October 25, 1933

Detroit News Quilt History Project; Michigan State University Museum; Susan Salser

Detroit, Michigan, United States

A portion of a Beauty in the Home column including a list of prizes for the Contest, a coupon for entering the Quilt Club Contest, and letters from Quilt Club members.

Beauty in the Home
Members of Monday Night Quilt Club Are Finishing Double Wedding Ring
by Edith B. Crumb
This department seeks to give assistance to all who are interested in beautifying their homes and will be glad to answer questions pertaining to interior decoration. In order to serve all who, seek advice promptly no more than three problems will be discussed in any one reply. Readers are invited to write to this department as often as they wish, but to limit each letter to three questions. State your question clearly write on only one side of the paper, enclosing a self-addressed, stamped envelope and address Beauty in the Home department, Detroit News. Letters with their answers will be published for the benefit of all homemakers but names and addresses will not be made public.

By EDITH B. CRUMB.

STANDING, left to right: Mrs. Lorraine Marcus, Mrs. Anna Barbes, Mrs. Lewis Cross, Mrs. Eric Westerberg, Mrs. Leslie Johnston and Mrs. Austin Wheeler; sitting, left to right, Mrs. Norman Wheeler, Mrs. William Marcus, Mrs. Henry Christiansen and Mrs. Charles Lundgren.

SO MANY have written in to ask for more pictures of quilt-makers in the paper that every time I hear of a gathering I start right out to find out about it and when I discovered that the Monday Night Quilt Club was to meet at the home of Mrs. Charles Lundgren, 1209 Chalmers avenue I decided to get their picture for you.

Everyone was busy with small blocks and in the dining room was a Double Wedding Ring quilt set up on the frames all ready for the quilting and here you see some of the members hard at work with others giving their approval. Unfortunately two of the members, (Mrs. Thos. Johnson and Mrs. Clarence Johnseon) were unable to be present, but those who come certainly did not waste a minute.

There is one exception to that statement and I’ll just have to tell you about Mrs. Norman Wheeler. Not having a table on which to work conveniently she drew a flat velvet covered stool up in front of her and very industriously basted an appliqued tulip design from the Wonder Package on a block and upon picking it up to applique it she found that most of it had been basted to the velvet.

This club started last February, has met every Monday evening and I realized it was a real strong Detroit News Club when I asked how many quilts had been made from News patterns, expecting at least one from each member; but this is the list:
10 Dresden Plates,
6 Double Wedding Rings,
1 Tulip (from the Wonder Package).
1 Prairie Queen,
4 Trip Around the World,
2 Philadelphia Pavement,
1 Jacob’s Ladder,

Don’t you think that is a fine record? And that is not all. They keep right on making quilts and I feel certain that every one of them will come to the Contest prepared to sew, cut and exchange blocks for quilts.

Remember, please bring your quilt any time now to the main office of The Detroit News, Lafayette and Second boulevards and you will be given a claim check for it. You should see all of the lovely old and new quilts which have already been brought in, and so far every one has been very good about writing her name and address on a piece of cloth or paper and sewing it to the back of her quilt. Will you do that, too, if possible?

Quilt Club Corner.
I READ in the Corner that some of the members were having difficulty with the Double Wedding Ring. My mother is making one and is not having any trouble. When joining the rings always start sewing from the center and the seams will not pucker at the ends.

My mother has made a Flower Garden and a Dresden Plate quilt.

I hope we have been of some assistance.
EVELYN SNYDER.

That little hint the Double Wedding Ring together will be very helpful to quilt-makers, I am sure and thank you so much for writing in about it. I hope that your mother enters her three quilts in the Contest. Does she intend to do so?

YOU will find two entries in this letter, one for mother and one for me. We listen in on the broadcasts and enjoy them very much.

I was downtown the other day and stopped in the Majestic Building to get the complete set of Horoscope patterns. I hope to make it some time this winter. I also purchased the Wonder Package and it surely is a wonder.
MRS. P. KNOPP.
2123 McLain,
Lincoln Park, Mich.

Thank you for sending in those two entries. I am so glad that both you and your mother plan on having a quilt in the Contest and that you are interested in the broadcasts.

That Horoscope quilt will keep you busy all next winter and you will also find the Wonder Package a very handy thing to have in the house. It solves many a problem in what design to select for embroidery or painting.

I HAVE a set of old blue and white homespuns that are about 150 years old. Would you like to have me bring them to the Quilt Contest? People are usually very interested in them. I also have an antique quilt that is 125 years old.
MRS. C. B. WOOD.
22472 Beech,
Dearborn, Mich.

Certainly, Mrs. Wood, bring those old blue and white homespuns to the Contest; and also that 125-year-old quilt. They all sound very interesting and I am looking forward to seeing them.

Beauty in the Home Editor:
Please enter my name as an exhibitor in the Beauty in the Home Quilt Club Contest. I have _____ quilts made from Detroit News patterns and _______ antique quilts which I would like to enter.
Name………….
Street and number……….
City…….State……..

(Anyone who has made a top or completed a quilt from any Detroit News pattern is allowed to compete in this Contest. Any quilt 50 years or more in age may be entered in the Antique section of the Contest.)

If you wish to enter either a new or an antique quilt in this Contest, please fill out this coupon and send it to the Beauty in the Home Department, The Detroit News, before Nov. 10.

$500 in Prizes at Quilt Contest
This is to remind you of that Quilt Contest that is to be held in November and to urge you to send in your application for entry as quickly as possible. If you have made a quilt from a Detroit News pattern, whether you belong to the Quilt Club or not you are welcome to enter a quilt. This may be a completed quilt or a top from a Detroit News pattern and if you have an antique quilt, 50 years or more old, you may also enter this. There is no limit to the number of quilts you may enter.
The prizes are as follows:
First Grand Prize….$100.00
Second Grand Prize.. 50.00
Third Grand Prize….25.00
There will be three prizes for appliqued quilts as follows (these must be completed quilts):
1st ………..$50.00
2nd………….25.00
3rd………10.000
And there will also be three prizes for tops only, in appliqued design, as follows: 1st …….$35.00
2nd……..20.00
3rd……10.000
For quilt tops which are of piecework designs there are to be three prizes:
1st…………$35.00
2nd………..20.00 3rd……………10.00
And for the children’s and young girls’ quilts there will be two prizes as follows
1st………………$15
2nd………………10.00
There will be ribbon awards for the antique quilts and coverlets.

Courtesy of The Detroit News Archives.