Saturday, November 26, 2011

Turtles

This is one of the first quilts I collected. I found it in Camdenton, Missouri - I recall the maker had quilts on her clothes line and I bought the top. I also recall I took it to my quilting class and was heartily laughed at. The turtles are pieced in calicos and some dress fabric and a little pajama fabric. The background is sheet fabric. The hand pieced quilt measures 65" x 78", the turtle blocks are 13" square.

But I loved this quilt so much I paid to have it hand quilted. and that is a wonderful story too. My friend Pat Kyser knew of Rita Pierce in Winchester, Tennessee, not far from where I lived at the time in Huntsville, Alabama. Rita did hand quilting. She had a big frame that she could raise to the ceiling of her living room, and lower when she wanted to quilt. I remember she quilted standing up and her kids played under the quilt. I remember her husband was a truck driver and she liked having quilts there so she had something to do. I also remember she charged so little that everyone paid her more, they couldn't stand to giver her so little for all that work. She offered to embroider the information about the quilt on it....


 It says pieced by Myrtle Layman of Camdenton, Missouri, 1978. Quilted by Rita Pierce, Winchester, Tenn, 1980.

I dug it out to photograph after seeing the calicos for Barbara's new fabric line. They sure look familiar, don't they?


9 comments:

  1. What a sweet quilt and I absolutely loved the story, thanks so much for sharing!

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  2. I love this quilt and I love this story!

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  3. Great quilt and fun story! I'm so glad you appreciate these odd quilts.

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  4. Fun quilt - shame on those who laughed!

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  5. and this is why I spend so little time with other quilters...who could laugh at the perky optimism of calico turtles? It is completely charming. The only other turtle quilt I have seen is Lisa Boyer's ( She of "That Dorky Homemade Look")

    So glad it fell into your hands!

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  6. I love the story of this quilt. Embroidering information on it is just wonderful, too. PS I especially love the idea of a quilt frame that goes to the ceiling when not in use.

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  7. It's always fun to see your quilts and read your blog! I have a few of those prints in vintage.

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  8. Great story. I have a couple of quilts that my Grammy pierced out of flour sacks,her dresses and my dads shirts. They are labeled hand pieced by Grammy Kane and hand quilted by Grammy Raub (my mother-in-law)and the year. Each of my children received one and I kept one. They are at least 60 years old. Glad to see she labeled it. Everyone should for future generations. Marlo Raub mamr51@aol.com

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