Grandma Dexter's Orange Peel

 

Question:

Pattern name. Found in friend Linda's estate. Merikay looked it up

in my Encyclopedia of Applique and it's not in there.

Hmmm. It's familiar and I stared at it for a while. Who would draw

up a pattern like that ? It should be pieced but it's appliqued.

Grandma Dexter, that's who.

Sure enough, here it is as Orange Peel.

The problem is that it's not in the applique Encyclopedia where

it belongs, but in the Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns where

for some obscure reason it is #3539 and it says "applique."

It's related to the many pieced patterns like this but.....

Grandma Dexter did not do the needlework world any good with

her pattern books.

People who had few sewing skills tried to figure out what "she" meant. Her theory was that all you

needed was a few pattern pieces and you could create a variety of blocks by appliqueing what would have been better pieced.

This was an efficient use of paper

Eek!

And don't be calling in with any questions or complaints.

Jonathan Winters in his slightly terrifying Maude Frickert personality

captures the whole idea of a diabolical art department masquerading

as your Grandma.

1934 Wilmington Delaware News Journal

And to complicate matters I see I have this one "Painted Snowball" indexed as coming from the Nancy

Cabot column in the Chicago Tribune. This is not Nancy Cabot? But who is it? 

UPDATE: Wilene Smith tells me it is Nancy Cabot from one of the syndicated patterns.

If I'd a been working in the art department at Grandma

Dexter's I'd have drawn this up in Electric Quilt and

shown them what it is supposed to look like. Here's an

8" pattern.