Friday, March 15, 2013

Alice's Communication Quilt--The Lost Art of Letter Writing



The art of letter writing has, sadly,  almost disappeared.  I have a notebook filled with letters written by my parents to my dad’s younger sister Sallie in the 1930s, along with a few to his mother.  My parents were engaged, but it was during the Depression and times were hard.  Reading them, I heard my dad lamenting over the difficulty of finding a job as a journalist and worrying if they’d ever get to marry.  But then I heard my mother exulting as a new bride, listing many of the delights of marriage.  I decided to focus on this treasure-trove of letters for this quilt.

After choosing a few of the letters, I scanned them and some envelopes, resized them, and printed them on Jacquard Inkjet Fabric Sheets.   I also scanned and printed a picture of my parents taken in the early days of their marriage.

For the background of the letters and envelopes and the picture, I made a crazy quilt block.   I used some of Mother’s old, sheer handkerchiefs, as well as some old lace.  I backed these delicate fabrics with pink and blue fabric (more about these in the photo captions), fusing them together with Misty Fuse.  Once the crazy quilt pieces were fused, I sewed them together and added some decorative machine embroidery stitches to the seam lines and a bit of lace insertion with pink ribbon.

Next I arranged the photo and snippets from the letters and envelopes onto the background.  Once I had a design that pleased me and showed off the lovely embroidery on the hankies, I fused them to the background with more Misty Fuse.  Finally, I stitched around all of the fused pieces with a tiny zig-zag stitch.

I bound the quilt with one of the fabrics used behind the hankies, and I made a Cross Country block for the back, again using some of the fabrics from the front, as well as some 1930 vintage feed sack fabrics.  I chose Cross Country to symbolize how my father made so many cross-country (well, cross-state!) trips to visit Mother, during their long courtship!

The center block in the backing was also used under some of the crazy quilt pieces.  It reminds
me of my mother's "every day" china, Pink Tower by Spode.  I have a few pieces of this china, and I think of Mother every time I see them!  My father loved flowers and gardening, 
and he loved Texas, so the blue bonnets and other wild flowers in the fabric are in honor of him.  The other two fabrics in the backing are from authentic 1930s feed sacks.  Again, I chose pink for Mother and blue for Daddy.  It is likely that they would recognize these fabrics, perhaps in some garments that were made for them by their grandmothers!


I couldn't resist a close-up!  Perhaps you can read, in Daddy's distinctive back hand cursive, that he tells his sister Sallie "don't tell Mom" about losing a job he had for a short time.  And Delight #3 that Mother mentions to her sister- in-law is trying new recipes!  She projects into the future and imagines being a granny with grandchildren spending hours in her kitchen.  This is poignant to me because my late, beloved daughter was her first granddaughter, and she did, indeed, love to cook with her grandmother!

18 comments:

  1. I had the pleasure of getting a preview of this. It is lovely and funny and I think letters are our most precious possessions. I still write letters and love good stationery. Your quilt is beautiful, just like you.

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  2. Very, very nice :) What great memories and it is true, letter writing is disappearing - how sad.

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  3. What a terrific memory piece; and a lovely way to use those special hankies, letters and photo.I am sure it was a lot of work made enjoyable by the memories and the pleasure to come from holding it yourself and sharing with family and friends.

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  4. This piece is really exquisite, Alice beautifully rendered and filled with memories.

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  5. I love this piece, Alice. It was fun to see it in person, and it is a wonderful heirloom quilt that I am sure will stay in your family for generations. Beautiful!

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  6. Alice, What a moving piece, and what a wonderful gift for your family. I think we sometimes forget how important it is for us to document that for the younger members of our family. Lovely things like this will keep those letters alive and communicate from the heart. Would love to see this close up someday. It is so detailed.

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    1. Lois, thanks for your comment! If ever Bob and I get back to Atlanta, where we have so many fond memories of the births of our two oldest, we'll have to get together. And, if I remember this comment, I'll bring along this little quilt for you to see. One nice thing about these MM quilts--they are little and portable!

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  7. Thank you for commenting on my blog. I was excited to see the big reveal this morning. What a wonderful piece, Alice. Thank you so much for sharing it with me.

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  8. Wonderful...I myself just love the opportunity to somehow use the bits and pieces of family treasures that I have inherited, as they can be used to make such heartfelt pieces such as this quilt. This piece looks like it gave you great joy to make and as Carolyn said, it will be a much cherished heirloom.

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  9. You are so lucky to have those letters. What a gift for your family. I love how you used them in a crazy quilt style.

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  10. This is lovely Alice and so special. What a treasure to have the letters and to make such a beautiful piece with them. I'm sure this will be one of your favorite works - I know it's my favorite of yours!!

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  11. Alice, your quilt exudes warmth, life and love. When I read about our challenge quilts, the back stories, choices in fabrics and design etc., that information richly enhances the experience every artist shares with their viewers. I was going to recommend to you but now I suggest to all of us this: Print each post we've submitted and place the corresponding post with it's quilt - perhaps in a small pocket adhered to the back of the quilt. Our inheritors will benefit greatly.

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    1. What a good idea, Judy! I will seriously consider doing just this!

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    2. Great idea Judy. I am terrible at documentation, this is a great way to keep it all together

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  12. Alice, you have created an exquisite treasure of an heirloom. This 12 inch square is so packed with treasured memories.

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  13. I'm glad I got to see it in person. You have a real treasure there. I love all the detail you put into it. You are really using those wonderful products out there to create art quilts from your heart!

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  14. Hi Alice - This quilt is so you ! Full of beautiful and personal memories.... tributes to the past and homage to the future. As much of a letter and card writer as I am, sad to admit, e-mail, texting and other electronic / digital methods are so convenient and dare I say, less time consuming. I loved your story and explanation of the materials you used, how you scanned and resized your images, and the lovely block you made for your backing fabric. Great job ! Looking forward to seeing your quilt in person at the next Waco Quilt Guild Meeting !

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    1. Kathy, I am bringing it to Guilt and will let it do double duty at one of the "challenge" memory quilts! See you there!

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