The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1897-01-27
THE ART OF QUILTING
IN SOME LOCALITIES IT STILL BE-
GUnES TIE LEISURE HOURS.
The Tender Memories Which Come To Our
Grandmothers as They Caress the Patch
work Of Long Ago-Quiitmaling as .
Social Function.
Coverlets whose perfect white

Coverlets whose perfect white
Showed like an April daisy on the grass
The silk and velvet CONNECTIONS with
their rufflcs of lace and Innings of satin are
the evolutionized quilts of our grandmoth-
ers just as the gildcd and upholstered
chair of today stands for the splint bottom
of colonial days. In the rural districts
patchwork still bcguiles the leisure
hours of the good housewife and her
daughters, and such terms rs the rising
star" fence row, - "rosc of sharon sug-
gest different geometrcal dc.igus of col
ored calicocs on 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 il one Is sufficiently interested to lead
the dear old ladies on sometimes choice
bit of romance is unfolded with the quilts.
told in the speakers quaint style, which
vividly recalls those days of long ago when
hope was young in hearts long since turned
to dust.
AS grandmother smoothcs 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 Co
the belle of today. 1t leads to the dream
land of Knight have been. / recollect as
child seeing young lady busily sowing
away, piecing quilt after quilt. l won
dered why, when her mother had all that
was needed, but 1t was whispered TO me
that she was going 10 be married and
the quilts were 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 IL is that our ances-
tors lacked an artistic taste 1t 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 checsecloth, which are so
pretty and SO quickly made, or one for the
baby's crib of dainty bits of silk lined
with silk of a solid shade or the combina-
tons of wooden fabric, that in their rich
coloring reminds one of autumn leaves.
The fancy may not strike her until she be-
comes grandmother, old and infrm.
The hours are "a task to get through, but
with her workbasket by her side filled TO
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 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 rs 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 coverlet in white
and navy blue which she values very high
| ly because her mother wove 1t. The wool
| Is of wooden and the warp of cotton, hand
loom was used, and 1t is 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
marvels of skill, made by the same hands,
long since turned to dust The ooverlets
have also outlived their usefulness, but are
preserved for old associations sake and as
examples of homemade weaving Clara
b. Miller In Good Housekeeping
Sage's Thrift.
A story Is told on Russell Sage to the
effect that a lady went to him with SUBJ