Wedding Ring Quilt Block

     I got this pattern from The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird but changed the size to 10" finished.  I first had the orange fabric switched with the flower print, but after putting part of it together, I realized that the bright orange made the focus on the outer edge of the block rather than the center.  I like this color arrangement better.  
     In her continuing story, my grandmother describes a trip to Washington that she and her mother made in the fall of 1912 to help with the wedding of her older sister Mary.  

from A Kansas Yankee by Harriet Woodbury George -

"1910 - The new decade included many changes for our family. . . In 1911 our sisters Mary and Eva had both gone to Aunt Annie's in Washington State and liked it there enough to decide to take an apartment in Palouse, where they lived together.  They were near enough to our Uncle Will and Aunt Annie Wiley to help them, as they had a large wheat farm and active family.  In 1912, Mary was to be married in October to a fine young man, Lester Johnson, and Eva was engaged to George Wiley - a cousin of our cousins - Uncle Will's nephew.  It was planned that Mamma and I would go to Washington for Mary's wedding, which took place in the Wiley farm home on October 9, 1912.  Both of these young men, Lester and George, were farmers in the productive Palouse Valley.  We enjoyed being there in their harvest time of September-October.  There was much fruit at that time also - cherries, plums, peaches and apples - also garden vegetables and beautiful flowers, with which I enjoyed helping to decorate the house and tables for serving the wedding dinner.  We came home soon after the wedding as I had missed about six weeks of school.  Eva came home with us and spent the winter with Mamma and the family, preparing for her wedding which occurred February 19, 1913."

Aunt Mary's Fresh Apple Cake

1-1/4 cups sugar

1/4 cup melted shortening or oil

2 eggs, beaten

1-1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1-1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 Tablespoon grated orange rind

1/2 cup chopped nuts

2 cups finely chopped apple

1.  Mix together the sugar and oil.  Add the beaten eggs.

2.  Sift together the flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda and add to sugar mixture.

3.  Add the orange rind, nuts, and apple.

4.  Pour into a greased 13 x 9" pan and bake at 375 degrees for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  (This step was omitted in the original recipe.  I looked up a similar apple cake on-line for this information.) 

Lemon Sauce

1.  Mix 1 cup sugar and 1 Tablespoon cornstarch.

2.  Add the juice and some rind of 1 lemon, 1 Tablespoon butter, and 1 cup boiling water. 

3.  Cook until thick and clear.  When cool, serve over cake with whipped cream or ice cream.

                from The Woodbury Larder: A Legacy published by Phyllis Woodbury Bryant

You might enjoy also reading my previous blog entry:
http://starwoodquilter.blogspot.com/2011/08/practical-orchard-quiltblock.html