Odd Item

[asakiyume]

cucumberseed reported the other day on Jeff and Ann Vandermeer's call for 150-word submissions for the Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities (still accepting through September 7, by the way, in case you're interested). People post their submissions as comments to the blog post asking for submissions; the Vandermeers will choose the ones they want and contact the authors by e-mail.

Anyway, though, the result is that for the time being, you can read about tons of interesting odd items at that page, and I found the following item, which delighted me with its extreme oddness, morbidness, humor, and... plausibility, actually. I believe in this thing.

Tom Underberg says:
August 23, 2010 at 2:47 pm
AMERICAN NIGHT QUILT. A notable example of a hand-stitched night quilt featuring unusual subject matter: smallpox, penury and death by hanging. This cloth quilt (circa 1850) was purchased during the 1902 decommissioning of Lake Covenant Church near Oostburg, Wisconsin. ‘Absolutely no return’ is written on the receipt. Night quilts were worked only after dark and required completion before a newborn’s name day. Panels warded against the illustrated misfortunes, but each additional panel diluted the overall efficacy. This piece features exquisite detailing. In clock-wise order, the quilt’s applique panels show: a boy, covered in small sores, alone in a bed; a man at night, his felt pockets turned inside-out, standing in a fallow field; the same man hanging from a leafless tree. On the right side of this panel, three women weep; on the left, a preacher wearing a black felt hat watches. The fourth panel is missing. – Tom Underberg

Can't you just see it? Oh the stories it must belong to!

Comments

[orrin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, one of the big joys of that call is reading through all the wonderful oddness that gets submitted!

[bogwitch64.livejournal.com]

How deliciously macabre!

[mguibord.livejournal.com]

What's really neat about this entry is that it's so weird but seems quite plausible too.

[avalonestel.livejournal.com]

Wow...tbh I believe this might exist, too. People make/do crazy things, and I wouldn't put it past some weirdo to have made something like that.

[deponti.livejournal.com]

NOOOOOO! This is too grisly and awful for me. Yeugh, imagine using this quilt! I would be beset by nightmares.

[marmota-monax.livejournal.com]

I read through all the entries. I had thought of something to add before I began reading, but the cleverness of the other submissions have made mine entirely inferior and I think I shall not contribute.

John and I were once given a private tour of a cabinet of natural curiosities up in the Northeast Kingdom. It was entirely fantastic, and appropriately dark, dusty, and poorly lit! We began our own cabinet shortly thereafter, a dedicated room in the larger house we used to rent, but now it's all in boxes because we don't have the space for it in our tiny house. Alas!

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Wow. That one is good Americana. I don't say that often.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

I could totally believe in that quilt! It is macarbre, but plausible.

To be honest, I did briefly believe in it because I didn't read your post carefully enough at first. :)

[rose-lemberg.livejournal.com]

This is awesome - but honestly I saw a real quilt that was in this vein (African-American), and one that was even more macabre. That second quilt will be forever emblazoned in my memory. I would have bought it, doom and all, but it cost 25 thousand dollars.

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

For some reason, I don't want to accept a smallpox quilt.

[peppergrass.livejournal.com]

This is just brilliant - I agree it's fantastic faux-Americana. I want to make one of these quilts now! Pity I can't think of anything similar I could do in crochet. :(

I love cabinets of curiosities. I have my own humble one of sorts in the top of our hutch. It contains Indian baskets, wasp nests, bits of shell and sea glass, an antique silver spoon, small jars of shells and seeds, seed pods, feathers, ceramic vases and pitchers, a small hammered copper vase, a Maneki Neko cat, an old rusted railroad tie, old square-headed nails, Oxacan figurines, a large bundle of devil's claw pods, an old stoneware ink pot, interesting beach stones (usually dark gray/black with white quarts veins), a bird's nest with two halved robin's eggs and an old stamp, an African doll...and more that I can't remember now. ;)

[tltrent.livejournal.com]

Oh how I wish I could have invited to that antho. My new novel has a Cabinet into which my MC sneaks and discovers the decay at the heart of her world. I kept pix of cabinets from everywhere near me the entire time. Must think of a micro-piece for this--thanks for posting it! :)

[b-oki.livejournal.com]

i believe!

but i could not own it, that is for sure. great for a museum item.

i love rummaging thru old tins or drawers full of curiosities. especially at my grandparent's farm house and their shed. and the way your fingers and hands smell and feel when you're done rummaging. the scent of "unidentified old and odd".

[therinth.livejournal.com]

Wow -- that's perfect.