I found this book on ebay. It includes patterns and instructions for doing embroidery, crewel work, cross-stitch, needlepoint, patchwork, appliqué, quilting, rug hooking, crochet, knitting, weaving, candlewicking, and rug making. In addition to a pattern for each skill in the book, there is also a box of patterns that came with it that is 2 1/2" thick (or 6cm for you, Kate.) I can't wait to really delve into it and work on everything, but it will have to wait, as I've a bunch of other things to do right now.
The other exciting thing about this book, for me, is that the author, Rose Wilder Lane, is the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder! I vaguely remembered reading that Rose had written such a book when I saw this on ebay, and it made me especially keen to get it. Rose writes, "The first needlepoint that I saw may have been an early example of it. My mother made it when she was a girl in Dakota Territory, during the Hard Winter of 1880-1881. It was a bookmark worked in silk on a strip of perforated paper. The design was free and lively, spaced on the paper and unframed. My mother said that she 'thought it up' herself and worked it in half-cross-stitch to make the thread go farther." This book goes into lots of detail about the history of each art, and how it developed in America. Rose's pride in America comes through on almost every page, and there are loads of color pictures of early American examples of each work.
2 comments:
Ooo, ooo, ooo! That looks great!
Sounds like a treasure! Remember when national pride was fostered in the schools?
In my high school Sr. Comp. class one of the students asked if we could say the pledge every day in class. No one had a problem with it and the almost retired teacher was quite pleased I believe.
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