Stitched in All Sizes

Check out this video from the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, KY on one of their current exhibits.  In the exhibit a large quilt is paired with a miniature quilt, either because it's the same pattern, similar design, or connected in some other way.  It looks like an exhibit I would love to see!  I'm glad so many of the quilts are shared in the video.

In this little blast from the past, here are two of my "stitched in all sizes" quilts.  These hung in the Springville Museum of Art during their annual quilt show in the summer of 2010.  The quilt on the left I   made for my son for his high school graduation.  I liked it so much that I made the miniature quilt on the right, 1/4 of the size.  I used Liberty Homestead fabrics that I bought at the quilt show in Denver.  Remember when we used to have a Mancuso Quilt Show in Denver??  A lot of fun memories with my quilting friends.  We would have our own little show and tell at the hotel in the evenings, not of what we made, but of what we bought at the vendor mall! 😂. So fun!

The picture below is of my Mom and I at the show together.  She taught me so much about quilting and so much more.  I miss her smile and her friendship, but I know she's watching out for us and we are still enjoying all of the beautiful things that she made, including quilts!

I made these simple, delicious apple snacks today!  You can find the recipe here:

https://plantbasedonabudget.com/recipe/apple-granola-goodness/

 

Doggie's Rag Quilt

There is a rather long story about some flannel squares that my Mom gave me a long time ago, cut and ready to make into a rag quilt.  Our family has rag quilts galore, so I offered them to a friend who needed help making them.  I enlisted the help of another friend and eventually the rag quilt got made.  There were several squares left over and my friend Gini suggested that I make a doll size quilt for my granddaughter.  What a great idea!  My granddaughter's favorite stuffed animal is Doggie, who goes everywhere with her.  This weekend I made a rag quilt for Doggie 😂. I have to say, I think it turned out pretty cute.  Thanks to Gini for a great idea!

I just linked to this article from The Quilt Show website and really loved the lesson it teaches.  Take a minute to read this and enjoy:
https://bbquiltmaker.blogspot.com/2019/02/lessons-we-can-learn.html?spref=fb&fbclid=IwAR2M66Q5FVCeup9-slO_0ZLOeEB_yKPW0crmQG1EOP9C9UTU0130SfgB_4o

Have a great day!!

Keep Smiling

I have been wanting to write a little tribute to my Mom who passed away recently.  It has just been hard to do.  We had a Celebration of Life memorial service for her Saturday, so now maybe is the time I can write this. This is part of a Life Sketch my son read at the service:

Melba was very talented, not only musically, but in the arts as well.  She used to sew most of her own clothes, as well as clothes for her children.  She sewed doll clothes for Karen, even tiny dresses for her Barbie collection.  She also knitted, crocheted, painted pictures, decorated cakes and tole painted.   Everything she did, she did well and she was very generous in sharing her talents with others, especially her husband, children, her son-in-law Mike and her grandchildren.  Her grandchildren still have the “Santa sacks” that she made with their names on them, which were filled with goodies by Grandma and Grandpa every Christmas.  Melba was always making gifts for other people, or teaching others her skills.  Her four grandchildren have all been recipients of her teaching - either knitting, crocheting, sewing, cooking or painting.  She always had a project going, even in her last couple of months, she was crocheting a baby afghan.We are all lucky indeed if we possess something that was lovingly made by Melba. Melba had a bright, cheerful smile.  She loved meeting new people.  She loved to read, watch Hallmark movies and visit with her family.  Melba was loved by her family and many others and she will be missed. 

I do miss her.  I used to finish my "chores" then head up to my sewing room, call my Mom and put her on speaker and we would "visit" while I worked on projects.  Yesterday I was up in my sewing room for the first time, for any length of time, since she passed and it was quiet and lonely.

Everyone we talked to Saturday commented on my Mom's smile.  The Bishop conducting the service, in closing said that the way to honor Melba's memory is to "smile like she did".  That's what I intend to do :). Love you Mom!!

A Little Update

My Mom has been very ill and in the hospital all week so that is where I've been.  She is a little bit better.  It's hard to see her so sick.

I've posted many pictures of incredible sewing machine cakes that I've seen on the internet.  Well, guess what?  This one is mine!  Yesterday was my birthday and my husband found this talented lady and asked her to make me a sewing machine cake!  It's amazing isn't it?  He said he thought about asking her to put Bernina on it, but didn't want to stress her out too much :). We are going to cut it and eat some later today.  I'll let you know how hard it is to cut and how yummy it tastes.

