Roly Poly Circus
November 9th, 2008
My little Roly Poly Circus redwork quilt ends up peeking out in a lot of photos of mine, and I’m asked about it a lot. Only took me two + years to finally respond about it. RPC is one of my prized quilts. Not just because it was pure joy for me to make… but because Ruby Short McKim, the designer… is a rock star to me. Ruby broke the glass ceiling for women - even before ceilings had glass. Ruby’s granddaughter has a wonderful bio about Ruby here. It’s worth a read. Seriously.
Sometime around 1923, the Kansas City Star published Ruby’s RPC blocks (I’m guessing the year is correct… since I embroidered it on my quilt, and if I’m wrong… woops, too late now). I think it was published weekly, but I’m not really sure. I set my blocks in the order that they were published, even though it didn’t coincide with Ruby’s lil’ poem.
Since going back in time to retrieve the patterns from the paper was not an option, I found the next best thing:
Ruby Short McKim’s Roly Poly Circus Quilt (Spiral-bound) by Jill Sutton Filo
ISBN-10: 0967019702
ISBN-13: 978-096701970
I wish newspapers today would start printing quilt blocks and patterns again. Ahh… good times, especially in rough economic times. Blatant shout-out to the NY Times, LA Times, SF Chronie, The Oregonian… I’m available! Hahahaha. I would love to see feedsacks come back too. I would buy what ever came in a fabric sack. Anything to keep me indoors. Quilting. Crafting. Not being outdoors. I’m an indoor girl, and this is why:
Fabric is MUCH easier to stack than firewood. And as hard as it is to believe… I stacked all of that wood. The fruit of some of our downed trees from our big storm last December. I’d pat myself on the back, but my arms are still too sore.
Speaking of indoors… MMHZ is having a grand old time at Thimble Creek! Joe and Roxie sent me this photo of what MMHZ has been up to. Getting spoiled, of course. :)
UPDATE: Craftietammie left a comment with great info about the KC Star’s “Pickledish“. I kinda feel like Dr. Frankenstein shouting, “it’s alive, it’s alive”… an old timey tradition being kept alive. Love. It. Now all that I need is for my Froot Loops to come in a nice fabric bag. Kellogg’s… are you listening?
Posted in Quilty n Crafty |
Farting around with needle & thread and then blogging about it.
It seems like there are very few products these days that have anything “gimmicky” to get you to buy them. Not even glasses at McDonalds anymore! About the only freebies these days are coke points. Le sigh.
(Says she with a cabinet full of gas station glasses and pitchers, wonderful rewards for buying fuel in the “good old days”!)
November 9th, 2008WOW that’s a lot of wood! You’ll be warm and toasty this winter for sure! Love the quilt, love MMHZ and will probably see it there in another week. xo
November 9th, 2008Drooling over your redwork quilt. Looove it!
November 9th, 2008Awesome wood stacking job, Monica. Did you sort these by size or by cut? Hahaha!
Dang, your MMHZ gets around. What a player!
I love the roly poly circus!!! what a lovely lovely quilt! It is a shame the patterns arent all reprinted into books, I am sure there would be a market out there for them.. but then again, what would I know???
Lissa
November 9th, 2008who thinks stacking 1/10th of that pile of wood would of been hard work!
Wow, nice wall of wood, it could keep even my big dogs in the yard - and the bears out!
November 9th, 2008I too would buy anything that came in a fabric sack, flour, dog food, wine…. the possiblities are endless!
Hum. I have a hard time understanding diminutive like MMHZ. What does it mean?
November 9th, 2008Just curious…
I love redwork, and this quilt turned out wonderful. Great job. It is alot of work to do this but boy so worth the effort!
November 9th, 2008Blessings,
Debbie
you mean newspapers used to print quilt blocks?? that is the coolest thing ever! how could we get them to do that again?? i think it’s a great idea and could be really popular!! :)
November 9th, 2008The roly poly is amazing but stacking the firewood! Now that is impressive.
November 9th, 2008Love the Roly Poly quilt. Did you hand quilt that too?
November 9th, 2008WOW your gonna stay warm this winter for sure. Have you had a fire already?
That’s an adorable roly poly quilt! And that firewood?? You go, girl! I’m even more impressed with you now (as if that’s possible).
November 9th, 2008Wow M…you’re STACKED!!
