Secret Drawer Has Stumped Me

You’ve Opened The Wrong Drawer

I’ll admit that on top of some commissioned quilts to make and an aching frozen shoulder the slight complexity to the Secret Drawer block has made me reluctant to tackle it. But on Tuesday I challenged myself to create three things that didn’t already exist and so I gave it a shot.

I made a spool block that was an immediate fail: the block was a rectangle rather than square. So I tried again, ending up with square spool blocks that were much more promising but when the block was finished the points were blunted and it was smaller than I had wanted it to be.

I received a nice camera since the last tutorial and pattern, though, so I have some fantastic photos of a block in progress that didn’t turn out

So the Secret Drawer has its secrets, I guess. I don’t know why I can’t crack them. I’m trying to avoid having to do a template and set-in seams. I did try something new I’d never seen before (stitch-and-flip with oversized flips) but this caused the blunted points, which I happened to like but don’t represent the block in the Alias Grace book.

I’m trying again today. I have the pattern written out and ready, just a few measurements need to be tweaked and the block sewn and photos re-taken and the downloadable file made. I’ve got a heated bag of buckwheat in a stuffed monkey cover slung over my back (giving a new meaning to the phrase) and calculations and ideas loose in my brain. In the meantime I hope you’ll share the bloopers you’ve made while making up patterns or sewing quilt blocks Group hug!

Kingston Penitentiary to Close

Grace Marks alias Mary Whitney (Toronto Public Library – click for CBC article)

Kingston Penitentiary, with its long history of famous/notorious inmates, has been in the news recently. As Canada’s oldest prison it has housed men, women, and also children. It was, for about 30 years, the home of Grace Marks thanks to her part in the murders of Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery before she was released and never heard from again. And now Kingston Penitentiary is set to close “sometime in the next two years”.

I’d heard that it was in poor shape and might be re-opened as a museum of some sort. Along with its brutal history of violent punishments, daring escapes, and “celebrity” prisoners I do hope that it would include Grace Marks. Seeing the coarse prison garments sewn by the women inmates, the cells they were kept in, and the experimental medical instruments they were forced to endure procedures with would certainly be enlightening.

Here’s an extremely interesting CBC article on the more notorious Kingston Pen inmates (including a section about Grace Marks):

• Kingston Pen’s children, child killers, murderers and monsters

Blogging the Process

The day after I blogged about my process of creating the blocks and original patterns I produce for this site, I clicked on a quilt-related link from a Twitter buddy. The page I ended up at was called Blogging the Process: My 3×6 Bee Blocks. Not only is there a nifty idea for quick and easy quilt blocks, it proved that I so many others are thinking that the journey is part of the creative process. I’ve had that page open ever since then

That blog post by Two More Seconds leads to Rossie Blog’s “Process Pledge” and if you’re interested in reading more about writing your ideas out – even if you aren’t sure if you’re explaining things right, or don’t have an answer for what you’re trying to do – check out the post and the hundreds of bloggers/photographers who have signed up to take the Pledge. There are also prompts to help you “get some process posts going”. Brilliant!

 

 

Playing Catch-Up

Before I write anything else I want to thank the thousands of visitors who have read this blog in the past week, coming from Quilting Gallery There have always been a steady stream of people coming through on a daily basis, numbering in the hundreds, but nothing like the amounts that this site has sent us and I want to send a friendly welcome to all who pass through. I’m very grateful for your pretty peepers checking out my work, no matter where you came from, and hope you’ll start stitching up an Alias Grace-inspired quilt or quilt block right along with me.

Now I must do one of those annoying catch-up posts that are never as much fun as actually blogging as things happen. I’ve been very lucky these past weeks, with a packed house full of family and friends, and clients ordering custom quilts. I’ve been doing a lot of writing and sewing and quilting and cleaning (it is spring after all). I’ve been very busy with a sick dog (which probably made you make one of those sad-eyebrow faces – don’t worry, he’s on the mend) and a painful shoulder issue that really is unfair to deal with in someone so young I’ve had my computer off and only Blackberry access for most days as well, keeping out of my office and in my studio as much as possible. Also everything else that everyone goes through but doesn’t want to talk about in a quilting blog. Why complain or talk about unpleasant things when you can be quilting, or stitching, or writing about quilting and stitching?

I’ve finished at least three quilts (and several matching pillow items for one of them) and done a ton of fabric shopping. Unfortunately none of them have involved the quilt block I’d pegged for the next pattern – Secret Drawer. Every time I think about it I mentally do one of those teenager tantrums where you throw your shoulders down and make your arms go limp, and walk like your legs are made of rubber. You know that old trick. There’s a scowl involved. I guess being so busy I am just not prepared to clear my workspace for something so involved, when I could be sewing and slashing (and yes – watching Netflix while I attach the binding). I am feeling like a brat, which is strange when everything is really going so well and I’m not actually acting like a brat.

