Todays and Yesterdays

It's the last red week for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and my Mary's Basket blocks are done. ( I looked back at the pattern the other day, and realized the name in the book was Mary Ann's Basket, so I've been calling it the wrong name all along.  Ack!)

The blocks are pictured here with this little album.  I found it in an antique shop in Milwaukee several years ago.  It's not a photograph album, rather, a sort of autograph book.  The red velvet cover is in sad shape.  Most of the entries were made in the late 1890s, with a few earlier. The album's owner was a schoolgirl named Helen Emeline Zastrow, whose name in written on the front and back inside covers. 

It was a fad in the 19th century (and even later) for girls to get their friends and relatives to sign their books.  Many of the signers wrote little poems or quoted sayings.  One of my favorites of these is this:
"Our to-days and yesterdays are the blocks with which we build."
Very sincerely,
Clara Spies
Sept. 21, 1891.

Of course, having this made me want to know more about Helen Zastrow's life.  As amazing as it might seem, there were lots of Helen Zastrows living in Milwaukee in the relevant time period.  I believe the book's owner to have been born in 1883, the daughter of William (Wilhelm) Zastrow and his wife Albertine Penn Zastrow.  William's parents were German immigrants, but he was born in Milwaukee, like his daughter.
Unfortunately, Helen died in 1907 at age 23.  She was unmarried.  I have no idea how she died.  She is buried in the same cemetery with her parents and grandparents.

So that's a yesterday.  Here's another.

Last Saturday was the July meeting of the Wisconsin Quilt Study Group.  The topic for our meeting this time was antique sewing machines (I gave the talk) but we always have antique quilt show and tell.  This distressed quilt from the 1930s has red print sashing, and cute little 8 pointed stars for cornerstones.  Sadly anonymous, maker unknown, but a fun piece to look at.

What about today?

Good news!  Mrs. Pfaff is back, and back in action!  We're quilting a UFO, and making real progress.

My daughter brought me this mega zucchini (thanks to Google, I now know how to spell it!).  It was hiding in her garden.  I'm picturing lots of zucchini bread in our future.

I'm not sure what else the future will bring, but these are the blocks I'm building with--quilt blocks!

I'm wishing sunshine and quilt blocks for you this week, too.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
Linking up and Whooping Up at Confessions of a Fabric Addict 
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