Friday, August 2, 2013

A Slice Of Cheddar Part II

I did go to my beloved Sunshine Girls group at the Alton Senior Center today and had a fine time! My 16 log cabin blocks got another strip added to each one and I feasted afterwards on "French Toast Casserole". It was delicious!
They took big hunks of cut-up raisin bread and poured an egg mixture over the bread, let it soak up for about twenty minutes and then baked it in the oven. It was served with butter and maple syrup and it was sooo good! It really is the only practical way to serve French toast to a crowd of fifty hungry, hungry hippos. But I forgot the camera.

So, as I promised you, we are back to the 1880's and 1900's Pennsylvannia cheddar quilts, yeay!
This basket quilt was cheddar, indigo and a bit of solid tan or buff inside the baskets, and it was quite large.
I can just imagine the maker of this quilt humming, "A Tisket, A Tasket" as she quilted or sewed.

The stitches were so fine and even! Next was a Joseph's Coat of Many Colors.


The quilting on this one was in long intertwined cables.
I was flabbergasted to realize that "String" or "Strippy" quilts have been with us for so very long. This one was dated for circa 1870!


When I looked closely, I saw several fabric designs that are being reproduced today for the historical aficionado. Click on any picture to enlarge it.


The cheddar stripe down the middle of each block really unifies all of them, just as I have done with my modern string quilts with a focus fabric. Nothing new under the sun, eh?
Next was a 25-Patch blocked quilt.

It was magnificent!


Those "sashing" rows were a bright red with cheddar and the wide border was a double-pink quilted with swags. I stared at this quilt for so long! I just couldn't take my eyes off of it, it was so beautiful.


The HST's were 1 1/4" square, gasp! This had to be my personal favorite of the show.

Next was one called, "Railroad Crossing" and it is alternately listed as "Old Italian Block."


Those alternate blocks in the above photo are a dark green small print, not black, but the cheddar background of the lattice only appeared in four of the blocks.
I especially wanted to include the next selection because it is someone's UFO, LOL!


It never did get quilted nor sandwiched. So it happened back then, too!


There were many many internal seams in this piece that showed how very precious each tiny scrap was to its maker! Here is a close up:


There are still more quilts from this show that I want to share with you tomorrow, but here is a shot of the little park where we took a shady break to eat our picnic lunch.
Felix had prepared a fresh lobster salad for us the night before and I had brought along some sweet potato chips made by UTZ. It was wonderful and very welcome to sit down, too!

Can you see the antique restored train of the Boston & Maine line?

And for those of you that crave those cute kitties, here they are, LOL!
Tipper loves to pose!


Stay calm and quilt on!













3 comments:

Janet O. said...

I don't even know what to say about the quilts. They are amazing!! Love seeing them.
I also like the "internal seams" term. I have wondered sometimes how to describe that.
Does Felix hire out for catering? : )

Elaine Adair said...

Congrats on the "Page" - isn't it great to learn a a new trick?

Thanks for the Quilt Show display - so many lovely oldies and goodies. Love the string quilt! Yes, our grandmothers did them as well.

new subject -- do you know how to change Default e-Mail Program? When I try to reply to you from my reader, an old mail program pops up. It sure would be better if my current e-mail would pop up.

Helen in the UK said...

More wonderful quilts! I can hear 'bonus triangles' everywhere calling out wanting to be in a 25patch quilt like this one!!! No wonder you were mesmerised :)

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