Edie McGinnis - Finders Keepers Quilts: A Rare Cache of Quilts from the 1900s - 15 Projects - Historic, Reproduction & Modern interpretation

Publisher: Amy Marson

Creative Director: Gailen Runge

Editor: Deborah Bauer

Technical Editor: Jane Miller

Cover/Book Designer: Kim Walsh

Photography: Aaron T. Leimkuehler

Illustration: Lon Eric Craven

Photo Editor: Jo Ann Groves

Published by Kansas City Star Quilts, an imprint of C&T Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 1456, Lafayette, CA 94549

Acknowledgements

This book would never have come to fruition without the help of the following people.

Thanks go to Susan Knapp for allowing me to share the story of the quilts she found in the house she and her husband, Eric, bought. And to Sandra Amstutz, Susans sister-in-law, for providing so much information and help with stitching quilts.

Susan and Sandra found the perfect house for the photo shoot. Nancy Squires, of Bloomfield, Iowa, graciously allowed us to use her home, which was built in 1907, the very same year that was found on one of the quilts. Thank you so much, Nancy!

Thanks to Koren Bell for donating the fabric for the Diamond quilt. Koren owns a quilt shop, Quilters Nine Patch, in Elmira, Ontario, Canada.

My good friends Klonda Holt and Jane Kennedy lent me a hand with stitching and binding. Thank you so much!

A huge thank you to Robin Sackett for stitching the Prairie Rose Table Mat.

Shelly Pagliai of Wien, Missouri, is the talented quilter who made most of the quilts in this book look so stunning.

I am so lucky to have had Aaron Leimkuehler as the photographer on this project. His attention to detail and his patience are extraordinary. Lon Eric Craven is the talented artist who drew all the diagrams and templates. The photos were toned by Jo Ann Groves, who does the best job of making the photos match the color of the quilts. Kim Walsh is the book designer who made the pages look so warm and inviting.

Jane Miller is the math-minded person who always has my back when it comes to numbers. Deborah Bauer, my editor, is gifted at making me sound as though my thoughts are never muddled.

Thanks to all the people at C&T Publishing who saw to it that this book was printed.

Thank you to everyone who encouraged me and helped with this endeavor.

Edie McGinnis

About the Author

Edie McGinnis began her career with The Kansas City Star in 1987. She was the associate editor of Kansas City Star Quilts and is the author of 18 books. She blogged every week on the Kansas City Star Quilts website. She has had several single patterns published and has written articles for quilting magazines. Edie gives lectures and trunk shows on Kansas City Star quilt patterns, their history and the designers who worked at The Star in the early years; feedsacks; scrap quilts; and using pre-cuts. She also combines workshops with lectures and trunk shows.

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Found:

A Treasure Trove of Quilts

Drive through the countryside and you will occasionally spot one. A house, abandoned and bereft, with empty windows and sagging walls. It doesnt take much of an imagination to envision what a lovely home it must have been, to see that it had good bones before nature began to take its course. But the paint has vanished, leaving behind a weathered, gray patina.

Shingles are missing, and the roof is caving in here and there. Some of the windowpanes are broken, others are missing. It is clear that the people who used to live here have been gone for quite some time. And when they left, they took with them all the joy and laughter that used to bounce off of the walls.

The weeds have taken over the yard. Hollyhocks are still brave enough to bloom along the fence line, but all the other flowers that used to flourish around the porch have been crowded out.

We see houses like this in the Midwest. Not often, but frequently enough to pique a persons curiosity. Ive never driven by one that I didnt want to stop and look inside. I wonder what kind of wallpaper had covered the walls, and I always want to know what kind of people lived there.

But most of all, I want to know what happened and why the house was left for nature to reclaim.

One such house was the Roulet family home and farm in Bloomfield, Iowa. When Eric and Susan Knapp bought it in 2012, they did so with the express intention of tearing the house down. It had been vacant since the mid- 70s and was in such a state of disrepair there could be no saving it.

They brought in a huge trash receptacle and parked it in front of the house. Eric was ready to start tearing it down the moment they closed on the deal. Susan wasnt quite so anxious. She was curious to see what, if anything, remained inside.

Susan donned a pair of tall rubber boots and pulled on rubber gloves before she waded into the knee-deep debris that littered the floors. She picked up a piece of crockery here, a pretty dish there, and other odds and ends that had been left behind.

It was nearly dark when she called her sister-in-law Sandra Amstutz and excitedly told her that she had found a quilt. Sandra, a longtime avid quilter, drove over to take a look at the prize. It was a crazy quilt that still had the foundation papers in it. It was in fairly good shape but didnt smell the best.

Susan and Sandra couldnt go back in the house that evening, because it was too dark and the chances of falling through a hole in the floor too great.

Susan went back in the house the next day, again foraging through the mess. And Sandra got another phone call. This time, Susan told her that she had found a box of quilts. All were in good shape and had hardly been used.

After seeing the pristine condition of the quilts, the two knew they had to go through the entire house.

They went back the next day to see what other pieces might emerge from the mess. The roof leaked in every other room. Elsewhere, there were items that were wet and frozen in place. And the whole house smelled. Under one pile of rubble, they found a chevron or braid quilt that had probably served as a carriage robe. The quilt had been made of lightweight wools and backed with a satiny type of fabric. It smelled so awful that they almost left it. But they couldnt quite manage to walk away from it.

Sandra washed it seven times using a gentle wash, and still the water failed to run clear. Afraid to continue with the washing regime, she finally hung it over the back railing of her porch, hoping the odor would disappear after the quilt was aired and left in the sunshine to dry.

They also found a redwork quilt that had been beautifully embroidered. Half of the blocks illustrated characters from the Bible, and those alternated with flower blocks. They are not sure who the original designer of either series was, but its a good guess the patterns might have been from McKim Studios. This quilt top was found under a large pillow that was on top of a mattress filled with wood shavings. The pillow was probably the only thing that saved it from water damage.