and even though I don't know any of their names, they are my sisters..*VBS* This post card was received back in 1992. It's a picture that was taken of a quilting party at Pendroy, McHenry County, North Dakota(date unknown) from the State Historical Society of North Dakota Collection. I wondered, when I looked at it, what were those white "pole"or rope looking things at the two corners. Then I realized they were ropes. This is a clamped frame that is lowered from the ceiling. My Grandma Smith has one of these. I never got to see it, as she was no longer quilting by the time I was around. Or maybe she just quilted in the winter, and I only saw her in the summer.My dad's sister Lucille, who taught me to piece and quilt told me stories of that quilt frame and being under it as a young girl. Later she was recuited to thread needles for the quilters. Not much quilting of this kind gets done today, but sure does look like fun. Gathering with friends for a day of food, fun, and friendship. So may secrets were told around the quilt frame, and so many problems aired and solved. Tears shed and heartache shared. I think in a way we blogging quilters have come together also, it may only be virtual hug, but my heart listens and understands who you are and shares in your joys and sorrows.
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13 comments:
love the picture! I was too young to particiapte, but I do rememebr going with my gran to a quilting bee or two and plyaing under the quilt as if it were a tent for us kids...
If someone had told me 20 years ago that I'd become sister-friends with quilters from all over the world without meeting any of them in person I would have thought they were nuts. I remember years ago when the Internet was young and Ann Landers thought it was much more of a bad than a good thing because of online predators. I like to look at the good side of things always, and love to share about making quilty friends from all around the world.
What a great picture!
Love the photo - I have only recently learned of frames suspended from the ceiling. . .an outstanding idea for space saving *s* It is so enjoyable to have the kinship and friendship of so many in so many places around the world. Isn't it funny how something so traditional and something so technological could bring us all together? I say, 'Hurray!'
CNN did a roundtable discussion on how the internet is used to set up social groups. It was interesting and because of the blog ring I could relate a lot to what they were saying. Love the photo...thanks for sharing.
Sio
Love that photo. Also love the idea people all over the world can 'share', & get so much enjoyment from this Internet.
Blogging has opened a whole world of thought & ideas for so many!
And allowed me to meet you Finn, with your wonderful soul.
I have a good friend whose husband has suspended his huge model train layout from the ceiling that way. He's painted the bottom of the layout's plywood base with ... dunno what you call it, but that bumpy looking ceiling paint.
It has a hole in the middle for the ceiling fan and light fixture to go thru - and when the model layout is lowered, that hole becomes a place where he can crawl under and pop up gopher style to stand and work on all the little details. Guess it works for quilting too!
An innovative way to make the best use of living space available - whether it's a quilt frame or a train layout. We quilters are far fewer on the ground than back then particularly in the UK and the internet has given us a wonderful opportunity to chat with likeminded people even if it isn't sitting round a frame together - thanks Finn for sharing this with us it's a lovely photo
I'm fascinated by these quilting bee photos. They must have quilted the quilts from the outside edge first, moving in to the centre, which is the complete opposite of what the books tell you to do.
(Actually, I quilt in 'bands' from the top to the bottom, a section at a time. I roll up the un-quilted part to fit under my domestic machine, quilt, then unroll a bit more, etc. This way I get the bulky stuff out of the way first)
Thanks for sharing the postcard. I love hearing, and reading, old stories and your blog is full of family history. I suppose Nancy's Heartstrings are vaguely similar. All of us working on one or two quilts together.
I enjoy sitting at the quilt frame with you...
it was this very idea-quilting with friends around a frame that first attracted me to quilting as a child-I still have yet to sit around one and quilt-but maybe one day! I settle instead for quilting at home knowing all of my online quilter friends are doing the same thing.
When I was growing up, my grandmother was a quilter. She and her friends didn't "piece" as we know it today - they were whole cloth quilters. Anyway, she had a grocery store attached to the house and more often than I can remember she and her friends would quilt on a suspended frame at the back of the store (behind the checkout counter). I wonder what every happened to that frame? She kept chairs lined up on the back wall, ready to set up around the frame. Thanks for letting me share that memory!
I too feel we really are friends. Quilters are the best! I'm getting very frustrated with picture posting too. I don't know why they can't let us post from picasa like we used to be able to. Less and harder is not new and better. Sure glad you and Ebby got some sunshine. Such a darling cat and cute pictures. Katie
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