As far as catch-up posts go (catsup? ketchup?) this one probably won’t make any hall of fame. I’ve been busy, but so has everyone else on the planet. I do have a few posts up my sleeve that I’ll be pulling out very soon, and yes another quilt block that I’ll do and post for you So… what’s new with you? Whatup, quilters?

Tackling Difficult Piecing

Secret Drawer quilt block, graph paper version (photo ©2012 by Michelle Southern)

After the very easy Broken Dishes and then the more challenging Hearts and Gizzards patterns, the next project I decided to try was from Part VI, Secret Drawer. Have a good look at it. It’s four spools spun around a diamond-set square. And I am not sure how it was pieced – there’s no simple way to really dig into this one. So I’ve spent a lot of time staring at it, drawing it on graph paper, and wondering not just how I’m going to put this thing together, but how I’m going to explain to YOU how it’s done. I really don’t have much of a clue for any quick piecing for this one. It appears it’s all template-created and hand-sewn (although those of you with talent for Y-seams and/or like to live dangerously on the sewing machine can give it a shot).

Part of my process is puzzling out the blocks, no googling allowed, with pencil and paper. I have an old, family-owned copy of the Ladies Art Company quilt block catalogue that I might check names against, because it’s circa 1914, but I don’t go looking for patterns or directions for any of these blocks. I DO research for other names via google after the fact so I can add those into the comprehensive blog entry when I release the pattern. And I did look for sources for the earliest time that Hearts and Gizzards would have been made because it seemed so out of place in what I’d seen in Canadian quilts of that era. But in Grace’s time, and I would imagine it was this way for most of Canada during this period, quilt block patterns weren’t readily available at the local store. Obviously now we have our choice of magazines, quilt stores, and online resources at our disposal. But working out how a block was sewn (and in what order), or creating brand new quilt blocks through discovery and artistry, was a more likely way that quilts were made. Traditional patterns were handed down, not googled So that is my starting point, always, with these blocks. As they say “everything is easy if you already know the answer” I know I’m going about this in a rather backwards way, considering the abundance of resources I readily have at hand. But this project is important to me – as is the history – and so I’m starting out with a dunce cap (or is that a thinking cap?) and making little chicken scratches until what I’ve made makes sense. And then I go with it. So far, it’s worked I love the results of the blocks and now that I’ve hit a whopper of a pattern, I’m not going back. To me that would be like cheating a little bit. If I veer off of this process, I’ll let you know. But it’s going to take a little more than some inset seams to scare me off.

Are you looking forward to challenging your current skills? After the first two blocks, which were quite easily completed, I’m conflicted. This one will be time-consuming and complicated, but on the other hand I’m also happy to be stitching without a machine for this block. I have a rough idea of how this will be presented in the upcoming pattern but I do fear that I won’t be able to make a printable template for you – just instructions on creating your own with some good old-fashioned graph paper. I can make the template in Photoshop myself, but how it will translate on the PDF file concerns me. So if you’re eager to have the same experience I’m having in making the quilt blocks from the Alias Grace book, albeit with a slightly more informative pattern in front of you rather than struggling to find their creation from scratch, then maybe pulling out that low tech graph paper will be part of the process for you as well.

This quilt block is a case of taking the road less traveled, and enjoying the journey while you go. If you’re looking for a speedy, strip-pieced, instant-gratification block this is not the one. Heaven help me while I’m trying to create it… it’s causing attacks of perplexity and fits of mathematic doubt. Wish me luck!

Resources: Fabric Through History

One of the first things I notice about an antique quilt is the fabrics and fabric colours used in the quilt top. Both fabrics and block design are the best clues an appraiser can use to date a quilt, should no written information exist (such as a quilt label – all of my own handmade quilts come with a unique code that allows the purchaser access to full documentation of the quilt).

I own three of my own Great-Grandmother’s quilts, which were probably made sometime in the 1930s. They are in excellent condition, sewn on a treadle machine, the same one still in the family to this day. They are all hand-quilted, with batting that is horrendous by today’s standards, and in general there was no additional binding added – just fabric folded over and stitched. I’ve found newspaper articles online that mention my great-grandmother and her quilting group. Sometimes I like to open them all up and hang them out along the banisters to air, or sit under one and have a quick nap. As far as connections to family and history go, you really can’t beat a handmade quilt made by one of your own.

