It’s been nearly twenty years since I last went to the State Fair, but yesterday Mr. Dowell and I braved the crowds to see some sights. Of course, I was really there for the quilts, and they did not disappoint! I loved the broad spectrum of quilting styles represented—everything from Yo-Yo quilts and Cathedral Windows to quilts with modern curves, appliqued tulips, and pixalated Dachshunds.
Did I eat any fried candy bars while at the fair? No, I did not, as tempting as they might have been. I did spend an inordinate amount of time gazing at the canned foods (they were in beautifully-lit display cases; it was like standing in front of a jewelry store window) and searching for the pies, which I never found (where were the pies?!). There was a special exhibit of very fancy cakes, and the line to see them was longer than the line for the fried dough and the fried Snickers combined.
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“Picnic Basket (Eula, 1902)” — A Friendship Album Story!
I’m so happy to have a new Friendship Album story to share with you! While determining what might happen next with my novel, Friendship Album, 1933–right now I’m in the process of reaching out to agents–I thought I’d work on some stories about our favorite quilters from Milton Falls.
In today’s story, we meet 18-year-old Eula Rhodes, a young woman widely regarded as one of the best quilters and cooks in her small farming community of Homerville, Ohio. While some wonder when Eula will marry, Eula wonders who would be interested—and she’s not sure if she cares. Life at home with her rambunctious brothers, fun-loving sisters and her understanding mother is comfortable and comforting. But when she meets Dan Baker, a farmer with an eye for quilts, she begins to wonder if she might be ready to make a home of her own.
If you want to keep up with the latest from the Quiltfiction podcast, please sign up for our newsletter! I’ll be sure to let you know what’s happening with Friendship Album, 1933, and my other quilt fiction endeavors.
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Notes: Friendship Album, 1933: Episode 39
In Episode 39, Emmeline is in for a big surprise at the quilt show.
St. Louis, Missouri. Cote Brilliants School, 1918. Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/item/2017674670/.
And here we are, at the end of the novel! Can you believe it? The first episode of Friendship Album, 1933, aired on June 6th of 2018. Now, eleven months later, we close the book. I hope you’ve enjoyed it!
Plans are in the works to continue with the podcast after a short hiatus and to eventually have a sequel to Friendship Album, 1933. We haven’t set firm dates yet, but I’ll let you know when I have it all figured out! To stay updated, sign up for my newsletter using the form on the right, or at this link: Join the Quilt Fiction Community!
In the meantime, thanks for listening! If you’ve enjoyed the podcast, I hope you’ll consider telling your friends as well as leaving a 5-star rating and a nice review on iTunes. I’ve had so much fun writing and reading this novel, and I’m happy that you’ve joined me as we’ve followed the adventures of our girls in Milton Falls! See you soon, I hope!
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Notes: Friendship Album, 1933: Episode 38
In Episode 38, Dorothy recalls a revealing conversation with Emmeline as she gets ready for guests.
My dears, this is the second to last episode of Friendship Album, 1933! It’s hard to believe we’ve almost reached the end.
This week, we spend time with Dorothy as she gets ready for the Wednesday Bee. Dorothy’s had a remarkable year in many ways. Her daughter left home unexpectedly (and left her children behind), her husband had a heart attack, and all year long she’s had to deal with the infuriating Emmeline Grangerfield.
In this episode, Dorothy opens herself up to others in an act of true hospitality. At first, I wasn’t so sure that Dorothy would ever change her mind about Milton Falls’ most renowned quilter. Dorothy can be self-protective, which I don’t blame her for one bit, but sometimes self protective people stay stuck where they are. Somehow Dorothy has managed to be truly gracious to Emmeline, and I think that’s helped Emmeline to grow as a person. I think Dorothy has grown, too–we see that in her generosity toward Emmeline, and her willingness to forgive.
I do plan to go on with this story, and I’m enjoying imagining my characters’ futures without actually having to do the hard work of writing everything down! Given Dorothy’s drama-filled year, it’s interesting to think about what will happen next in her life. I hope things will calm down a little bit for her, don’t you?
Dorothy’s Crown of Thorns quilt.
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Notes: Friendship Album, 1933: Episode 37
Spoiler Alert: If you’re not caught up with the podcast, this post contains recent plot developments. Beware!
