Quilt Stories Become Me

Another Quilt Rescue

2009-04-20T18:06:00.000-07:00

Almost three years ago a family move left me without nearby grandchildren, and a few quilted memories that were no longer needed with the moved belongings. One was a quilt top (made into a duvet cover) which Jo had brought with her when she moved from New Zealand (via Australia) to Utah . She had used all the fabrics she had available to make her hourglass quilt top.

She lined it with a pink and blue plaid flannel without any batting and machine stitched the layers together in one direction to hold them together. It was very large and warm (Jo's first year of experiencing cold weather and snow was a big transition for her), and used very much during her years in Utah.

I took some fusible-web backed fabric and covered all the triangles where the fabric was torn and worn, and used a monofilament thread to zig-zag stitch the patches into place. I cut through the oversize top to create "fabric" which I could use to cover a fuzzy and very linty electric throw. It was two rows short of "fabric" needed for the cover and fold-over row. I pieced the two rows and lined them with a cotton fabric, binding the raw edge and making ties in the same fabric. Ties were stitched into the cover seams on the inside throughout. I stitched plastic rings to the edges of the blanket so it could be tied in place inside and wouldn't slide about.

I'm well pleased with the result--a warm blanket for winter which won't cover me with lint every time it is used, and a memory of Jo every time I will use it. In its new form it will bring "warm" memories and adds to my quilt story.

Quilt Celebration a Success

2009-03-16T03:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 14th, our quilt group celebrated National Quilt Day (a week early) by holding a Celebration. Our day-long sew in, creating my 12-block sampler, was well attended. I created 5 quilt tops to display how the blocks could be used and set together.

In earlier posts I discussed how the cat fabric was selected for the first quilt. I was well pleased how well the quilt turned out. The rest of the print was used to make dimensional star blocks and I used a strip sashing with nine patch corner posts to set it. There are only scraps of that print left.

A quilt group friend brought some animal print scraps, and from them I made another sampler featuring as much of that print as possible. I used a light sashing for this quilt, and bordered it with fabric from another friend which tied in all the colors in the blocks. This quilt has already inspired another quilter to use some scraps from a quilt she made her son a few years ago in a similar way.

Our quilt group has an annual baby challenge quilt project. A pre-selected print is used to make a creation of our own, and all are shown at our annual quilt show in July. I used an ABC print to make my quilt, using the sashing fabric in the background of the blocks so when set the blocks "float" in the background. I used dimensional piecing, so the flying goose in the red print is raised from the surface. My second quilt used four alike sampler blocks set block to block, with some pieced cornerstones at the corners of the border to help tie the design together. My fat-quarter of focus print seemed to stretch far enough to create the border.

Prints hanging under the last quilt were shown to give suggestions of the kinds of prints that are suitable (or not) for a sampler. They are crying out to me to be used in a project right away! The yellow bug fabric is screaming to join other bright fabrics similar to the cat theme quilt, and some cowboy print will be perfect when bordered with some already pieced cowboy boot blocks. But in the meantime:

Ladies stitched the whole day and became very involved in our project. Pictures of our day can be seen on www.newfriendsquilters.blogspot.com All the months of planning and stitching were a success for all of use who participated. With many hands of many group members who helped advertise, set up tables, chairs and display, taught block construction, mentored the new quilters who came that day, and then assisted with cleanup, we can look back at this project with fondness. And most of all, I have another quilt story (or more) to share!

Community Outreach and Celebration

2009-02-18T00:54:00.000-08:00

On October 1st I posted about the fabric and idea that I had for a sampler quilt.

Today I finished the quilt top using the fabric and pattern that I created for the project. Tomorrow it will be shown at the Utah Valley Quilt Guild with fliers of invitation to a sew-in to create a sampler.

New Friends Quilt Circle took on the project of an annual quilt fair which was provided to the public as a means of sharing quiltmaking skills. It was held for several years until the Utah Valley group decided to have a large one with vendors, garage sale, quilt auction and quilt classes and use it as an annual fundraising project for their guild. Our smaller group felt overwhelmed and decided there was not a need for our fair. I conceived of the original idea in our area, so there was some comfort in the idea that it was a useful event to someone.

A few years ago our group decided to renew our community outreach by conducting a "Quilt Celebration" held on a weekend near National Quilt Day. It is our opportunity to share with the community the art and techniques of quilting. Each year the theme has changed, and the amount of visitor involvement has also varied.

