pennyhal2

I hold out hope that the story will appear somewhere!

Blueridgebeverly

Intriguing story! Like others, I wasn’t able to find anything even resembling the story.

But … it did lead to some very interesting reading with my coffee this morning. As with any creative process, the quilter leaves a part of her story in the quilt. (Historically more “her” than “him”.)

I’m sharing links below.

https://www.artnews.com/art-in-ameri...on-1234606821/
https://tucson.com/news/local/histor...44a046285.html
https://www.coastreporter.net/local-...ntings-3440292

pbraun

Blueridge... thank you for the links. I am putting together a presentation on communication through quilts for the Illinois Reading Council conference in March.

WesternWilson

This reminds me of the movie "Like Water for Chocolate"! Doing a task with intention is very close to having a magical power, non?

Blueridgebeverly

Wish I could hear your presentation! Sounds fascinating. Will it be recorded? Or perhaps available through live through facebook or YouTube?

I’m so glad the links will be useful. It was interesting reading.

LaQuita Bristow

Could it have anything to do with the hobo train quits that were made with signs as blocks each with a purpose or direction to keep the slaves free through pictures directions. Theses were sometimes made in quilts then given out,

bneuen

I wonder if the library or a quilt guild would have any information. Great story. Could make a great storyline if you’re a writer. Hope you find some clues.

Iceblossom

I'm thinking that if there were really fold outs, the top would be an Art quilt and not a Use quilt. I've seen many people exploring the concepts of "quilts" of being layers or having secrets inside. I remember one quilt in a museum show that had organic elements like coffee grounds or things that would rot/discolor the project. (LOL sometimes maybe there are things you wish you could forget). I would concentrate searches with suitable phrases.

The thing about secret messages is often they are secret... 2020 was a hard year on me in many ways. One of the happier things was I worked on the Bonnie Hunter Frolic project. Mine, other than fabric choice, was exactly Bonnie's design. Later in the year as I was struggling, I completed another board member's project that got abandoned mid-project. Her fabrics are more standard. I completed the project as something to do and that I didn't want to be responsible for getting it quilted down and sent it back to the starter.

There is a secret message in the completed top which I did share with the recipient and I feel almost bad for sharing here -- I did the borders differently. The message is "red white and blue, we are stronger together". The geese seem to go around the edges in a weird way, well no, they are all coming from one corner and going to the other, together.

My top is first, with the split/divisive as designed border. I debated between the geese shapes and movement, or making squares/kites in the second top as being more "unified" but they looked clunky -- maybe just with the after vision of my top in my eyes.

Peckish

Underground railroad quilts are a nice story to think about, but it's been researched and debunked as myth.

FoggyButFocused

I think the idea that quilts were used as a communication device for the Underground Railroad has been debunked. If you are going to do a presentation, please double-check this fact. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer.