Visiting Quilt

Sitting here visiting and there is a knock on the door. One of the neighbors had heard my friend say that I was a quilter, and she wanted to show me a quilt her mother had sent her. “It’s not in good shape” she claimed as I opened it up. No it wasn’t in great shape, there are a lot of seams coming apart, but it was a work of art and history at the same time. At first I thought it was an Amish quilt, the colors were similar to that, but no, there were changes in the colors here and there. Then it hit me… it was all feed sacks. Not the colorful ones I love so much, but plain colors, no prints at all, just solids. And it was exquisite. It was a variation of an Irish Chain and quite a beauty in my eyes.
The makers, I’m pretty sure it was a group effort, had all coordinated their fabrics, and made the blocks alike. There was a non feed sack for the focus fabric, and that same fabric was used again in the border. The squares were equal in size, some being perfect, others just a tad off, not noticeable to anyone but a quilter. The inner border was the least perfect part of it, with some uneven fabric which through the years has caused it to lay differently than the rest of the quilt. But the outer edge just erased any imperfections at all, perfectly made prairie points, not one was different in size and they went from corner to corner with perfect spacing.

The quilting was far from perfect, some short stitches and some longer ones, but the quilting design was consistent and beautiful. The inexperienced hand quilter I am thinks it was quilted by more than one person…. I imagine a quilting bee sitting around it having a chat while quilting.

I learned a valuable lesson from that quilt and I must share it. Of course it makes a lot of work for me, but all of a sudden I see the importance of labels, even on quilts which are made to be used and abused as I so often say. There was nothing on the back of the quilt saying who had made it, or when, or why. Perhaps it was made for a member of the bee, just to keep her warm, but I sure would love to know who made it, where it was made, and most importantly, when it was made… my so called expert knowledge (NOT) which makes me think it was feed sacks very well could be wrong, and if I knew when it was made I would have a better idea…

The owner said she had often admired quilts in the shops, and wanted one badly. She said when her mother’s package arrived with that lovely quilt she thought it was an old rag, tattered and torn, but she threw it on her bed regardless, since the colors were so lively. She took it home with a new admiration of it, and couldn’t wait to tell her husband what I thought of it.

I photographed it, and will share the photos when I get home. And I am going to pull the majority of my quilts, one at a time, from wherever they are stored, and put some history on them, that I made them, the name of the quilt, when I made it, and where I made it. Lesson learned, I will for now on label my quilts.

Thanks Joyce for showing me your lovely quilt, and for the valuable lesson I learned from it!

Photos added March 3rd

PS

I am on dial up on my also old and failing lap top, and getting on line is almost impossible. Don't think I am ignoring you if I don't reply to an email you sent, or don't email you. It's taken me an hour to read messages and for some blank reason it is making it hard for me to reply to messages. Everytime I hit reply, it disconnects me.

hi

Incase you are wondering what’s happening and why I haven’t posted, I am alive and well, just off visiting a friend. Unfortunately this friend is not on the internet, she doesn’t even own a computer, and … well.. it sure makes thing difficult in keeping in touch with the rest of the world. However, that is just going to have to do for now.

My friend is advancing in age, as we all are, but unfortunately her mind isn’t handling this advance well. She is having some semi-serious memory loss, and on occasion anxiety attacks and delusions. (Although no delusions while I am here, I think I am distracting her enough her mind doesn’t need to make anything up.) As I see it, from my unprofessional medical brain, it’s just plain old age.

Her Doctor recommended that she not be alone, and she has no family close so here I am. We’re having a great time catching up, reliving old times, and just plain sitting around and chatting. We’ve relived times past way too many times now, and it’s all starting to be a rerun, but if that is what she wants to do then we will.

She is in bed early every night, leaving me lots of time to do what ever I want, but I’ve been emotionally drained, and just don’t want to do much after she is asleep. I remember the old times too, and how alive and exciting she was, and how much I admired her for the things she did. Now they are the memories that keep her life exciting, with little to nothing going on.