This year we are trying something new--a sew-in and instructional event with the project being the 12-block sampler. It's an ambitious project. It will be an all-day event on March 14th.

I first created a cutting chart for all the blocks after my original quilt design was created. I have tested the instructions and have completed the first quilt which finished about 60 x 72. Hopefully it will be on the frame this week to baste it for my machine quilting.

I have completed an instruction packet which includes a diagram and the cutting instructions for each block as well as a fabric guide and supply list. I have learned a great deal about learning to edit scans along the way, and am pleased about what I have learned thus far. The PDF file is ready to e-mail to inquiring pertinents.

New Friends board members will teach the block construction in intervals throughout the day and we'll be holding a soup and salad potluck lunch. The sew-in will be open to the public. Our quilt group will be stitching for our group community service projects, but contributions from the public will be optional. Our group members can mentor beginners. Hopefully it will be a great day for all participants.

My nest step is to use other fabric collections and make some quilt sets in other styles and sizes using the sampler blocks I designed.

The blocks were designed to feature novelty prints in large scale, so the blocks finish at 12-inches. I have more ideas in my mind than I will ever be able to create--normal for me--but I hope to achieve a display of quilt tops to show how the sampler blocks can be used for pillow tops, wall hangings, wall quilts, sofa quilts and baby and youth quilts. Naturally this project will occupy all of my time in the next month.

Through this project I hope to encourage the beginner and have more quilts constructed for the purpose of donating quilts as community service. This kind of service is great part of my quilt history--which becomes me!

Obscessed

2008-12-08T13:33:00.000-08:00

I've been stitching trapezoids for two months now, and the end is not yet in sight. It's not that I have fallen in love with this shape, but that the opportunity to work with it has fallen into my lap from my quilt stash!

I had to thread the needle to my sewing machine one day while a friend was visiting, and I had great trouble with the task. With my poor eyesight and coordination, and being tired and frustrated, the task was seemingly impossible. It took about 15 minutes to accomplish the threading, failing use of a threader and magnifier. My friend asked why I persisted so long. Well, if you want to sew you have to have a threaded needle, and that is that! To stop that process was to stop much of what is dear to me.

I recently came upon a box of cut trapezoids that I had put aside six years ago, and since I had been working with this shape to make tree blocks the past two months, I felt the opportunity to get these pieces used up was now upon me. In my obsessive nature, I had prevously cut hundreds of these shapes from prints and muslin and had some quilt elements in process. I pieced three large lap-sized quilts from the sewn elements, having to do some more piecing to get enough strips to complete the quilt tops. The braid strips are joined in right and left pairs to make a complete braid strip, and then they were sashed to set the quilt tops. I had pieces cut for each side of the braid. The muslin pieces could be placed in either direction.

It is probably important to note here that in October I cut pieces for 9 lap-sized quilts using tree blocks, and I stitched about 130 of the blocks needed for these quilts. Why so many? In my mind, if I get out a fabric, press it, cut what I need, fold it up and put it away, the whole process gets repeated over and over again until the fabric is used up. Unless I am making a "special" design, my goal is to use up the stash, so therefore it is better to cut up what I have out and stitch it up than to put it back again to have the whole process of getting out, pressing and cutting over and over again. All the tops are set except one for which half of the blocks need to be completed. I did mention that I was obsessed, didn't I?

At this point I still have a huge pile of the braid trapezoids cut, so I have been working on some picket fence quilt blocks, and to date I have about 100 of these blocks pieced. I have used one direction of the trapezoids for these blocks only, and still have half of the cut pieces left to use. I'm not through piecing these blocks yet. The color and print selection was getting pretty thin, so it was necessary to get out some more fabrics and cut more trapezoids to get more variety in the mix.When I have finished these blocks, squared them up and set them into quilt tops, I plan on making some pinwheel blocks with the other trapezoid pieces.

I guess there is a fine line between determination (needle threading) and obsession (cutting and sewing quilt elements) but I think the weight falls closer to obsession. Every time I get out a new fabric to add to the mix it gets cut all up and this leads to more pieces to stitch, and more blocks made. And this results in more quilts. And this is fed by my obsession. And this quilt story is the story of me.

Experimentatnion

2008-11-22T13:43:00.000-08:00

Many of my quilt projects are inspired because I have experimented with something new. For this story my experiment was printing on fabric.

