The Story of Two Old Quilts

The year was 1947.  John and I eloped in 1945 and I trailed around with him while he was in the U. S. Air Force.  Did you know it was called Army Air Corps before U. S. Air Force?

In 1947 he was now home and we were trying to begin our lives together in the real world.  His mother taught me to quilt and she quilted because they needed cover.  The string quilt pictured is the very first quilt I made.  There were not enough scraps available so I ordered a scrap bag from the Sears and Roebuck Catalog.  Of course, the blocks were pieced on newspaper and because the scrap bag had lots of blue in it — the quilt is colored coordinated — somewhat.  This quilt hung in Hunter Museum in Chattanooga many years ago in their utility quilt show.  Mrs. Crumly was not a stickler for short stitches and when my mother saw the quilt she came unglued.  She gave me the what-for about my stitches.  She quilted with a church group and didn’t want to sit by a certain lady because that lady made long stitches and Mother was afraid somebody would think that was her work.  Wow!!  The quilt is now in desperate need of repair — in fact, beyond repair — apparently, I didn’t make my seams wide enough and seam after seam has come apart.  I make lots of potholders and have decided I’ll use this old quilt for potholder filler.  My girls will have more quilts that they can handle and certainly won’t want this worn out thing.

String Quilt

The other quilt is the first quilt I pieced using a pattern.  The name?  I’ve forgotten.  It’s made entirely of feed sacks.  My mother had two sacks just alike and it seems to me that’s all I needed, but in that day and time when we needed more sacks alike we traded with a neighbor to get enough to do whatever the project was.  It took three sacks to make an adult dress.  The off white in the top and the lining are also feed sacks.  With feed sacks the lettering for the most part was blue and red and those letters would wash out.  Fertilizer sacks had black lettering and it was impossible to get the black letters out.  I have such a quilt and think maybe the sacks were died using walnut hulls.   Maybe I’ll show it another time.  Right now its hanging in the Albertville, AL Museum.  Their show is called the Old Quilt Show and they wanted things made before 1950.

The Patterned Quilt

Another quilt they have of mine is made of Hi-jacs.  Hi-jacs were little knitted (?) jackets that were probably 3″ high and were made to slip up over the bottom of a 6 oz Coca Cola bottle.  This kept the fingers dry while the lady enjoyed the drink.  Hi-jacs were made in Fort Payne, Alabama which was the sock capital of the world at the time.

Then there was a period that I forgot about quilting — busy rearing two girls and trying to get our feet on the ground.  In 1973, I was no longer working, and drove from Marietta, GA to Stone Mountain once a week to take a class.  From that there was no stopping, I fell in love with the art and it has been a wonderful ride — among the best of country living.