Ararat: Political Block or Not?

 

This is my version of the Ararat quilt block designed by Eveline Foland and published in the Kansas City Star in the 1930s. She said that the Ararat design was made to honor an elephant named "Ararat" that had just been acquired by the local zoo.

Readers of the newspaper interpreted the design as a representation of the symbol of the Republican Party, the elephant. That was not the intention. Soon, other readers were demanding that their political party be honored in the same way with a donkey design. A few days later, Eveline published the pattern for "Giddap, the Democratic Donkey," just to keep her readers happy!

The design for the Ararat block is available today via various companies and had also been published in The Quilter magazine in a pattern by Lucy Fazely. My version of the block uses half-rectangle units which are much harder to piece than half-square triangles which are utilized in other patterns I have seen.

So, that is the scoop. "Ararat" was just a beloved elephant minding his own business until folks wanted to politicize him. What else is new?

Patricia L. Cummings

4-H: A Valuable Organization

 The other night a documentary show on PBS about the history of 4-H caught my attention. Jessie Field Shambaugh of Iowa is remembered as the "Mother of 4-H," an organization initially started in support of rural youth. It offered useful learning activities and still does, although now club offerings have expanded to include STEM projects.

"4-H" stands for "Head, Heart, Hands, and Health." The motto is: "I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service, and my health to better living for my club, my community and my country."

My time spent with 4-H cultivated skills that have lasted a lifetime. Mrs. Florence taught me to knit and Mrs. Sanborn led a sewing group where I learned to use a sewing machine and do clothes construction. In addition, I was in 4-H Gardening with Mrs. Petersen. I also joined 4-H Horsemanship and had the camaraderie of other young horse enthusiasts, having fun meet-ups at the Deerfield, NH Fairgrounds.

In the 4-H fundraising activities at the Town Hall, I danced in a Can-Can line, modeled clothes, and played folk music on my guitar. I also served food at an International Dinner dressed in a green dress to represent Ireland.

I received a blue ribbon at 4-H Dress Review for making a green jumper with a square neck and also a shite crepe blouse with a stand-up collar and bell-shaped sleeves that had lace trim.

Luckily, I was chosen to attend 4-H Congress in Washington, D.C. with other Junior Leaders.

4-H helped to shape who I am today as an adult. I will be forever grateful to the adults who shared their skills and time with me.

Ellen Emeline Hardy Webster (1867-1950): Her Amazing Quilt "Charts," Her Writings and Her Life

 I wrote a 355 page book about Ellen Webster, New Hampshire's Early Quilt Historian, in 2006 and published int in CD form, n now almost obsolete technology. The book details Ellen's work and life in Hebron, NH and Franklin, NH. She was a teacher in a one-room school house and went on to teach college courses related to Bible study. 

Ellen loved quilts and was a student of their designs. She was hired as a quilt judge at Eastern States Exposition in Springfield, MA where she judged quilts in the antiques category. She was able to photograph them. No doubt the photos were helpful in helping her to draw and to draft quilt designs that she embellished by adding actual fabrics to them on her quilt charts.

In the book, I include many photos provided to me by a relative of hers. Featured is a photo of her in a "Civil War" style dress that she wore sometimes when giving quilt lectures. I even show a diary entry in which she mentions Florence LaGanke, a co-judge at the Exposition! There are many photos in the book, as well as genealogical information. She made about five quilts in her life time which she described as ordinary.

The Quilter magazine published an article about Ellen. Yolanda Fundora also published a blog with lots of information I provided to her. 

For the longest time, the maker of the 169 quilt charts was thought to be "Emily" Webster due to a misinterpretation by a former curator of the New Hampshire Historical Society. An Emily Webster is mentioned on the charts as well as an "Ellen A. Webster." They were sisters who were friends of Ellen Webster and who had a collection of antique quilts, some of which Ellen E. Webster featured on the charts.

Anyhow, the record is now set straight. There had even been a TV segment on WMUR that did not provide the correct name and showed a ghost-like figure in lieu of a photo of Ellen E. Webster which they did not have. In a book by Fritz Wetherbee, again mistaken information was published. 

It was a big undertaking - this book! I'm happy to have written it.

Garden of Eden Quilt

 A number of years ago, I collected an antique quilt even though it is in very poor condition and even though the piecing on it was not accurate or up to our current high standards. This quilt was obviously made for utilitarian reasons and it has been used extensively. Patches have worn off and some fabrics have faded. Nonetheless, I love it for its wonky layout and its use of many blue fabrics ranging from light blue to a very dark blue.

 

This past week as I was perusing my Facebook page, I spotted an advertisement by Connecting Threads. Right away I contacted the company and ordered two sets of blue fabrics that ranged from light to dark. The fabrics and a photo of my old quilt will be the inspiration for a new twin size quilt that I plan to make.

This morning I printed out rotary cutting directions for #1873 (Garden of Eden) from Blockbase, a software program by Barbara Brackman that is so useful in block construction. I am pretty certain that the maker of this quilt did not have a rotary cutter available.. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 This St. Patrick's Day, more than ever, I've heard people mentioning that they were going to have corned beef and cabbage to celebrate the day. I wondered where this tradition came from inasmuch as Ireland, traditionally, did not raise many beef cattle and tended to have sheep or pigs instead on their small tenant farms. 

At dinnertime, while we were eating a boiled dinner consisting of boiled pork shoulder, cabbage, potatoes, onions, celery, and carrots, I turned to my husband, Jim, and asked if he knew anything about the tradition of corned beef for Irish-Americans. Of course, he did! He told me that when the Irish first came to America, they were poor and they settled in big cities like New York, Boston and Chicago. They shopped at Jewish delis that were present in the ghetto areas. Corned beef was originally a Jewish food. 

The Irish were used to boiling their food and by St. Patrick's Day, in Ireland, they would still have root vegetables left from the previous year's harvest and cabbage which was a staple in their diet. Thus was born the boiled dinner!

Jim arose early this morning to make Irish Soda Bread. I have not been a fan of it, in the past, but his is excellent! The key is to cool it completely and then, to keep it wrapped in a damp towel. Feeling like baking today, Jim also made a squash pie. He is a keeper. Anyhow, I now have my answer to the corned beef question and thought maybe you were wondering about that, too! It's an Irish-American tradition, but not an Irish tradition!