Domestics and the Crinoline in 1862
Yesterday we went to an estate sale at a huge ranch. Thousands of items were being sold, but most of them were just ordinary things like throw pillows or boxes of glassware from… Continue reading
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A Practice Piece for My Practice Piece
This week I had some time to set aside to just practicing free motion quilting, and I decided to work through the book Quilting Wide Open Spaces by Judi Madsen. (When I bought… Continue reading
15 in ’15 Third Quarter Check-in
Three-fourths of the year is over! Time to report progress on the goals I set at the beginning of the year. √ 15 fused quilt blocks I am still making fused blocks of… Continue reading
Hexie Treasures
We had a little mini-vacation down on Galveston Island, and found a few treasures. First we came upon this bookstore — Where I found some wonderful books – After I bought them, I… Continue reading
What Clothes Reveal
You know the image of our industrious forebears — After studying textile history for the last 20 years, I had a hazy idea that that image casts our ancestors in a glorified light,… Continue reading
White Elephant Treasures and a Mystery Item
Yesterday I went to the Brazos Valley Quilt Guild show. At these small local shows, I love to shop in the White Elephant area – people have cleaned out their closets, the guild… Continue reading
Three Clues in the Parchment
In the early 1960s, a young agriculture historian named M. L. Ryder had the idea to use parchment manuscripts to research medieval sheep breeds. He surveyed manuscript illuminations for evidence of the colors,… Continue reading
A Productive Spell
It’s a crafter’s dilemma – should I finish each project before starting another? Or is it okay to have multiple projects going at once? I like to have multiple projects going, but I… Continue reading
Dress Diary 1855-1917
A few days ago, when I was looking at the Hollywood costume sketches at the Brooklyn Museum, I noticed this wonderful dress diary in their archives. The diary’s owner, Ida Jackson, was born… Continue reading
Hollywood Sketchbook
Wouldn’t you love to be rummaging around at an auction or thrift store, and discover a box crammed full of costume swatches and sketches? Hollywood Sketchbook: A Century of Costume Illustration is the… Continue reading