December 17, 1933

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

Detroit, Michigan, United States

A Quilt Club Corner column including letters from Quilt Club Corner members.

Beauty in the Home Quilt Club Corner Members Already Planning for Another News Quilt Contest

By EDITH B. CRUMB.

NOW is the time to decide upon Christmas gifts and there is just one thing that will make the Quilt Club Corner editor happy and that is a great big stack of letters on her desk before Friday, Dec. 22. So all you have to do is to take care of your Christmas shopping for the Corner is to find pencil or pen and ink and stationary and just a little time. So, may I expect letters from every one of you so that I will have a large supply for the broadcast on the day right after Christmas?

The letters are coming in just fine but I always want more and inasmuch as this is to be a great big Corner, won’t you do all possible to keep it going? Here are some of the letters which came in this week and I know that you will be interested in reading them.

I AM only dropping in to thank all the members that have written to me and sent me patches. I have received such very lovely ones and I shall use one piece of each for my next Double Wedding Ring quilt. So you will have to hold another Contest, in order that the members may identify their pieces.

I have heard from Mrs. Baker and also from Mrs. Fisher and some of the others. They are the older members, I think.
MRS. GEORGE SANCHO.
14645 Fulton, Inkster, Mich.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to look over all of those quilts which have been made from exchanged patches and try to identify those which you have given and help others to find those they have given to you? Quilt-patch exchanging is quilt a popular pastime now—at least, in the Quilt Club Corner. But that is what it is for—so that all who are interested in quilts may get in touch with each other and exchange patches and ideas.

Your letter is very welcome, Mrs. Sancho, and I only hope that you will keep in touch with the Corner.

MY husband and I attended the Quilt Exhibition. We thought it was wonderful. We were there before the doors opened and stayed as long as we could and wished that we could have stayed longer. I would have liked to have seen some of the club members. I was so thrilled that I wanted to go right home and start everyone of the designs. I do like the Flower Garden and I have started the Horoscope. I have two blocks done and think it is very interesting. I am going to try to finish it and follow out the same pattern as the one that look the prize. After I get the Horoscope done I want to make a Flower Garden quilt.
MRS. C. BRIMSCOMBE,
2253, Fullerton,
Detroit, Michigan.

Your winter is going to be a very busy one and I know that you will be happy to accomplish so much and have so many lovely quilts to add to your household supply.

I am glad to know that your husband enjoyed the show as well as you did and I am sorry that you did not arrange to come more than one day.

If you have time during this busy winter, won’t you try to write to the Corner again?

YOUR Contest was wonderful. I was there one whole day and would like to have spent the three whole days there. I hope you have another Contest next year. I will try to enter a quilt from a Detroit News pattern next time.
MRS. GEORGE LYSINGER,
97 S. Jessie,
Pontiac, Michigan.

You had one interesting antique quilt in the Contest, Mrs. Lysinger, and I am so glad that you entered it. It was the one owned by Mrs. Charles Worden, of 337 Judson street, Pontiac, and called “the lotus flower of Egypt.” This quilt was made by Mrs. Cordela Worden, of Vermont, 75 years ago. Mrs. Worden was then a girl of 16. I am sure that a good many of the Contest visitors will remember this quilt.

Yes, indeed, if there is a Contest next year, be sure to have a new quilt for it, and do write again soon, please.

I MUST write to tell all how much I enjoyed seeing all the beautiful quilts, both old and new. I wish the Exhibit would have lasted a week, as I went to it four times and enjoyed it each time. I certainly had a good look at all of the quilts
(Concluded on Page 14)

Plan New Quilt Contest
(Concluded From Page 10)
as what I missed the first time. I saw the next time I went. It certainly was a good place to meet your old friends. The first one I met was an old school teacher of mine, who taught me when I was in the second grade.

I did miss seeing Gran both times she was there. On Friday when she came there was such a crowd I thought I could wait a little before I went to her. Then when I went to the booth she must have been walking around so I missed her.

