Christmas Cookie Exchanges

An exchange of cookies among friends or family is another way of sharing our baking.

Did the Trails End Quilters have cookie exchanges as a way to share cookies for the holidays? Or did they simply take gifts of cookies when they visited one another? I guess you might say they did because I've been involved in a few and consider myself one of a long line of Trails End Quilters.

Cookie exchanges can be organized in several ways. Keep the number to about 6, with each person bringing a dozen cookies. Then the hostess will divide them up, so each person receives an equal number of each type.

If you have the group much larger, the distribution can become rather unwieldy. However, there are many variations on this. Also, if you’re meeting at the friend’s home for refreshments, as well as exchanging, bring some extra cookies to share with tea, coffee, or holiday punch.

When a friend organized a cookie exchange, she had 12 people participating. We all dropped our cookies at her home at a specified time. She then made the exchange and packaged each on a party plate, and we picked our goodies up later in the day. It had proved difficult to get all the participants together in an evening as it approached Christmas, so this way worked well.

(c)2005 Mary Emma Allen

(If you'd like to share stories about your cookie exchanges, e-mail me: me.allen@juno.com. Type "Trails End Quilters blog" in the subject line.)

Quilting Bees & Teas

My grandfather, Burton Barker Coon, writer and farmer, mentioned in his memories his mother’s quilting, the fact that the ladies might together for afternoon tea and cut out pieces for quilt blocks. “They would take their sewing along and have a very pleasant time. All the girls were brought up to piece quilts, bake bread and do all kinds of housework….,” he related.

I wondered what they served with their afternoon tea. Then I browsed through my aunt’s cooking notebook, in which she jotted down favorite family recipes. There were several for cookies and cakes. Perhaps the ladies in the neighborhood enjoyed these as they chatted, cut pieces, and quilted.

(c)2005

(If you have questions about quilts and quiltmaking, e-mail me: me.allen@juno.com. Type the words "quilt blog" in the subject line.)

Sharing Quilting Knowledge

I find so much enjoyment in sharing my quilting experiences and research with others, reading from my book, displaying my quilt collection and telling about my Trails End quilting heritage. One fun time consisted of participating as a guest speaker at a local historical society. They asked me to talk about quilting history and my book, The Magic of Patchwork.
Since I’m also a school teacher, I’ve found that “show and tell” will hold your audience’s attention rather than simply reading or talking…unless you can give a dramatic performance. So I brought along several of the quilts from my collection, along with quilt patches and pieces.

I particularly like to show the quilt I made with my grandmother when I was 8 years old. I recall sitting beside the woodstove in the kitchen hand sewing the pieces together. Nanny made one of these quilts for each of her four grandchildren and embroidered our initials on a corner.

Imagine my delight when my mom found this quilt with my initials and gave it to me when I was making quilts during the Bicentennial years. Showing this quilt often brings memories to mind for my audience about quilts in their heritage or collections.

©2005

(If you have any questions or memories to share, leave me a note in the comments section.)

Trails End Quilters of the 1870s

As I read my grandfather’s writings, Fifty Years Ago, Rural Life from 1876, I was delighted to realize he’d included information about his mother’s quilting at Trails End Farm, in Dutchess County, NY. I knew, from this, that my quilting heritage definitely traced back to my great grandmother, Mary Barker Coon, and earlier.

Papa Coon, as our family referred to Burton Barker Coon, writer and farmer, mentioned the women getting together for afternoon tea and cutting out pieces for quilt blocks. “They would take their sewing along and have a very pleasant time. All the girls were brought up to piece quilts, bake bread and do all kinds of housework….,” he related.

Then he mentioned “quilting bees” that were common in his childhood. “The quilting frames would be brought down from the garret, the middle of the sitting room cleared, the frames put together with clamps, and the corners laid on the backs of four chairs. Then the quilt, pieced perhaps by a daughter in the family, would be stretched on the frame, the cotton batting inserted, and all would be ready for the bee.”

