Wolfe - Double Wedding Ring Quilts-Traditions Made Modern: Full-Circle Sketches from Life

Publisher: Amy Marson

Creative Director: Gailen Runge

Art Director: Kristy Zacharias

Editor: Liz Aneloski

Technical Editors: Debbie Rodgers, Mary E. Flynn, and Nan Powell

Cover/Book Designer: April Mostek

Production Coordinator: Zinnia Heinzmann and Freesia Pearson Blizard

Production Editor: Alice Mace Nakanishi

Illustrator: Mary E. Flynn

Photo Assistant: Mary Peyton Peppo

Style photography by Nissa Brehmer and instructional photography by Diane Pedersen of C&T Publishing, unless otherwise noted below:

Photos by Victoria Findlay Wolfe: pages 9, 13, 21, 33, 40 left, 80, and 87 bottom

Photos by Katherine Slingluff: pages 4, 11 bottom, 14 top, 41, 61, 62, 71, 72, 74, 82, 83, 99, 100, and 111

Photos by Monica Buck: page 108

Dedication

To my darling daughter, Beatrice.

Had you not come into my life,

I might not have found my passion.

You are the greatest joy in my life.

Acknowledgments

Id like to thank all the wonderful quilters, like my grandmother, Elda Wolfe, who before me, made beautiful memories through textiles.

Id also like to thank all todays quilters and friends, who have told their stories through quilts that inspire me to continue to make.

Specifically and humbly, I thank these people for being a part of my daily inspiration:

Kim Hryniewicz

Roderick Kiracofe

Susan Wernecke

Michele Muska

Shelly Pagliai

Debby Ritenbaugh Brown

Karen McTavish

Lisa Sipes

Linda Sekerak

The C&T staff

My SSQ pals (you know who you are)

My fabulous husband, Michael Findlay, I love you.

A big thanks to these companies:

AccuQuilt

Aurifil

Havels Sewing

Juki International

Reliable Corporation

Robert Kaufman Fabrics

Triangles on a Roll

FOREWORD

by Roderick Kiracofe

What if you had a grandmother you loved very much and have extremely happy memories of time spent at her home in southwest Minnesota? You watched her make quilts and sew and crochet and work with your grandfather in the vegetable and flower garden. What if you decide to take a closer look at the quilt you just made but dont like; and you decide to cut it up, rearrange the pieces, shift it all around, get a new perspective? And then the Aha! moment happens. This is what happened for contemporary quiltmaker/artist Victoria Findlay Wolfe in 2012, and the result was . This quilt led to the creation and the working through of many personal memories of growing up in the Midwest, her connections with her family, especially her beloved grandmother, and time spent growing up on the farm.

Double-Edged Love clearly struck a chord with many who saw it for the first time at QuiltCon in 2013, the first national conference the Modern Quilt Guild, organized and hosted in Austin, Texas. In fact, the quilt won Best in Show. It also opened up something unexpectedly for Victoria.

Lets step back a little and look at the pattern that is the basis for starting Victoria on her personal journey. Like much of quilt history and the origins of and names attached to quilt patterns, it is ever evolving. Speculation, mystery, and myth remain alongside good solid research and knowledge. The Wedding Ring pattern is no exception. Known as Single Wedding Ring, Double Wedding Ring, or Wedding Ring, did it evolve from earlier patterns Pine Burr, Pickle Dish, or Indian Wedding Ring? Most likely, yes.

We do know that the Double Wedding Ring pattern was first published in Cappers Weekly in Kansas on October 20, 1928. Shortly after, the Weekly Kansas City Star and then the Kansas City Star published patterns by Ruby Short McKim. However, it wasnt until 1931 that she actually called it Double Wedding Ring. By 1931, the pattern spread like wildfire throughout the Midwest and across the country. Patterns, instructions, and the actual cut pieces of fabric were available through syndicated pattern services and cottage businesses to supply the eager quiltmaker wanting to try her hand at this popular quilt.

Speculation is that the pattern had already gained popularity on its own and was shared among quiltmakers who mailed their own patterns to each other years before the newspapers actually began to publish and promote the pattern.

I was intrigued by a notation I came across in the valuable research Wilene Smith compiled on this pattern. She noted that quilt historian Merikay Waldvogel discovered a Double Wedding Ring made in Georgia reportedly around 1900. This would be a very early example, but it is not the date that intrigued me most, but the name that the family had always called the quilt: Tangled Love. There are so many interpretations, subtle and not-so-subtle meanings, of what tangled love could and did mean to those family members. As we know, all quilts come with multiple stories and meanings surrounding the maker and those who lived with and slept under what the makers have made.

This brings me back to Victorias body of twelve quilts in this series and the layers, stories, memories, and subtle or hidden messages embedded in them. Here we have a living maker who can and has documented her stories and thoughts about her creations. My guess is that with all quiltmakers, some of those stories remain untold, but how can they not be reflected within the quilt? Journeysfrom farm to grandparents home; from small town to the big city; the many joys of childhood and carefree times at grandmothers house; being taught to make, sew, build, garden, and create. Happy timesChristmas, family, friends. Emotions, thoughts, and decisionsjoy, sorrow, pain, love, disappointment, elation, enthusiasm, idealism, being practical, doors opening, paths taken, choices made, surprises, success and failure. All these things make up a life.

From the memories, associations, and encounters of a life come the fabrics and materials that make up the actual pieces. Like so many quiltmakers before her, Victoria loves fabricsand a vast array of them. She uses old clothing, secondhand-store finds, polyester double knits (like those her grandmother used), her scrap bag, as well as the latest and trendiest fabrics available.

As I spoke with Victoria and viewed the twelve very beautiful and unique quilts, I was struck by the connection and bond she has with the generations of quiltmakers before her, but particularly to Nancy Crow and her work with the traditional Double Wedding Ring. Nancy also became intrigued by this pattern and was drawn to create her interpretations in six quilts, which she titled Double Mexican Wedding Rings.

It is amazing how, by starting with something we dont like or arent pleased with and then stepping back (sometimes with drastic measures involving scissors), we gain a new perspective and see things differently. Like the circles that make up these quilts, Victoria took this approach and has come full circle with many aspects and pieces of her life to create a stunning body of work.

Roderick Kiracofe
Author of Unconventional & Unexpected: American Quilts below the Radar 19502000 and co-author of The American Quilt: A History of Cloth and Comfort 17501950. He is also an artist and art collector and lives in San Francisco, California.

INTRODUCTION

Exploring the Double Wedding Ring

Little did I know that making one quilt would set me off on a wild Double Wedding Ring adventure! That I would teach myself a thing or two about my own process is such a treat! I used to work very quickly, not contemplate too long over my choices. I would let my intuition take me on the journey and be thrilled to move on and start a new quilt. I still do this sometimes, but I can now sit and stay with a project for greater lengths of time, and buildnot just more complicated quilts but quilts with a stronger connection to who I am.