Super cool find today in my stash!
#1
Super cool find today in my stash!
My SIL gave me some of her deceased mother's stash which included some pre-cut fabric for a dresden plate with around 10 blocks finished, batting, and quite an assortment of muslin of various colors and weights.
I thought it would be nice to finish the dresden plate blocks and make a quilt out of them and return to my SIL. That was not as easy as it sounds as her mother was trying to put 18 22.5 degree wedges into each plate circle. This was probably her mother's last quilt -- maybe her age, health or her eyes -- because she did some really beautiful work when she was younger/healthier.
I took her blocks apart and put back together with 16 blades and made enough new blocks for a 6x7 block setting. I finished putting all the dresden circles together in the last few days and decided I wanted to use some of her mother's muslin as base to applique them to. I washed, starched and today ironed them. Her mother had stitched together a number of these approx. 33" squares -- probably intended as a backing for this quilt. I ripped those apart to make them easier to cut into 15" squares. During the pressing of those pieces, I found one with a very faint blue lettering. Upon closer inspection I found that the lettering was this:
100 lb bag
Granulated Sugar
(company name here which I don't remember)
Havana, CUBA
These 33" squares were from old (very old ) bags that were imported from Cuba with sugar in them.
When did we quit buying sugar from Cuba? In the 50's?
The fabric is very strong. No weakness of the threads from being stored so long. There are some age spots and a few stains, but I am still going to use them as background for the plates. I think that only adds to the final project. And I am going to cut that segment with the blue lettering and use for the back.
I just think this is super cool!
I thought it would be nice to finish the dresden plate blocks and make a quilt out of them and return to my SIL. That was not as easy as it sounds as her mother was trying to put 18 22.5 degree wedges into each plate circle. This was probably her mother's last quilt -- maybe her age, health or her eyes -- because she did some really beautiful work when she was younger/healthier.
I took her blocks apart and put back together with 16 blades and made enough new blocks for a 6x7 block setting. I finished putting all the dresden circles together in the last few days and decided I wanted to use some of her mother's muslin as base to applique them to. I washed, starched and today ironed them. Her mother had stitched together a number of these approx. 33" squares -- probably intended as a backing for this quilt. I ripped those apart to make them easier to cut into 15" squares. During the pressing of those pieces, I found one with a very faint blue lettering. Upon closer inspection I found that the lettering was this:
100 lb bag
Granulated Sugar
(company name here which I don't remember)
Havana, CUBA
These 33" squares were from old (very old ) bags that were imported from Cuba with sugar in them.
When did we quit buying sugar from Cuba? In the 50's?
The fabric is very strong. No weakness of the threads from being stored so long. There are some age spots and a few stains, but I am still going to use them as background for the plates. I think that only adds to the final project. And I am going to cut that segment with the blue lettering and use for the back.
I just think this is super cool!
#5
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Hocking Hills, Ohio
Posts: 211
I just love finding pieces of history! I checked on when we stopped getting sugar from Cuba. I copied this from this website http://www.coldwarstudies.com/2010/1...can-sanctions/
"In retaliation, in July 1960, Cuba’s sugar quota was cut from the US market when Eisenhower cut Cuban sugar imports by 700,000 tons, the balance of the quota for 1960. He then fixed any future quota at zero. This move was devastating because, under normal circumstances, Cuba sold an average of 3,000,000 tons of sugar each year to the United States, at “prices that had been kept artificially high by laws designed to protect the high – cost US producer.”"
"In retaliation, in July 1960, Cuba’s sugar quota was cut from the US market when Eisenhower cut Cuban sugar imports by 700,000 tons, the balance of the quota for 1960. He then fixed any future quota at zero. This move was devastating because, under normal circumstances, Cuba sold an average of 3,000,000 tons of sugar each year to the United States, at “prices that had been kept artificially high by laws designed to protect the high – cost US producer.”"
#7
Super Member
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Rapid City, SD
Posts: 4,961
That is a fun find!! I've never run across anything that nice! At one time I was looking for some handkerchief fabric - no one in town had any. I was not a happy camper. Later I was looking for something in my stash and ran across 3 yards of handkerchief fabric!
#10
Power Poster
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: East Oklahoma - pining for Massachusetts
Posts: 10,477
First, that is very sweet of you to do this for her. Second, it is so nice to have a bit of history involved with the project. I wonder if you could include an extra label with some of this info. It will be very interesting to the future generation.
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