Dutch Gold

Can you believe it?  I'm still here!  I haven't had much to share in recent days (or weeks) but I've been dilgently working to finish Dutch Treat #2..the gold version.  And Tuesday night I finished the quilting.  I would have been done with the binding yesterday except 3/4 of the way through it I decided it really needed to be narrower to look good on the scalloped edge, so I redid it. 

Now it's done, washed and dried and I have a huge sense of accomplishment.  I started this one April 1, spent 5 1/2 months doing the hand reverse applique (196 blocks) and setting the blocks together.  I started hand quilting it Sept 19, so it took a few days shy of  3 months to quilt.   Considering I finished DT#1 Feb 1, I am really proud that I can say I completed two of these in 2010 (even though I started #1 in 2008). 

I think I may take a break before starting #3..if I make one, that is.  I have several other big projects that need  finished..like quilting my Dear Jane for instance.

It's hard to get good pictures inside and without help holding it up. Perhaps I can get better ones later. So without further ado..here is Dutch Gold.

 Before washing, the quilting perhaps shows a bit better in this picture

More Flowers

Saturday I put together another silk flower and tulle wall hanging. It has yet to be personalized for the recipients.

This picture taken without flash shows the quilting a little better, but mutes the colors

And this picture of the back taken before it was trimmed and bound almost looks like a whole cloth doesn't it?

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My mother turned 80 today.

This was taken in 1947, a year after I was born, and is one of my favorite pictures of her.

This was taken in March of this year.

I made this quilted birthday card for her earlier this week.

And sent her this quilt made last year. It's called "Bouquet of Roses" and reminded me of her from the moment I made it. These are definitely her colors and she sounded tickled to receive it.

We aren't able to attend her celebration in Iowa today but send our love and wishes for many, many more healthy birthdays.

This & That

Finally....a finished project!! Yesterday afternoon I decided I needed something quilted to donate to the auction at our family reunion next Saturday in Iowa. This will be the first time in many years that this particular branch of our family has had a reunion. Last I heard over 150 people planned to attend. We are going to have an auction to raise money for future reunion expenses (the reunion itself is being held at the auction house owned by a family member). It should be fun.

This will be my donation, another of my silk flower and tulle wall hangings. These go together so quickly. I need to make up several more examples as I'm going to be teaching a workshop on making these for our guild next January.

I love using metallic thread to highlight, especially in a fall leave project like this one.

And I have a new favorite recipe. My quilting friend, Betty, made these for our guild's potluck dinner last Monday. They are SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD....and so simple to make! I made two pans to take to church for coffee fellowship yesterday and everyone loved them. I know what I'm taking to the family reunion next Saturday too!

APPLE DUMPLINGS

2 cans crescent rolls
1 apple cut into 16 wedges (2 apples if you like thicker slices but you may have to bake longer)
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar (I cut back to 1 cup and it is still plenty sweet)
1 tsp cinnamon ( I use a little more)
8 oz Mountain Dew (do not use 7 up or Sprite)

Wrap one apple wedge in crescent roll. Tuck ends under. Place them in a 9 x 11 baking dish. Melt butter. Remove from heat. Stir in sugar and cinnamon. DO NOT melt sugar. Spoon over crescents covering each as best you can. Pour in Mountain Dew around and between crescents. Bake 30 to 40 minutes until apples are done

Enjoy!!!!

Finally, Tom and I received a couple of siggies Friday from Ans in The Netherlands. It was hard deciding who got which block since they are both so pretty. I took the bird.

I'm still making good progress on the hand quilting on my Dutch Treat. Another 12 blocks or so and I'll have the center half quilted. I also finished piecing all the blocks for the dark version of Remembering Grandma and set them together. My ideas for a border are still percolating, so no picture yet.

I'm off to Ft. Scott this morning to have a "secondary cataract" on my right eye lasered off. It's actually a small capsule that sometimes forms after cataract surgery. A simple procedure and I should be home by mid-afternoon.

Happy quilting!