She doesn’t know that her Doctor has recommended that sometime in the near future she go into assisted living, that I am here with her until that move, and that soon all of her memories will fade away. She doesn’t know that sometime soon her lovely home and wonderful friends will disappear into a fog, and she will barely remember one day to the next. She doesn’t know, and I’m not going to tell her… I’m just going to sit here and keep her company until she forgets who I am.

Born Again American

Wow... moving video, great cause for a great country that certainly needs the help of its people. If we help we can turn things around, I know we can...

Click on the logo to go to the web site...

Time to catch up…

Been a busy week, trying to get things done, and I can honestly say they are…
That special quilt project is finished, and tomorrow it will be delivered to the quilter who is waiting to put it on the machine. I am tickled with it, and can’t wait to give it to its owner. Better take a box of tissues with me when I give it to her… I know she will cry!

Tuesday we had ice and snow, and Mini Relay University was cancelled, while I was in the middle of something else… had to send notices to several events, thank goodness for mass email. I would hate to think what it would be like to have to call all of those people. And then of course it was rescheduled, posted an announcement about that.

Yesterday was a blur, I can’t even remember everything I did. I do know the day ended with a committee meeting, went pretty good too. Relay will happen that’s for sure.

Today was a busy day again, and tomorrow I hope to take it easy, do a few things for me, maybe. I have a dozen new quilt ideas I’ve put in my note pad, want to work on them and see where they go next. Would be nice to introduce a whole bunch of new patterns, very nice.

Relay Fundraiser

I meant to post this and keep forgetting…. Here’s our team latest fundraiser. Sue and I picked them up on Friday and I’ve already sold five… I just might have to order more, wouldn’t that be nice! The profit from these will all go to Relay.

They are a remake of a college Relay shirt… hey, us oldsters like tee-shirts too! And they are Relay Purple, despite what color they look like on your screen. And we can order other colors too. Shipping is extra of course.

If you want one, send me a comment. (Or an email for those who know it, LOL!)

One of those days....

It’s just one of those days where I just can’t get motivated… I’ve been going from one thing to another all day, and not getting nothin’ done. I started laundry first thing this morning, and then came up to check email… took care of email and made up a bank deposit. Went to the bank, dry cleaners and grocery store and came home and ate… came back up and took care of more email, and about a half a dozen phone calls. But just can’t seem to go any more, think I’m worn out for today.

I did a lot of work on that special project yesterday, and got a lot done. Hopefully one more day of sewing, unless it’s another one of these can’t get motivated days. The back is almost finished, and if I could just do it, I could get it to the quilter.

Then I have my newest pattern to work on. I sent it to two testers yesterday, and the both love it. (One may have said that just to be nice though, but she never doesn’t like my quilts, LOL!)

I know what it is, there is a hint of spring in the air today, it’s actually 60 degrees out right now, sunny and beautiful. Figures, we have a winter advisory for tomorrow, LOL!

But for now I think I’m going to go see where that laundry is in progress, and then I might just do some hand work… maybe I can finish a UFO today?

February first?

February 1st already, what DID happen to January? Seems like it was just NYE the other day, and here it is Groundhogs Day eve. (Happy Birthday Jake and Debbie!)

Yesterday was Mystery day on Mysteries For Relay, this is what the ladies made. Well this is the pattern I presented, one step at a time… I haven’t seen any wall hangings yet, although I know a few ladies worked on it all day long.

And yesterday I updated all the important web pages:

My UFO page, I finished two in January, and started one new project, as well as working on Joan’s quilt. (Got the top done yesterday, working on the back now)

The February BOM, Old Maids Puzzle was one of the Mysteries For Relay projects, and I decided to share it with the rest of the web.

And I did the Retreat updates… which I had to redo today. Some scheduling conflict has forced me to cancel the September Retreat, but at the same time cancellations made room in both the October and November retreats.

And now back to that quilt backing, I MUST get it done!