Pleasance's Flying Geese

Pleasance’s Flying Geese

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My new release, Pleasance’s First Love, is book #6 of the Sweet Americana Sweethearts‘ new series, Grandma’s Wedding Quilts.

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Each story in this extended family saga of sweet, clean romances set in the 19th century contains the element of a special quilt pieced and stitched with love by loving Grandma Mary.

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These heirloom quilts are all different… and not just in fabric choice and colors. These quilts are all unique patterns. No two are alike.

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FLYING GEESE

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Pleasance’s Flying Geese Quilt, made from today’s reproduction of Civil War-era fabrics (patterns, designs, colors). Image taken by Kristin Holt. Quilt purchased on ebay. Note the incorporation of this quilt on the book cover. Book cover copyright © 2016 by Shanna Hatfield (who also has authored a book in this series).

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Kristin Holt | Pleasance's Flying Geese. Antique Geese in Flight, triangle-border bassinette-sized quilt, circa 1880. Made in New England. For sale by Rocky Mountain Quilts.

Antique Geese in Flight, triangle-border bassinette-size quilt, circa 1880. Made in New England. For sale by Rocky Mountain Quilts. Fabrics date from 1840’s to 1880’s.

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Kristin Holt | Pleasance's Flying Geese. Photograph: A spectacular circa 1825 quilt with various beautiful Turkey Red calicoes that date back to circa 1815. The sashing that makes up the garden maze pattern is all one calico, with different Turkey red calicoes paired with linen for the pieced blocks and borders. Individual Flying Geese blocks measure 5 x 5 inches and are arranged in a variation of the Old Maid's Puzzle and placed within a Garden Maze. A lovely seven inch linen outer border surrounds the inner design.

A spectacular circa 1825 quilt with various beautiful Turkey Red calicoes that date back to circa 1815. The sashing that makes up the garden maze pattern is all one calico, with different Turkey red calicoes paired with linen for the pieced blocks and borders. Individual Flying Geese blocks measure 5 x 5 inches and are arranged in a variation of the Old Maid’s Puzzle and placed within a Garden Maze. A lovely seven inch linen outer border surrounds the inner design. For sale by Rocky Mountain Quilts.

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Kristin Holt | Pleaance's Flying Geese. Image: Signature block with Flying Geese Border, Bassinet-size quilt. Circa 1880. For sale by Rocky Mountain Quilts.

Signature block with Flying Geese Border, Bassinet-size quilt. Made in Ohio, circa 1880. For sale by Rocky Mountain Quilts.

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SAMPLER QUILT

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Kristin Holt | Pleasance's Flying Geese. Photograph: Underground Railroad Quilt, from The Edwards History and Geneological Center.

Underground Railroad Quilt, from The Edwards History and Genealogical Center.

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Flying Geese Quilt Block from The Edwards Family and Genealogical Center.

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The quilt shown from The Edwards History and Genealogical Center is a sampler, with 15 different quilt blocks. I’m most interested in mine: Flying Geese. Here’s what they had to to say:

#11 is Flying Geese – With this quilt the slaves learned they were to take their direction, timing, and behavior from the migrating geese. Since geese fly north in the spring, it was also the best time for slaves to escape. Geese have to stop at waterways along their journey in order to rest and eat. Especially since geese make loud honking noises it was easy for runaways to follow their flight pattern.

~ The Edwards History and Genealogical Center

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SPECIAL MEANING FOR PLEASANCE

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Flying Geese certainly had specific meaning long before Pleasance’s story began, or her book opens (1879). Yet this quilt pattern still has remarkable meaning to her. Grandma Mary knew Pleasance was a different sort, a girl whose desire to learn to sing from the vocal masters of Europe, perform on stage, and live well beyond the scope of most women her age provoked her loving grandmother to select a meaningful design for Pleasance’s wedding quilt.

This is a peek at the reasons why this comparatively simple and plain design has such deep meaning for Pleasance Benton:

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When Pleasance was age 10 and Grandmother visited, Pleasance first learned Grandma had selected Flying Geese for her quilt:

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“This quilt will be very special. It is for your wedding.”