Finally Another Finish

Two days of quilting hours on end and 5 hours of sewing binding on and it's done! Still not saying who this is for and it will be awhile before I divulge that. It's hard to get a good picture of the whole quilt. It's 77 X 89".

I love the fabric I used for the back. Very subtle floral.

It's in the washer. Still needs to be labeled.

Can't believe I only had one finish in July and now this will probably be my only August finish. But it feels good to have this particular one done.

The Story Behind the Dahlia--50 Years In The Making

It's time I told the story of how this quilt came to be and what it means to me.

My maternal grandparents raised me from the age of 5 1/2 months. There were six children in their blended family (both had been widowed..Grandpa had two daughters and Grandma had 3 daughters and a son). Grandpa always said I was the child they wished they had had together. There were 23 grandchildren. Grandma, Esther, made a quilt for each of her children and grandchildren, and a few of the great-grands as well, though by the 1960's she was spending most of her time crocheting and very little quilting.

Being the oldest grandchild I was the first of my generation to get a quilt from her and I received it somewhere around Jr. High age....not sure of the exact year. I loved it and as we tended to do with most quilts in those days, I used it.

I was still using it regularly after I was married and had children of my own. One day in about 1972/3 a friend was visiting with her baby and when she was ready to leave it started to pour down rain. I had just washed bedding, including my quilt from Grandma and without thinking just grabbed the quilt and told her to cover the baby and bring it back to me next time she visited.

Some time passed and though we saw each other often she didn't bring the quilt back. Then one day I was at her house and realized my quilt was being used as a pad in the bottom of a play pen and now had some tears and stains. I quickly retrieved it and from then on kept it folded and stored away for safe keeping since I now realized the value (emotionally) of what it represented to me.

The quilt traveled with me and my sons to Arizona in 1975 and back to Iowa at the end of 1976 and continued to be stored away for safe keeping.

In 1984 a gas barbecue grill that I was lighting caught fire (the fuel tank wasn't attached securely and let too much gas out) and I lost my entire house when parts caught fire and the tank actually exploded. Most of what I owned was either lost or severely damaged. One of the things that could not be salvaged was my quilt. It was so smoke stained that the already fragile fabrics couldn't hold up to cleaning.

Most of the "stuff" we accumulate in life is replaceable. Some items are not. And of course human life is by far the most important concern. No one was hurt and that was what mattered most. But I considered that quilt one of the most valuable things I lost.

Following Grandpa's death in 1979 Grandma had come to live with me and so she had been there at the time of the fire. Her room was one of the least damaged and that was a blessing as she had many boxes of fabric, yarn, and projects she had made or was working on in the closet in her room. I didn't even know what all was in them, just that we had been able to salvage most of it.

I had moved to Kansas in late 1986 after meeting Tom and Grandma stayed in Iowa. She died in 1994...15 years ago next week...and I miss her still so very, very much.

I started quilting in 2002 and a couple of my early projects were made using a very small box of scraps that Grandma had given me at some point. I treasured those little pieces as they were left over from clothing she made for herself as well as clothing I made in 4-H and Home Ec.

In 2004 we were in Iowa visiting my son, and my mother, and other relatives. I had taken some of my quilts to show my mom and after looking at them she gave me some 5" squares that she had found in Grandma's belongings after she died. I was thrilled to get them as they were more of the same fabrics that I had the smaller pieces of . I used most of them along with some other vintage fabrics I'd collected from various sources to make this quilt which I call "Roads To My Past". It was made using the Sunny Lanes block from the first Nickle Quilts book and is still one of my favorites.

The next trip we made to Iowa in 2005 I took the quilt to show my mother. The next day she brought a box over to my son's house where we were staying and said she thought I might like to have some more pieces that Grandma had left when she died. I didn't even open the box until I got home. And when I did........................................

..................................... I had to just sit and cry...............................

Inside were many quilt pieces of various shapes, strung together like this.

I can't imagine having the patience to sit and just cut blocks out and string them all together like this. I need gratification quicker. I cut a few pieces and make blocks, then cut a few more pieces, etc. And remember this was long before any rotary cutters or acrylic rulers, etc.

