The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-09-30
The Art Of Quilting.


The silk and velvet CONNECTIONS with
their ruf1les of lace and Innings of satin are
the evolutonized quilts of our grandmoth-
ers just as the gided and upholstered
chair of today stands for the splint bottom
of colonial days. In the rural districts
patchwork still beguiles the leisure
hours of the good housewife and her
daughters, and such terms as the rising
star, fence row, - crosse of sharon" sug-
gest different goometrical designs of col
ored calcoes on II white ground. Many
old ladies take pleasure in piecing quilts of
fine wooden and silk for the beds of their
grandchildren And they delight to look
over the quilts that they have pieced when
their eyes were bright and they need not
call on the little ones to thread grandma's
needle Listening to their aged prattle
that has grown strangely childlike, we
hear of DANES and damsels who once wore
the frocks like the pieces in the quilts.
And if one is sufficiently interested to lead
the dear old ladies on, sometimes q choice
bit of romance is unfolded with the quilts
told in the speakers quaint style, which
wildly recalls those days of long ago when
hope was young in hearts long since turned
to dust
AS grandmother smoothes her wrinkled
| fingers over the faded and worn patchwork,
| made before she was married, many tender
| memories and affections come to her
| mind
| The faded patchwork is to her what the
faded roses, the package of letters tied
with blue ribbon, loves own color, is to
the belle of today 1t leads to the dream
! land of 'might have been" l recollect as
child seeing Il young lady busily sewing
away, piecing quilt after quilt l Won
dered why, when her mother had all that
was needed, but it was whispered to me
that she was going to be married and
the quilts We're a part Of her setting out
In the good old days we hear so much
about the more quilts, the finer the quilt
ing and the smaller the pieces the more
capable the girl.
In regard TO the art exhibited in the
| form and color combinations of the quilts
of the past there cannot much be said that
| is favorable. Some combine colors in the
sharpest contrast Red and green, blue
and yellow. Whether it is that our anceS-
tors lacked an artistic taste it is hard to
say, but certainly they did not show any
in their quilts
There is something attractive to every
| true woman at some time in her life about
making quilts 1t may be the tufted COM
fortables of cheesccloth, which are so
pretty and so quickly made or one for the
baby's crib of dainty bits of silk lined
with silk Of Il solid shade or the combna-
tons of wooden fabric, that in their rich
coloring reminds one of autumn leaves.
The fancy may not strike her until she be-
comes II grandmother old and infrm.
The hours are IA task to get Through, but
L,,,s a.
overlooking with scraps she passes away
the time With her quilt blocks and feels
she is yet of some use in this workaday
world of ours
Quiltmaking of the most practical kind
is to a great extent confined to the wives
and daughters of the rural districts The
work enters into their social life to the eX-
tent that when the quilt Is ready to be
| quilted the young women of the neighbor-
hood are invited to spend the day. And
their nimble fingers keep busy as their
tongues as they ply the small stitches with
speed and neatness A good dinner is pre-
pared to refresh the busy ones, and at
night the beaus appear in time for supper
and to take the quilt out of the frame. A
social time, sometimes Dance follows.
One good mother has u coyerlet in white
and navy blue which she values very high
~ because nef 1nOUnef WOVe III. Inc WOOL
ia of WOODEN and the warp of cotton, hand
loom was used, and 1T is a marvel how she
managed to make the design SO perfect.
The right and wrong side show up differ
emily, like an ingram carpet, but both are
pretty.
recall some other coverlets woven in
red and white and red and blue which were
maryels of skill made by the same hands,
long since turned to dust The coverlets
have also outlived their usefulness, but are
preserved for old associations sake and as
examples of homemade weaving Clara
b. Miller in Good Housekeeping