quiltersmuse.com Blog

Generally speaking, my husband is fun to take along on visits to stores that sell antiques. More often than not, he will spot items that I have overlooked. One fine example are Victorian tradecards that can be stuck in the most unlikely places.

We used to have a ready-made place to buy them, until the Laconia antiques store burnt to the ground on one winter’s night. I could go on and on about those special little cards, but have already written a large file about them for our website, so you can learn more there.

No, the purpose of this column today is to talk about antique needlework. For me, it is often “love at first sight.” For example, this past week, I spotted a gorgeous “runner” done in Cutwork, with green thread, a stunning piece to freshen up and use on a bureau.

On one particular summer’s day, Jim and I spent quite a lot of time looking around a shop that has an upstairs and a downstairs. After going down the stairs and turning a corner, my heart beat a little faster when I saw this item:

Fire screen rendered in Crewel Embroidery, with the typical, stylistic, swirling motifs of Jacobean Era embroidery

The tag on the framed, free-standing object had no provenance information, just the words, “Cruel Embroidery.” I figured this must have come out of an estate sale, but no one knew much about it, least of all how to spell “Crewel” correctly. I suppose the embroidery technique could be considered “cruel,” depending on how many times the needleworker stabbed his or her fingers while making it.

I stopped dead in my tracks and proclaimed, “I want that!” I don’t believe that Jim took me seriously. We picked up a few other small items of interest and then he said, “Ready to go?” I replied, “Yes, except for one thing … will you please carry the fire screen up the stairs? It’s a little too heavy for me to manage.” Then he knew I meant business. Still resistant, he retorted, “And where do you think you will put that?” I said, “Don’t worry. I’ll find a spot.”

I love this piece! The stitches are impeccably executed and the framing is exquisite. Its latest “provenance” (our purchase of it) brings a smile to my face because every time I look at it, I recall what Doreen Speckmann once told a worker in a quilt shop who quizzed her about what she wanted to do with the fabric she’d lined up to buy.

She reportedly said, “I’ll take it home, I’ll pet it, and I’ll love it.” Doreen, rest in peace, you made all of us laugh more than once. For me, I am visually-stroking this piece and am enjoying it so very much. If anyone happens to know more about who made it, or where the design originated, I’d love to hear from you! e-mail: pat@quiltersmuse.com

Click on the link below my name which will take you to the front page of our website, where, at the moment, there is a close-up view of the needlework of the fire screen.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

The last time I visited with a dear friend of mine, she left a quilt with me that she calls “Yellow Work” Quilt. Most likely, it was made in Pennsylvania. The color is a good tip-off to that. She accompanying paperwork states that the quilt is from circa 1930, and measures 76″ long x 75″ wide, approximately twin size today.

Whole view of Cheddar Color Embroidered Quilt

Like Redwork, Bluework, Greenwork, Purple Work, Variegated Work, etc. this quilt has line drawings that were rendered into designs with the use of cheddar color thread. All of these kinds of embroidery use the same technique: Surface Embroidery with Outline Stitch Embroidery being the predominant factor.

The surface represents some designs that are clearly from the Kate Greenaway era before the turn of the 19th century to the 20th century. (Kate died in 1901). This kind of embroidery is still popular today and is the topic of my e-book: Redwork Renaissance Revisited, available to purchase as a mail-order product from our website.

Here is a close-up of the quilt just shown:

All photos, on our blog and website, copyrighted; property of James Cummings, photographer, et.al.

Many of the motifs on this quilt are botanical, as are the designs in the borders. The quilting is “Baptist Fan” style, sometimes called “Methodist Fan,” depending on who was behind the needle! I certainly treasure the chance to enjoy seeing this beautiful piece of work, from a time when quilters really did a lot more handwork than we are seeing today, oftentimes.

Blessings to my friend. She has hinted that she may just reclaim this wonderful quilt, at any time, so I guess I should get busy studying all of the details!

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

First, let us turn to the dictionary for an explanation of the word “angel.”

angel (n): a spiritual being believed to act as an attendant, agent, or messenger of God, conventionally expressed in human form with wings and a long robe.

Yesterday, while antique-shopping near Rutland, Vermont, I found a wonderful old print of “Angel’s Heads,” a famous painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, b. 1723.

My delight in finding a tangible document, that I could reproduce to show you, was about on the same par as finding this image rendered in Redwork, in a Maine antiques shop, a number of years ago. I have re-created a usable line-drawing, for Redwork, for anyone who would like to order it and embroider their own design.

The Redwork version presented a conundrum and was nothing like we’d seen before. It features the words, “Angels Sing Thee to Thy Rest,” derived from Shakespeare’s play, “Hamlet,” of course. If you are interested in ordering this pattern, please contact me at: pat@quiltersmuse.com

Angels are often found as stone carvings in cemeteries. Perhaps, they help to transport a soul on their heavenly journey.

The most interesting point about Reynolds’ painting, held by the National Gallery of London, is that the angels’ head actually represent only one little girl, his model, Miss Frances Isabella Gordon. To him, she looked like an angel.

Looking at the reproduced Redwork piece, one would never guess that the angel represents the same little girl, from different angles and affects.

A question remains: Why was this piece re-created in Redwork? One answer is that the image could be ordered from a 19th century catalog for stamping patterns. The second reason might be the Victorian Era’s preoccupation with Death and the occult. The piece in our collection may have been used within a coffin, or on top of a coffin, at the time that funerals were held in the front parlor. When we purchased it, the white cloth was very dirty, almost as if it had been buried, at one time.

