Lately

Busy designing "this and that" for Lolita's quilt shop.....see the 36 YARDS of Civil War reproduction fabrics that are mine!  I used to have a collection of CW fabrics; quilts have minds of their own and alas there is little of that original collection left.

I've been plotting the next group of quilts, though.   Lovely thoughts.

 

Here is the miser's purse (used in the nineteenth century) that I designed:

The purse is 12.5" long.  The fabric is a repro from 1830.  The gray is really a lovely plum, as are the beads. 

 

 Miser's purses usually had two different style pouches as you see above....one squared at the bottom, the other rounded.  If you had to get money out of the coin purse you were able to feel which side you needed for your denominations.

After all, there were no streetlights to assist when it was time to pay the coachman.

 

The copper rings slide to each side, allowing the split in the fabric to be opened so you could access the coins.  It is said the purse got its name due to how hard it was to retrieve the coins from the narrow slit.  Miser's purses are a great Civil War reenactment accessory.

 

 

This spool and needlecase are worked in Civil War style.  "Moses" refers to Harriet Tubman.

I designed this especially with Osnaburg fabric in mind.  Osnaburg is the fabric the slaves wore (unless perhaps plantation house-slaves?)...the thread count is too small for my eyes to see, so the cross-stitch is a guestimate.  Sort of out of my comfort zone but fun nonetheless.  The ends of the tubular case close like a fabric yo-yo.  The spool of thread can be dropped in, then the ends are closed and knotted.

 

I didn't put needles in the case in the above picture....but therein lies the ingenuity of this case.  You line up the needles, pinned to the printed fabric, then run the thread through each of the needles (or vice versa)...now all of your needles are pre-threaded for easy access for the speedy quilter.

 

Antique button closes the case.

 

End of the case----note I have a twisted thread (used in place of ribbon) going through the spool hole----so the case can hang from a quilting frame.  No more "where did my thread get to?" wasted quilting moments.

 

 

 

The below pics are of Brook's Bleuette wearing the dress and sweater I designed, crocheted, and knitted.  The maroon socks are from a previous outfit I made her, about 15 yrs. ago. Ahem....time for new socks.

Doesn't she have a precious face?