RPC is one of my all time favs too…you did an amazing job and the quilting is your usual fab!!!!
November 9th, 2008All of your quilts are amazing but I really love that Roly Poly Circus. I find myself thinking about it randomly from time to time…wondering if I could do something like that someday.
Nice stacks, Monica! We have wood stacked everywhere around here. In the dog yard, in the basement entryway (outside) stacked along the retaining wall in the driveway….It has pretty much taken over, but we won’t be cold this winter, will we?! Almost a year since our hurricane. Riff and I were just talking about it tonight. Wondering if we’re prepared if it happens again.
November 9th, 2008hi, I’m new to your blog, but I’m hooked! the KCStar still publishes quilt block patterns, the 2009 project was recently announced. you can read about it at their website, pickledish. you can also buy a subscription to their old patterns, it’s $20 a year. Thought I’d share the info! I guess I’m spoiled, I assumed all newspapers did block of the months.
November 10th, 2008I watched Kit Kitredge this weekend, and they had a little part about feedsacks. I wish my flour came in fabric, or even the dog food. What I could do with a reusable material!
November 10th, 2008here’s a pat for you good girl.
November 10th, 2008i did the same thing myself in october. the wood got delivered to our house the weekend hubby was away.. yyyyes. hum.
your quilt is adorable !
That quilt is gorgeous, I bow to your amazing embroidery prowess!
November 10th, 2008I totally agree! I would even renew my daily newspaper subscription if they’d do that. So add a shout out to the Seattle Times and Seattle PI.
November 10th, 2008Oh, WOW on stacking all that wood! You deserve a LOT of chocolate.
A beautiful quilt and a very impressive stack of wood!!!
November 10th, 2008Wow that is a lot of wood girl!! The quilt is gorgeous, I love the stories of Ruby Short Mckim each time I hear of her.
November 10th, 2008So talented you are!! I knew about the embroidery and quilt making skilz, but the firewood stacking is really amazing. Where do you get your strength? Please don’t tell me its all the mayonnaise…
November 11th, 2008I am so excited that I get to go see your quilt at my local quilt store! ya hoo! I have drop in sewing with Sandy on Thursday so I will say hi and bring a treat. (I did not know MMHZ was a chocoholic)
gawd, if fabric were as heavy and hard to stack as wood, my stash would be as big as a box of toothpicks. and my checkbook a bit fatter.
Love the redwork. You are so multi-talented it’s amazing. I am trying to get into that. I did about 9 cherry blocks for an Alex Anderson quilt that I have yet to finish (big surprise), but that has been my only foray.
btw and totally off topic, I am selling my Magnum! I got a smaller, more gas friendly car. sure, now that gas prices are going down, right?
November 11th, 2008Monica - what a precious quilt - I can see why you are so proud of it! And it’s so funny that we just returned from 4 days at our “Squash House” - we went over to stack wood from last Jan.’s storm and I posted about it on today’s blog! I like to think the muscles we built to stack wood keep us sewing a lot longer, hah! Cheers!
November 12th, 2008Okay, so I love your roly poly quilt! Doesn’t it just feel good to finish something that your had started?? I am so totally with you on the stacking thing. Fabric is way easier than all that wood. My gosh, I have never seen so much! Forget drilling for oil… sell your wood! Better yet, you are all set… don’t share :)
November 13th, 2008oh it’s beautiful!!!
i wish newspapers did that too.
November 13th, 2008on the quilty high we would have!!!
haha.
What a wonderful blog. feel free to pop over and look at mine.
November 15th, 2008I came by to say I spied with my little eye the wonderful shout-out (with or without wink?) by the Thimble Creek people! Hooray for you and your deelightful MMHZ quilt!
November 16th, 2008The roly poly quilt makes me want to create something in redwork - it’s beautiful! And the wood stacking is totally impressive. You are now SUPER WOMAN HZ!! As if you weren’t that already! It’s time for a toasty fire, isn’t it? Or maybe no one can touch your beautifully stacked pile o’ wood? Hmmmm….
Wow, that’s a lot of wood. You deserve to relax and have a cup of tea and some indoor time.
I too would love to see flour sacks and newspaper patterns again. My grandmother had a cabinet full of cups that came from boxes of laundry detergent, and it seems like we got free dish cloths in something we bought.
November 16th, 2008Wow what fun your site is ~
November 17th, 2008Mercedes