Have a great day :)

Happy Birthday Mom!!

My Mom turns 82 today! She is the best Mom ever and I'm so thankful for all she's taught me over the years.  We do not live in the same state but I get to see her in a few days and I'll bring her her quilt :)

I am trying to put together some hand projects to work on.  Yesterday I fused some wool flowers onto my mini tumbling blocks quilt.  I will stitch them down and add some embroidery and hope it looks good!  Then I need to try to figure out out to quilt this little piece....


Hope you're having a great day!!

Pressing Worked!

I pressed my Mom's quilt and I do like it better.  I took some before and after pictures.  This top photo is actually an after picture - it just got out of order.  Look at the lint!  I have, besides washing, rolled this with a lint roller multiple times and the black still shows every little speck of anything!

OK, these first two photos are after washing and before ironing.  I really don't mind a little crinkle but I did not like this much crinkle.  Closer quilting might have helped too, but my Mom doesn't really care for quilts that are heavily quilted ....

These two bottom photos are after ironing and I'm much happier with the result.  Thanks for the tip Sheila!  Next time I think I will buy some 80/20 or 70/30 batting.  How is wool batting for shrinkage?

Have a wonderful day!!

I Changed It....

I changed the date.  Those of you who know me well, probably knew that I would even before I did!  It only took a couple of minutes and my machine was still threaded with the right thread.  If it was super hard, I probably would have left it.  But now when I see this quilt I'll remember that we were celebrating my Mom's 82nd birthday and not her 81st :)

I also washed it and I am still not sure I like the washed, crinkly look!  It did soften the quilt up, but I still think I liked the look of it better before I washed it.  So, if you have to wash a quilt and do not like the crinkly look - what can you do?  Can anyone help me?

Do I need to prewash fabrics?  I am a non-prewasher.  Maybe I should try that...

Hope you're having a great weekend :)

Look What I Did!

I finished my Mom's quilt and I thought I would be so smart and quilt the "label" right into the cornerstones on the front of the quilt.  So here is "Happy Birthday Mom!"












Next I signed my name, so you know who made it.

And then I stitched on the date....

Yep, I quilted in January 2016!!

So I'm debating, do I rip it out and change it to 2017?  Or, a hundred years from now no one is going to care whether it was finished in 2016 or 2017?  What would you do?

I pretty much always match the bobbin thread to the back of the quilt, but then have to keep messing with the tension to avoid the little "dots" - you know what I'm talking about!  With the back of this quilt being black, I just didn't want to have to deal with black dots all over the colored sections on the front of the quilt so I used the same thread in the bobbin that I used on the top and I really like the look!  My quilting really shows up on the back of the quilt and for perhaps the first time in my life I'm just fine with that :)

Here is the quilt pre-washed.  Today I'm going to fix the date, or not, I haven't decided yet, and then wash it once or twice to get it all softened up and ready for my Mom to use on her bed :)


I hope you're staying warm and having a great day!!

Gifts

Here are a couple of gifts I received recently from my Mom and my brother.  My Mom gave me the Precious Moments thimble for my collection and the little Santa that looks like a bobbin!  My brother brought me a thimble from Nashville!  The only time I've been to Nashville was when I was 14 years old and I didn't collect thimbles then.... Thanks to you both!!
My Mom also gave me pewter scissors and some sewing machine pins :)

Ready to Quilt

My Mom wants to make a fleece blanket for a friend for Christmas.  My daughter and I picked out this pretty fleece fabric and I got it ready for my Mom to tie.  Arthritis has done mean things to her hands!  She still loves to make pretty things though - she's always been so talented at so many crafts.  We definitely need to use and appreciate what we have while we can.  A friend told me yesterday that she'd never felt so grateful to be able to mow her lawn.  She fell a few months ago and had a long recovery, but is now doing better and enjoying mowing her lawn more than ever before!



I have three quilts that are now ready to quilt.  I have a couple of other projects to work on before I get to them though!
Have a happy day!  Be creative!