Welcome to the missing Florence chapter!
Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)
I’ve gotten a lot of amazing feedback since Friendship Album, 1933‘s beginning–lots of nice compliments and encouragement. However, when listeners learned in Episode 34 that Florence was engaged, I got a lot of complaints, most of which fell into one of two categories (and sometimes both): 1) How could you not show us Florence’s engagement? and 2) Did I miss something? I think I missed something!
I’m not sure this would be such a big problem if the podcast listeners were readers instead. Readers could flip to the next Florence chapter (the one you’ll be listening to Episode 37) and see that I do in fact show the engagement scene. In fact, you get two engagement scenes–the first one and the second one!
I’ll be honest — when I revise this novel (you know that it’s a first draft, right?), I’ll probably bring in Arthur’s proposal earlier, just so no one is confused. But for now, I hope you’re glad that the big day has finally arrived, and you get to witness every second!
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Notes: Friendship Album, 1933: Episode 36
In Episode 36, the Wednesday morning bee’s membership increases, and Bess wonders if it’s time for a new beginning.
We’re getting very close to the end here … or at least the end of the first book in what I hope will be a series. As is the case with many endings, new beginnings are on the horizon, and I think this is especially true for Bess. She has grieved her husband, Bill, long and well. But I think she’s finally gotten to a place of acceptance — Bill really isn’t coming back. Bess has always known this, but you can know something rationally and not really believe it deep down.
In some way, Bess’s story in Friendship Album, 1933, is about secondary losses. She’s not only lost her husband, but she’s lost financial security, her identity as a wife, and the dreams she and Bill shared about their future after Bill retired. Slowly but surely over the course of the story Bess has dealt with most of these issues, but I think the hardest one is the loss of her identity as Bill’s wife. Her friendships with Dorothy and Joe have helped her a lot with this, but interestingly, it’s Edwina and Emmeline who get her over the final hump.
We all get by with a little help from our friends, don’t we?
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Notes: Friendship Album, 1933: Episode 35
In Episode 35, Eula passes down kitchen advice to her new daughter-in-law and finally gets the news she’s been waiting for.
At the beginning of Friendship Album, 1933, each of the women had a dream, and Eula’s was to return to return to the farm, where her family could be together again. Slowly but surely, however, family has been coming to her. In Chapter 46, Eula finally has an opportunity to look forward rather than back.
Chapter 46 opens with Eula passing on the recipe for her blue ribbon prize winning cake to her daughter-in-law Elise. So where exactly would her cake have won that prize? The county fair, of course!
In researching county fairs in Ohio, I came across this fun, short doc about the Cuyahoga County Fair:
http://flash.ulib.csuohio.edu/cmp/countyfair/
These are some pictures from a Life Magazine 1938 story on county fairs:
Want to try Eula’s blue ribbon cake for yourself? You can find the recipe here.
Eula’s latest quilt is a Cathedral Window. The other day I googled “hardest quilt to make” and “Cathedral Window” was the first one to pop up. It does look complicated, but so beautiful!
See you next week!
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Notes: Friendship Album, 1933: Episode 34
In this episode, Emmeline receives an unexpected offer while mulling over the latest news from Florence.
Let’s talk about the The Farmer’s Wife! As someone who owns at least fifty issues of this fabulous magazine, I have to say it’s one of my favorites–and it hasn’t been published since 1939.
I’ll admit that I’m a vintage magazine lover, especially vintage women’s magazines. The ads are marvelous, and the articles are so smart! I remember finding a cache of old McCall’s and Ladies’ Home Journals from the 1960s and ’70s, and there were reviews of opera records and serious films! But the advice columns were always my favorite part of any magazine. Can This Marriage Be Saved? My mom subscribed to LHJ through much of my childhood, and every month I looked forward to reading that column about people’s dysfunctional relationships. My own parents’ marriage was fine, so it wasn’t that. I think I just enjoyed the stories and the problem-solving.
If the articles in 1970s magazines were smart, the articles in The Farmer’s Wife were smarter. The issues I have are from the 1920s and ’30s (the magazine started publishing in 1897), and in the early 1930s foreign correspondents are reporting from Europe about the rise of Hitler and Mussolini. The subject of education, particular around the topic of consolidated schools, was a frequent topic.