The area director of "Project Linus" was injured in a horseback accident, and I was working with our quilt group ladies to make a small "quilted hug" with signature blocks. My design required more blocks than we had members to sign them, so I found some quotations to put in the rest of the blocks. My vision has deteriorated a great deal, and trying to write on the fabric well or trace the words would not be a good experience, so I decided to try using t-shirt transfer sheets. They worked beautifully, and a botched trial washed well when pinned to an article of clothing to test it. There was a lot of "computer learning" that went on at the time as well, but that is another story. The transfers were soft to the touch, were simple to make, and the printing was very clear.

I found a pre-print panel in my stash that I decided would make a great center for the quilt, so with the signature blocks and flying-geese units made by members plus quotation blocks to finish the set, the top was pieced. I needed a border, and tried to find a blue that matched the center blue, but nothing I had looked good. I chose a blue that had a purpleish tint to it, deciding that it looked the best of what I had. After it was cut and I was sewing it on I discovered that the fabric was from "Little Quilts," the same as the center panel. The same print in different colorways was used all through the pre-print panel. Some times there is a quilt that just "must be" created, and this quilt seemed to be one.

Immediately after this quilt was delivered I learned that a friend had some close friends who had lost their mother, so I suggested that we make a remembrance quilt for the girls. She did an internet search for verses that expressed comfort and friendship, and we printed the verses onto transfers. We also selected many clip-art images from software that I had and transferred them to the transfer film also. The verses and clip art were arranged onto fabric rectangles, pressed to transfer the images and then were sewn into strips using floral print fabrics between them to space them out. Backed with a cozy flannel print the result is a nice sofa cuddle quilt.

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Following these experiences I have made quilt labels using our quilt group logo to identify all quilts made by group member for donation. The transfers are pressed to fabric, and using "steam-a-seamII" they can be placed on the back of the fabric without being stitched in place and are washable.

I helped a group member make transfers by scanning drawings made by a grandson. She is making a quilt for him and she is very pleased with the results. A friend bought the pattern for an embroidered panel which could be easily converted to printing with this transfer film. My mind is continually flooded with ideas of how this film can assist me in some put-aside projects because I was not looking forward to the stitchery involved or the tracing required. Now much of that can be created with the computer and with excellent results. My experimentation has opened the floodgates of creativity which will lead to more quilts and quilt stories.

End of a Chapter

2008-10-16T22:31:00.000-07:00

Today I attended the funeral and burial services for a long-time quilting companion. It ended a chapter of my life but in some ways it will be the beginning of another. The chapter beginning I have no recollection of. I know this is very bad English--of which my friend would not approve. It is fitting, however, considering the recollections of family at her services, because she was described as a tough cream puff, requiring one to break through the shell to get into the sweet stuff inside. Her requirement for correctness--in almost everyone and everything except me--was a well known characteristic. My poor grammer and spelling would be critisized if she had the opportunity to see it. Anyway, I first noticed her at free quilt classes which I was conducting for Fabric Warehouse (of Hancock Fabric chains) in Sandy, Utah, where she would remain after class to talk. Later she brought me gifts each week; a piece of fabric with an offer to drove across the Salt Lake Valley to get me more if I wanted it, a pair of sharp small scissors from a flea market (which I still use and love to this day), some crochet potholders which I found out later were a special gift only for famiy and friends that were close to her. At the time I had a very difficult time receiving gifts as I felt unworthy of any personal attention, and especially from a stranger. However, I had the strong feeling that this woman needed a friend, and I could not hurt her.

Some time later I began giving free classes at the newly opened Stitching Corner in Provo, and my dear friend drove down each week. My class became so large I had to split it into two sessions. We started having lunch together and she always stayed for the second class sesson also. When she started taking a quilt class for a sampler at an Orem store, she dropped by my house with yardage for the quilt of a beautiful Hoffman print, and the offer to give me all the other fabrics to go with it if we could cut together.

During the years we attended many a quilting events together, usually rooming together at the hotels and sharing projects, fabrics, and many a friendly argument over style, color and almost everything including cloud formations as we drove to out of state quilt shows. I really never broke through the crust to the very core, but she let me into places of her heart that few others ever entered. The big thing was that she had such hero worship of me that I was always afraid that when she discovered how simply human and error-prone I was she would be crushed by the disillusionment.

