Auction winnings arrived plus shopping with Jenn

My new/old vintage quilt patterns arrived yesterday and they're fantastic! These are in wonderful condition (how did that happen?) for newspaper cutouts that are almost a 90 years old. The oldest one is from 1928! There are 47 patterns for blocks and quilting designs. Here's some pictures of par1929 with an article about the building of the Boulder dam.

This block is called Broken Circle or Sunflower. It's going to be one of the first that I plan to tackle. I'm think that if I do it using English paper piecing method instead of hand piecing as it suggests, that it will come together easier for me. We'll see. One thing I'm really surprise at is the size of these blocks. Many of them are 6", 8" or 10". Seems like most blocks nowdays are much larger. Do you think it's because they were trying to use up little bits of fabric?

 Okay, here's another back... I had a good laugh at this one... house frocks, smocks and HOOVERS? for only 50 cents. What the heck is a hoover? Did they have vacumns back then and was this for wearing while you did housework? Maybe someone that knows can tell me.
The house frocks I get... I think my mom had some of these "house" dresses worn around the house for cleaning and cooking... and I KNOW she had smocks and aprons. And check out the sizes listed... 16 to 50? Sizing must have changed since back then.


The Oak Grove Star Block is another that I'm planning to make. Using two colors would be pretty, maybe a third for the circle in the center. I'll post pictures when I get my first block done.

So, yesterday I went "mother-of-the-bride" dress shopping with Jenn. We had a fun time (except for the trying on part). We drove to Grand Rapids which is about 3-1/2 hours from here. Jenn and I had breakfast, lunch and dinner out... we hit some great shops. I found her some nice birthday presents that she got to take home with her. And I found some gifts for the shower plus a few FQs for me and the girls. BUT I can't say I found what we really went down there for.

There just arent very many pretty dresses for mothers to choose from. They are either too frumpy or too young ... and by young I mean they don't have enough room in the bust, they show the upper arms (not good) or are strapless, have too many ruffles (all in the wrong places of course) or are too slinky. Someone needs to design a line of mother dresses that are stylish and in pretty colors. These would need to cover up the parts of us that are getting a little too soft, wrinkly or bumpy. It would be nice to have built-in waist and hip control (kind of like control top pantyhose?). Then add a flowy layer... make it a little romantic maybe? And what about some subtle prints? Maybe a print that looks like a soft aqua and green batik? Or maybe a royal blue and white "Amy Butler" type print?

Maybe some dress designer out there will read this?........