When I find books on how fabric is made, what fabrics were used throughout history, and how innovations were developed to dye and print fabric – those books stay checked out until they are due back. Looking through the double-pinks salesman’s sampler cards and mourning prints tucked into diaries, feedsacks and sugar sacks and wood blocks used to print the fabric, I’m transported. This is not unusual – ask any quilter about their fabric “stash” and you’ll get an eye roll from her husband – fabrics are fascinating. From any period in history. And how we create and use them are continuing to change.

Here are a few resources that I love, have used through this project, and would recommend:

Pieced Quilts of Ontario
This book, as you remember, was purged from my library but they borrowed one for me through an Interlibrary Loan. This ROM softcover is worth tracking down. Although the photos are black-and-white, there is a section explaining where each quilt was made and its pattern. The Tumbling Blocks quilt was made in my area of York Region.

 

The American Quilt: A History of Cloth & Comfort 1750-1950
A resource that every quilter (or quilt-lover) should have. There is an unbelievable amount of information regarding every aspect of quiltmaking, including a Fabric Chart timeline that gives fabric, pattern, and colour trends throughout the decades, starting in 1775. American-centric but useful for this project as Canadian timeline would be similar.

 

America’s Glorious Quilts
This book is HUGE. Full colour quilt photos of rare, beautiful, antique quilts and large-print sections explaining how each trend (such as Crazy Quilts) came to be so popular during particular time periods. Also a great resource for learning how basic quilt patterns “work” and the names of blocks. Includes a primer for quilt collectors.

 

The Thames and Hudson Manual of Dyes and Fabrics
A fascinating tour of how far fabrics, dyes, and printing have come. Includes some very technical information if you are so inclined but also contains plenty of photos and diagrams to explain how the fabric throughout time has been produced.

 
 

Quilts: A Beautiful History
A miniature coffee table book, with historical information tracing quilt history, plus a gallery of full-colour photos that is useful not only for sourcing various quilt styles and dating quilts and patterns, but for learning the names of the blocks.

 
 

300 Years of Canada’s Quilts
This book has also been purged from my library (grrr!) but is so full of information about quilts, fabrics, and the Canadian women who made them I’m ordering one for myself. This book is also cited by Margaret Atwood in her end notes as a resource used for writing Alias Grace.

Happy National Quilting Month!

Here in our vast online world, I try to avoid geographical boundaries as much as possible. I think most people do – it’s why most of us got online in the first place – because otherwise we’d all just walk outside and meet our neighbours. And who wants to do that? Anyway, celebrating events only in the country that have called it “National” just doesn’t cut it for me. March is “National Quilting Month” but it might as well be Worldwide Quilting Month for all I care, I’m going to promote and enjoy it as if it were my own and yours too. I guess what I’m saying is, if you quilt/want to learn to quilt/enjoy quilts/love a quilter then this is YOUR MONTH.

So along with this glorious month dedicated to my birthday and quilting, there’s also a dedicated [national] Quilting Day: March 17. A single day dedicated to quilting is right up my alley, since I’m doing sewing and quilting-related business things every other day of the year. It’s the perfect excuse to just QUILT.

Image: National Quilting Association (click for their site)

» The National Quilting Association is offering a free, downloadable PDF pattern for National Quilting Day called Pointing the Way, “an Ohio star with a simple Mariner’s Compass center designed by Martha Ethridge”. It’s gorgeous and combines several techniques, and uses fabric yardage you probably already have in your stash. Download the PDFand start stitching! This looks like a project to stretch your limits as it uses templates and circles and applique for the Mariner’s Compass, with easy piecing techniques for the rest of the quilt.

» If you live near the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the International Quilt Study Center & Museum (IQSCM) is marking National Quilting Month by offering several quilting-related activities, exhibits, and lectures with a special celebration being held on National Quilting Day (yep, March 17).

» And in Buffalo, this weekend kicks off National Quilting Month with their annual Quilt Show at the Johnson County Library (exhibiting throughout the month of March). This year the Show features a new display of many quilts based on the same pattern. You can also vote for your favourite quilt to be awarded the People’s Choice Award.

UPDATED

Here are more quilting activities taking place on March 17, National Quilting Day:

» Grand Rapids Public Museum in Michigan teams up with the West Michigan Quilters’ Guild to host Quilt Discovery Day. With assistance from local quilt experts, quilts from Michigan can be documented and registered with the Michigan Quilt Project Collection maintained by Michigan State University. The quilts will be photographed and examined, their condition recorded, and along with pattern, fabric and history information that will be taken down and sent to the MSU Museum Quilt Center.

