Yankee Diary 7: Valentine for Noah Clarke's Brother

Yankee Diary 7: Valentine for

 Noah Clarke's Brother by Becky Brown

9" Finished Block

From Carrie's diary, Fall, 1860. Sunday.

"Frankie Richardson asked me to go with her to teach a class in the colored Sunday School on Chapel Street this afternoon. I asked Grandmother if I could go and she said she never noticed that I was particularly interested in the colored race and she said she thought I only wanted an excuse to get out for a walk Sunday afternoon. However, she said I could go just this once. "

The Boy's School, The Canandaigua Academy

Seventeen-year-old Carrie met her future husband Edmund C. Clarke as she was walking by the Canandaigua Academy on Fort Hill Road.

"When we got up as far as the Academy, Mr. Noah T. Clarke's brother, who is one of the teachers, came out and Frank said he led the singing at the Sunday School and she said she would give me an introduction to him so he walked up with us and home again. Grandmother said that when she saw him opening the gate for me, she understood my zeal in missionary work.

Abigail Field Beals

" 'The dear little lady,' as we often call her, has always been noted for her keen discernment and wonderful sagacity and  loses none of it as she advances in years. Some one asked Anna the other day if her Grandmother retained all her faculties and Anna said, 'Yes, indeed, to an alarming degree.'

 "...I had the same company home from church in the evening."

Edmund at right was the youngest of eight children. 

Older brothers William Warner Clarke

and Noah Turner Clarke were 17 and 8 

when he was born. 

Noah (center) was Principal at the Canandaigua Academy.

Was it all a set-up? Did Frankie and Carrie conspire to meet the Sunday School singing teacher? Perhaps Frankie and Mr. Clarke's brother were the conspirators. Carrie usually referred to Edmund C. Clarke as Mr. Noah T. Clarke's brother in her diary---a joke she must have enjoyed.

"March 4, 1861. I told Grandfather that I had an invitation to the lecture (at Bemis Hall) and he asked me who from. I told him from Mr Noah T. Clarke's brother. He did not make the least objection and I was awfully glad, because he has asked me to the whole course."

The  Valentine Block

Star with reverse appliqued heart by Barbara Brackman

Stars with hearts in reverse or positive applique were included in the early album quilts in New York and New Jersey.

From the New Jersey Project and the Quilt Index

Sprouting star from a New York album by

Elizabeth Sanford Jennings Hopkins. Collection of the Denver Art Museum.

http://denverartmuseum.org/edu/object/album-quilt

Block from the New Jersey Project-

a star in a sprouting star

Quilt dated 1853 in the collection

of the Lambertville Historical Society.

New Jersey Project

Denniele Bohannon's star with reverse applique heart

stitched on the machine.

Cutting a 9" Finished Block

A - Cut 4 squares 2-3/4"
B - Cut 1 square 5-3/4". Cut with 2 diagonal cuts to make 4 triangles. You need 4 triangles.

C - Cut 4 squares 3-1/8". Cut each in half diagonally to make 2 triangles. You need 8 triangles.

D - Cut 1 square 5"

The Heart

To Print:

• Create a word file or a new empty JPG file. 
• Click on the image above. 
• Right click on it and save it to your file. 
• Print that file. Check to be sure the box line is 4-1/2". 
• Add seam allowances when you cut the heart.

Applique the heart in center square D. If you want to do reverse applique scroll down for instructions for Reverse Applique.

Becky's center heart appliqued atop the green.

Then piece the block.

Piece the 9" Finished Block

Reverse Applique Instructions

Quilters used reverse applique quite a bit in Carrie's day. One benefit is you could put a white heart in a red square and have no shadow behind it.

Draw the heart on a 4" square of freezer paper (paper side)

Cut the heart out of the center of the paper.

Press the freezer paper to the reverse of Square D.

Cut the heart out of the fabric leaving a seam allowance.

My seam allowance is a scant 1/4"

Snip all the inside curves about every 1-1/2".

Glue the seam allowance to the back of the freezer paper.

Place a piece of background fabric behind the heart.
Glue or baste it in place.
Applique the reverse heart.
Remove the freezer paper.
Trim the white fabric away so you don't have to quilt through it.

Reverse applique from an 1857 album

You might want to ink a sentiment in the center of the heart.

This would also be a good place for your name and the year.