A Groovy New York Beauty

Silk culotte suit, circa 1971, Emma Knuckey. AucklandMuseumCCBY.

What colors characterize an era?  For the 1970's, it was as if the bright colors of the 1960s got tea-stained.  Lemon yellow dulled to burnt Sienna and harvest gold; acid green to avocado.  Everything was earthy, mellow, and warm.  These colors found their way into clothes and furniture and appliances.  My childhood home (in the 90's) had a bunch of them, because our furniture was secondhand from my great-grandparents!  I still remember our wooden couch with big square cushions covered in scratchy flowers. 

For me, 1970's colors feel like a childhood dream, because -- until a certain age -- all my dreams came in sepia.  (I still remember the first "color" dream I had, and how surprised I was because I'd thought true colors only happened when you were awake!) 

THE SCORE!

On a recent family visit, I was given a zip-lock bag filled with heavy cotton fabrics, all a similar weight (just a bit heavier than quilting cotton), and all cut into the same half-circle shape.  My guess is that someone was batch-sewing women's shirts, and these were the pre-cut pieces meant to cover foam shoulder pads. 

If I had gone searching for a collection of fabric scraps to evoke the 1970s, I could never have pulled together anything as perfect as this!  It makes me want to sew! 

PATTERN PLANNING

So what shall I do with this bounty?  Immediately, I think of something funky and spiky, like a pickle dish block.  But no... the pickle dish is very close to the double wedding ring block, and I'm already working on a double wedding ring quilt.  So what about the New York Beauty block?  The name may be a misnomer, but the pattern is funky, and does sorta look like the top of the Chrysler building. 

Chrysler Building from Empire State Building, Eric Marshall, 2014. CC BY 3.0.

Elevator doors in the Chrysler Building (1927-30), SiefkinDR, 2016. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Bill Volckening -- a collector of many things, as he documents in his blog WonkyWorld -- has written a book about his collection of New York Beauty quilts.  He has also made a Pinterest board of quilts circa the 1970's, where I can see the color story I have in my stash.  And he lives in Portland, Oregon, my town; I have probably passed him in a vintage shop and not known to say hi!  

The New York Beauty block appeals to me for another reason: it combines foundation paper piecing, which I enjoy, with curved piecing, which is one of my goals for this year.  

As for setting, while antique New York Beauty quilts often have the blocks set in grids, modern settings are more sinuous, as this photo of the Volckening collection on tour shows:  

"Collecting New York Beauty Quilts: Bill Volckening's Passion" was featured in 2013 at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles. Photo by Bill Volckening, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

I will do a modern take on the setting, possibly putting the blocks on point to mimic the Chrysler building.  But I won't plan it too minutely now, lest I get bored with the project before I start it!  

BUT WHEN?

Ah, that's the question.  I'm currently preparing to move to a smaller abode and start college full time.  I intend my quilting to be a vital creative outlet after studying, but I must manage my projects and stash so as not to be overwhelmed or cluttered.  Therefore, I have made a list of my Works in Progress (WIPs), and prioritized the order to finish them.  Only after several big ones are done and out the door will I allow myself to start a new quilt!  

My top priorities are the Memories of Africa quilt and the Dandelion quilt, because I want to put them in the Northwest Quilters' Festival of Quilts show next year.  My sister's Bargello is also a priority, because I'm close to done the pieced top, and it takes up a lot of room!  After that, Birds and Blossoms and the Meadow quilt are in their final stages, and I just need to power through.  (I've been "working" on them since 2018... so I might as well measure quilt progress in geologic ages at this point!) 

All to say: my New York Groovy scraps, which have waited 50 years already, must wait a little longer!