The Summer of 1893

No, I was not alive then, so skip this if you're looking for a diary of my summer camp memories or a journal of sewing activities.

I've been catching up on some reading I meant to get around to in the last year or so and recently finished reading this fascinating book - The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson and had to tell someone.

Larson tells  the incredible, factual story of the building of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago intertwined with the drama of a serial killer at large. A tiny bit gruesome in parts but still a fascinating history of American culture at the end of the 19th century. Chicago history is a particular favorite of mine since I'm a Chicago girl.

For about six months and into the summer of 1893, Chicago was home to one of the largest and most spectacular events of the 19th Century - the World's Columbian Exposition, called by its creators as, simply, "by far the greatest Exposition ever held."

Nicknamed the "White City" for its glorious white buildings, the World's Columbian Exposition was an extremely popular and influential social and cultural event. Filled with  an amazing display of 65,000 exhibits, the Fair depicted some of the best achievements of modern civilization and a wonderful array of the arts and sciences.

I love this quote from novelist Hamlin Garland, written to his parents in 1893 - "Sell the cook stove if necessary and come. You must see the fair." I also got a little sense of the excitement people must have felt when I transcribed Adelia's diary entries (from my book Remembering Adelia) telling us about her trip to Chicago to explore the State Fair in 1861. I can only imagine what she thought of the World's Fair, years later, if she atttended. (Adelia died in 1899, at the age of 57.)

The Fair housed the largest exhibition of American art ever held in the United States, displaying 10,000 pieces of artwork.  There was also a Women's Building highlighting women's work and accomplishments and  featuring  several famous suffragist leaders - Jane Addams, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Susan B. Anthony - as speakers.

Some famous cultural icons and brands of our popular culture were introduced at the Fair - a huge wheel designed by George Ferris placed on the Midway, revolving high above the fairgrounds; Cream of Wheat; Shredded Wheat; Pabst Beer; Aunt Jemima syrup; Juicy Fruit gum; Cracker Jack (noted by some as the first junk food); carbonated soda; hamburgers; and . . . ELECTRICITY! Not to mention belly dancers and the "Hootchy-Kootchy."

Here's something I found  really interesting. Walt Disney's father was a construction worker for the Exposition, and often relayed stories of the Fair to his children as they were growing up. The author of the book cites it as a legitimate source of inspiration for his son Walt and the Disney kingdom he would eventually create.

If you haven't already read it, The Devil in the White City is a great book and a fascinating read. But not necessarily for the squeamish, although you can skip some parts - I did just a little at times. I heard that Leonardo DiCaprio has bought the movie rights. 

My New Favorite Tool

I am not one of those quilters who always has to run out and get all of the latest tools. The quilts I make are never too complex and I pretty much just use the basics - rotary cutter, rulers, cutting mat. In the back of my mind I always try to remember that quilters from long ago did not have all of the fancy tools available to us today and yet they still made some pretty amazing quilts. That's not saying that now and then a special tool isn't helpful. Maybe all of you already have this one and I'm the last to know? Sometimes I'm a bit slow on the uptake . . .

Do you love quilts with blocks set on point but have trouble figuring out what size to cut the setting pieces?

This chart has always worked well for me when I have to figure out what size to cut the triangles without fussing about the math.

If you're a beginner and just learning to put your blocks on point or if you have trouble remembering the formula for cutting your side and corner triangles - you can print out  this chart at Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville site for directions based on the size of your finished block.

Sometimes, however, when I'm  making a scrappy quilt, I want to use a couple of different scraps for my setting pieces and I find that I don't have a square that's large enough, just a narrow strip.

Diagonal Set Triangle Ruler to the rescue!

With this ruler, you can cut side setting triangles and corner triangles for diagonally set quilts from a strip. You don't have to figure out any math - just measure a strip of fabric, line up your ruler and cut the triangles from the strip.

Turn the ruler to cut another triangle.

Works for corner triangles too.

The ruler I bought is especially helpful for small blocks that  finish as small as 2 1/2". There are a few different rulers out there like this, but I happen to like the one made by Marti Michell just because I often work with small blocks.