Since then, a few times I have seen this pattern worked with Black embroidery thread, but the angels did not look angelic at all. Rather, they looked demonic, a large sway from Sir Joshua Reynolds’ original intent to paint a beautiful little girl and “save” her for posterity. We are so glad he did, and I hope that you agree that it is fun to see the original work from which derivative pieces in needlework came forth.

We never know what will turn up in the antiques shops of New England. The “hunt” is the fun part of the game. This was a serendipitous find. We hope you will enjoy it.

I will be making the pattern available on the Products Available page on our website, when I can get around to having more copies made, which involves a trip to a copy shop. Hope your day will be a good one!

P.S. – We are making some changes at Quilter’s Muse Publications. The change we made to this blog is to do away with automatic feeds to subscribers. Please bookmark, http://quiltersmuse.com/blog/ to visit our posts. One reason is that too many subscribers had changed their e-mail addresses and every time we posted a blog, we’d receive notices from the Mailer daemon. It was a real pain.

In the future, we will not be posting one word comments that individuals make as a response to posts, just so they can list their own blog’s address. If you don’t have something substantive to say, don’t bother trying to leave a comment. I hope that doesn’t sound just awful. I am sick of being used for everyone’s else’s self-promotion. Whom I choose to promote because of their quality contributions is another matter. Thanks for understanding.

We do our best to bring great information to you and important public notices. We will continue to do so.

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

Patricia Cummings, author of yet another book about Redwork and outline stitch embroidery!

In 2002, I wrote my first book, Redwork Renaissance: 49 Designs from an 1893 Coverlet. After a good run, we went on to other things, and the book was out of print for quite awhile. I began getting inquiries about its availability from friends of people who had bought the bound copy. Within the last year, we decided to bring the title back as an e-book on CD, with greatly-expanded content and additional information. The result is Redwork Renaissance Revisited by Patricia Lynne Grace Cummings and James Cummings, ISBN: 978-0-9769763-6-3. “Greatly-expanded” are the operative words with historically-significant textiles, and just downright cute motifs on many different items. Many designs are one to a page, ready to print out and trace for a project of your own.

The Crescent Moon Goddess was the central focus of the 1893 coverlet and I had adapted that pattern to a large framed Bluework piece. One reader, Linda Mageske, followed suit and added the moon goddess to her Crazy Quilt block. Here it is:

Linda Mageske’s Crazy Quilt block with a smaller version of the Crescent Moon Goddess. (There is a second, large, nineteenth century design of this type in our e-book, as well as directions for making a framed piece.

If you would like to learn how to do the stitches of Surface Embroidery, this book is great for any beginner. With the many quaint antique designs, the book is perfect for a child making a first quilt, or even a smaller item, such as decorating a pillowcase, my first project when I was five years old. I have a larger write-up about the book and its contents. One feature of the pdf file format of the book is that one can view thumbnails images on the left hand side of the screen. That makes it easy for finding the full size pages of patterns, without scrolling through dozens of them.

This kitty design, on a new baby quilt made by Pat, was re-created from an antique quilt made in Canada. Notice the many straight stitches. It doesn’t get more simple!

I think there is a lot to like about this e-book and it features many designs that could be incorporated into Crazy Quilts or other projects that are smaller than full-size quilts or coverlets. As always, we hope that our products are synonymous with quality.

The goose wearing a hat is one of 49 designs provided from an antique, unfinished, quilt top, a new acquisition for me.

For more information about this new product, please visit our Products Available page. We will mail you the actual CD. This is not a downloadable file. Offer good to U.S. addresses only. This is a really fun e-book. We have spent a great deal of time, effort, and expense to develop it, and we hope that you enjoy the results. There is additional information on the publications by Pat page of the website, and on the home page.

Patricia and James Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

For some time now, I have been fascinated with the history and ways of the Hmong people, many of whom have relocated to places within the United States since the end of the Vietnam War. In May 2009, the July issue of The Quilter magazine will feature the first of a series of articles I have written about the Hmong and their needlework. (Remember, the “H” in Hmong is silent, so please say, “mung.”) I have read a number of books about these people who are described as “fiercely independent.” I love their textiles and I am intrigued by their belief systems, faith manifestations, and folk legends.

I fell in love with this antique Hmong baby carrier made in Thailand. The bright colors attracted me, and the needlework, in person, is even more enchanting than any photo. The other side of the baby carrier is very drab in color, well-worn, and was washed often. Before selling a baby carrier, the straps are cut, according to custom. One can truly believe that Hmong women do embroider during every free moment. How else would someone get that much embroidery done?

Hmong people think that children are precious gifts and act accordingly. Mothers want their babies close to them, at all times, so they carry them on their backs. This particular baby carrier is not included in the articles I have prepared for The Quilter, mainly because it did not arrive in time, from Thailand, to be photographed. I hope this photo is a bit of a teaser for you, and that you will want to read the articles when they come out in the July and September issues (available in May and July, respectively).

I love to learn and am always seeking new venues, whether it is through taking a course, reading a book, watching a video, chatting with others, or visiting a museum. There are so many learning opportunities out there. Some of them cost almost nothing, or nothing … like my website and blog! See my current article, “Hmong Textile Art.” Enjoy!

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications