Quilting lesson, part 2

"January 25, 2002:  Received 14 birthday cards and a package from Helen -- contained homemade candy "turtles".
January 26, 2002:  Called Helen to thank her for the candy.  Received a birthday card.  Greta had placed a request in The Wayne Herald and others for a card shower for my 90th birthday.  Joan N. called this evening explaining why she wasn't at my farewell party.
January 27, 2002:  Called Greta in a.m.  Received three birthday cards.  Nancy brought supper -- I showered and then we played Rummikub."

I certainly hope I sent or delivered a birthday card to Grandma.  I think I am ranked nationally in the bad-about-sending-cards category.

Here's more of the quilt speech:

A missionary from Boston to the Hawaiian Islands gave the native women scraps of material to make quilts because she thought "idle hands do the devil's work".  The native women gradually substituted their own material to display their much-loved motifs -- grape vines, shadows of the bread fruit tree, or taro leaves.  The swirling, curved stitching instead of the diagonal or parallel is indicative of the Hawaiian gentle nature.  Families made their own patterns and shared them with no one else.  These patterns were treasured by the family.

Amish quilts have strong design and striking colors.  [believe only God is perfect, the quilts have plenty of imperfections]  The quilts are composed of three primary shapes -- the square, triangle and rectangle.  Often the square is placed on its corners to make a diamond.  Small triangles may be placed along these edges to form a saw tooth diamond.  The Amish felt it was sinful to have excess pride in wordly possessions, so the early quilts were constructed of large, simple pieces.  In the early 1900's they began to use more intricate designs being influenced by English neighbors.

Many books have been written about quilting in America.  Among the early colonists, cloth was too scarce and expensive to waste, so homespun and worn calico dresses were cut and sewed into crazy patch quilts.  In time the European motifs were replaced by traditional American designs still used today.  Colonial ladies in Boston and Philadelphia, others on southern plantations, and the pioneer women of Kentucky or Kansas made many quilts.  New designs were created and they were named after the new land -- the Ohio Rose, Arizona Cactus, and the Rocky Road to Kansas.

The famous Lemoyne Star was the forerunner of the Lone Star, Twin Star, California Star, Star of Bethlehem, Morning Star and Broken Star and many more.  The Log Cabin with its many variations was one of the most popular of all.  (Quilt at Pioneer Village).

And to illustrate Grandma's point about the log cabin pattern, here is one variation.  The writing on the back of the photo would indicate this was given to Uncle Raymond and Aunt Marina.