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Special? Pleasance fought to hide her distaste. Didn’t Grandma Mary know her at all? This quilt was ugly. Plain. Somber. Boring. The exact opposite of what she wanted: bright, fanciful, embroidered, and decorated. With baskets and flowers, many shades of lavender and pink and sky blue to match her eyes.

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Not triangles and squares.

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Besides, she wouldn’t get married for ages and ages, and by then, maybe Grandma would be forgetful and this awful quilt would never become her wedding present.

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“This pattern is called Flying Geese.”

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Geese were dumb birds. Pests. The only good goose was roasted goose for Christmas dinner.

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Pleasance always displayed polite manners. But good girls also told the truth. She had to tell Grandma the truth. “I’d hoped, Grandma, that you’d let me choose the design. Or maybe the colors?”

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“I chose Flying Geese, granddaughter, because I love you very much.”

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So why did Grandma make beautiful quilts for everyone else, and make an ugly quilt for Pleasance? Her throat felt raw and her nose burned. She wouldn’t cry. Only babies cried.

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“You have a fanciful mind, Pleasance, with grand ideas and a desire to see and experience all the excitement the world has to offer.”

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Yes, that was all true, but what did Grandma know? She didn’t live nearby.

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Pleasance’s eyes filled. She sniffed. Don’t cry!

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“A girl like you will need help to find your way back home.”

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“But Grandma–”

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“Hush now. I’ll tell you about this quilt pattern, chosen for you with great care, because you need to understand something. I know you have dreams. Big dreams. You want to learn to sing.”

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Pleasance nodded with vigor, her throat still too tight to speak, or to sing. She loved singing more than anything in the world.

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“You have the voice of an angel. I hope you have the privilege of training with a voice master in a big city. I hope you’ll perform in grand opera houses. Those dreams are many, many miles away.” Grandma used up the thread on her needle. She tied a knot and snipped the tail with little scissors. She threaded her needle and took up again. “Did you know geese migrate to the very same place each summer and each winter?”

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One tear slipped over Pleasance’s lower lid. Did Grandma think she didn’t have the sense of a goose? “How can you worry about me finding my way home? Everybody knows where Denver is.”

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“You’ll be getting the Flying Geese, dear. Do stop complaining.”

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So unfair. “Yes, Grandmother.”

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~ Pleasance’s First Love by Kristin Holt (2017)

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Naturally, by the time Pleasance’s love story (at least as far as the book goes) with her first love, Jacob Gideon, culminates in marriage, she has come to understand the deep significance in the Flying Geese pattern Grandma Mary chose. Remember the blog article I wrote about a Double-Topped Quilt?

This small quote is from the final scene in the book:

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There it lay, the finished wedding quilt, so many tiny stitches holding together the layers, every single one part of the whole. Like kisses. Or moments in their lives. Or each hour. Any one, by itself, wasn’t much, but the finished bundle was quite a masterpiece.

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Together, they unfolded the quilt, examining the familiar Flying Geese. The binding brought it all together. That final touch–their wedding vows.

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Jacob sought his wife’s gaze over the wedding quilt. “It’s beautiful.”

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“It is.” She smiled at him, and he fell in love, all over again. “Turn it over. I want to see.”

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“The back?” If she wanted–did she intend to check for knots of thread? To make sure the workmanship was perfect? What did she want to see?

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She rotated the quilt, and he helped.

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And sucked in a breath. “What is this?”

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What seemed to be millions of tiny sections, all different sizes and shapes, fit together in an impossible puzzle. Bright colors, embroidered, inked, and embellished with colored thread.

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Their courtship lay before him. Every tiny section of the greater whole a reminder of an experience, a treasured memory, a hope for the future.

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Humbled, he searched the writing–his penmanship and hers–their expressions of love, ideas he’d shared, words he’d written in letters. Whispered endearments.

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~ Pleasance’s First Love by Kristin Holt (2017)