» Benefiting Sojourn House, a nonprofit substance abuse treatment facility, the very first annual Northwest Illinois Quilt Expo will be held March 16-17 at the Freeport Lincoln Mall. Featuring more than 20 vendors, as well as speakers and quilt exhibitions. Visit their website to schedule an appointment to have your quilt appraised.

» For those of you in the US midwest, “The Gathering of Quilters” to celebrate National Quilting Day is hosted by the Noble Nimble Thimbles Quilt Guild of Noble County, promising “information and inspiration”. This year’s fun includes an ‘ugly fabric’ swap (exchanged via paper bags) plus a block drawing, vendor area, show and tell, scissor sharpening and of course – a quilt show. Contact the Noble Nimble Thimbles guild directly at their official website.

» Pinellas County Heritage Village and Museum in Florida is celebrating National Quilting Day by hosting six guilds displaying quilts in the historic structures at Heritage Village. Demonstrations will be available to view, and your assistance in preparing arm pillows for women recovering from breast cancer and kids getting IVs or in cardiac care is requested. Kids who help get to make one to take home. Download more information on their full-colour flyer (PDF file).

 
Whether you’re celebrating a single day or a full month of quilting, pull out those UFOs, grab your favourite pattern and fabric requirements, and get to it. You can spend the rest of Quilting Month learning new techniques, hand-quilting, crazy quilting, watching quilting shows, and shopping hard to build your fabric stash. There could not be a more perfect month.

Resources: Sewing and Hand-stitching Instructions

I’m a regular at our local library, and I haunt the online list of books and DVDs new to our library system several times a week. We have the ability to reserve books and other materials as well, so I’m very lucky to have access to some incredible resources. And once I fall in love with a book (not as rare as you might think) I will return to it repeatedly. Much like with my copy of Alias Grace, which is so loved, carted around, and read it’s missing pages and covers. As I come across the books I love and think might help or inspire others I’ll recommend them to you. If nothing else these resources mark the path I personally took while creating these blocks. If they’re helpful for anyone else I’m happy to share them.

If you’re following along with the projects, you might be inspired enough to try hand-stitching some of the blocks, especially because the book’s story centres around Grace’s storytelling visits with Dr. Jordan while she has been assigned her sewing. Sewing machines were around at the time (and mentioned in the book) but Grace, a prisoner, does not have access to one. She’s lucky, though, because her skill at making tiny stitches have granted her the privilege of sewing beautiful, fancy quilt blocks at the Governor’s mansion rather than waste her talents at a job doing manual labour somewhere else in the prison system. While most quilt blocks, even those with Y-seams and other complicated piecing, can still be put together with a machine it may be easier to piece those blocks by hand. Plus – learning new skills, especially when on a project you’ve been wanting to attempt for years, is always a box you want to check off.

With that in mind, here are a few books (available through Amazon) that I’d recommend for learning the basics of hand-stitching and sewing:

 

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Quilting Before I had a sewing machine, I hand-pieced the quilt blocks I wanted to make. This book gives you vital information on hand-piecing “how tos”: making templates, patterns, applique, stitches, curved piecing, Y-seams. There are illustrations for every technique. This is one book that I own myself, bought when I’d had enough of just dreaming about quilting, and I’ve dug it up again today as a refresher for upcoming blocks for this blog.

 

Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts The full title continues: “Basic Techniques for Sewing, Applique, Embroidery, Quilting, Dyeing, and Printing, plus 150 Inspired Projects from A to Z” and it doesn’t disappoint. Contains the basics and beyond, along with the incredible photography that Martha Stewart’s known for, plus projects to expand your skills. If you’re pretty comfortable with sewing it’s worth a look to get ideas for new projects or to get yourself pepped up for starting the one you’ve put off.

 

Stitch-opedia: The Only Embroidery Reference You’ll Ever Need Stitchopedia is fantastic for learning basic to fancy stitches. If your blocks will be a crazy quilt, this book is a useful resource for experimenting. Instructions for stitches to be made with regular floss or silk ribbon (my personal favourite).

 

Do you have any hand-piecing or sewing book resources to share? I’ll be posting more resources as I find them (and compiling some online ones as well) and would appreciate your input. Leave a comment here or drop me a line. Have a fantastic “Leap Day”!

