Red Cross Army Blanket

Here is an item that I bought in November on that well known auction site. It is a blanket with a story and was sold to me as a Red Cross Army Blanket.

The blanket is very worn and has many holes. It is made of knitted bands where the colours change every 6 or 7 inches. It looks as if these bands are made of odds and ends of knitting wool. The bands are joined together with a herringbone stitch and then a tape is stitched onto the back over the join. The best feature of the blanket is the large red cross which makes it very graphic in appearance.

The blanket is wery worn and has many holes - and there are darns and patches as well.

Here you can see the stitching that joins the bands together. There is a red binding also, although this is coming off. The blanket obviously had a special significance for the family, to be kept so long, and the seller put this on the item:

"Hi this is an odd one. 4 ft x 4ft approx wool knit blanket. This is more to do with war memorabilia but a small story, this was carried off a hospital ship during the second world war by my grandfather who had been injured in service. The blanket is wool and was made by nuns at the time. Its quite heavy and has a few holes in it but still has a use somewhere. Incidentally, my grandfather died of his injuries."

I have been in touch with Maxine M (also on the BQSG committee with me) and when I asked if I could donate the blanket to the Red Cross Quilt Study Group I am pleased to say she said yes. The group has  at least two exhibitions coming up in 2013 and I am hoping that the red cross on this blanket might be of use in those. Another member of the group lives here in Woodbridge so it will not be difficult to hand over.

Christmas Bellringing in Ipswich 2012

Its become an annual occasion here - to try and get all the bells in Ipswich ringing near noon on the last Saturday before Christmas. Ipswich is an essentially Mediaeval town, and has many old churches, some of them redundant and some put to other uses nowadays. Its a popular event and always has a good turnout. Our district meetings don't always attract good numbers, but this Christmas ringing always attracts ringers that we don't see at other times of the year.

 Pettistree ringers usually take charge of one tower each year - this year it was St Lawrence, "Wolsey's Bells" - I ring here most Wednesday lunchtimes. They're a heavy five - not easy to ring for the uninitiated!

But, we made a good job of it - here's Mike, and Kate concentrating on the striking...

There were also some ringers from Tattingstone, outside Ipswich...

Also ringing were St Mary-le-Tower (12 bells) St Margaret (8 bells) and St Mary at Quay, St Clements, St Nicholas and St Matthews (all sixes). Plus St Stephen, which is only a 3 bell tower.

Afterwards, we went back to St Margaret's for mince pies and tea. The churchyard has many "no camping" signs. Earlier in the year, there was an encampment of homeless men living there. The church and the authorities got them rehomed and under cover but it was a problem that needed sorting. The problem of homelessness is a growing one and the Ipswich churches have a special program for Christmas and New Year to accommodate an extra 12 people in addition to the usual shelters.

New Book - Hawaiian Quilts

This is not a new book! but it is new to me....

Published in 2004, it is "Hawaiian Quilts - Tradition and Transition" by Reiko Brandon and Loretta Woodard, published by Kokusai Art, Tokyo. The book resulted from an exhibition of quilts at the Honolulu Academy of Arts in 1989.

The book has lovely photograghs - a full size photo of each quilt plus a detail of the quilt.

The photos are lovely, and there is much information about various quilters from Hawaii - very informative. I think it is a good addition to my library, which is a bit sparse on Hawaiian quilts....

Turkey Red Throw

Here is a throw in Turkey Red fabric that arrived recently. It is not quilted, but has some nice fabric to look at. There are so many different variations on a theme with this type of fabric - it was very popular as the red colour was very fast and did not fade like other red dyes.

The throw is just a wool blanket covered with cheerful fabric. I have unpicked these throws before, to recover the cloth, and usually they are just sewn around and the edges then folded over and top stitched - very easy and quick to make. In this one, I think the filling must have shrunk somewhat, as the fabric is a bit baggy....

The outer border has a border print - while the red did not fade, the other colours such as yellow and blue, did tend to fade, so it now looks as if it were just red and white...

A heart formed by two paisley shapes in the mitre!

 

The back has a piece of brocade, another remnant of fabric, pressed into service as a bedcovering...

Also on the back, the fabric is more colourful as the sun has not faded the colours - here you can see that the fabrics originally were overprinted with blue green and yellow - and would have been much more colourful.

It is very difficult to date these throws, as the turkey red fabric continued to be made for a long time, and according to Sykas, the metal rolls were reused and reused and often sold on to be used by other companies.

Dr.Dunton - Old Quilts

I brought this book home from Florida - it is a book that my father found. He loved to look in thrift shops for first editions....

