full story in pictures and words. And, the misspelled GUEST?  Curious.


My mother prompted me to make a sampler when I was young, but when I got to the "dime" store to pick out a pattern, I opted for more practical pillow cases to embroider instead.


An unusual statement, almost biblical.


A wry truth.


A sampler  high on the wall, under glass, in poor light. Many photos didn't turn out, but I had to include this blurry one because the spelling, so quaint, suggests someone of German descent.

I was more tomboy than girl and while I did learn to sew and work quilts, my mother did excellent crochet, a skill I never mastered. I'm grateful to have some of her doilies, another collectible item you can find in the thrift stores.

QUILTING, ITS OWN REWARD

 Yesterday, I talked about one very special quilt that hangs each year at the Independence Hall Quilt Faire, the original Bi-centennial quilt.  With more than 100 quilts never before displayed here, I had much to choose from for today's blog.  Themes change from year to year. Themes develop from popular pattern makers, or new methods, or fabrics that follow pop culture. Quilters present it all. Some quilts use one huge central design with a border to great effect, like the bird above and the star, bear paws and flowers below.

Among the themes I've noticed over the years come teddy bears, cats, shoes, trees, and multiple explosions of color and  abstract placement of blocks. Some so complicated they have to be engineered on a computer or placed on a giant, room sized quilt board to make sense of the pattern. It can involve cutting one or two fabrics up, and sewing them back together again. I didn't see much of that this year, maybe the economy has affected quilting. After all, quilting evolved from hard scrabble times, when people threw nothing out. Every little scrap of fabric was saved and sewed together to make a usable blanket.

I call them rescue quilts. Here this woman lovingly quilts an old quilt top that someone had tossed. Small blocks of every color, pattern and hue. Simple and direct. Scrap quilts are still very popular at the faires I've attended, including this one.

 Home and family are always subjects for quilts. I didn't see many baby quilts at this year's faire, but a new take on homes was this habitat quilt with housing from many countries. A thatched roof...

 Houseboats...

 City dwellers apartments. Different.

Bird houses have been all the rage in the last few years.

 Families love to celebrate their loved ones in a quilt as in this 50th anniversary quilt.

 Applique is considered a difficult quilt, small pieces, laboriously hand folded narrow edges. Old time appliques were subtle, and beautiful. New methods make applique easier, and new appliques are much more brightly colored with fabrics of great diversity as well.

 Below is the whole affect, though not every block shows in the photo.

 Pinwheels are an old time pattern. They make a beautiful quilt. The triangles were common scraps when making clothing and women learned to make quilts using pointed scraps.

 The faire has many categories, such as wearable quilted pieces, wall hangings, dolls and other needlework. Women who sew, love it all.

 This woman's pants weren't on display but it is common to find quilters at the faire wearing their own handwork.

This quilter provided a unique way to display buttons she liked.

 The category for dolls brought this American Gothic entry.

This little wall hanging reminds me of Amish country, with quilts on the line. Fun!

 And this abstract wall hanging is a different form of needlework. Beautiful.
For a look at my quilt photos click on the following link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/1579penn/102410Quilts#

INDEPENDENCE HALL QUILTERS OF ARNOLD, CALIFORNIA

This weekend past was the 33rd Annual Mountain Heirloom Quilt Faire put on by the Independence Hall Quilters of Arnold. In 1976, for the Bi-centennial Celebration, cities and counties across the nation were encouraged to choose projects representative of our colonial past to help celebrate the Bi-centennial. In Calaveras County, the most lasting tribute to that celebration is the Bicentennial Quilt made that year by about 12 women who quilted together at Independence Hall in Arnold.


 This amazing quilt was put together with thoughtful consideration for each community in the county, exemplifying the special attribute of that place in 18 blocks. Mark Twain is rendered writing his famous story of the Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County.

Old time firefighters from Mokelumne Hill.

 The famous bandit, Black Bart was jailed in San Andreas, the County Seat. The document is readable, it is so finely worked in thread.

 Because gold mining is part of our heritage, the blocks were sewn into a background of gold material. 

 The bald eagle of the United States flys above; the center of the quilt holds a Bear Republic Insignia and the Insignia of the County of Calaveras. All of this took permissions from the artist who designed the Insignia and from the county. What an undertaking; what a successful and beautiful endeavor. 

As I reminisced over the various blocks two people were attempting to find the five frogs on the quilt. Four of them are pretty easy, but the fifth one is difficult to find. Who thought to put a bit of mystery into the quilt?
The great part of this affair is that the Independence Hall Quilters formed their group and have become one of the top quilter's guilds in the nation. They have maintained, over those 33 years, a huge membership that hovers between 250 and 225. Like a family, they work together, socialize, learn new techniques, teach and revel in fabric art. 

Their Faire is as unique as they are. Quilts on display can never be repeated. Thus a conservative estimate of 3,300 quilts have been exhibited by countless numbers of quilters over the years. Also unique to this Faire is the antique "heritage" props the men and women of the group arrange to enhance the quilts displayed. There are male quilters, but these men are the husbands who have become involved in the undertaking along with their wives.

The couples enjoy a set-up party; with music and great food. They do the same in reverse as each year the quilts are taken down and their owners come to pick them up. Some come by UPS and are returned the same way.

 Besides the quilts and props and parties, the quilters sew a challenge quilt, a raffle quilt and provide multiple quilts for the Ronald McDonald House and Habitat for Humanity. They provide quilts for those in need locally as well. The money they earn from their Faire provides student scholarships. What a wonderful bunch of empowered women. And it all started with this quilt.