This dear friend brought me fabric scraps and yarn, and incompleted items she bought at a thrift store where she volonteered. She knew I would complete and donate the items to some worthy cause. I can't count the baby afghans I have crocheted with the baby yarns she brought me. When I got an idea for a quilt I wanted to make she would bring her fabrics and we often cut and sewed the same design together. When she cut too much (she did love to cut) for a current project she would bring me the leftovers, neatly stacked and tied together, so I could use them in my work. One time I made a complete Christmas quilt from the extra pieces of which she "accidently" cut too many.

My husband had surgery a month or so ago, and I found on my porch bottles of canned apricots, jan and green beans. I think she saw him through through the door as he was sleeping and just dropped off her gift without disturbing us. That was her way, but would have been the last time I would have seen her had she come in. A massive stroke two weeks later led to several other complications, and she slipped away from us quietly.

I became part of her family, and as I spoke to them today they were all "friends" to me. Today was an end to one chapter, but the beginning of another, as her granddaughters are receiving quilt lessons and sewing machines from her estate to insure continuation of the family tradition. I've worked with a daughter, a granddaughter and a sister in years before, and it will be wonderful to continue this great family relationship through the quilting.

Who would have guessed that a friendship would lead to such enjoyment and companionship through the years, just because I felt that someone "needed" me for I friend. I was the needy one and she has taught me so much through the years. She was the gift to me that a friend becomes. I will miss her, but she will always be part of me and of every quilt I make. Her quilt story has become me, too.

I Did it Again!

2008-10-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

Monday evening after posting my last story I was thumbing through some donated magazines from the quilt room at our Sr. Center. I discovered a quilt featured in "Quilting Easy Piecing" magazine published by Quilter's Newsletter Magazine. The 2004 article entitled "A few of his FAVORITE THINGS" by Carolyn Aune and Lyndy Rymer, the photo shows a nine block sampler with novely fabric featured to the show the favorite "things" of the recipient--playing cards, cigars, motorcycles and so on.

Now this quilt is UGLY (sorry editors and designers), and I know I have been told there is no such thing as an ugly quilt. On its plus side, the idea is a wonderful one, and the authors of the article credit a book called "Quilts for Guys" for the idea. They may be the authors but I don't know. At any rate, my mind in its rapid discovery stage, thought that if children's novelty prints were used, nice colors to accent the prints, and more contrast in the fabrics were selected, and if one more row of blocks were added, wonderful children's lap-size quilts could easily be constructed. And even a more wonderful thought, this would be a great community service project at an upcoming community event. Beginners could be successful with the simple blocks, the same block could be repeated over and over using different novelty prints, one print could be used throughout in a coordinated colorway or blocks could be very random with a neutral setting.

Following a group pre-planning board meeting where I suggested the idea, and a great lunch at Applebees, (a great lunch is always good for creative energy), we stopped at a local fabric store for Halloween fabric for a friend's project. I found a wonderful novelty cat print, and no sooner had I purchased one yard of this fabric, the computer was on and I was creating a quilt design with our EQ software. I worked through night quilt group with a layout, dozens of different block colorations, and the cutting insturctions for at least 12 blocks. It has been all I can do to keep from cutting all night long and putting everything else aside so I can make this quilt.

I can now play with some wonderful oranges, golds, blues and browns, and maybe even "shop" if I don't have enough stash for the setting. Then there are those two drawers of cute novelty prints with themes of cats, crows, chickens, and just darn cute stuff that I have purchased and those given to me by friends who know my passion. That will lead to more selection from my fat quarters of marbelized and cracked ice textured bright colors, and...

Well, that's the start of the story of a quilt, a series of quilts, a group project or a communty project . This time the inspiration came from a very ugly quilt (well, the photo is ugly) . I never know what the trigger is going to be. This story is just unfolding, but it is clear that it will be a great part of my life in the next few months. And this story will become me.

Inspiration

2008-09-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

My lovely Joanna, wife of my son, was trying very hard to help me this summer. I am, sadly perhaps, a "collector" made infamous by the likes of Dr, Phill and others who uncover the individuals who are mentally diseased to the extent that they cannot live ordinary lives. I know I am the 3rd generation, and my daughter is in the throes of the 4th. We are not crazy, just disfunctional in a few areas of our lives. Anyway, Jo was trying to get me to part with a few possessions to make my life more comfortable. She kept asking me how I wanted my livingroom to look. I told her "just like it is," because as it was, I knew where things were. What is it that inspires the mental image of the "look" of a room, or a quilt, a garden, a yard, an artwork?