Are we going to have another exhibit next year? I hope so as I surely did enjoy it all. When will the new patterns be out? I made three Trip quilts. I had one finished for the Exhibit. I like the Flower Garden quilt with the tan background. I think it had the most perfect quilting I ever saw. There certainly was a beautiful display of colors.

I just received a letter from Mrs. George D. Smith of Lansing. She wants to know what the News Flower Garden quilt looks like. I am sending her the set of Flower Garden patterns. I am sure that she can’t go wrong if she makes it.
MRS. C. CARDA,
4240 Belvidere, Detroit, Mich.

You must have the record for attendance at the Exhibit, Mrs. Carda. Many wrote that they went three different days, but no one has mentioned going four different times. Of course, you could have made six trips by going afternoons and evenings, but I certainly think that you did well to get there four times. The first pattern was announced after your letter was received so I know that by now you must have sent for the pattern and just about finished a quilt for some nice doll.

Everyone is asking if there is to be a contest next year, but that has not been decided upon yet. You may rest assured, however, that as soon as I find out about it I will broadcast the good news.

It would be interesting to know how many people Gran met at the Exhibit. So many have written that they missed her that I am sure she could have been kept busy all day long Sunday just visiting, but the weather was rather disagreeable and I think that Chief Hardy was anxious to get her back home safe and sound.

I wish to thank you for writing and say that I trust you will write often in order that the Corner may grow fast.

I DO not know if I am eligible to write to the Quilt Corner.

I have never made a quilt but I did go to the Exhibit and admired all the lovely quilts. I would like to make several from Detroit News patterns. They are all so lovely that it is difficult to decide what one to make first.

I admired Mrs. Weismuller’s Trip Around the World quilt and got your pattern. I remember the materials in her quilt were first a dark, a light and then a lighter shade of one material, then a flowered material, the flowers the same shade as the plain material. I cannot remember the order of the colors. So many women stopped to sketch or draw the quilt. The rainbow seemed so fascinating and cheerful. I wonder if Mrs. Weismuller would be so kind as to tell all her admirers how she combined her colors.
MRS. LOUIS SEQUIN,
2402 Horton, Detroit, Mich.

There is no question of eligibility in writing to the Corner. Any one interested in quilts is invited to write and I am so glad that you sent in a letter.

Perhaps Mrs. Weismuller will be kind enough to write in and tell the arrangement of colors which she used in her quilt. So many have mentioned it in their letters that I am sure a little note from her will be appreciated.

I AM just writing you a few lines to let you know how I enjoyed the Quilt Exhibit. I spent eight hours in all exchanging quilt patches and met many interesting persons, some who have been making quilts for years and others who are just starting to make their first quilt.

I started out with the intention of making a little block quilt and having a scrapbook to keep a record of the names of the persons with whom I had exchanged patches which were used in making the quilt, but after they started coming in so fast it was just impossible to keep a record, and I didn’t want anyone to be disappointed so we just exchanged. Upon reaching home I discovered that I had exchanged patches with eight hundred persons.

I would have liked to congratulate each of the winners personally, but I’m taking this means of offering them by congratulations.

So many members write and ask to exchange patches and would it not be a good plan to enclose a stamped envelope, self addressed, in which to mail the patches, as when one gets so many requests as I have been receiving. I think it would be advisable to send along an envelope. I do not plan to exchange with anyone now, only the members of the Club.
CECILIA KNAPP,
Monroe, Michigan.

Everyone enjoyed meeting you at the contest, Mrs. Knapp, and your big basket of pieces was a fascination to any one who was interested in quilts. I am amazed at the number you exchanged; and I want to thank you for writing in such a nice letter.

Your suggestion of the self addressed, stamped envelope is a good one for I can see that if you are called upon to exchange many patches your pocket book would soon suffer.

Be sure to keep in touch with the Corner, Mrs. Knapp, for your letters are always welcome.

Courtesy of The Detroit News Archives.