Top Complete

I completed the Amish quilt top!  I really like it!  The pattern calls for an appliqué border, but if I make that border, the quilt will be too big for my Mom's bed, so I'm stopping here.
It is very colorful and cheery and the black background really sets off the colorful solids.  The black fabric also shows every piece of lint.  I guess that is to be expected.
Feeling inspired by Sharon Wright's class and lecture at our guild meeting last March, I pieced the back.  More on that tomorrow :)

Framing the Blocks

I have been working on this Amish quilt kit all week for my Mom. (She purchased it from the Keepsake Quilter catalog.)  I started really loving it when I began framing the blocks with the different colors paired with black sashing strips.  The instructions in this kit are excellent and it's going together beautifully.  I don't usually like kits but I have to say I never would have put some of these colors together on my own, yet I'm loving the way it's turning out.  In fact using ALL solids is a stretch for me! This is one kit I am learning a lot from!

UFO's

Quilters have an interesting vocabulary all their own such as: UFOs (unfinished objects), WIPs (works in progress), PIGS (projects in grocery sacks) etc.  My Mom asked me to go through her sewing room recently and clear out some of the stuff she is unable to do anymore.  She gave my lucky daughter her sewing machine and sold her sewing cabinet (that my Dad built 40 years ago!) It's sad that she cannot create as much as she once could, because she, as I've mentioned before, could do everything!  She sewed, quilted, knit, crocheted, painted, decorated cakes - you name it. But arthritis and other ailments have caught up to her.

It makes me want to get in and work on my projects while I still can!  However, in cleaning up her sewing room I stumbled across HER UFOs!  Uh oh... Temptation to add to my pile...
One of her UFOs was this Amish Quilt kit that she had purchased from Keepsake Quilting who knows how long ago.  She had mentioned this kit several times so I know she really likes it, just hadn't gotten around to making it.  I decided to make it up for her for Christmas so she can enjoy it on her bed.  I've finished the 12 blocks and next will make "block frames", then sashing, sew the blocks together and add a piano key border.  The sashing and some of the block frame fabric is black so I'm looking forward to seeing it all come together.
One of her UFOs is over 55 years old!  It's a baby quilt she started for my brother and never finished!  I think she's had bragging rights at the quilt guilds for a number of years for having the oldest UFO in her closet.  Hmmm.... I may have to do something with that too!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Today is my Mom's 81st birthday!  I was lucky enough to get to go visit this weekend.  Check out our four generation picture.
Today a woman asked me if I've always been close to my Mom and I said yes and she asked if I'm close to my Dad too and I said yes.  She said, "I did not have a family like that, you are really lucky."  I would have to agree that yes I am very blessed and lucky to have two such wonderful parents - and very grateful!
Happy Birthday Mom!!

A New Generation

When visiting my Mom last week I went with her to the Crochet Club.  One of the gals brought her daughter who sat next to my Mom working on a little wall quilt. She was busy hand stitching around little Sunbonnet Sues.  They are all making items for a craft sale to be held on July 4th weekend.  My Mom is working on a baby afghan.  I couldn't resist snapping this picture of the two of them, two completely different generations, working side by side.  We need to pass down our knowledge and skills to the younger generations, so they too can enjoy the process of creating!  I know I am grateful for all that I've learned from my mother and grandmothers!

Gotta love Maxine :)

Mom Said

Here is a quilt I completed in the Fall of 2010.  I worked on it for approximately 20 months.  It is machine pieced, hand appliquéd and hand embroidered.  I used a quilt pattern by Sue Garmin called "Mama Said".  I changed it to "Mom" because my kids call me mom and I call my mom "Mom", so "Mama" just didn't really fit!

This was a labor intensive quilt but I enjoyed every minute of it.  I had planned to hand quilt it to give it the "old fashioned" look, and I even started hand quilting it (after having hand basted the entire thing), but trying to quilt through layers of appliqué was awful.  I quickly realized that hand quilting was NOT the way to go and I quilted it by machine, while it was still hand basted....  That proved to be tricky as my machine foot kept catching on the long threads.  Pinning is definitely the way to go for machine quilting.

When it came time to embroider all of the "mom" sayings around each block, I emailed family and friends to ask them what kind of things they remember their moms saying.  I received many great replies and have a wonderful sampling of mom, and some dad, sayings in this quilt.  I'm sure you remember some, such as, the clean plate club, if you can't say something nice etc.  You can spend a lot of time just reading the fun sayings!

"Mom Said" hung in two quilt shows, the first was the Utah Quilt Guild's Quilt Fest in the Fall of 2010.  There it won "Best Hand Appliqué" and "Viewer's Choice".  Then it was shown at the Denver National Quilt Show the following Spring where it didn't win a prize but had a lot of lookers!

