Wednesday, September 21, 2016

1975 Signature Quilt Blocks

My friend Theresa Nielson shared signature quilt blocks found at an estate sale. The pattern is Barbara Brackman's 3252 with an unknown source.

I love a genealogical mystery and brought them home for Ancestry.com research.

The blocks are embroidered with names and various dates in 1975. I identified several family groupings: Wheatley and Dominguez. There were also blocks for President Gerald Ford and his wife Betty.

The first clues were blocks for "'my mom' Minnie E Wheatley" and "'my dad' Harry Wheatley". Also a block was signed "Love You Always Your Brother Shell."


Other Wheatley family blocks included Virginia A. Wheatley dated 2-8-75; Harry J. Wheatley dated Feb 8 1975; and Helyn E. Wheatley dated Feb 3 1975.

I started with the Federal Census from Wayne Co, MI.  Harry Wheatley was born in Canada in 1879, moved to Pennsylvania in 1889, then moved to Michigan. He was naturalized as a US Citizen in 1895. Harry J. married Minnie E. Howes who was born July 26, 1880 in Canada and died May 13, 1973 in Sterling Heights, MI. Their children included Florence E., born in 1908; Sheldon E, born March 29, 1910 and died May 12, 1990; Eleanor born in 1909; Virginia M. born April 5, 1912 and died May 7, 2002; and Francis born about 1926.

Sheldon married Margaret Newman in Detroit on Sept 28, 1932. He was a painter. Their children included Don Ernest born in 1944 and Edward who died in 2004.

Virginia Wheatley first married Allen Hutchenson. Then she married Harry D. "Hank" Gonzalez. They lived in Detroit, MI in 1975.
Allan Hutchenson 1934-1953
Virginia M Gonzalez and Harry B. Gonzalez
Florence E Wheatley married Martin Allor (b. 1907) in 1928. They had child David Martin and Mary Eleanor who died in 1930 under 2 years of age.

I found a Helyn Wheatley who was born Jan 8, 1921 and died March 25, 1992 in Reeder, Misaukee, MI. A Helyn E. Wheatley was born Sept. 1, 1975 in Lake City, MI.

The Dominguez family inlcuded Eleanor Dominguez who married Richard Wayne Strong; they divorced in 1974. Eleanor lived in Lorain, OH and in Florida. I wonder if she is Eleanor Wheatley?

Twins Vera L. and Vida D. Dominguez were born January 28, 1961 in Lorain, OH. Vida married Michael Paul Kivatisky and Vera married Bobby E Goode. Their parents may have been Joey Dominguez and Colleen Pass.

Josie Dominquez was perhaps Josephine born May 2, 1907 and died April 22, 1991.

Grace Dominguez was born Dec. 23, 1939 in Kentucky and died March 27, 2006 in Las Vegas, OH.
Eliz. Hutchinson, March 23, 1975, Good Luck & God Bless You
Jane M Adams 3-3-75 [illegible place name]
George [illegible] March 21 1975
Janet Hernandez 1037 Mt Capitol San Antonio TX March 11, 1975. I found a Michigan born Janet R. Hernandez living in San Antonio, born Oct. 1915 and died 1994.
Frances Margaret Maloy, Lorain OH 3-13-75
Corky & Helen Peace 6-22-75 Kentucky
Mary Perry March 8, 1975 Kanopolis, Kansas
God bless you, Joy Manogue? 1975
M P Allor 2-17-75- perhaps Martin Allor who married Florence Wheatley.
Lorine? - Eleanor
Jenny 6-12-75
Big Shooter Tom-1975
Eric Jason - 1 yr.
THE KING Cary
Andrea Lynn 4 yrs
Mrs Howes 6-20-75 Salt River. Likely related to Minnie E. Howes who married Harry Wheatley.
Gene from Novi- 6/30/75 (Novi is a city outside of Detroit)
ABCDEF 4XOs Andrea
Kay
Luck of the Irish! Pat 1975
Rico Morsicals? (Rick) 1975
Tracey 1975 11 yrs
Babe
I love you! Lori 1975
Pat Lassman

It is sad to know this quilt was never completed, its recipient never cuddled under all the love expressed in the signatures.





Tuesday, September 20, 2016

The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill


Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill by Candice Millard is a riveting tale of adventure, providential happenstance, and determination.