But what really took my breath away was a bag of pieces for a quilt block I immediately recognized, though I had no idea of the name. It was the block she had used for MY quilt..the one I lost in the fire. She had hand pieced 6 1/2 of the blocks..the center flower portion at least. And there were pieces cut out and meticulously pinned together to make 45 more blocks!!!!!! A total of 51 blocks. I couldn't believe it and it almost seemed like Grandma had reached from beyond the grave to give me back my quilt. The bag also contained the cardboard templates she had used to cut the pieces.

I researched the block and discovered it was frequently known as Amish Dahlia. It wasn't until a couple of years later that I realized some other cardboard templates that were in this box were actually stored in a Fairfield Batting bag that contained the pattern for this block, calling it the Missouri Daisy. The pattern and name had been right under my nose all that time and I didn't realize it!

I set to work handpiecing the center portion of the blocks. I'm sure not all of the fabrics are even cotton but that doesn't matter. I recognized the bulk of them as being scraps from her dresses and a couple of my skirts. Precious memories. I worked on the blocks over the next year or so then set them aside for awhile before adding the background pieces by machine.

After the blocks were all made I set them together in a top..49 of them..with the two left over being made into the wall hangings I showed you yesterday.

And then I waited while I decided how it should be quilted. I felt it needed to be hand quilted and so I asked the ladies at our church and they agreed. I marked it last November and they began quilting in January.

Now it is on my bed and we're going to sleep under it tonight. The pieces weren't cut perfectly and therefore it didn't go together perfectly. There are mistakes in it. But every time I look at it or sleep under it I will feel Grandma's love and realize how lucky I am to have been raised by this giving and caring woman and to have a reminder of that love in the form of this quilt.

And now you know the rest of the story................................

Done!

7 1/2 hours later the binding is finished. Whew...this is a big quilt and it takes a lot of time to hand sew binding, but I feel it's worth it.

It hasn't been washed yet, but my oxygen delivery person was just here and volunteered to help Tom hold it up for a picture.

A little bit closer.

I'll get some better pics after it comes out of the washer and dryer. And I may take some close ups of some or all of the blocks and post in an album on Photobucket so all you lovers of vintage fabric can admire the treasures in this quilt.

Tom says it is a "purty" quilt.

The story is still coming...I promise.

Chicken Dance

I finally decided today what I was going to do for our guild's challenge which is due at next month's meeting. Each year we get a fat quarter in our membership packet and we are required to use a recognizable piece of it in our challenge project. Every year the challenge is something different. Last year we made new portrait blocks.

This year we were challenged to make a finished quilt that had at least one 3-D element made from fabric (didn't have to be the challenge fabric). The finished measurements could not be less than 12" nor bigger than 18".

I've really struggled coming up with an idea and finally thought I had one only to change my mind again this morning. Last week while sorting through some UFO's I found a leftover from doing this wall hanging in 2006:

It's called "Boots Rooster and Sunbonnet Chick". When I made Chick the first time I didn't allow enough room for Boots on the left. So I had to start all over. That left me with a completely appliqued Chick that I wasn't about to throw out.

So this morning I decide it would be perfect for this challenge...being half done and all...sounded good to me. I added another wing to balance her out a bit and then she looked like she might be doing the Chicken Dance.

Since I love Sunbonnet Sue, have chickens all over my kitchen and lived most of my life in Iowa where I don't think a marriage is official if the Chicken Dance isn't performed, it seemed like a perfect fit. I just added some yo-yos to the bottom of her skirt for my 3-D element. And the challenge fabric was used for the binding.

Now any fellow guild members that might be reading know what I've made, but it doesn't matter much since everyone has seen Boots & Chick and would recognize it anyway.

Can you tell there is actual netting for her hose?

And guess what I received in today's mail..another siggy with Sunbonnet Sue! Thanks, Layla.

Thunder and a spattering of rain rolled through a bit ago. Just a couple miles north in Frontenac it rained like everything. Crazy.