The Uncle Donald Quilt goes to the Ohio History Museum, along with my grandmother’s.
What? Holy Cow.
Several weeks ago, a lady form the Ohio History Museum spoke at our guild meeting. She talked about quilts up to about 1950. I was not looking forward to this speaker, but it turned out that she was very knowledgeable about quilting and historical quilts. In her presentation, she showed many lovely old quilts. She explained that most of their quilts were donated and cam with the history attached to them.
When it was question time, I asked if they had any early quilts that were made by men. She told me no they had never came across anything like that. Once she was done speaking I showed her a photo of Uncle Donald’s quilt. Right away she asked me if I would consider donating it. I would. SO, she asked me to send her an email with any information I had.
That was easy. I knew Uncle Donald, and he was one of my favorite people. After he died I continued to visit Aunt Helen a couple for times a year. We would go to lunch and talk about all sorts of things. I often took her something I made when I visited. Once time when I was there she gave me the “Uncle Donald Quilt”.
I had no idea if he was illiterate. My dad thought he was a pretty smart man, and I image her was, even if he was not educated. I know my grandmother was, she was actually a school teacher at one point in her life, but boys became valuable farm hands and were often not educated past the 8th grade.
Uncle Donald had 8 sisters (one of them being my grandmother). Since he was the youngest, he wound up joining in on the quilting. He made his own quilt. Aunt Helen thought I should have it, since he was my family.
So I had all the provenance and sent her the information I knew. She emailed me back information about my family after she researched them. I had guessed the quilt was from about 1920, but was unsure. I knew when my grandmother was born, but did not know that until Donald was born in 1907. She thought that 1920 was pretty close because the 1920 census had listed him as an illiterate farmer. He would have been 13 then and become a valuable farm worker and likely not had time for quilting after that.
So, my Uncle Donald Quilt will be part of the Ohio History Museum’s quilt collection, along with one of my grandmother’s. Uncle Donald’s quilt will be the only one made by a man in the collection.
It feels very good to know that items from my family will be forever saved as part of a historical collection.
It takes about a year for things to be officially added to the collection along with filling out paperwork, but I am thrilled it will be forever saved.
Happy Sewing
Happy Quilting
For my Hand Quilt Along, I have finally picked back up my dog bone dresser scarf. It is nearly finished. I added the last dog bone, so hope to have it finished soon. This is the lat one in the set of 4. Please visit all the wonderful ladies in the Hand Quilt Along and check out what they have been up to.
What is this photo? Well, this would be a group of 4 inch square blocks that was somewhere on my table and I managed to quilt it into the quilt I was working on. Lesson learned – TOTALLY CLEAN OFF YOUR TABLE WHEN YOU QUILT SOMETHING. Duh. SO I picked out some stitching after mumbling under my breath quite a bit. This was the second oops while quilting this quilt. The first one was when I tried to use a silky thread on the top and in the bottom and crazy stuff started happening. Loops and well…just plain crazy stuff. Once I went to a cotton on the top, all craziness ceased.
stars quilting. It was actually quite fun. I made pock-marked moon and stars using my star shape ruler. After doing this piece, I will not have a problem with my quilt. I also have a lovely piece for the dining room table. It adds some color that my boring dining room needs.
that my little sister Kellie has blood clots in her lungs and is in ICU. Two of my absolute favorite people. Damn it. Derrick was the love of my life. I think about him every day. Not a day goes by where I don’t think of him, laugh, smile, shed a tear. My little sister, my best friend, keeper of all my secrets. Come on.
the sea collection. This month we have a whale. I do have to tell you, my last months post brought some criticism form some Facebook followers (my sister mostly). She insisted that my seahorses were farting. I tried to explain that it was meant to be swirls of water, but no, according to her it was pretty clear. Farting Seahorses. Now I 
look at my seahorses in a little different light. Darn it.
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