My favorite part of each issue is the “Letters from Our Farm Women” section. If you’ve ever looked through The Farmer’s Wife Sampler Quilt books, then you’re familiar with these letters, though most of the letters in Farmer’s Wife Quilt books focus on the positive side of farm life. The letters in the magazine cover a lot more territory, and some of them are written by women who are less than enthusiastic about the joys of country living. One of the fun things about the letters section is that it wasn’t unusual for a letter to be a response to a letter from an earlier issue, and some arguments lingered over the course of several months. Fun!
The Farmer’s Wife is also a great resource for anyone interested in food history. Some of the recipes shared are familiar, and some are quite … well, yucky.
Other subjects covered were fashion, gardening, childcare and sewing. Needless to say, the ads alone are worth the price of admission.
Having an excuse to invest in old issues of The Farmer’s Wife has been a definite bonus of writing Friendship Album, 1933. If you’re curious, copies are easily attained on eBay for reasonable prices. In its heyday, The Farmer’s Wife had a million subscribers, which mean there are plenty of old issues floating around!
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Notes: Friendship Album, 1933: Episode 33
In Episode 33, Dorothy tries to keep her temper around her stubborn son-in-law — and discovers an unlikely ally in the process.
One of the things we learn in this chapter is that Jasper’s father was a high school graduate. In researching secondary education for African Americans in Ohio, I learned that black students in Columbus were first admitted to previously all-white high schools in 1874; by 1882 all Columbus schools were integrated. I discovered that high school graduation rates were pretty low in the late 1800s–not just for African Americans, but for everyone. Graduation from high school wasn’t a national norm until the 1950s. In fact, in 1900, only six percent of the U.S. population had a high school degree!
I looked far and wide to find a picture of an integrated 19th century school, but I couldn’t. I did, however find this photo from a 1930s African American high school that I thought was interesting. I wish they still made high schools that looked this grand!
If you’re keeping score at home, we only have six chapters left after this one! I can’t believe our story is almost coming to a close. I’m not really ready to let it go; are you?
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Notes: Friendship Album, 1933: Episode 32
In Episode 32, Florence tries her hand at pie-making and makes an unlikely ally in the process.
Florence Grangerfield has never been particularly domestic. In Chapter Forty-Two, she decides to see how she likes life in the kitchen, in case she ever ends up married and spending her days at home. The cookbook she uses to teach herself to make pies is The World’s Modern Cook Book and Kitchen Guide for the Busy Woman by Mabel Claire, which was published in 1932.
I didn’t find a ton of biographical information about Mabel Claire on the Internet, but I did find this delightful tidbit on the The Food Timeline, one of my favorite sources for 1930s foodways:
“Mabel Claire is one of those whom the world delights to dub ‘modern women’ although she says was born just long enough ago to be an old-fashioned girl, which is to say that she learned to cook and bake as well as to model clay and hammer brass. She always wanted to be a sculptor but she put it off until after she was married. She came to New York seven years ago and studied sculpture at the Art Students’ League under Caldwell and Leo Lentelli. Miss Claire found that it costs money to study art, and to solve the money problem, she began modeling add little ink wells and utility jars and boxes which she sold in the small gift shops of Greenwich Village. As she progressed in her work, she evolved a family of wax candles in the form of Mother Goose characters. She christened her work the Candlestick Family, protected by copyright, put it in the hands of a national sales organization and then found she had to organize herself into a factory that could turn out in bulk the amusing little handmade people. When her business interfered with her being a housewife, her friends began to tell her that the easiest thing was to give up housekeeping, but Miss Claire believed that two people can remain much happier if the dine pleasantly at home…So she searched out the ways in which her household duties could be shortened. Her friends copied her methods and borrowed her menus, until Miss Claire decided to add to her duties as housewife, manufacturer and artist those of an author.”
—“Woman Sculptor Writes Book of Unusual Recipes,” Freeport Journal-Press [IL], September 12, 1925 (p. 8)
Here’s the Cream Pie recipe that Florence uses from Mabel Claire’s cookbook:
Happy eating–and listening!
