quilt

Here’s the pattern. It was published in the Kansas City Star on August 31, 1932.

What makes this pattern special? My grandma designed it…when she was 12. She sent it in to the Kansas City Star newspaper, who published it in their weekly quilt pattern series. Not knowing her age, they attributed it to her with ‘Mrs.’ before her name. That famous KC Star quilt series ran from 1928 to 1961. You can read more about it here. More information and a partial list of all of the KC Star patterns can be found here.

In 1986, the KC Star did a feature page on their quilt series, featuring The Purple Cross in their images.

Here is how the Purple Cross block can look in various quilt configurations. The diamond configuration was the first one I made. That is me and Grandma holding it.

Here’s a close-up of a kaleidoscope block.

Myrtle the dog stresses the importance of testing works in progress, and proper use of finished quilts.

This was the grandma who taught me to sew really well, on her dream machine, the Singer 401a Slant-O-Matic, that I now have care of, until it’s time to pass it on to the next generation.

The Purple Cross pattern is difficult. It starts out easy, when making the stars. But when you add the circle inserts it gets more complicated, and then the corners make it even more difficult. And then when sewing the blocks together I literally almost give up completely, feeling like I really don’t know how to sew at all! It would be slightly easier to construct if sashing strips are added between the blocks. As you can see from the examples above, I haven’t done that. I like the look of the blocks right next to each other.

So anyway, Happy Birthday to Grandma’s Purple Cross Quilt Pattern! Looking forward to making more of these quilts.

And now for some music!

The Slicethelife.com song draft continues, and is now on Round 5. The Run-Sew-Read.com round 5 selection will be this weekend. What will it be? I’m still deciding. A listing of the songs in the first four rounds can be viewed here.

For Round 4 I went for fun and ornery. Here’s the post, and below the song and video. http://slicethelife.com/2021/08/22/2021-song-draft-round-4-pick-7-run-sew-read-selects-half-a-boy-half-a-man-nick-lowe/

There I was, browsing through my then-fave antique furniture dealer/restorer, telling myself I didn’t need any more furniture. Then I came upon this. Machine in cover

The hand crank turned easily, and all the parts appeared to be there. The price seemed low. I’d never worked with an antique machine, and my curiosity quickly won out.

This was more than 15 years ago. The internet was still new enough that personal web pages consisted of a lot of plain text and a few little photos. But lucky me, a few people had done DIY pages on bringing an old Singer back to life. All it took for this one was some sewing machine oil, and careful cleaning of the head, to not ruin the decals. A universal bobbin and needle were all the parts I needed. Soon it was sewing beautiful stitches on a test scrap.

The decals are the “Lotus Petal” design. The serial number is stamped on the base, in nice big numbers. There is a little storage compartment under the hand wheel, for holding attachments, etc.

I love looking in the storage compartments of old machines. They are like opening a time capsule. There were a few specialty feet in this compartment. I confess, I still haven’t used them. I need to make that a future fun project. special feet

There was also an online database of Singer serial numbers, that quickly told me this machine is a Model 66k; one of 75,000 manufactured in Clydebank, Scotland, in 1917.

Around the same time I got the machine, I acquired a little stack of scrappy stars in another antiques shop. In keeping with their vintage status, I decided to assemble them into a quilt top using my ‘new’ hand crank sewing machine. Then, I taught myself to hand-quilt. Then I took the finished quilt into the shop where I’d bought the stars. The owner got choked up, and told me her mom had made the stars. She loved how I framed them in red and muslin. Quilt

The sewing machine currently resides in my sitting room, on top of a treadle base. There is another antique sewing machine folded up in the treadle base. This first purchase and all of the wonderful experiences that came from it, caused me to buy more old Singers and put them back into ‘service’. My feeling is that they need to be re-appreciated, and used occasionally. And that’s a duty I thoroughly enjoy. base-pup rsr

This hand-crank machine’s most recent use was at a workshop where outdoors enthusiasts were learning to make custom straps with buckles, adjusting slides, and other embellishments, for camping, hiking, and biking. A small bit of straight stitching on the straps was optional. This sewing machine being non-electric, low-tech, and virtually unbreakable, was not threatening to people who had never sewed, or who’d had a bad first sewing experience. Everyone opted to take a turn with it. I think I (or more likely, the machine) successfully recruited some sewing newbies that day.

run | sew | read

and all things related that make this a good life.

A very special quilt pattern turns 89 today.

This machine is a sewing ambassador.