At age 24 the pampered, dandy Winston Churchill believed he was destined to become Prime Minister of England and set out to be a war hero in the Boer War as his way to fame. Although officially a war correspondent he dived in to help when the British troop transport train he was on was wrecked; consequently when the Boers captured Winston he had been witnessed acting as a soldier. The capture of Lord Randolph Churchill's son was a glorious coup for the Boers, especially as the Lord had been very critical of the Boers.

Chaffing at imprisonment, even with the luxury of haircuts, ordering new suits, and gracious 'hosts', Winston forced his way into friends' escape plans. Sadly, Winston escaped but his friends were unable to join him, leaving him to face traveling 300 miles through enemy territory alone, unarmed, and without water or compass.

He was a very sure young man who relied on his intuition. Yet finding himself alone in the veldt and uncertain of how to proceed he broke down and prayed for guidance. The answer was to continue to follow his intuition. He walked to the lights of what turned out to be a Boer owned mining camp.

I was surprised to find myself laughing aloud by the amazing luck Churchill had during his escape. More amazing is that after reaching safety Winston turned around and returned to the war! It was the stepping stone he had hoped for, bringing him fame, and after the war he was elected to Parliament.

The British treatment of the Boers and the resulting war was not Britain's finest moment. Then, the Boers were not the finest example of colonists, either; they developed apartheid after all.

Churchill was a prolific writer and Millard allows us to hear Churchill's own words concerning his experiences.

Previously I also enjoyed reading Millard's River of Doubt about Teddy Roosevelts post-presidential exploration into the Amazon which nearly killed him.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Hero of the Empire
Candice Millard
Doubleday
Publication Sept 20, 2016
$21.99
ISBN: 9780385535748

Sunday, September 18, 2016

The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore

If you think a book about the "War of  Currents" over A/C vs D/C between Westinghouse and Edison and the disputed patent for the light bulb would be boring you would be dead wrong. Throw in the eccentric genius Nikola Tesla, powerful banker J. P. Morgan, a young up and coming lawyer named Paul Cravath, and a love interest in the form of a beautiful Metropolitan Opera singer with a shady past--does it still sound boring?

Graham Moore's historical fiction novel The Last Days of Night is a rollicking good read. I enjoyed every page, and the pages flew by very fast.

In 1888 the 20th c was being invented: electric lights, the telephone, moving pictures, x-rays. Invention as pure research was Tesla's love, but for Westinghouse and Edison the legal battle over the patent for the light bulb would determine the future of their business.

Paul Cravath obsessively works to defeat Edison's law suites against Westinghouse. He stops at nothing, not even for love. Convoluted twists, intrigue, and shady dealings enliven the story.

And you will learn solid history and even (gasp) how direct and alternate electric power differs. It becomes evident when A/C current fails to kill in the 1890 first use of an electric chair.

The people and events are all based on history, with a little tweaking. Moore nicely includes his sources for the novel's events.

Graham Moore wrote the award winning adaptation screenplay for The Imitation Game.

The movie rights have been sold. The book is so graphically drawn I can just picture it playing out as a movie. I for one can't wait!

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Read more about Edison vs Westinghouse at Smithsonian.com

It's part legal thriller, part tour of a magical time—the age of wonder—and once you've finished it, you'll find it hard to return to the world of now.”—Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City
 Mesmerizing, clever, and absolutely crackling, The Last Days of Night is a triumph of imagination. Graham Moore has chosen Gilded Age New York as his playground, with outsized characters—Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse—as his players. The result is a beautifully researched, endlessly entertaining novel that will leave you buzzing.—Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl

The Last Days of Night
Graham Moore
Random House
Publication Date: September 20, 2016
$28 hard cover
ISBN:9780812988901

Saturday, September 17, 2016

Mini Review: The Tea Planter's Wife

The Tea Planter's Wife by Dinah Jefferies is an international best seller. The back cover blurbs called it atmospheric and vivid, compared it to Rebecca, and said it was spellbinding. 


Passage to India by E M Forster and the novels of Rumor Godden set in India are some of my favorite books. I thought this book set in Ceylon might offer the East Meets West theme. And I love Rebecca.

Gwen at nineteen is married and joins her rich, plantation owner hubby in Ceylon. But instead of recreating their courtship and honeymoon love, Gwen finds Laurence oddly distracted, distant, and cold. 

A few chapters in I was not convinced I wanted to continue. I enjoy character development. Gwen's disappointment in Laurnce's inability to bed her left me cold. I did not know enough about the characters to feel Gwen's pain.

