Monday, August 22, 2011

Postage Stamp Quilt Block


     I found the pattern for this Postage Stamp block in The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird, but I enlarged this block from 6" to 9" finished.
     In this diary entry of my grandmother's, she is 20 years old and living on the farm near Olivet, Kansas.  Her brother Howard is 18 and going to high school (pre-college) 95 miles away in Manhattan.  Orv is a hired man about my grandmother's age.  Lesta Alvord is a friend from high school. 
     My dad explained to me how the mail was delivered.  A tall iron post with a hook was located right along the railroad tracks in Olivet.  Without even stopping, the train could go slowly by the iron post, and the postman on the train's mail car could hang the incoming mailbag on the hook.  Then someone from the Olivet post office would bring the mailbag to the post office to be sorted.  The reverse would be true for outgoing mail.   

Monday, January 19, 1916 -
"I have just finished a much delayed letter to Howard.  It seems like they come in as fast as I can answer them, though.  Orv just whistled as he brought the mail awhile ago, so I went down to let him in.  I got a note from Lesta and an invitation to a surprise party for Griffie Friday night.  Carrie is getting it up.  This hasn't been a very eventful day.  It's like Orv says, we sleep all night and are dead for sleep all day.  But still I have kept on the go pretty well all day, too.  But we didn't get up until horribly late.  There has been a cold south wind blowing all day, and it has sleeted some."

You might enjoy reading my previous post:
http://starwoodquilter.blogspot.com/2011/08/evening-star-quilt-block.html

12 comments:

  1. Great fun Susan!! Your Grandmother's journals are very precious!! Luv ya!!

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  2. It is smart to make the block bigger. 1" squares-Yuk.

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  3. It's amazing how 1-1/2" squares feel so much easier and bigger to handle than 1" squares!

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  4. This is a beautiful block as are all of your blocks. But i am puzzled at how you will put your quilt blocks together at different sizes, i have seen posts at 10 inches, 9 inches and 6 inches

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  5. I am planning to bring each block up to 12" (the largest size of my blocks) by putting it on point or by adding borders of some type.

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  6. Pretty block.

    How many blocks will you be doing if you are increasing the size?

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  7. I'm not sure yet. I'm making the quilt large enough for a king sized bed, so I imagine I'll make around 100.

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  8. How fun to participate in this project with your own grandmother's letters. I will look forward to reading about your progress!

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  9. Susan, any idea whether anyone still has the letters from Howard to your grandmother? I'm interested, of course, because Howard was my grandfather. I'm Fred's daughter, Ann. I love reading your blog and hearing Aunt Hattie's words. It's truly lovely.

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  10. Ann, I'm so pleased that you wrote. I've checked with my dad about the letters. My cousin Merry Lu might also know.

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  11. Susan, I love this! I knew that Aunt Hattie loved to write. When I visited her when I was in college at Emporia, she told me of her disappointment that she couldn't go to college and pursue a degree in writing.

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  12. interesting fact about the mail:) I used to have few close pen-friend back in school. Now with e-mail it's faster but sometimes I miss the snail mail:).

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