Take fabric shopping, for instance. What causes you to be inspired by a single piece of fabric to the point that you must purchase some, and even to make the decision of how much of it you "need." My Jo loves certain colors, and it is well known that orange, lime green, and fabrics that I could never find a use for are always in her stash. Her creations are artistic and beautiful. She buys small amounts of "only what I will use" fabrics, and every fabric is carefully folded and petted as royalty. I, on the other hand, am usually random in my purchases. Certain themes like crows and chckens and cats and sewing notions that are colorful and clever can almost never be passed by in a shop without some coming home with me. I love bright colors in textural prints and a fat quarter collection that calls my name has these prints in them. I buy bolts of neutral green, blue and tans because I love using small pieces of everything, and these neutrals are used with abandon in my creative jags. Jo has an idea what she wants to create, uses stash and then shops for just what she needs to complete the job. I see a fabric that inspires a creation and I pull out everything I can find to fit my "theme", and don't worry about purchasing a few extras to choose from, as it will all have a use at some point.

I admire the beautifully organized people like Jo who can visualize a project, or the look of a room, or a painting, and can go out and create that look. They have beautiful homes, organized rooms, neatly finished projects. But to expect me to be able to visualize in that same way is impossible. My brain does not function like that--and never will. I can't claim right or left brain disfunction--I don't know how that works. All I know is that my brain works differently, my visualization is different and perhaps unique, enough that Dr, Phill and others would really like to play around with it.

I have always loved creating things with my hands. Little clay pots from the marshy clay soil in our yard when I was a child, or baskets woven of the tough marsh grass from the field were my pasttimes until I was old enough to thread a needle at about 3 years of age. I sewed numerous buttons onto the hems of my dresses and pinnafores. By 7 I was putting buttonhole edging on worn out sheeting fabric and trying crude embroidery. At 9 when I started babysitting I used my money to purchase an embroidery hoop, floos and a preprinted hemstitched dresser scarf and made almost daily visits to my Grandma to teach me how to do lazy daisy stitches and french knots, and finally how to crochet an edging. It has not stopped--I'm always wanting to learn something new and experiment with a new medium.

One thing I learned early is that I cannot draw or paint well. I cannot visualize a still life object in one place and recreate it somewhere else. I think traditional patchwork quilting appeals to me because shapes stay in a predictible place. I do not visualize a complete quilt design in my mind. I have an "idea" of what it will be like, but it is always a surprise ending, and not always pleasant. I have learned to forgive myself for this fault, and have accepted that not everything will be wonderful, but if the best I can do, it's my best, and as I learned in 4-H Club years ago, I can make my best better.

Inspiration. That is what floats my boat. It comes in so many ways that I sometimes have wished my brain would slow down a bit so I can deal with one idea at a time. However, that wish left me following a stroke a few years ago when I could not "visualize" or think properly. I know I couldn't see in my brain what I wanted to see, and it was very frustrating. Fortunately that part of my functioning has been corrected, so let inspiration flow. My challenge is using it properly.

This week I have been working on some small scrap quilts that started with a box of carefully hand-cut 3-inch squares of factory cutaways, started by a 90+ year-old woman. Strip sets had been started, trimmed and pressed and stacked neatly in the box. My first inspiration was how to use these strip sets and to complete a quilt top with no idea of what had been in her mind when she started, or knowing how much fabric was available to complete the job. Once this was completed there were pieces left over. Inspired to make another quilt, the planning began for the setting of this quilt using the pieces at hand. After making a 3rd top (with only 1 piece of one of the prints left over--a close call) I began a 4th. I'm now scrounging for fabrics from my stash to complete that top, and in the search came across some long strips of factory scrap that will be suitable for the binding to complete these projects. Well, not exactally inspiration, but discovery, but it will work.

How does this form of inspiration fit into my quilt story? This is me--this is how I work. Today it os red and white factory scrap that has turned into almost 4 quilts. Last week is was some clothing construction leftovers that gave me just enough fabric for the center strips of a rail fence variation and resulted in a lap-size quilt top. Tomorrow (or perhaps this afternoon) it will be how to make a twin-sized quilt for a grandchild from a kit that is designed for a 50 x50-quilt, and maybe before the week is over it will be how to use a 14-inch pre-print panel into a suitable sized baby quilt top. This is how fabric often inspires my work, and how I work with my fabric. And these inspirations become me.

