Quilting

I finally went to quilting tonight. I had gone a few times several months ago (October-ish) but then hadn't gotten back, although I wanted to. Tonight by some miracle I managed to get through the Monday craziness on time to join the quilters at 7:00. It was a really fun evening. The ages of the women gathered together ranged from mid 20s to mid 80s. The conversation was mostly about quilts, but also about family, friends, and just life. There was a lot of laughter and collaboration. Several ladies brought quilts they have been working on, to share, to get ideas, and to get others to help work on them, too. It was lovely.

I brought home a package of small strips of fabric so I can choose which ones I want to use to make my Ocracoke Cracker pattern pillow. The information provided with the pattern explains a bit of the history of the pattern, and I've copied it below.

For many years it was thought that this was an original Ocracoke pattern but it was discovered to be from Colonial Times. During the documentation of quilts in North Carolina it was found only on Ocracoke Island. It was popular with the ladies here during the thirties and forties. There are a number of them in family collections on the island.

The fabric used in quilts and clothes often found its way to Ocracoke from the West Indies as the island men were seafarers. Often the quilts made by different women looked alike because of the use of the same materials.

In this pattern one of the two inside stripes is always red, either solid or a print. The corner triangles are always te same fabric, often pale pink, blue or yellow. Adjacent squares are turned to lend excitement to the overall quilt pattern.

The quilters group on Ocracoke makes several quilts a year. They always do one for the Ocrafolk Festival raffle and one for the OPS museum fundraising raffle. They are finishing the one for the Festival now, and will soon be starting work on a commissioned piece (a cracker pattern).

You can see a picture of a cracker quilt at Philip Howard's Village Craftsmen blog (link in the menu to the left). I'll post a picture of my pillow when it's finished. It will be a while, though, so don't hold your breath!