Let me introduce you to Rose

I've been awake since 3:30 this morning.  Why?  Beats me.  After flopping and turning, I finally turned on the light and reached for the nearest reading material on my bedside table. I picked up a quilt magazine, McCall's Needlework and Crafts, Antique Quilts, 1974.

I belong to two quilt guilds—Quilt in the Grove and Loose Threads.  Sometimes members force themselves to clean out old quilt magazines since they seem to breed in the shelves and overflow. I got this magazine at one of those meetings, but I can't remember which.

When I opened the magazine, many sheets of yellowed paper fell out.  There was a quilt inventory from Rose Rumaneck of Fayetteville, Texas.  These were either quilts she had made or owned, and each were described and priced.

The more I looked, the more I became interested, not in the quilt patterns, though they were beautifully documented, but in Rose, herself.

She must have lived in Texas because all the articles were from magazines in the area and from the Houston Post newspaper.  I did some searching and found a Rose Rumaneck who lived in Williamson, Texas in 1920 according to the U.S. Census for that year. She was born in 1902.  That makes explains why Rose's handwriting does not look like that of a young person in 1975.  She would have been 73 at the time she collected these clippings.

She was definitely a quilter. She clipped patterns that could be used for appliqué, articles on quilting and coupons at department stores.   But she had other interests too.  She had saved an article about local opera.

There was also a recipe that she had prorated for a large batch, of I don't know what, and priced it down to the cost of the electricity.  She could sell a box of something with two dozen for $4.80.  Wonder what it was?

I also, knew I liked Rose when she had saved an announcement about a new horse vaccine being used in the area.  USDA was recommending that horse owners vaccinate for Venezuelan Encephalitis (VEE).  Maybe she had horses herself or had children who owned horses.

Well, now I'm awake for the day.  I'm glad I met Rose. I'm sure I would have liked her.  If any of my quilter friends know or knew Rose, let me know.  What an honor it would be for someone to find one of my quilt books 40 years from now. I am afraid to think what might fall out!