He told how four or five neighborhood ladies came to help. “Needles and tongues would vie with each other in making bed spreads and history,” he wrote.

Papa Coon called each quilt a “sort of souvenir piece.”

“I used to like to hear my mother tell, ‘Now I had a dress like that, and an apron like that, and you had a little green sun bonnet, and a dress like that, and grandma a dress like that, and Aunt Susie one like that.”

He described the quilts: “ I could see them all in stately array. There were no loud patterns. The figures were small and the colors very bright and lasting.”

From my mother’s tales of sewing get-togethers when she was a child and Mary Barker Coon an elderly lady, I imagined my great grandmother stitching quilts in her younger days. Her son’s description of quilting when he was growing up substantiates that quilting occurred at Trails End Farm in the 1800s. He also indicated that his mother learned to sew quilts when she was a young girl, before she married and came to live at Trails End.

As you research your ancestry, you may find that you have a fascinating quilting heritage, too.

©2005

(If you have any questions or information to share, e-mail me at: me.allen@juno.com. Include the words “Quilting Blog” in the subject line.)

Daughters Quilting

Watching your daughter excel in quilting becomes exciting for a mom. When mine is invited to participate in quilting exhibits and teach classes, it’s enjoyable to realize our Trails End family tradition of quiltmaking will continue.

Recently Beth participated in an exhibit of the Fiber Arts Friends at their annual Art Quilt Show in Plymouth, NH. Their display fascinated viewers with quilts and hangings that take quilting beyond the traditional forms. They blend the new with the old and incorporate a variety of materials.

These ranged from king-sized quilts and large wall hangings to postcard and playing card size pieces. Fabrics made up the basic material, but they also used beads, netting, scarves, threads and non-traditional items to create work that reflected their various styles.

From this exhibit, their art will be displayed in a nearby gallery during the coming month.

©2005

Creating Hangings from Old Quilt Squares

When we found several old quilt squares midst my mother’s memorabilia after her death, my daughter and I wondered how to share them with my sister, her daughter and daughter-in-law…in other words, the other gals in the family. We weren’t sure who had made them. In all likelihood, it was one of the Trails End Quilters.

My mother grew up at Trails End Farm and her mother introduced me to quiltmaking when I was eight years old. I knew my mom hadn’t made the squares, so it must have been someone in her family since they were among other items she’d received after her mother’s death.

There weren’t many of these hand stitched quilt squares. If we made a quilt or hanging of them, only one person could enjoy it. My daughter suggested she add a border around each and put them in frames.

This is what we did. Now each female in the family has a bit of Trails End quilting in her home.

There are other ways we could have finished these bits of memorabilia ,and they can always be taken from the frame for the owner to create something else. For instance, they could become the centerpiece of a hanging, by adding more borders and other patchwork around it. A quilter could find older fabrics and make other blocks using the same pattern, then use the original as the center block of the quilt.

Or she could make a pillow of the square, a tote bag, a piece of clothing. We preferred, to place the squares in something to hang on the wall so they’d have longer life.

What have you done with your family quilting and memorabilia so the handiwork of previous generations isn’t forgotten?

©2005 Mary Emma Allen

(If you have questions or information to share, e-mail me. )

Quilts for Disasters, the 1860s & Now

As I’ve researched my children’s book, Papa’s Gone to War, concerning the Civil War era, I discovered that women then, as they do now, made quilts during times of disaster. Quilters are responding to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina by providing quilts for those who need bed coverings, especially for children who might be comforted by their own “blankie” when all around them is new and strange, or wrought with destruction.

During the Civil War, women made various items for the soldiers away from home. Among these were quilts the soldiers carried in their bed roll. Chief among the organizations collecting quilts and distributing them to soldiers on the battlefield and in hospitals was the United States Sanitary Commission.