It is a copy of Old Quilts by Dr W R Dunton of Catonsville Maryland. Dunton was a doctor who became interested in antique quilts - the book was published at his own expense in 1946 and only 2000 were ever printed - so I am lucky to have a copy. It documents: Album Quilts, Appliqued Chintz Quilts, Tree of Life Quilts, Framed Medallion and Plain Quilts. The price in pencil inside the cover is $4.00.

So... I was very interested to see a mention of Dr Dunton's book in William Volckening's quilt blog WonkyWorld post for Sept 29th - link here:

http://willywonkyquilts.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/dr-duntons-book.html

Bill (who seems to be a quilt collector with a deeper pocket than mine!) had bought a chintz medallion quilt which is very similar to the chintz quilts by Achsah Goodwin Williams - featured in the Dunton book.

Its a useful tool to have a collection of books at hand - I don't think that I would be keen on "Ebooks" for that reason...... just not the same.....at least you can read a hard copy book when the electricity goes off!!

My father Orville B Palmer worked for ETS in Princeton for many years and was an excellent writer. He collected first editions - his best find was a first edition Mark Twain book ( albeit not one of the more famous ones) at $25.00. He also found a first edition of The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck in a house that was being demolished in Hoboken (no dust jacket, though!) He built up a fine collection of books on the Midwest, which I think have gone to his alma mater's library at Oklahoma State.

The above photo was taken during WWII when Ruth and Orville were newlyweds - this was one of the very few photos from that time that could be found, but it was used on their 50th wedding anniversary invitation - taken with a Brownie Box camera?

My posts in this blog are approaching 300 - and I have had to start to pay for extra storage space, as I do not want to delete any of the photos or posts. Viewing numbers are above 120,000 now- so a big "thank you" to all those who are interested in old quilts and belllringing.

Signs seen in Churches....

I love going on ringing outings, as one always sees interesting things. Churches are usually old, indeed Mediaeval, and as well as having their old furniture and fixtures, often have things which have found their way into the church as "museum pieces".

Sometimes there are amusing signs as well...

This sign is a very large one - in the ringing chamber at Redenhall - it is directed at the bellringers and says "Use no bad words! This is a Sacred Place!!!" Prior to the Belfry Reform Movement in Victorian times, bellringers were sometimes very rough characters and difficult to control. Bellringing was seen as a recreation which just happened to take place in a church - but the bellringers were not necesarily part of the church congregation and often were not answerable to the vicar. There was sometimes lots of drinking and swearing! One thinks that there must have been a particular problem at this church with the bellringers?

This sign shows just how much things have changed - It states that "These roads are closed to horsemen - except for hunt servants". that is, common people not to interupt the activities of the local huntsmen.

Another sign placed at the foot of the belltower steps and directed at bellringers and visitors to the tower - "Notice - Admission to the tower - part of God's House - is only granted on condition of reverent and orderly behaviour: No writing or cutting of names is allowed"  Carved graffitti in churches is very commonplace and must have kept thousands of bored schoolboys occupied over the years. Some of this graffitti is very old, and is now carefully preserved for its historial interest.

More Molas

I enjoy collecting these molas....there is so much work in them, although they are made for the tourist trade. Such vibrant colours and such expert applique work......not easy to do, and I've done a lot of applique myself!

A large bird with a flower....I like the red background....

A crouching jaguar inside a geometric pattern...

.......and four flamingoes...flamingoes are a bit of a joke in my family.....when my parents moved to Florida, my father let it slip that the Floridian "Flamingo thing" was ridiculous and that he didn't much like them....of course at his next birthday all his presents were flamingo-related. Dad gamely rose to the challenge and put up the flamingo decorations, mobiles etc -- and put  the plastic flamingo garden ornaments on to the lawn.

Molas are made by the women of the San Blas Islands in Panama, Traditionally they were made into blouses and other garments, but today they are produced to sell to tourists and provide a valuable source of income.

Great News - Tom and Lily

I am really looking forward to January - as my son Tom and his girlfriend Lily (Reiko) are getting married on the 17 January. The wedding will be at Islington Registry Office and then there will be a lunch/reception at the Savoy. Lily's parents will be coming over from Hiroshima and sister Sophie will be coming in from Singapore. Of course lots of Moss family will be there too (about 30 people in all).

This photo of Tom and Lily was taken on their 2011 trip to Japan.

And here is a rather windswept photo taken on Aldeburgh beach last Boxing Day - with Maggi Hambling's Scallop Shell in the background. Benjamin Britten lived in Aldeburgh and this has words from Peter Grimes, his opera, at the top of the shell..

...and at the top of Town Steps, again in Aldeburgh.

So while Christmas promises to be rather quiet this year, January will be the family occasion!