What's on the line?

Today you will have to pretend that this quilt is "on the line"....................
I have quilts that I hung last fall and photographed, so I could share one of those but I just have to tell you about this quilt!!! It came to my door this past Saturday. It was lovely day with lots of sunshine and not too cold. It wasn't quite as warm as earlier in the week when we had temps in the 50's and lots of melting snow, but it was nice. While lots of snow has melted, I still can't get to my clothesline. And then....yesterday we got this............ more snow!!!
Getting to the clothesline is impossible! The snow was really pretty! I loved the way that it accumulated on the railing and my Christmas garland. Yes, it is still in place on my front porch and the lights are still lit. I liked the way the lights shine through the snow. Very cool. So, how much snow did we get............. about 12-14" ! My son-in-law joked that with all the melting we had last week, we were in need of "replacement" snow. And that's definitely what we got!! Did we really need it, though? Poor Kaiser, the Wonder Beagle, can barely walk in the stuff because it's very heavy, wet snow! Sure glad my husband bought that super large snowblower when we moved here because it will be put to good use today!

Enough about the snow..............back to the quilt. As I said, it came to me and I was not expecting it! The doorbell rang Saturday afternoon and it was my neighbor's Grandma. Her name is Ruth. I met her shortly after we moved her and when she found out I was a quilter, she told me about an old quilt top that she had and could never quite toss - although her sister told her she should because "what good was it?" She kept it, though, just like I would. :-) But now, she's "downsizing" her quilting things as she moves from a house to an apartment, and wondered if I wanted the quilt top? And, also, would I like her quilting books, mostly hardbound copies? Well, I said yes, of course!!! We went to her car and got the quilt top and the box of books. Look at all these books............

There is only one book in all of these that I already own and it's the Patchwork Quilting book on the upper left. I will share it with a friend who collects vintage quilting books. I was thrilled to see Grandma's Best Quilt Blocks in the box as it was on my "want" list. I put all the books in a stack and will use them as "porch reading material" when that snow melts off the front porch and summer finally comes. :-)

Now, again..... back to the quilt top. I loved it the minute I saw it! It's quite old, although how old, I have no idea. Go back to the top and take a close look at it. Double click on the photo to see it in detail. You'll notice something............all the tiny red/pink fabric is the same in each block except the block that says M.M. Bartlett. That name is stamped. So are a couple other names......S.G. Everett, S. E. Everett, and Ida J. Sherman. Most of the rest of the names are written in ink. In some blocks, the ink ate away the fabric so the name is sort of there but you can't read it. Some names are faded away to almost nothing. Others are quite vibrant and are written in elegant handwriting that I would guess is pre-1900. Here are a couple close-ups of blocks..........

This block says Sarah T. H. Munroe.

This one says Wm. M. Munroe.

This one says May & Willie Munroe.

Other blocks that I was able to read were Mary H. Hall, Sophia B. Ingraham, Eleanor Spalding, Sarah H. Spalding, Edward C. Spalding, Clara O. Spalding, and E. M. Haskett (may not be spelled correctly, it was quite faded and hard to read). I am intrigued by the quilt top and would love to know why it was made. Was it made for the person whose block was different? Who was M.M. Bartlett? A mother, a child, a friend? Where was the quilt made? I actually googled a few of the names and came up with some genealogy links with these names in Indiana and Michigan. Did the quilt top come west in a wagon and simply never get finished? Oh, how I wish I knew, but the quilt will hold it's answer and will never be revealed. I'm just glad it came to me and now I can add it to my family of quilt treasures and stories! Thanks to Ruth for ringing my doorbell and bringing me such a neat surprise on a winter afternoon!

Today is a holiday here in the U.S. It's President's Day. I should have made another block for my patriotic quilt today but instead I am working on a project made with batiks. It's something fun that I will share pictures of soon but it will be a few weeks before I can share the project. Then there was a mug rug project or two that I made last week and they are on their way to swap partners. Mug rugs are fun to make. They get finished and I like that! A tutorial for my coffee themed mug rug is coming up soon. Then another one in early March in batiks. Last week, I met my Tuesday Crazies friends for some lunch and I need to share those pics plus a project I did with my friend, Marianne, almost two weeks ago! I am working on things for an upcoming retreat and........oh, so many things to think about!! Lots going on these days and I've had trouble keeping it all straight. So, to help me "keep it all straight".........today is a day just for the batik project and when that is done at the end of the day, I will set the batiks aside and move on to the next project. Taking things one day at a time. Just one day at a time. :-)

Sandi

Just noticed that this is my 701st post. Yes, I do love to write. :-)