August 26, 1934

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.

'Aunt Dinah's Quilting Party' Makes Debut at Kokomo -- New Club Joins
Twelve Enthusiastic New Members Would Like to Exchange Patterns and Patches with Older Workers at Craft.

By Edith B. Crumb.

It is a long time since we have heard from Mrs. Purcell of Kokomo, Indiana and I know you will be glad to see her letter which is as follows:

"I have neglected the Corner for so long I am almost ashamed to come back.

"I wanted to finish an original quilt of mine to enter in the Contest, but a present am afraid I will have to give it up because my time is so taken up with other things.

"I do want to tell you something, however. During the cherry canning season (one Saturday afternoon) I was down in the basement looking for more cans when my son called to me that a lady wanted to see me.

"Imagine my embarrassment when she said she was from Detroit and a member of The Detroit News Quilt Club and when going through Kokomo wanted to meet me. Oh! Why hadn't I finished those cherries and been all dressed up? I guess most of you ladies can sympathize with me.

"Anyway, it was your own Mrs. Wendelborn and she was so interesting that after we got to talking about the last exhibit and the next one, quilts and Detroit, I forgot how I looked. We had such a nice visit and, of course, it was too short for we could have talked all the afternoon.

"Now, there is something else. We have started a quilt club here and I am sending in the entry blanks so you will know that Kokomo is on the map yet.

"These ladies would like to exchange patches and patterns and the little girls would especially like to write to other little girls.

"Because we are unable to get Detroit here on the radio, we are going to call our club "Aunt Dinah's Quilting Party" and hope there is no objection.

"Now, to all the ladies whom I owe letters, I hope you will let this suffice as an answer.

"Wishing everyone the best of luck with her quilts and looking to a bigger and better exhibit, I am,
Mrs. Harry Purcell,
426 N. Armstrong St.,
Kokomo, Indiana."

Now I will give you a list of the new members, all in Kokomo, for some of you may wish to write them and exchange patches with them.

I feel certain that Barbara Doterer is a little girl, although her age is not put on the membership blank as it is for four other little girls:
Barbara Dotterer,
1702 N. Purdum Ave.
Mrs. Elmer Ice,
725 W. Indiana Ave.
Melba Ice (11 yrs. old),
725 N. Indiana Ave.
Mrs. Albert Miller,
1416 N. Purdum Ave.
Nada Miller (12 yrs. old),
1416 Purdum Ave.
Mrs. Geo. Robinson,
1237 N. Market St.
Mrs. C. E. Shearer,
801 N. Indiana Ave.
Norma Jean Shearer (9yrs. old).
801 N. Indiana Ave.
Mrs. Homer W. Shrock.
706 S. Webster St.
Wilma Shrock (14 yrs. old),
706 S. Webster S.
Mrs. Earl B. Stevens,
1017 Mulberry St.

It is interesting, isn't it, to have so many members in a Club so far away from Detroit, and I wish every one could attend the exhibit. Mrs. Purcell came last year and I know she will be disappointed if she is not able to get here this year for it.

Charlotee Quilt-Maker.
Dear Miss Crumb: Every Sunday for a long time I have been reading the quilt corner letters and I have decided I would write you too.

I have made many quilts including the Double T. I wish I could come to the exhibit but we live to far away.

I think if a persons is nervous or in ill health piecing quilts is as good as a doctor, I have found it so at least.
Carrie M. Robinson,
Charlotte, Mich.

Maybe, if you wish hard enough you will get to this show, Mrs. Robinson, for it does seem too bad for you to miss it if you are so interested in quilts and so interested in the Quilt Club Corner. Do try to come and try to send some quilts in for the contest, if possible.

Charmed With Nosegay.
I would like very much to become a member of the Quilt Club Corner.

I am making the beautiful Nosegay pattern. It is so interesting that I can hardly leave it alone for a few minutes. I would like to enter it in the contest if I finish it in time.

I also have started the Dresden Plate.
Mrs. Rose Unger.
3026 Cadillac Ave., Detroit, Mich.

Now, Mrs. Unger, I do hope that you will work very hard to get that Nosegay finished for the contest. Even if you do not get it quilted it will be all right for the section of tops. And inasmuch as the Dresden Plate is so easy to make, perhaps you can have that ready also.

Nosegay Travels.
I see our Quilt Club Corner is growing and growing. Several weeks ago I was traveling thought Indiana and upper Michigan and, of course, I took my Nosegay quilt with me and just showed it to everybody and all thought it was the prettiest pattern they had seen. And I think so, too. Perhaps my sense of color isn't so good and my stitches not very small, still I think it is lovely.

And, you know, in No. 8 I just couldn't resist putting in a red poppy and it looks very attractive. My henna print is quite dull but I may come across something that will look better there and change it.
Mrs. Frank M. Hill,
18266 Grand River Ave.,
Detroit, Michigan.

The Detroit News patterns do considerable traveling every summer for every one who is making quilts from them takes them along on vacations.

I can see that you are having lots of fun arranging your colors and know that red poppy is strking. As long as you like the quilt, that is all that is necessary, regardless of the color you have selected.

Yes, indeed, this quilt club is growing very fast, so you can imagine what a huge show there will be this fall.

Are You Planning a Fall Layette?
Baby's comfort, as well as the family budget, should be considered carefully in planning the layette. Long, lace-trimmed petticoats and other hampering garments have gone out in favor of simple gertrudes and short dresses.

"Assembling A Layette," a new free leaflet available on request, tells you what clothes (and how many) a modern baby will need, and gives directions for making them.

Send a self-addressed stampled envelope to Woman's Editor for this leaflet, or call for it at The Detroit News Public Service Bureau in the Majestic Building or the General Motors Building.

Women Are Not So Changeable
The cherished belief that women are more changeable than men simply isn't so, according to Dr. R. T. Rock, of Fordham University, who reported recently to the American Washington Square Center of New York University the results of tests given to high school and college students of both sexes to show how interests change. He found that women are no more changeable than men; that there is no relation between intelligence and tendency to change one's interests, and that one is more constant in likes than in dislikes.

Courtesy of The Detroit News Archives.