The Rickrack Rag

This year I planted a tomato with a very colorful name: Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter. I guess it’s called that because Charlie’s tomatoes produced so well he could pay off his house?? Tim has been raising these for years, but I never tried one in our own little garden before. All the tomatoes took their time this year, but this one’s finally here, and worth the wait.

These tomatoes may not be exactly round, but they are BIG! Not too big, but this one, for instance, weighs in at 1 pound 10 ounces, and you certainly don’t need too many slices for your sandwich. In fact, you may have to make a little bit bigger burger than usual, or you could lose it under a slice like this.

The juicy, meaty slices you see above were consumed with our baked salmon last night. Mmmmmm. But it took until lunch today for the two of us to finish just this one tomato!

Here it is, the last weekend before Labor Day. Where has the summer gone?

This weekend we’ll have one last summer getaway, and why not go sailing? Sounds like a great plan, depending, of course, on where you live. If you’re here in the northeast, it may be a bit of a problem, as the last two weekends have not only been stormy, but hurricanes have also been churning up the Atlantic just off our coast.

I guess we’ll have to settle for a virtual sail, thanks to the images on these feedsacks.

These two in different colors also match another one that I have in tan, but I can’t seem to find that one’s picture.

By the way, in case you have any ideas for themes for Feedsack Friday, I’m always open to suggestion. Not that I’m running out of possibilities, it might just help to narrow them down a bit. And it is difficult to categorize the hundreds of miscellaneous floral sacks.

A one-patch quilt is defined as a quilt that uses patches all of one shape and size, except perhaps for the edges or borders. When the shapes used are squares, the result can be uninteresting if care is not taken to form an overall pattern, of color, tone or other elements. This late 19th century PA one-patch uses a number of elements to heighten the interest.

First, and most obviously, the squares are set on point. They are then arranged by color and tone to form a center medallion with concentric borders, surrounded by a pattern of rays of lighter color at the centers and corners. While rich browns and reds serve for the majority of the pieces, the lighter, brighter colors focus the eye on the center. For additional interest, many of the squares are fussy-cut from chintz or cheater cloth prints.

With one exception, these fussy-cut squares are also concentrated toward the center of the quilt. But the single exception is a notable one - in the upper left corner of the quilt (as shown in the first picture) is a single square cut from cheater cloth featuring Dickens’ character Mr. Pickwick!

This fabric has apparently been reproduced at some time in the 20th century, as I found a listing for it as an Everglaze Vat Colors fabric on Etsy, which has apparently since sold out. The antique fabric, however, has richer tones, and retains no glaze, so I’m unsure if it ever had one.

There’s a great variety of late 19th century brown prints, including paisleys, chocolate browns, tans and madders.

And to go with all the browns and paisleys on the quilt top, the back is done in a brown floral and paisley stripe.

I’ll be adding this quilt to my inventory of antique quilts at Sharon’s in the next few days.

One of the last few weekends of summer is coming up. Maybe there’s still time for you to get to the circus, the amusement park or a carnival. If not, we can do it here at feedsack Friday! Today’s selections feature Ferris wheels and carousels, along with clowns, acrobats and other circus performers.


That’s our trip to the circus for today; only one summer weekend left now to enjoy before the Labor day holiday weekend at the beginning of September.

I hope that everyone’s had a lovely summer so far, and we can finish it off in style!

It seems that I may have prematurely announced the end of rose season. My all-time favorite pink rose has once again burst into profuse bloom. Here’s a picture I took on Monday.

You can see clearly from the many buds surrounding the flowers already open, that it would be a real show of pink bloom. And so it is. Today, there are 5 fully open roses on the plant, (2 are past their prime), and 7 partly opened buds. Absolutely glorious. I would love to show you a picture - but yesterday my trusty old Canon A80 digital camera started showing lines of interference or static across the display. And, much to my dismay, the lines also appear in the saved pictures themselves. So as much as I would love this photo, I won’t have it unless I quickly borrow or buy another camera.

I did find, though, when I Googled the problem, that Canon issued a service advisory about the problem - and if in fact the symptoms my camera displays are due to the condition they found, the repair, including shipping to the service facility, is free of charge. And the camera is long since out of warranty. So it’s already on its way back to Canon, and according to the Canon rep, and backed up by what I’ve read posted on the web, it should be back in just about a week.

So I’m happy that my favorite camera may not actually be terminal. A new camera, and the associated learning curve that becomes ever steeper as I age, is not exactly something I’ve been looking forward to. Then again, a wider-angle of view would be nice, so I don’t need to hold the camera too far away from the subject to get it all in the frame….so I’ve been looking around.

I probably won’t buy another camera before mine returns, but I might get another one anyway, even if the A80 recuperates fully. And based on how long I’ve had this one, how much I’ve used it, the ease of use and the useful features - not to mention my positive customer service experience - I’ll probably get another Canon. That should also help lessen the aforementioned learning curve, assuming that not too many features have changed in the last four or five years.

Still, I’d love to get a picture of those roses today…..

Here it is, mid-August, and the stores are geared up for back-to-school sales. I always remember, this time of year, how hot it could sometimes be in the classroom when we first went back. You’d feel really cooped up on those still summer-like days.

As always, feedsacks represented most aspects of the life of their times, and back to school was part of it. Many a young girl in rural areas went back with a new feedsack dress or two, and more than a few hoped their friends’ families wouldn’t have bought the same pattern and made them similar dresses. And of course, many envied those special store-bought ones. Only today do we finally appreciate how special those feedsack clothes really were.

Here are feedsacks showing a one-room country school, in two patterns, two colorways each. And then two colors of a village scene with school, buses, etc.

Finally, a sack that shows older girls with larger school buildings that remind me a lot of my hometown high school.

Many of these pictures come from my old inventory, and were taken years ago before I had either the ability or the need to preserve sharper, more detailed images. As I get the chance, I do update older images for my archive.

Next week we’ll try to get some more summery subject, while summer remains!

As we do every year, we’re again celebrating tomato season. Because of a cool, wet spring and early summer, the tomatoes were late to arrive here, but are now ripening in great numbers. And today Tim, our resident farmer and tomato guru, was once again on the CBS Early Show, sharing his tomato expertise.
Here’s the story, complete with a couple of his favorite recipes.

And here is the video:

Watch CBS Videos Online

This week Feedsack Friday will concentrate on Native American themes - and some that may be distantly related. The first four are all different colorways of the same design; the others all different. There are two different colorways of the design featuring feathers.

We’ve also included a border print, as well as a juvenile with children dressed as “Injuns”.

That’s all for today, but we’ll have more fun feedsacks next Friday!

I generally avoid discussing political matters in this blog; though I have my opinions I feel they’re better expressed at another time and place.

What I do believe is that this country’s health care system does need changes. And I believe that most people in this country also feel that way. The difference is not in recognition of the problem, but in the wide diversity of opinion on the solution.

Lines have been drawn in the political sand, insurance company lobbies are pouring $1 million a day into the fight.

Whatever your feeling about our healthcare system, you deserve a chance to make your feelings known. So I decry what’s been happening at the town hall meetings held by various members of congress during their August recess. A mob, a bunch of thugs shouting down everyone else, including the congressional representative, all in the name of free speech.

If free speech is important to you, then it is also imperative that you respect that same right for other citizens. Everyone should be heard, not just those willing to shout loudest and longest.