Skipping ahead to see where the story was going I may have found Gwen's situation regarding her children more interesting. But the big reveal about them is so implausible! 

I think those who like historical romance novels with a melodrama plot twist would like this more than I did.

I received a free book through Blogging for Books in exchange for a fair review.

http://www.dinahjefferies.com/books/the-tea-planters-wife/


The Tea Planter's Wife

Dinah Jefferies
Crown

Eugene Gochenour's Memoirs: Grease and Cars

Here I am as a baby with Dad and my cousin Linda Guenther. We are sitting on the yard
of John Kuhn across Rosemont with our house and gas station behind us. 1952
I have already shared Dad's story about his father Alger Gochenour building and running a gas station and garage. This selection talks about the cars Dad bought as a young man and the men who worked at the station.



"This photo shows the walls of the garage are up, and parked in front of the garage is the first car I owned, a 1930 Chevrolet. The house behind the car belonged to the Keller family. Mr. Keller was killed in the accident at this loation that my father had seen years before."


"Dad installing the garage windows. My 1930 Chevy is parked on the left side."


"Dad with his 1938 Buick."


"Dad at work preparing the driveway. Dad signed a contact with Frontier Oil Company to sell their product. Frontier was a small, local company. It had a refinery on River Road by the Niagara River. They agreed to install the gas tanks, pumps, lights, signs, paint the station, install a hoist and air compressor. Soon after we opened they blacktopped the driveway."


"The pumps are in." [In the background is John Kuhn's barn.]

"The station is painted."[In the background is the family home.] 

Emma Becker in front of the station. 


"The sign is up." [You can see Military Road in the foreground. This was before Rosemont Ave. was built.]

 The completed gas station at 1851 Military Road, Rosemont Service.

 "A few years after we opened the station we bought a fairly new 1950 Ford pickup truck. I spray painted it blue and white, the company colors. Then we had the station name painted on the doors. We called the station Rosemont Service because that was the name of the street that would one day be built next to the station."

Uncle Levant Becker painting the fence along the gas station property.
Military Road in the background.
"There were people who helped Dad build the station. There was my uncle Lee, and a close friend of Dad's Carl Yotter, Uncle Rueben Becker, and myself. But Dad did most of the work. Mother always did her share also. Here Lee is painting the fence. Years later I replaced the fence and I said, "the first person that damages this fence will be killed!" Well, soon after I was working on a car that had no brakes and had to park it so I could work on another car. When I drove out I forget it had no brakes and drove right through the fence. So much fo thereats and predictions!"

Gene and friends working on a car at the service station.
Gene and Tom Richards working in the service station.
My parents Joyce Ramer and Gene Gochernour in 1949, just about the time of their marriage in front of Dad's car

"When I became seventeen I took a driver’s test and got my Junior Driver’s license. A buddy of mine, Archie Henderson, had an old 1930 Chevy two-door sedan, and he sold it to me for fifty dollars. Someone had torn all the upholstery off from the front seat back, and it was not much of a car, but it was my first set of wheels. He gave me a huge oil can that had a long spout, and looked like something that would be used on a railroad locomotive. He said whenever the engine got noisy, to take the engine cover off and lubricate the parts, using the oil can. So every once in a while when I was driving down the road, I would hear the noisy engine, pull over, lift the hood, take off the engine cover, and lubricate the engine parts, using the oil can. People passing by must have wondered what that jerk was doing! 

"[My girlfriend] Joyce probably thought the same thing, but she never did comment. There were no floor mats in the car, and the wooden floor boards had cracks in them, so whenever it rained, and there were puddles on the road, Joyce would have to lift her legs so her feet would not get wet. Riding with me was probably quite an experience for her! 
Gene Gochenour and Joyce Ramer, high school sweethearts
"A neighbor, Phil Ensminger, had an old 1930 Dodge coupe setting in his garage and he said he would sell it to me. The car was in good shape, since it had always been parked in a garage. So I sold the Chevy to some lucky person and paid twenty five dollars for the Dodge. It looked good after I cleaned it up and gave it a “powder puff” paint job. Paint was applied to the car using a puff like cloth dabbed into the paint, then wiped onto the car. It did have a nice smooth appearance. I chose to paint the car blue with yellow trim and wheels. Not long after I finished the car, a customer offered me eighty dollars, because he liked it. 