The Commission coordinated many of the clothing and bedding collection activities. This organization was begun in New York City at Cooper Union or Cooper Institute. Their Soldiers Relief Circles met throughout the Union, generally once a week, from 1 to 4 P.M. The ladies also did more work at home.

(In my book, Mandy, her grandmother, aunt, and several other ladies got together to work on quilts for their menfolk. A scene in my book takes place at a quilting/sewing session. I even may include a pattern in the book for youngsters to sew, as Mandy did.)

Were my Trails End ancestors among the ladies who met weekly and stitched clothing and quilts for the men fighting to hold the Union together? I've not come across any factual data about this, but it seems likely they did participate in this way. I do know that some of the men in the neighborhood fought in the war.

When you make quilts for use and commemoration (some groups raffle quilts to raise money for disaster victims) during times of trouble, you’re part of a long line of quilters who respond to help those in need by using their needlework skills.

©2005

Cousin Virgilia & Quilting

Cousin Virgilia and Quilting

My mother had a favorite memory about quilting that she recalled until Alzheimer’s captured her mind. When she was six-years old, she received a letter from Cousin Virgilia, her father’s cousin.

It’s amazing to me that Mother kept this letter and treasured it in her latter years. As she held it and read it to me, she’d recall other stories about Cousin Virgilia and early quilting days.

I’ve also quoted from this letter in my book, The Magic of Patchwork: “My Mama said when I was six-years old I had pieced blocks enough for a quilt, and I can remember sitting at her side sewing.”

Mother said she sat beside her mother, grandmother, and older sister with sewing tasks when she was that same age. They made quilts, sewed clothes, and, of course, did endless patching for the family.

This is part of my Trails End Quilting heritage, for that’s where my mother grew up and the quilting skills and lore passed along to me originated…on their farm at the “end of the trail” in New York State.
©2005

Feed Sack Fabrics

“Mom, there’s a yard sale down the road and they have printed feed sacks!” Beth called as we drove in the driveway when they lived in Ohio. “I got some this morning. But they had quite a few left.”

So I left Jim with unpacking the car while Beth and I dashed off to the yard sale. Yes, there were feed sacks there to add to our collection. These were of the era when I was a young girl making quilts with my grandmother.

Many of the fabrics Nanny and Auntie (the daughter who lived with my grandmother) used for their sewing projects and for quilts at Trails End. My family bought their chicken and cattle feed in burlap and plain white sacks. So it was with fascination that I looked over the fabric from sacks Nanny and Auntie acquired.

I still have a drawstring skirt I made from one of these sacks for a 4-H project. The first item I made to model in our 4-H dress review. It has a red background with small white flowers over all.

You’ll often find these feed and flour sacks at yard sales and in antique shops. The prices generally are higher in the shops than the yard and garage sales. Sometimes if you purchase a box or batch of fabric at an auction or estate sale, you’ll find some of this old fabric.

Feed sack fabrics for quilts and sewing projects constitute some of my Trails End quilting memories.

(c)2005

Introduction to the Trails End Quilters

I've discovered my quilting heritage evolves from the quilters who lived at Trails End Farm, in Milan, NY, the home where my mother grew up, where her mother and grandmother also lived and were involved in quiltmaking. This is where I sat beside my grandmother, in her country kitchen, when I was 8 years old, and helped sew my first quilt blocks.

That quilt was one of four Nanny made for her grandchildren. I still have the one we made for me, although it's well worn and faded.

I took up quiltmaking again, at my mom's urging, during this country's Bicentennial years of 1975-76. This developed into a quiltmaking and patchwork business, along with writing about this topic for quilting magazines. Eventually I wrote a book, The Magic of Patchwork.

My daughter has become a quilt designer and quiltmaker, who is gaining recognition in her field. Her daughter also has begun following in the footsteps of the Trails End Quilters.

I hope you enjoy the stories I share about my quilting heritage which began with the quilters at the Trails End Farm.

(I also write a general quilting blog at www.aboutweblogs.com/quilting. )