Diane's Double Wedding...AtoZ Letter D

Stitching with Diane is like sitting around a poker table with George Carlin, General Patton, Mae West and Doc Holiday.  She's hilarious, a former Army Sargent, bawdy, brazen and blonde, and keeps everyone guessing as to whether she has an Ace up her sleeve or a six shooter in her lap.

Diane's a gregarious gal with an infectious laugh and a deep Southern drawl.  She is an expert seamstress, but is relatively new to quilting (keep this in mind).  As a newbie in the guild (but not new to quilting), I sit and stitch, nod and smile and pretty much keep my mouth shout...for now.  I am a little intimidated and a whole lot wary of any attempt to match stitches, stories or wit with these ladies...especially Diane.  Having a Poker Face came in handy today when she revealed the circumstances of her first marriage.

The whole thing started when Grace showed up with her Portable Hoop loaded with a Double Wedding Ring quilt.  She had a deadline to meet but didn't want to miss an afternoon of  social quilting, so she gathered up the hooped quilt and set it up in front of the LoneStar Frame where her usual 'Nest' sports an adjustable, padded chair and her quilting stuff.  I'm so coveting that chair.

"Have you done a Double Wedding....?", and before Grace could finish with ....Ring, Diane said, "Hell No!!!  Why would I want to marry  that lyin', cheatin' piece of  #%*>  twice?".  The Armadillos' blue haired heads snapped up from their bluebonnet hexagons, Alma and Flo's faces reflected the Blazing LoneStar, and  Josephine snapped that teeny #12 quilting between right into. 

Grace quickly attempted to clarify with, "What I meant was......".  "I know what you meant, I might have been born at night, but it wasn't last night",  Diane shot back.  "The only thing Double at that weddin' was the Double Dealin' Groom."

Total SILENCE!!!!

 The Armadillos discreetly cleared their throats...in unison.  The BigHair Gals, gave each other the rolled eye look that said, "I bet", and Josephine gave me an all knowing wink....just before Diane 'busted' out laughin' with....

Oh Okay, It was a Double Weddin'!

I had Double Babes in my Belly and the Best Man held a Double Barrell Shotgun!

Total SILENCE!!!

Without missing a stitch and a nod toward Diane, Grace said

"That's exactly what I meant!"

The Double Wedding Ring Pattern...was first illustrated by Capper's Weekly of Topeka KS, in October 20, 1928.  It is said that a thoughtful groom conceived the idea of the double wedding ring ceremony.  The Bride commemorated the ceremony by working the two circles into a double wedding ring quilt.  It has been called "The Endless Chain or 'The Rainbow' and has been a popular pattern due to it's endless use of scraps in rainbow shades.  A tradtional Hope Chest pattern with newly engaged girls starting the piecing upon their engagement and finishing it for their wedding with quilting help from Family and Friends Quilting Bees.  It is also a meaningful gift for a couples Silver and or Golden Anniversary.  Still one of the most popular patterns today, this quilt is also one of the more difficult patterns to piece.

See Ya, tomorrow for Letter E...Emily's Embroidered Rose

 

Chisholm Trail Quilt...AtoZ Letter C

Every night after the cowboys had been fed and the chuckwagon readied for the next morning, my grandmother would stitch together the pieces she had carefully packed in her sewing basket.  Her nightly routine of nesting around the campfire had become the drovers and wranglers evening gathering place as well.  It was like being at home, and for most of them, memories of home included a mother or wife who stitched at the end of a hard days work.

It's my third day in a row at the Courthouse Chamber.  I feel like the cowboys in Sudie's story....all warm and fuzzy with home and hearth in my heart.  I know that sounds kinda sappy, but it is the only way to describe how this place and these women have become such an important part of my day.

When I arrived today, dragging my Quilt Bag stuffed with a newly made padded cushion that fit the assigned folding chair, The Armadillo Squad was gathered around Sudie and an old quilt...and I mean old as in frayed binding, worn thin calicos and clumped cotton batting that had settled within the quilted pieces after many washings and many days and nights of being tucked between bedsprings and mattress.  It was obvious that the quilt was special to Sudie, who was pointing out a block in the middle of the quilt, "This here block is stained with my Granddaddy Chaps blood." You could hear a pin drop as we all collectively uttered, "Oh my, Sudie, how did that happen?"  Sudie motioned for us all to have a seat as she settled in her chair with the tattered and blood stained quilt draped across her lap.

As I was telling you earlier, Grandmother MaryJo stitched every night around the campfire on what was to be their last cattle drive on the Chisolm Trail.   It wasn't common for a woman to be on a cattle drive, but 'Jo', as she was called by the cowboys, was as much a drover and wrangler as she was a chuckwagon cook.  She had been on the Chisolm Trail many times with her Daddy, my GreatGrandpa John.  He was a Trail Boss who was entrusted by other ranchers to drive herds of Texas Longhorns to market in Abilene, Kansas.  You see, it was just after the Civil War when cattle in Texas were plentiful and sold for four dollars a head.  In the North and East folks would pay forty dollars a head ... making the 'Drive' on the Chisolm Trail worth the time it took, and the dangers encountered along the way.

Sudie rearranged the quilt in her lap so we could better see the piece with 'Chap's Blood Stain', and continued with her story.....

.....Lordy, I got off the subject a bit.  Anyways, this here material was the shirt MaryJo was wearing the day she held her bleeding husband next to her bosom.  She pieced it into this quilt so as to never forget that day and their last 'Cattle Drive on The Chisolm Trail.

With that, Sudie rolled up the quilt, rose from her chair and declared it time for the Armadillos to get back to quilting on Bea and Irene's Bluebonnet Flower Garden.  We all sat glued to our chairs, our mouths agape with the questions we all blurted out at once.  "Wait, Sudie!  Did Chap get shot?  Was it Indians?  It was Rustlers, wasn't it?  Oh my, was it a stampede?"

"Goodness what imaginations you gals have, Sudie laughed.  Jo's bosom was pressed against Chaps ear after he yelled....

Damnit, Jo, you dang near cut off my ear.  Give me that razor, I'll shave myself."

The Chisolm Trail was a trail used in the late 19th century to drive cattle overland from ranches in Texas to Kansas railheads.  The portion of the trail marked by Jesse Chisolm went from his southern trading post near the Red River, to his northern trading post near Kansas City, Kansas.  Texas ranchers using the Chisholm Trail started on the route from either the Rio Grande or San Antonio, Texas and went to the railhead of the Kansas Pacific Railway in Abilene, Kansas, where the cattle would be sold and shipped eastward.  Reference: Chisolm Trail ~ Wikipedia

See Ya, tomorrow for Letter D...Diane's Double Weddin'