Blue Eagle Coverlet Pattern – NRA Eagle - Nancy Cabot

This Nancy Cabot pattern appeared in the Chicago Tribune on October 8, 1933. To quote the Cabot article, “Inspired by the NRA Emblem seen all over the country and known all over the world, The Tribune today offers an original quilt pattern called the “Blue Eagle.” The color choices were to use a strong blue against a white.

This eagle motif looks a little more like a frog to me than an eagle, but if you have a quilt that looks like this -- you have an NRA Blue eagle quilt.

Treasure Hunting: Needlecraft Supply Company Chicago, Illinois 1930s Find

When I am not quilting, researching, or writing about quilts, I can be found roaming around auctions, antique malls, flea markets, and swap meets looking for quilt and textile treasures which pertains to eagle quilts and Illinois quilt and textile history. I don't just collect fabric items, I am also on the lookout for paper items to support my areas of quilt and textile interests.

My latest Illinois Quilt History find:

Lone Star Quilt Kit

Needlecraft Supply Company

Chicago, Illinois

Circa 1930s

See my web site: http://www.illinoisquilthistory.com and find out more information about Needlecraft Supply Company of Chicago, Illinois.

If anyone has any additional information about or a photograph of Ruth Ward or Bertha Secor, please feel free to e-mail me at quiltingbee73@yahoo.com.

Quilt Stories Exhibit at Western Illinois Museum Macomb, Illinois

Western Illinois Museum
201 South Lafayette (at the corner of Washington Street)
Macomb, Illinois 61455
309-837-2750

The museum is open 10 - 4, Tuesday through Saturday.
Admission is free and donations are welcome.

Quilt Stories Quilt Exhibit
December 22, 2009 - April 24, 2010

"Quilt Stories is a historical look at quilts from the region. A quilt can be simply defined as two pieces of fabric with a filler layer joined together by quilting stitches or ties. Over time it has become a canvas for quilters to express what they think important and hold dear. Each of the quilts in the exhibit tells a unique story of families, influences, inventions, beliefs and political interests. The exhibit includes over twenty quilts that represent the rich history of over 100 years of quilt making in the region sewn by women from Carthage, Good Hope, Macomb, and Bushnell with examples from as early as 1848." Excerpt from the Western Illinois Museum's web site.

Herbert Hoover Musuem Exhibit - Patterns of the Past: A Century of American Quilting

January 23-March 21, 2010

The Herbert Hoover Museum of West Branch, Iowa has a new exhibit which will highlight quilts (and patterns) from 1850 to 1940. Quilt collector Nancy Pfutzenreuter has "selected 24 favorite quilts from her outstanding collection of 100 quilts for display at the museum from January 23 – March 21, 2010."

According to the museum web site, "This exceptional exhibition will focus on three distinct quilt traditions: Amish and Mennonite designs; Classic Appliqué designs; and the Unique and Unusual quilts – these will round out the exhibit. Two examples of her unusual quilts are a handkerchief quilt and a quilt from the 1933 world’s fair."

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum
210 Parkside Drive
West Branch, IA 52358
319-643-5301

The museum is open seven days a week from 9-5 and is located just off I-80 at Exit 254 in West Branch, Iowa.

Web Site:
http://hoover.archives.gov/

Feedsack Secrets: Fashion from Hard Times by Gloria Nixon

I appreciate 19th century quilts, but my area of interest in quilt history has always been the 20th century. I am drawn over and over again to quilts created between the 1920s-1976 - a time span that takes in my grandmothers, my mother, and my generation of women because they touch something deep inside my soul.

I was DELIGHTED when I opened my mailbox and found Gloria Nixon's book Feedsack Secrets: Fashion from Hard Times inside. I grabbed a cup of tea, a few chocolate kisses, and settled down in my family room in my favorite rocker, near our woodburner, to read it.

Well researched and written in a voice and tone to please my Midwestern heart, there is a lot of feedsack information inside this gem. I have read it, I enjoyed it, learned a lot about feedsacks and their history that I did not know before, and I would recommend it to my fellow 20th Century quilt lovers.

This is the type of book presentation my group of quilt history friends love and hope to see more of in the future.

Well done Gloria Nixon for writing it and well done Kansas City Star Books for publishing it.

Interested in getting a copy for yourself:

Call:

StarInfo:
816-234-4636 (Say "Operator")
Kansas City Star Books

or

Order Online:

Web site:
http://www.pickledish.com/
Put: Feedsack Secrets: Fashion from Hard Times in the Search box.

Prairie Sky Barn Quilts - Support Home Businesses!

If you drive through Iowa or Illinois on any of the country roads, U.S. Highways, or interstates there is a good chance you've seen them hanging on barns, silos, grain bins, garages, or displayed next to a lane/driveway welcoming visitors to a country home. These "eye-catchers" are called wooden "Barn Quilts" and they aren't just for barns (or farm people) anymore! These quilts would look great on your gardening shed, next to your front door, in your flower garden, on your garage, or "eye candy" at your place of business.

Check them out......

Prairie Sky Barn Quilts is located in Southeast Iowa and specializes in handcrafted wooden barn quilts made to your specifications. They handcraft their wooden barn quilts from the highest quality wood, paint with several coats of high quality exterior paint and seal with an excellent exterior sealant. They can handcraft any design you like or you may be interested in one of the designs they have already completed. There are also several sizes to choose from and they are reasonably priced.

The owners are two working mothers who have been friends for over 20 years. They love quilts and art and finally combined their talents to begin handcrafting wooden barn quilts. Each of the "wood" quilts are created in their studio, not in a factory. They paint each barn quilt individually and use only the highest quality wood, paints, and sealants. They do quality work!

I have one on order - they are personalizing it for me because I collect a specific type of quilt.

Contact Information:

Web Site: http://www.prairieskybarnquiltsco.com/

Prairie Sky Barn Quilts
33146 263rd Trail
Milton IA 52570
Phone: 641-680-0086
prairieskybarnquilts@yahoo.com

Support Home Businesses!!!! The Mom and Pop type places!!!

Cost of a Crazy Quilt

Let's forgive them for they do not know of what they speak ... read on...

"Cost of a Crazy Quilt

A certain girl has pieced a crazy quilt containing 9,000 bits of ribbon. It must have taken at least three minutes' sewing to the piece. That would take 27,000 minutes - an hour a day for a year and nearly three months. In that time this foolish girl might have learned a modern language, became an accomplished cook and house-keeper, studied no end of history and science, or have done benevolent and educational work among the ignorant and poor that would have lasted to eternity - Exchange."

May 7, 1884
Newspaper Editorial Page

The fellow(s) that wrote the above never lived long enough to see the Aids Awareness quilts, the breast cancer quilts, the alzheimer quilts, the memory quilts moms make which keep their children warm years after she has passed, and the countless other quilts made to raise funds, awareness, or to honor a loved one.

Nothing "foolish" or "ignorant" about that.