"I really liked the car. It had hydraulic brakes, comfortable seats, and it stayed dry during rainstorms. Quite a change from my first car. The only problem I had was once when I was going up the Grand Island Bridge and the car just made it. It did not like to go up hills, I think it had a gas problem. But I decided to sell it, because a buddy of mine talked me into buying another car. 

"Dick Watkins lived at the Sheridan Housing Project and I think I met him through Joyce, my girlfriend. We became close friends and he hung around the station a lot. He had a 1935 Ford coupe, and I spray painted it two tone red and cream. Before that he had a 1939 Lincoln Continental, and on that car we removed the twelve cylinder engine and installed a V-8 engine in it. 
Dick Watkins

Dick Watkins and Gene Gochenour
"Johny Parker was a customer at the station, and his family owned a trailer park south of us on Military Road. He had a 1936 Ford club coupe convertible and it was a beauty. He came into the station one day and said he was selling it and asking two hundred dollars. I wasn’t sure I wanted to part with that much money, but Dick finally talked me into buying it. So I sold my '30 Dodge and bought it. As soon as I got it I spray painted it maroon and put a new convertible top on. It had both musical and air horns. The air horns sounded like a semi-truck and I could play a tune with the musical horns. It had maroon leather upholstery and seats, A radio, a gasoline heater, and white wall tires, so it was a beauty."

*****
"The station was a hangout for many young guys from the project and surrounding areas. Almost every week we would have a party, sometimes at one of their parent’s houses, or at a bar on Grand Island. We had parties when one of them was getting married, going into the service, moving out of the area, or any other reason.

"One evening my brother-in-law Ken Ennis and I took my boat across the Niagara River to a bar on Grand Island, docked it, went in, and joined all the guys at the party. Dave Wilson and a couple of the guys then took the boat back out on the river for a ride. When they came back, Dave fell into the river as he got out of the boat to get onto the dock. Well, he came in to the bar soaking wet and dripping, with a big smile on his face, but then the bartender told him to get the heck out of here! So he left, but soon returned, wrapped in a blanket. Everybody laughed when he walked back in looking like an Indian, but he was not going to miss the party! Some of our parties were pretty rowdy, and some ended with beer fights, but I never did see a serious fight between any of the guys.


Ken Ennis who married Alice Gochenour worked at the station

Dad's Uncle Levant Becker working at the station

"This is a list the guys of most of that hung around the station:

Tom Richards
George Horan
Ken Ennis
Ron Anderson
Vic Lemieux
Skip [Gifford] Marvin
Bill Patterson
Mel Coburn
Adam Ott
Ed Horan
Tom Braun
John Molnar
Dan Miller
Dick Hoadly
Don Clarke Don
Linquest George
McDougal
Harold Brown
Gus Morrison
Dick Kusmierski
Smitty Aldrich
Arnie Krebbs
Dave Wilson
Bill Linforth
Louie Grace
John Morrison
Bob Kusmierski
Rod Mahoney
Leo Rodrequiz
Butch Wilson
Frank Cucinelli
Ronnie Oates
Louie Randall
Mort Kearney
Emma Gochenour and Tom Richards
"Many of the guys came to the station with their parents when they were young. When they were old enough to get a car of their own and drive they were accepted into the group. Many of them were given credit at the station, and I found out later that it was a big deal to them, that someone trusted them.

"Once a year the whole gang would gather at the station, gas up, get in line, and take off for a park about twenty miles away for a picnic. Many had worked at the station at one time or other. There were probably about twenty cars, and a truck or two to hold the beer, pop, chairs, etc. As time went by the picnic included wives of the gang and children.

"Ken Ennis was my sister Alice’s husband. After they got married they moved into the downstairs apartment of our house behind the station. Ken worked at the station with me for a few years. We worked well together, and it was a blessing to me that I could take my family on an occasional vacation and not worry about it, knowing Ken was there.

"Ken and I went together buying old cars and restoring them. One of them was a 1929 Ford two door sedan. Ken’s brother John had worked as a surveyor and he spotted the old car sitting in a field. We contacted the owner and bought it. We fixed it up, painted it maroon, got an antique license, and drove it around. After a while we sold it and bought a 1930 Ford pickup. We fixed it and painted it blue metallic. It had come without rear fenders, and we never did find any to put on it.

