The TQL Blog is moving!

I have thoroughly enjoyed your support and comments on this blog as we’ve launched the new magazine. We are able to give TQL readers an even fuller experience with our new, expanded and comprehensive quilting information site—http://www.quiltviews.com/

http://www.quiltviews.com/ is the newest website from the American Quilter’s Society. You can find all my past, present, and future blog posts. Since this site will include content from me as well as my American Quilter’s Society colleagues, we think you’ll enjoy the amount of information we have pulled together. If you wish to zero in on TQL when you get there, however, search for “TQL blog.”

Our upgraded website already has over 500 articles, with more added daily. All my previous blog posts are already live on that site, including most recent comments from readers.

You can find me now at QuiltViews.com

Since this website is hosted at a new URL, please be sure to update your bookmarks, RSS feeds, and email subscriptions.

Please visit us at our new, improved location online. Be sure to check out the site organization, including categories, tags, and techniques. Plus, sign up for email updates to keep informed of the latest news.

See you there!

Unplanned Geometry

TQL readers around the globe were fascinated by the silk sampler in Laura Fisher’s column “For All It’s Worth” (June 2011). “It reminds me a little of a crazy Dear Jane,” wrote Linda Lesiak of Fullerton, Nebraska.

Jodie Storm, of Bonville, NSW, Australia, cheerfully confesses to being obsessed with historic quilts. She’s given lots of thought to this one, and suspects this stunning quilt was made by an inexperienced quilter, perhaps a teenager, who made it up as she went along. Jodie told Laura how she figured out the way the quilt was constructed.

“I labeled the vertical rows A-H, and the horizontal rows 1-9.

The quiltmaker initially made three rows of three blocks each, D3-F3, D4-F4 and D5-F5. Block E5 was created as the center focal point of the original quilt.

The quilter then added rows to all the sides, and then another set of rows. See the way the black embroidered sashing turns the corners around each of the block sets? And of the sometimes bias cut and sometimes straight cut plaid sashing strips? Also note the Log Cabin "corner" chevrons (Blocks B1, H1, B7 and H7) are very similar in form, with the inside corners facing the center of the quilt. They would have been the corner blocks of the original top.

At a later date, she added rows A1- A7, and A8 - H8. The plaid sashing has again become straight  ̶  unlike the bias cut of the original top, and there are several silk checks and plaids which do not appear in the original center.

Later still, she added row A9-H9. Look at the way the black embroidered sashing is placed, and the way the bias cut border is constructed.”

Thanks for taking the time to share this with us, Jodie. Maybe you are a little obsessed. But aren’t we all? It’s the way it is when you live the quilt life.

Which Way Did He Go?

    

TQL challenged  you in the February issue to use your imagination.
The man is missing from the Bird of Paradise quilt top on page 55, even though he was in the picture when the newspaper templates, above, were made. Why? You had so many creative answers it was challenging for us to select three favorites!
Each of our clever winners will receive a copy of the beautiful new book QUILTS: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum from the publisher, Rizzoli.

The Scandal!

Daily True American, April 3, 1863

After being tried for murdering James Lippincott, of Poughkeepsie, Charles Batchelder escaped from prison and subsequently tried to commit suicide.  On April 3, Batchelder paid the fearful penalty of death.  Great excitement prevailed in the city during the day.  The culprit made no confession, and met his fate with great courage.  The End

(ripped from the headlines, names changed to protect the guilty)

by Candy Prudhomme

 Some Things Never Change

Sarah gazed at the unfinished quilt top. 

The only unfinished block was Johnathan's. She realized that he wasn't coming back. She hadn't heard from him in over a year. Becky's husband and Joanna's brother had returned from the war. He should have been home by now....  

Her heart breaking, Sarah decided to finish the quilt anyway. She would use the Hannibal elephant block she designed when the circus passed through town last spring.  Elephants never forget, do they?  

As for Johnathan.....he survived the war, but refused to ask for directions and got lost on his way home! 

by Deborah Bloom

 Good Husband

Robins, redbirds,

emus, too –

A hen, her cock-a-

doodle do.

Cat and hound dog

bark and mew –

Of owls and ponies,

not a few.

Peacocks, blackbirds,

in they flew –

An elephant ! Oh,

what a zoo!

So when a caller

came to woo

And said, my dear, what

can I do?

By this I found his

love is true –

He’s busy out there

scooping poo.                                  

by Pat Mitchell