A Focus-Changing Event

2008-09-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

In 1998 I attended an LDS women's Relief Society meeting where we had been invited to give service by tying some baby quilts for a charitable organization. We were shown a video presentation about premature birth and how this organization, Parent to Parent, worked with area hospitals as a support service at such an event. Talking to the presenter about how our quilt group could give assistance in their support efforts, I launched on a project that changed my personal focus in quilt-making.

I purchased some cute teddy bear print at a local discount store, cut it into 1/2-yard lengths, and presented the ladies of New Friends Quilt Circle with a new project--a quilt challenge. The ladies were to make a baby quilt using the fabric provided in any size from 28-inches square to 45-inches in size using their own creativity and fabrics of their choice. They could quilt it by hand or machine or tie it It must be washable and child-safe. The quilts would be displayed at the Steel Days quilt show in July of that year and at that time everyone would see the quilts. I made the quilt above to introduce the ladies to the challenge using a pattern from the publishers of Quiltmaker magazine.

This event was supported well by the women of our group. Not only did they make challenge quilts, but they donated quilts on their own, and that year we had over 50 quilts created and donated to the neo-natal unit of Utah Valley Regional Hospital.

Each year for eleven years a large area of the Steel Days quilt show has been dovoted to the charitable donations of New Friends Quilt Circle. I have been fortunate to spearhead the community service program, and with cooperation of volunteer board members, we have made a large contribution of baby quilts each year. Although the parent organization has changed names and leadership, we still provide a needed service to parents of pre-mature and seriously ill infants in our valley.

It started with one little meeting, a bit of inspiration, a little bear quilt, and has led to hundreds of little quilts, crochet afghans, hats, bootees, sweaters, and other tiny items of comfort for families who have had to meet the unexpected, and often great loss. I have learned that women who work together toward common goals bond together as well, and I have seen the outpouring of love for the well-being of others grow. In addition, we have learned to be better at our art, making our gifts an extension of ourselves rather than just a duty to be fulfilled.

My focus of quilt-making changed for the better, as well. Smaller projects well done are far better than large projects procrastinated forever because they are so overwhelming. Little quilts are easier to stitch, quilt and bind, and several small quilts fill more needs over time. In addition, small quilts give me the opportunity to try more designs and techniques. Yes, it was just a bitty idea, but changed my quiltmaking focus forever.

A Birthday Quilt

2008-09-05T06:19:00.001-07:00

Here I am with my favorite first grandson, Coleman, not a week after his 5th birthday for whom and for which this quilt was made. Just a few short hours after this picture was taken by Coleman's mom, Joanna, a newspaper reporter arrived at the American Fork Steel Days quilt show, asking for a tour of the quilt show and for information about the quilts. Coleman conveniently showed up while the interview was being conducted, and thus his name appeared as part of the public record the following day in the Daily Herald, a Provo UT newspaper.

I am sure the article is not very readable, (click on it to enlarge it) but it was an exciting development. The reporter, Caleb Warnock, asked Coleman what his favorite picture in his "I Spy" quilt was. In his excitement and bewilderment, he pointed to a stick figure that said "I Love You" instead of his true favorite, Spongebob Squarepants, which was a bit higher in the hanging quilt for him to spot immediately. This comment led to the laugh and "good job" comment from me, the grandma, and Coleman's response got into print.

My son, Roland, commented in his late teens that his children would never be in want of quilts. Never in our wildest imaginings did we think that he would be married to a quiltmaker himself, or the fact that she was a quiltmaker led to their marriage--another story! Anyway, quilts and grandchildren are a proven partnership, and it seems that that is what grandmas are supposed to do--make the special children's quilts. Roland's children will never be in want of quilts made by their grandma, as long as she can keep making them.

The idea for this "I Spy" quilt came from a photograph I had taken at a Steel Days quilt show a few years ago. I liked the setting, so in the early spring of 2008 I began to cut 6-1/2-inch squares and 4-1/2-inch squares of the novelty prints I have collected over the years that I have used for other variations on this theme. The small squares were sewn into 4-patches, then the larger squares were sashed with navy sashing. Alternating the sashed squares and 4-patches gave the resulting set of the quilt. I used a blue mottled print for the border. The backing was a brignt yellow flannel print of children's playgrounds and toys. It was quilted with monofilament nylon on the top and a variagated thread on the back on my Juki sewing machine. I bound it in the navy blue used for the block sashing. The quilt was finished a few days before the birthday, but it was not shown to Coleman until the day after--too much excitement on his special day--and was told he could have it after the quilt show. It really was not punishment; daytime temperatures were around 100-degrees in the shade at the time, so he didn't "need" bed covering at the time. I am hopeful that he will enjoy it in the winter in his New Hampshire home and maybe remember the grandma who made it for her favorite first grandson.

