Bed Bug Eradication

While habitancy think of our founding mothers quilting this was not true. Most women of Colonial days did not have the time to quilt. They spent their time beyond doubt manufacture the very cloth that they needed, spinning and weaving were prevalent while that time-frame. They had only so many high-priced hours of light, and while it sounds "romantic" I don't think trying to quilt 22 stitches to the inch in the gloom of a normal home on any evening while their winters would have been very easy on their eyes.

Pieced quilts of any amount were not base before 1840 when cloth started being artificial in factories rather in their homes. Women tended to make their own patterns, relying on simple, base items around the house for inspiration or templates. You will find evidence of this simply leafing straight through any book or website of historical patterns. Log Cabin was a base patchwork quilting pattern that beyond doubt didn't even need a pattern; its town quadrilateral depicting the chimney [usually red to indicate the warmth of one's home] surrounded by uncomplicated logs of cloth. Friends tended to share patterns passing them to one an additional one until, finally, in the late 1800's some magazines and newspapers started printing patterns to attract the ladies as readers.

But by the late 1800's to the early 1900's those ladies that could afford it and wanted to show off their skills had started manufacture Victorian era patchwork quilts known as Crazy Quilts. Made of velvets, silks, and satins and heavily embroidered over every seam and open space they were not for everyday use and were regularly found in the parlor, over the piano or harpsichord, if one was lucky enough to own one. They showed off the quilter's skills and were treasured by generations. Since they were not used for beds a amount of them have survived to today and give us a fantastic history of the era.

During this same era the country lady was not, for the most part, manufacture crazy quilts. They were still manufacture patchwork quilting quilts that served as bedding for their family. They tended to cut back on the hand quilting to save time and tended to simply tie the quilt layers together to get them done and on the bed. If these ladies wanted to challenge themselves you might find them manufacture what were known as Charm Quilts, which boasted at having 999 dissimilar unique patchwork quilting fabrics within them. They had great fun trading with their neighbors to gain the great variety of cloth. These fun quilts were resurrected in the last part of the 20th century as members of quilting guilds swapped fabrics even today.

Move farther into the 20th century and we remember the 1930 depression quilts. Ladies who had to be even more thrifty than normal but tended to use bright, often pastel colors to try to cheer their homes.

World War Ii brought about additional changes, and the beginning of a real lull in patchwork quilting that lasted decades. Many women found themselves in the workplace and simply did not have time to quilt. Quilts started to become passe and store bought blankets and bedspreads filled their homes. Some women still quilted but it tended to be found in rural areas and the city women wholly lost touch with the pastime.

Patchwork all but disappeared until the 1960's and the coming of the hippie movement and then you started to see a return to the earth and saw patchwork showing up in clothing and accessories. But it wasn't beyond doubt until 1976 and the Bi-Centennial celebration that you saw a lot of women getting complicated in the art again. By the late 1970's quilt shops started springing up in cities as well as towns and habitancy were back to learning how to do this thing we call patchwork quilting.

Having gotten complicated in 1979 myself, I can tell you the ensuing years have brought many more changes in the art/craft. Patchwork quilting is now firmly entrenched in our modern culture having transcended from craft to art and back again. Patchwork quilting now varies as much as its quilters; men, women, young and old alike sharing this fantastic passion!

Take time out this month to seek out a quilting event near you and find out for yourself! You will be amazed what it has transformed into! But be careful... The patchwork quilting "bug" just might bite You!