Quilts & Cars

Did you see the Sneak Peak by the United States Postal Service (USPS) of their 2026 Stamps? Quilting is represented in the coming year!

HARRIET POWERS

From USPS: Quiltmaker Harriet Powers (1837-1910), learned to sew while enslaved on a plantation near Athens, GA, stitched works that are celebrated as masterpieces of American folk art and storytelling. Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS, designed the stamps and pane using details from Powers's 1898 "Pictorial Quilt," with its biblical scenes and depictions of local lore.

See the full Pictorial Quilt at the MFA Boston's website (the quilt is not currently on view). Applique quilt, dyed and printed cotton fabrics applied to cotton. The quilt is divided into fifteen pictorial rectangles. Worked with pieces of beige, pink, mauve, orange, dark red, gray-green and shades of blue cotton. Her personal description is listed for each block. This informative five-minute video features the words of historian and author Tiya Miles.

"Her quilts are considered among the finest examples of 19th century Southern quilting, although only two of her quilts, both of which were made after the Civil War, survive today." ~National Museum of American History in Washington, DC

Many of you know of my love for cursive, writing letters, and especially quilting. That's why I'm excited about seeing the Harriet Powers postage stamps.

You may also learn something new here; that I am a car gal. When my husband and I were dating, one of our first dates was to a neighborhood classic car show. I pointed out my favorite car in the shopping center parking lot. We talked with the car owner who was a plum farmer. When I asked about the car's gorgeous color and amazing paint job, the owner told us how he walked through his orchard and picked a ripe plum off a tree and rubbed the dust off, drove to the shop where his car was going to be painted and showed them the plum. They matched the color perfectly! I recall that he named the car '36 Prune.

LOWRIDERS

From USPS: Low and slow: that's the lowrider. Outfitted with smaller-than-factory wheels, a fancy paint job and a special hydraulic system, these customized automobiles trace their roots to the 1940s-era working-class Mexican American / Chicano communities of the American Southwest. Five models grace the stamps: a blue 1946 Chevrolet Fleetline named Let the Good Times Roll / Soy Como Soy; a blue 1958 Chevrolet Impala named Eight Figures; a red 1963 Impala named El Rey; an orange 1964 Impala named the Golden Rose; and a green 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme named Pocket Change. The Gothic-style typography and the pinstriping on the stamps and pane evoke the detailed decoration that is a hallmark of the most celebrated lowrider cars. Antonio Alcala, an art director for USPS, designed the stamps using photographs by Philip Gordon and Humberto "Beto" Mendoza.

During our house re-build it was important for us to be nearby; we needed to make decisions, handle any supply chain issues, choose paint colors, fixtures, handrailing, etc., so items would be on-site and ready for installation. It was several years before we talked about taking a vacation. I had this idea that we could take a road trip - like, maybe on Route 66?

ROUTE 66

From USPS: With these stamps, the Postal Service celebrates the 100th anniversary of Route 66, the legendary highway that originally stretched about 2,400 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles. Dubbed "The Mother Road" by author John Steinbeck, Route 66 forever changed how Americans travel and became a symbol of freedom and adventure. The pane of 16 stamps includes photographs by David Schwartz from each of the eight states route 66 passes through, with each one repeated twice. The selvage features a photo by Schwartz of the open road rolling through hills in Crookton, AZ, along the longest continuous drivable stretch of route 66 in the state.

Lisa Bobb-Semple, Stamp Services director at the USPS said, "Each stamp is a small work of art - an entryway into a larger story that connects people, places and moments in history. This year, we continue to honor that legacy with a diverse range of subjects and designs, from beloved series and commemorative anniversaries to bold new releases that will inspire and excite collectors and admirers alike."

View the partial list, with additional stamps announced in the coming weeks and months. These 2026 designs are preliminary and may change.

It hasn't happened, yet. But, I guarantee that I will have some of these stamps with me to affix to postcards when we actually take that Route 66 road trip. Any other letter writing, car gal, quilters out there?

Thank you for stopping by.

XOXOX