Barn Quilts and Quilt Trails In The News

Longwoods Barn Quilt Trail, Wardsville (photo © Michelle Southern)

Although the winter season here has been more like a respite from the usual snow-laden burden we usually put up with, it’s still a spirit-lifting thought to think of spring coming in a few short weeks. With spring means the launch of new projects, especially those that require outside attendance and travel. Lately I’ve been seeing a few barn quilt and quilt trail articles, so in the interest of spring preparation I wanted to let you know about them. Many of the quilt barn trails maintain the historic names of the quilt blocks, and a large number of the blocks represent different time periods when quilting was popular. And because of the War of 1812 commemorations, many barn quilt trails are gearing up for extra visitors so they’ll be worth the viewing. If you’re a quilter, photographer, artist, or interested in history plan a day trip to travel a quilt trail. Here are a few recent articles that might interest you:

 
Quilt trail takes you off beaten path
“Brantford, Brant and the surrounding counties will soon have a patchwork of art decorating their roadside buildings. As part of the Southwest Ontario Barn Quilt Trails project, barns and other agricultural buildings in the area will be adorned with murals based on quilt block designs. Some will be on freestanding posts. The pieces of art will be markers to signal historical points of interest, many related to the War of 1812.” [ARTICLE]

 
More sites added to Walworth County Barn Quilts program
“The popular Barn Quilt Program of Walworth County, coordinated by the University of Wisconsin Extension, has updated 17 additional sites that have hung the painted 8′ by 8′ panels of quilt designs.” [ARTICLE]

 
Barn Quilts of Walworth County
“Educating the public about the art and history of quilting and promoting it as a form of art is another purpose of the barn quilt project. It’s a good combination: barns and quilts.” Includes LOTS of photos. [ARTICLE]

 
Barn Quilt Project of Shawano County
“The Shawano County Barn Quilt Project is catching some attention, especially by drivers” (video included) [ARTICLE]

 
Barn Quilts of Shawano County
Includes map listing Page, barn quilt map, and three pages of photos [SITE]

 
Quilt Trail Offers Tour, Book Signing at Two Venues
“Reservations are being accepted for a combination book signing and quilt trail tour on Friday, April 6. This event is being planned to coincide with the book signing tour of author Suzi Parron for Barn Quilts and the American Quilt Trail Movement. Originators of the UCQT and its Ohio Star are highlighted in her book, which records the story of one of the fastest-growing grassroots public arts movements in the United States and Canada” [ARTICLE]

 
Upper Cumberland Quilt Trail
Info on the quilt trail, video, maps, and a downloadable flyer for the April 6 book signing and tour [SITE]

Unending Fascination

Hazel McGuinness, accused coke dealer (Photo: dailymail.co.uk)

While the drawings of Grace Marks and James McDermott are found in Alias Grace the images are not satisfactory enough to get a real idea of what either of them looked like. Newspaper and TV reports of criminals that include photos or video almost always describe whether the accused has “empty eyes” or a “guilty expression” or some other body part that admits their part in the crime. And if the reports don’t mention how guilty or innocent the person looks, there are plenty of other commentators who will.

There’s a never-ending fascination with the people who have been caught and accused of being a part of the dark and dirty underworld, where their illegal actions may even be commonplace in their personal value system. Recently The Daily Mail (UK) posted an article filled with the mugshots of Australian women prisoners during the 1920s.

Most of the photos have the look of self-portraits a lot of iPhone users have been desperate to grab of themselves for their Twitter accounts. They look modern, and some of them even look romantic. But these women lived during a time when simply getting the right to vote was a really big deal, a right so many people take for granted today. They look no different than photos of our own great-grandmothers and grandmothers. They are probably less evil and mentally disturbed than they were desperate. Desperation drives both men and women to places they probably never thought they’d arrive. A more modern storytelling in this same vein is AMC’s “Breaking Bad“, where a mild-mannered science teacher turns to a life of crime when he starts cooking and selling meth to support his medical treatments and growing family. Aside from the details, though, how much has the story changed in centuries? Among the group of women pictured are accused abortionists who killed or injured the women they were trying to help, much like Mary Whitney’s own ‘story’. What drove these women to do what they were accused of? Were they really guilty? Were they criminals because of the adrenaline rush of committing the crime, or was it based purely on their survival? What, if any, judgments can be made from viewing these photos?

Even if we had Grace Marks’ photo we would still not have the power to know what happened at the Kinnear farm, or decide what thoughts had gone through her head. It would be interesting to see her actual face, rather than an illustration, but as we know now the shape of one’s head does not define our personalities nor our capacity for criminal behaviour. The only thing we could do with a photo is make judgments, whether they were conscious ones or not – “Does she look guilty?” and “Are there any clues of her guilt or innocence when her eyes meet ours?”

From “Celebrated Murderess” to “Femme Fatale”… see if you don’t catch yourself asking similar questions and drawing your own conclusions while viewing these 1920s photos.