* CWRSRP = Civil War Reproduction Stash Reduction Project
When I posted the photo of 50 red/white Ohio Stars earlier this week I warned you that I was thinking about settings.
Here's the result! The sashing is not a repro but it was the right tone. Deb Tucker's Square Squared ruler made easy work of the cornerstones. (I tried the Square-in-a-Square ruler, and even went to a class for it, but it was awkward to use. I like Deb's ruler better.)
I have 20 white-corner Ohio Stars ready for the next project.
Yesterday I stopped at an estate sale in Zion. I didn't know the woman whose estate was being sold (she passed away last summer) nor did I recall having seen the house though I've driven along that street frequently. I bought two elementary school yearbooks and the 50th reunion souvenir (Zion-Benton Township High School Class of 1953). I'll give those to the library for the local history collection.
I also bought six of the homeliest quilt blocks I've ever seen. How could I resist? [Yearbooks plus blocks = $6.00.]
They're all hand-pieced with giant stitches. Maybe they were a child's project?
There were no sewing supplies or fabric in the sale. Of course I don't know what the family may have kept or what might have sold earlier in the day.
The stars were pieced on pages from a Sears catalog and pages from the Memphis Commercial Appeal (newspaper).
When I give my quilt history program I talk about the information that can be gleaned from the paper foundations left in quilt blocks.
There are two clues to the date they were made. I looked up Carroll G. Worley. He died in 1991 and his last surviving child died in 2017. I emailed the Bald Knob, AR, Rotary Club to ask when he served as president. (I also looked up his presidential predecessor, Sterling Green, but only learned his death date.)
I haven't heard from Bald Knob yet, but:
I googled
123 E. Cherry Dr., Memphis. It's still a "fine home," per the builder's ad -- 3,552 square feet, last sold for $480,000 and estimated current price of $613,000. It was built in
1955, so the blocks can't be older than that.
P.S. Before I turn the Elmwood Echoes over to the library I will share them with my friend Liz who was an 8th grader there in 1948. The Class Prophecy -- forecasting to 1965! -- says that "We were amazed to hear that Miss Elizabeth [S] is signed up with the circus as a trapeze artist." (Spoiler alert: that didn't happen. She has four daughters (and many grand- and great-grandchildren). She ran a successful daycare business for 20 years. She and her husband Bob hosted more than 40 exchange students through Rotary. They've traveled extensively -- every state and 50 or so countries. I think that beats the trapeze!)