October 29, 1938

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

Detroit, Michigan, United States

A Quilt Club Corner Column including a birthday list.

Block From Every State
This shows a portion of the quilt to which Mrs. Mae Stanley, R.F.D. No. 1, Box 286, Royal Oak, calls her state quilt. Each block is from a quilter in a different state and there are no two alike. The only specification that Mrs. Stanley made was that all blocks should be the same size. The designs and colors were left to the decision of the women making the blocks.

Club Member Originates Interesting Quilt Pattern
By Edith B. Crumb

When Mrs. Mae Stanley, R.F.D. No. 1, Box No. 386, Royal Oak, decided to make a quilt she wanted something different. The result was the state quilt.

What Mrs. Stanley wanted was a quilt made up of blocks each contributed by someone living in a different state. So she began to look at the addresses of Quilt Club members who lived out of Michigan and wrote to them offering to exchange anything for a block.

After writing to a few quilters, she found they in turn gave her the names of others and the first thing she knew she was corresponding with some woman from each state.

Soon the quilt blocks began to arrive and even though they were all patterns and colors, the blocks wer e the same size, so the top went together quickly and easily.

In the illustration is part of this quilt showing blocks from Nebraska, Mississippi, Colorado, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida.

In exchange for the blocks, Mrs. Stanley was asked for patches and handkerchiefs. She has taken a great deal of pleasure in reading the letters from her new friends and she intends to keep up her correspondence with them.

She has just moved into a new home and has been too busy to do much quilting or writing but this fall and winter she plans to catch up.

We hope that even though Mrs. Stanley is living in Royal Oak she will still be able to come in to the meetings on Friday afternoons.

Mrs. Ethel R. Lawson, 17601 Prest avenue, has written to tell us she thought the News quilt show was such a success and Convention Hall such a nice place to hold it. She looked and looked and felt dizzy she said from seeing so many quilts. Mrs. Lawson also said she was the first person to pick up her quilt after the show.

Mrs. Eve Marcus, 1217 W. Philadelphia ave., writes this card to us:
"Dear Miss Crumb: I was spellbound by the quilt made of the comic paper characters shown at The News quilt show. A woman next to me kept saying over an over again, 'What attention to small details!' My time was limited but I admired the countless tiny curls and the little green wool sweaters as well as the complexions and all the tiny artistic details such as ties, buttons, and hair and I could only wish I owned it.

Yesterday at the Quilt Club meeting the large quilt frames were put up and Mrs. Marian Ridler with the help of several other quilters adjusted the friendship quilt which so many have made blocks for and which is to be given to Mae Mancuse.

Mrs. B. R. Morre was the originator of this idea and Mrs. Rider was right there to carry along with her. This quilt will be on the frames for anyone to work on every Friday afternoon.

Those who joined the Quilt Club yesterday were Mrs. John Dickson, 905 Berkshire Road, Grosse Point Park; Mrs. Roy Duprey, 2631 Central avenue; Mrs. J. F. Sutherland, 2546 Casper street; Mrs. Marie Seger, 5457 Baldwin avenue and Mrs. Frank Rossman, 5346 Bewick avenue. The visitors were Mrs. Walter Conway, 2095 Twenty-second street, Wyandotte; Mrs. Charles Johnson, 2095 Twenty-third street, Wyandotte and Mrs. Mae Morin, 484 St. Clair Ave., Detroit.

Mrs. William Henry Blair brought a doll-sized quilt to show to everyone and Mrs. Ridler has suggested that some of these be made for the Carillon Bazaar.

Cornerites' Birthdays
Nov. 3, Mrs. Mary Lakin, 1600 St. Clair Ave., Detroit.
Nov. 3, Mrs. Ethel George, 26605 Pembrook Rd., R.F.C. No. 3, Box 1665, Redford, Mich.
Nov. 3, Mrs. E. E. Carson, R. No. 1, Box 304, Richmond, Mich.
Nov. 4, Mrs. Mary Fradel, 4233 Belvidere Ave., Detroit.
Nov. 5, Mrs. L. Stenzel, Route No. 5, Kalamazoo, Mich.
Nov. 5, Mrs. Nora Hale, 1631 Lemany Ave., Detroit.
Nov. 5, Mrs. Bertha M. Schaaf, Harrison, Mich.
Nov. 6, Mrs. Mae Stanley, R.F.D. No. 1, Box 386, Royal Oak, Mich.
Nov. 6, Mrs. Sara Louise Book, 302 W. Market Street, Nappanee, Ind.
Nov. 6, Mrs. Bessie Walton, 5753 Fifteenth St., Detroit, Mich.
Nov. 6, Mrs. Lydia, 5305 Cecil Ave., Detroit.
Nov. 6, Mrs. Josephine Filson, 2730 Taylor Ave., Detroit.
Nov. 7, Mrs. Mabel Lupton, 3104 North Ave., Mt. Clemens, Mich.
Nov. 7, Mrs. Louise Gabioux, 13641 Meyers Rd., Detroit.
Nov. 7, Mrs. Elsie A. Johnston, 351 1/2 Ninety-eighth St., Los Angeles, Calif.
Nov. 7, Mrs. Ellen Leonard, 23104 Cayuga Ave., Hazel Park, Mich.
Nov. 8, Mrs. James Dalmage, Romeo, Mich.
Nov. 9, Mrs. Fred Dye, 22423 Grand River Ave., Detroit.
Nov. 9, Mrs. Bessie Studevant, 13177 Schoolcraft Ave., Detroit.
Nov. 9, Mrs. Frank Elliott, 1520 Casgrain Ave., Detroit.

Courtesy of The Detroit News Archives.