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Off-topic - It's still snowing here in northern Illinois!

I went out for a bit yesterday and took a roundabout route where everything looked so pretty and crisp.



Snow What's New??

The calm after the storm has arrived and we are mostly getting along fine. Our streets are plowed, the driveway is shoveled and life is just about back to normal after 2 days of digging out. The sun came out today.

It's very cold (18 degrees) but so pretty! I love showing pictures of our snow because I know so many of you live in places that don't get any snow at all. How sad.

My street from our driveway.

I drove to the Post Office today and while the streets are okay, many intersections have these huge snow mountains that make it difficult to see cross traffic. Twice, I almost hit someone as I was edging out into traffic to see past the snow mounds.

Some of us are really loving it - once a kid always a kid, huh? It took about an hour for the poor dog to thaw out after diving into snow drifts.

Yesterday, while my husband was busy working on shoveling the driveway and paths  I took it easy and finished this sweet little cross stitch I started in December. Perfect for a snowbound day!

Sometime soon I'm going with some friends to a favorite cross stitch shop that's about an hour away. We haven't been there for a couple of years and I'm looking forward to picking up a few little patterns to work on in between my quilt projects.

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Oh, some of you may be interested in this Civil War Sewing Circle club offered by Homestead Hearth Quilt Shop. I am not affiliated with them at all but it looks really cool. Hey, I want to join! Oops, I forgot - I already made the quilts . . .

The Storm I've Been Waiting For

I've been getting very jealous of  those living on the East Coast and the snowstorms they've had in the last few weeks. We had no snow to speak of and it seemed like Chicago had been out of the loop in that department for awhile. Last night the winds were so strong I was afraid the trees were going to be blown down upon the house.

I was sure the winds would bring the power lines down too.

Visibility was next to zero.

My big fear was that the power would go out and we'd freeze. Or worse, I wouldn't be able to access my  e-mail or cable TV . . .  According to the local news, 80,000 were without power in the city. I kept worriedly looking at my husband, saying, "Where will we go, where will we go?? It's 12 degrees. There are no warming centers in the suburbs!!" LOL.

Okay, okay, I admit I'm a little bit of a Chicken Little alarmist at times. The sky did not fall, the roof did not collapse, the winds finally died down and we woke up in the morning to a Winter Wonderland outside the door.

I put on my snow boots (the big furry ones I bought last year that you all laughed at) and braved the back yard. Without a  sherpa.

My sneaky husband thought this was funny and worthy of a few photos- me going out to fill the bird feeders in my jammies and sweats early this morning.

The view from my back door. Nowhere for the dogs to go out . . .

Haha, who's laughing now . . .

Okay, I've had enough - let me in!

I knew I should have cleaned out the garage so I'd have somewhere to park this winter . . . Can't even get to the car . . .

This is not so bad. If my front walk and driveway ever gets shoveled I might venture out and take a little walk with my camera later . . .

Book Signing

This morning was my first book signing "event" for The Civil War Sewing Circle at a local quilt shop. I came, I talked, I signed, I shopped. And, I conquered my fear of  . . . Brown.

Carrie from Pieceful Gathering Quilt Shop in Fox River Grove, IL was nice enough to invite me to spend some time with her customers talking a little about the book and then signing some copies.

Warming up the crowd.

The shop made their own samples from quilts in the book and kits to go with them.

Carrie liked her version better than mine, LOL. You know how I feel about brown . . .

Everybody loved my little hexagons quilt.

This is one of my favorite quilts in the book - lots of red and blue and shirtings.

Here's a full shot of the Friendship Signature quilt made with blocks sent to me by my friends in my Yahoo group.

Some blocks that didn't fit on the front made the backing special

Soldier's Cot Quilt

Double Hourglass quilt

Union Stars quilt - I will be teaching this quilt at the shop's retreat in March in Woodstock, Illinois.

Sewing Box with Wool Applique

Carrie surprised  me with some fat quarters of her new fabric line for Blue Hill Fabrics  - Alice's Wash Day Blues. Oooohhhh. You know how I feel about blue . . .

But look what else I went home with - all these browns. I just couldn't resist!