"When we first opened the station we sold gas for 18-cents a gallon for regular, and 21-cents a gallon for high test. We washed cars, sold and repaired tires, sold batteries, polishes and accessories. As time went by we could not compete with the specialty stores so we had to do other things like towing, snow plowing, and heavy repair work.

"I weighed about 129 lbs in those days and wrestled with truck tires that weighed more than I did. I had a five-foot bar that I used when I removed a tire from a semitruck. I would put the lug wrench on the lug, insert a five foot crowbar in the wrench and jump on it to loosen them up. When I got the tire off, I used a sledge hammer and some pry bars to take it apart. Since we bad no power tools, it was all bull work.

I remember when the following story happened! Sometimes I would go with Dad when he plowed the parking lots on a winter night. It was cold in the truck!

"In the winter I only wore a T-shirt and a Navy turtle neck sweater because if I sweat, then went outside in the wind to pump gas, I would freeze, so I was always cold. One night after I had worked about twelve hours during a snow storm, I went into our apartment. All I could think of was to hop into a hot tub to warm up. I stripped and jumped in when the tub was filled. Then I noticed that some of my toes were black. This scared me because I knew they must be frozen, so I jumped right back out so I could slowly thaw them. I felt colder than ever then! I had bought new boots, and that day decided to wear them. They were too tight, that is why my toes froze. I learned a lesson that it is better to have boots too loose than too tight! Since the boots were new, I gave them to a friend, Bob Cole, that worked at the station. Luckily, I did not loose any toes.

"Work during the winter was hard. Sometimes when it stormed, it would drop up to 18 inches of snow overnight. The wind always seemed to blow, and when it stormed there could be snow drifts six to eight feet high. Then I would have to get up early in the morning to plow out the station, the house driveway, and snow blow a couple hundred feet of sidewalk, before I could open the station.

"During bad storms, many customers’ cars would not start, and I would take mother with me in the tow truck. She would steer the broken car and I would tow her back to the station to repair it. Mother also did bookkeeping, drove to pick up parts, went to the bank, and took home customers while we worked on their cars.

"During the winter storms, the cars we worked on were loaded with snow on top, and underneath. Sometimes when we had them on the hoist, large chunks of frozen snow would drop on us. Also icy water dripped on us as we worked from below. Even though the engines were like blocks of ice, we had to work with bare hands, because gloves were too bulky. Since I could not afford to hire someone to repair things around the station when they broke I did the work myself. I repaired the roof when it leaked, replaced broken windows, built shelves, sent out monthly bills, made out tax forms, and any other thing that had to be done.

"Sister Alice was a big help by entering the daily sales into the ledger. Occasionally I would have to hire Charlie Tingly for a plugged sewer, or a plumbing problem. The Oil Company repaired the gas pumps, hoist, compressor, lights, signs, and other equipment. Many hours were spent plowing snow from nearby business parking lots in the winter.

We always had Lava soap and Dad worked to get his hands clean, but the oil was always in the lines of his hands. I used to kiss Dad's owies better.

"Because my hands were wet so much of the time, they were calloused and cracked, and black with dirt and grease. When I got married I used steel wool to try to clean them. They looked bad! It was dirty work, and at the end of the day I would remove my shoes before I went into the house, and change before I sat down."

My parents, Gene and Joyce Gochenour, with my brother 'on the way'
1959. Rosemont Ave in the background. The car belonged to family friends seen below.

Skip and Katie Marvin with their jazzy car
A love of cars runs in the family. Alger has several photos of himself with his car. Dad became a mechanic and later was an experiemental mechanic at Chrysler in Highland Park, MI. And my brother Tom is an engineer with Ford.

Alger Gochenour with his car. About 1930.
A young Alger Gochenour with his car. 1930s.















Thursday, September 15, 2016

A True Story of Hollywood's Golden Age: Such Mad Fun

The 1939 Cosmopolitan cover says it all: The lovely and glamourous Jane Hall with her beloved Kate, captured at the height of her successful career as a Hollywood screen writer. The real deal, an early writing genuis published at age 13 who ended up in an office next door to F. Scott Fitzgerald screenwriting writing for the cash desperately needed to support his daughter Scottie in private school and wife Zelda in the sanitarium. He became a mentor and friend to Jane.

An Arizonia small town girl orphaned early and raised by her New York City aunt and uncle, Jane attended a posh private school and 'came out' as a deb. Caught up in the mad fun of endless deb parties that lasted into the early morning hours and required long days of sleep before the cycle started again, she found deb life shallow but irresistable.