Here is my Mom in front of the quilt at the UQG's Quilt Fest show.  I have a lot of her sayings embroidered into the quilt!  My favorite is "Watch out for Needlenose!" which is what the "Boogie Man" was called in our house.  Needlenose looked for children who didn't stay near their parents in the store!

I have this quilt hanging up in my house now.  I have a wall upstairs that is great for hanging quilts.  I switch this one out with others of similar sizes.

Some of the appliqué was tedious, such as the socks and shoes, but I did really enjoy it and am happy with the result.

Tomorrow is looking like a great "sew day" for me!  I hope to share more of what I'm working on then :)

More Fabric Folding Fun

I finished up my fabric folded Christmas ornaments!  These were pretty easy and fun to make, and I think they will make nice gifts next Christmas!  I'll just have to remember that I have them and where I put them....

Here is a fabric folded Easter Egg that my Mom made years ago.  I put this out every Spring.  I like the lace around the middle with the ribbon.

And this is a fabric folded pot holder my Mom made years ago as well!  As you can see this has been well used.  It is a good example of the round one.




Don't forget to be wearin' green tomorrow!!

Grandma Mc's Quilts

At our guild meeting the other night, Laura Pedge spoke about Antique Quilts and shared several examples that she has collected over the years.  Besides being a designer of wool appliqué patterns, Laura also does quilt restoration and is a certified quilt appraiser.  She is very knowledgable when it comes to dating quilts and fabric.  Her lecture was fascinating.
With the theme of the program in mind, I decided to bring two quilts of mine, that were made by my Grandma Mc, for show and tell.  I choose to not call these "antique" quilts because they are only about as old as me!

 My Grandma Mc (her last name was McPherson, but we all called her Grandma Mc) was my mother's, mother's mother.  We have a four generation picture of me, with all of them and we are all the oldest daughters and in their case, the oldest child in the family.  We almost got a five generation picture of oldest daughters. Grandma Mc passed away three weeks to the day after my oldest child/daughter was born.  We were living four states away at the time so did not make it in time for a visit before she passed.  My husband's friend had encouraged us earlier to "take any baby there for the 5-generation picture because babies all look the same anyway!"  But I would have known that it wasn't my baby :)

These two quilts were hand-pieced by Grandma Mc and this one was machine quilted - yes machine quilted on some type of long arm machine clear back in the 70's!  These quilting stitches are a good 1/4 inch in length - they're huge!
My Mom says she remembers her mother and grandmother "raking" the cotton with some type of brush to make the batting.  How lucky are we today that we can just go buy nice batting at the fabric store!

This is mighty fine hand piecing in my opinion.

Here is the second quilt.  My mother used to sew her own clothes and most of my clothes too. She would give her grandma the scraps and Grandma Mc would piece them into quilts.  Grandma Mc had six children and multitudes of grandchildren and great grandchildren and even some great greats.  I don't know how many received quilts from her.  I feel lucky to own two of them and that is due in part to the fact that my Mom gave her much of the fabric she used to make them.  This quilt has polyester, corduroy, and flannel as well as cotton.  My Mom recognizes scraps from her dresses and clothes she made for my brother and I.

This quilt was hand quilted by my Grandma Dickerson - my mother's mother.  I think it is beautifully hand pieced and hand quilted and I treasure them both and the history they share.

I also have a four generation picture with my oldest daughter, myself, my Mom and my Grandma Dickerson :)

Today on The Quilt Show website I watched five short videos about Ernest B. Haight, an engineer from Nebraska who was born about the same time as my Grandma Mc (she was 1898 and I believe he was 1899).  His story is fascinating and I encourage you to go to The Quilt Show website and watch these short videos. Ernest took up quilting as a hobby and became one of Nebraska's most prolific quilters.  He made over 300 quilts.  The videos said at first other family members such as his father, mother and wife would hand quilt them for him, then he began machine quilting them himself.

He even self published a book called "Practical Machine Quilting for the Homemaker" that sold for $1.50.  He won many ribbons in the county fairs for his quilts and found that his machine quilted quilts won as many ribbons as his hand quilted quilts.
The Quilt Study Center in Lincoln Nebraska put together the videos and story and had an exhibit of his quilts.  The Quilt Study Center is on my list of places I want to go someday!

So, treasure your "old" quilts as well as your new ones.  Label and mark your new quilts so they will continue to tell your story.  And be sure to head on over to TQS website and learn more about Ernest B. Haight - he was definitely a quilter ahead of his time!

Have a super day :)

Happy Pi Day!