The Pleasure of Reading...New This Week

I love to read almost as much as I love to piece, applique and handquilt!  Guess what I will be doing this evening while watching the final installment of "Downton Abbey"!!    Here are some of the reasons why I love to read.......Two new books came this week ...."Utility Quilting" by Carolyn Forster which has lovely photos of old quilts interspersed with instructions.  Very good instructions about layering quilts to baste, big stitch quilting, and best of all, methods of creating quilting designs such as cables that have been greatly simplified!  Instructions for eleven projects.

"Back to Charm School" is the second book by Country Threads about making small quilts with charm packs.  This book is as good as the first!  And I can't wait to make one, but have to work on my monthly Jo Morton quilt first!!  Priorities you know!!

Here are three new more new books!  Edyta Sitar has outdone herself with "Reasons for Quilts"!  It is primarily a photo book with excellent shots of her loverly quilts, but there is a CD with patterns for 9 of the quilts.  This book could easily while away the evening hours without you realizing it!  A Hexagon Craze by English Paper Piecing method is sweeping the Quilting World and here is a book that shows you More Patterns (actually, nearly any pattern could be done EPP!).  If you love the handwork of EPP, you will like this book!  "New English Paper Piecing" by Sue Daley, A Faster Approach to a Traditional Favourite  contain 10 quilted projects. Clear photos and instructions should make this technique easy for anyone who wants to try it!  The third book is "Quilts in the Attic", a collection of 30 short stories about "Uncovering the Hidden Stories of the Quilts We Love" by Karen Musgrave.  Have enjoyed the first two and I am sure the rest will be equally interesting!

 Now we come to this week's magazines!  I should make a list of all the magazines I read each month....might provide some insight as to why I am slow at finishing quilt projects!!  "Early American Life" has been a favorite for years and I believe I have collected every issue since it began in the early 1970's.  I love old houses and can easily while away a few more hours learning about wonderful restorations that folks have done!  The other magazine is only a couple years old....."A Simple Life"  ...again more restoration, history, beautiful gardens, but the homes are a bit more "primitive".  Even the ads are wonderful!  Visiting all the websites could take up a whole day!  (Much like the blog-following we are becoming deeply addicted to!)
                                    



Now we have three magazines from my childhood that I found on ebay!  When I was a child, I loved to read my mother's "Woman's Day" magazines....I collected the little monthly recipe booklets for many years!
When I happened onto the June 1959 issue on ebay, I noticed that it had a Quilt article and I wanted to see what quilts were being made in 1959!  I am sure I read the issue in 1959 but do not remember it!


The middle issue contains an nice article on rugbraiding, something I tried, and enjoyed, but did not pursue beyond two small rugs.....am still using them! Someday I would like to try Rughooking.....no time to do everything one would like to do!


The issue on the far right contained an excellent article on antique dolls, a hobby I pursued in a different life and I still have a few dolls that I will talk about another time!  I wonder if that article with its beautiful photos and history of dollmaking planted the seed in my heart that I would follow many years later!

 This is what quilts were in 1959.....bigger pieces with solid fabrics! Machine-sewn and Machine-quilted!  To me it is the typical "modern" look that ladies were after in the 1950's, including my own mother!  Instructions are similar to what you read today, but of course no mention of rotary-cutters....would be a little more than 20 years before I heard of a rotary cutter!  Must have been a bit tedious using scissors and less accurate too!  But I'll bet it was Satisfying, nonetheless......later, when I was a young mother, I loved making everything for my children and home that I could!  Quiltmaking is my primary sewing endeavor these days!

I was particularly thrilled when I came across this Singer ad!  If I have identified the machines correctly, I own all three!  Collecting older sewing machines is another hobby of mine, but unless something Spectacular comes my way, I have reached my limit!  Running out of room!   As much as I love the neat stitches and the purring motors of the older Singers, I will admit that my first choice of machine is my trusty 22-year-old Bernina 1120!  Have the 1/4" seam allowance down pat and am addicted to the the knee-lift for the pressure foot and the needle-down button!  Hope she lasts for many more years but, if not, I have plenty of back-up!

The first two photos are slant post zig-zag machines and the last one looks like the 404, a straight-stitcher that was made for the school home economics classes from the good old days! The $69.50 price was for the SPARTAN Portable, a small basic machine.  No prices given for the other 3.  It is noted that all three machines are made in America by American craftsmen!