Jane's early success writing for magazines was based on her outsider/insider look at the glamourous life of her contemporaries. Attracking the notice of an agent she was hired by MGM where she wrote the screenplay for These Glamour Girls. Jane thrived in the exhausting long days and hobnobbing with Hollywood elite at night. She was a success.

She kept suitors at bay with a singleminded desire to write...until she finally succumbed to the charming and handsome Bob Cutler, a recovering alcoholic and divorcee. Jane thought she'd met her Prince Charming, the perfect man who would also whole heartedly support her career. His glamourous life and money beckoned. They were the 'prefect couple'. They had a quiet marriage and a glamourous life.

But with marriage came responsiblities and Jane found it harder and harder to write, the old stories were old and she couldn't get a grasp on new stories. Metro hired her for $850 a week to work on a picture that was never made; the Japanese attacked Pear Harbor and everything changed.

The magazines were clamouring for Jane to submit stories, but she was facing writer's block. And after a mere 18 months of marriage she discovered the real Bob, a man who retreated into himself while dependant and demanding. Jane gave birth to her only child, and found that family expectations took over her life. She managed to write several more stories but realized that her Hollywood career has been 'thrown away'. Jane, like many women, settled for good enough.

Robin Cutler has presented an interesting biography of her mother's carer, enriched by personal letters and details of her screenplays and stories. Tis is more than a family memoir; it is a hitory of Hollywood's movie business and the Golden Age's 'mad fun' society. She also considers her mother's life in context of social expectations and opportunities for women at that time. Today many female writers juggle personal and professional lives. Jane lived during a time that offered little support for women desiring careers; in fact the author points out that some successful women felt guitly about their careers.

You can read more about Jane Hall and her life and times at Robin Cutler's website at
https://robinrcutler.com/

Read my review of West of Sunset by Stewart O'Nan about F. Scott Fitzgerald's last days in Hollywood at
http://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2015/01/drugs-booze-and-women-fitzgerald-in.html

I recieved a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Such Mad Fun
Robin R, Cutler
View Tree Press
Publication Sept 8, 2016
ISBN:97809974823-0-0 $14.95 paper
ISBN:97809974823-2-4  $9.99 ebook

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Mary Kerr's Old Textiles in New Quilts

Twisted: Modern Quilts with a Vintage Twist  is Mary Kerr's newest publication. Vintage quilt blocks and fragments star in new, modern quilts created by 22 amazing quilt artists.

Beautiful photographs show the original vintage textile, how it was used in the new quilt, and the finished quilt. These are bed-sized quilt projects.

I was impressed by the originality of the final quilts. They have the hallmarks of a Modern Quilt: lots of negative space, use of solid color backgrounds, complicated machine quilting, and an overall graphic quality.



Mary wanted to blur the demarkation between traditional and modern quilts. She distributed the vintage pieces to her artists and allowed them to "work their magic". 


Shown in the photo above, Dahlias in the Snow is a remarkable quilt, but you'll have to get the book to see the completed quilt! The use of the original blocks is thoughtful and unusual.

Mary's previous publication A Quilted Memory: Ideas and Ispirations for Reusing Vintage Textiles similarly illlustrates how textile fragments can be employed in a new quilt.

These are small scale projects inspired by her own heirloom textiles and family history.

Kitchen linens, embroidered linens and dresser scarfs, handkerchiefs, doilies, buttons, and even vintage clothing are repurposed to make sweet wall hangings.

Mary shares images of her family and the original textile associated with them and the completed quilt employing the textile.

The photograph above shows Mary's grandmother and the painted kitchen linen she created. Mary paired her grandmother's work with fragments of an 1890 quilt for her completed project.

Mary used her mother-in-law's scarf and a red jacket to make a pillow.


If you don't have heirloom textiles, you can always purchase some! Mary found a set of day-of-the-week embroidered applique towels in an antique shop and used them to make the colorful quilt shown in the above photograph.

I can't wait to have time to play in the quilt room. I have a nice collection of unfinished vintage tops, blocks, and fragments. I am so imspired by Mary's vision!

I previously reviewed Mary's book Recycled Hexie Quilts which you can read about here.

These books by Mary, plus several more she has written, are available now.

I received free books from Schiffer Publishing in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.




Twisted
Mary Kerr
$19.99 soft cover

A Quilted Memory
Mary Kerr
$19.99 soft cover