2008-08-31T13:43:00.000-07:00

This quilt really does have a story and is part of me. I hope you enjoy this unfinished quilt story

An Ongoing Story With No End In Sight

2008-08-31T12:21:00.000-07:00

My story begins with inspiration from a quilt book. I worked as a nanny for a year during 1960-61 when I had attended college for a year, had no funds or job, or real direction. My employer obtained a library card for me, and being in the big city (Salt Lake City), I enjoyed the privilege of more books than I could ever read. I had made a quilt that I was trying to hand-quilt (with pliars, but that is another story) and was interested in quilts, so found the only pattern book in the library, which was in a lock-up case and had to be signed out. Ruby McKim's 101 Patchwork Quilt Patterns became my bible, and I spent weeks with airmail paper, an ink pen (real ink-not ball-point) and some color pencils making careful tracings of the patterns and the templates. One of my favorite designs was a tumbling block quilt. The interest with this design, and the diamond shape has never left me and more than 40 years later it still inspires me.

The next part of the story is a quilt made by the grandmother of a friend who made many tumbling block quilts of scrap for her grandchildren through the years. Vickie Lake Hathaway had one of these quilts with six diamonds coming together to create a star, with tumbling blocks spilling around the stars. I loved it and wanted one like it. I asked my father to make me a template for it of sheet metal, and using the pattern I had copied some years before, he complied with my request. The template being hand cut was not a true shape, but nevertheless I was willing to use it to achieve the quilt design I had become so fond of.

Now that I had the inspiration I needed I began to cut up available fabric. I think most of it was fabric I had purchased at 4 yards for $1.00 at Woolworth's while I was a nanny, and the fabric was used to make my clothing. I made several outfits for my sister-in-law who was expecting a first baby and had no maternity clothing, and so those scraps were added. I also used some shirting scraps left from sport shirts I made for my father. There were some fabrics of unknown origin included, but I believe they came in the mail as the result of a request I made for materials for crafts for a nursing home in which I was working. I used bleached muslin I purchased from J.C. Penney Co. for the white stars. I think it was 49-cents a yard at the time.

I knew nothing about seam allowance or marking fabric, let alone how to tie a knot, or how to hand-piece, but I was off and running, and through the years (yes, it was years) I pieced together a quilt top of stars and tumbling blocks. Now I had another problem. I didn't know how to resolve the edge of the design, and thinking that nice sawtooth edge of the quilt was neat, I was ready to finish the quilt. With marriage, college, a few years teaching, and then motherhood, the quilt was set aside. When I was ready to quilt it I asked a neighbor who quilted full time for others to teach me. She laughed (it was just her friendly nature but I didn't know that for years) and I felt that I was so stupid that I didn't kow how to do it that I gave up the idea. Of course I didn't take into consideration that I was using a polyester bonded batt that was almost 2-inches thick and a size #7 quilting needle to quilt with, and there was a good reason why I was not successful, but at the time I became discouraged. I finally resorted to tying it with baby yarn. Then that edge! I decided to serge it as I had recently purchased a serger and serge I did! How one goes about serging 60-degree points I don't know, but I did it. Now with a "finished" quilt I was pleased, and it was very used with two young children and two foster children in our home.

Now it is years later, and that quilt recently resurfaced as family members were helping me tidy up and "dump" excess articles with the hopes of making my golden years more manageable. The poor quilt with seams coming apart all over, ties tangled and worn, and some pieces of fabric with holes worn into it. What on earth is this quilt and why are you hanging onto it? How can I explain it? I had made attempts at repairing seams, and quilting over it, pulling out the tangled ties as I worked. It's such a big job and such an old quilt, and why spend all that time on it?

Why, indeed. That quilt is a piece of my life; fabric that has great memories for me, a design that led to years of wonder and design enjoyment, learning of methods to achieve good results, and terrible examples of the many things I have learned through the years, the family members that it covered, and.... When I go to my final reward, some family member will pick up this "rag" and toss it out. That's okey with me, as it will have no meaning or memory to anyone else. They may still find pins holding ragged fabric edges together, a threaded needle or two that is seaming or quilting, or maybe it will finally be really "finished." Whatever the case, the quilt has a story, and that story is me.