Much to Cover

Since I have been rather a slug about posting in recent days, I appear to have a full agenda today. Here we go!

Item 1: On Monday, Sharon came over for sewing. She brought 3 newly finished quilt tops with her! My, my! Has she been productive! Take a look.

The light-colored one is from an old Thimbleberries book - the original is pictured as a navy and tan shower curtain. Big pieces + big blocks = fast quilt. Nice. The darker one is similar, but from a different book. The one on the foot stool is another Thimbleberries pattern, which I've pictured in an earlier post. Isn't this an impressive display? Gracie thought so; she made a beeline to them to test them by walking and "wallering" in them.

Yes, I'm talking about you!

Item 2: The purpose of our sewing on this day was to construct the flannel quilt for Alexis, our former student undergoing cancer surgery and chemo treatment. I had my stack of 6.5" squares and Sharon brought hers. We laid it all out on the front room floor, tinkered around with it a bit to get the randomness just right (does that make it less random???), sprinkled in a few 4-patch blocks for variety, and stitched 'er up! The speedy, Eleanor Burns method really favors one seamstress on the job to prevent mix ups (and Sharon and I would SURELY get mixed up!), so while Sharon sewed, I cut borders and made more 4-patches. Later, I sewed the borders on and here it is!

Again, color issues. I hang these quilts out on the screened porch to get natural sunlight. However, only the top half looks "natural." Our porch has more screens than walls, but the washed out part is (I think) from the shadows cast by the short walls. Anyway, the colors at the top are truer than those at the bottom of the photo. The only newly purchased fabric here is the solid pink inner border (and a few inner blocks). I found it on the flat-fold table at Ben Franklin, drastically reduced. I was looking for backing flannel, which I found, and that was purchased, as well. Looking now for a quilter.

Item 3: I spent a few hours Wednesday at Grandma's house, helping her clean out a cupboard. Mostly, we trashed old household records from 1993-2008. Whew! What an organized lady my grandma is! We had a great time just chatting and visiting. She gets a bit lonely, at times. Even though much family lives near and she's checked on daily, she says the days get awful long when there's no one to talk to. I am going to take the old documents to be shredded, so she doesn't have to sit over her little shredder. She was dreading that job! I would be, too! In putting away things afterwards, she handed over this old quilt to me.

Grandma could not remember any particular history on this quilt. She said she does not know who made it. A woman gave it to her because she knew Grandma quilted. Grandma said her plan was to cover it with fabric, using it as batting in a coverlet that she would have tied. It is terribly worn. I would guess that most of the fabrics are feed sacks, however some of them may be remnants from dresses or shirts. It appears to be a utility quilt; by that I mean that the 9-patches are so randomly colored, the border has been pieced with several different fabrics, and the quilting is not as close as it should have been to keep the batting from separating. It's not very big, but it is heavy. I suppose that is indicative of the kind of batting used back then. When is "back then?" Again, I'm guessing, but I would say the 1930s.

Now what should I do with it???

Item 4: Here are the flowers from my Valentine. Thank you, Sweetie! I will always remember these! (There's a cute story behind that, but that's just between us!) *wink*

Item 5: Above  you met Gracie, our cat. I also have a "grandcat," Rocky. He lives with DD#1 in her apartment in Columbus. Rocky sent me an email yesterday. I think you will like it; I sure did!!

Deer granmah,
I fink u makes the best kwiltz. I fink dem r reely comfertible.
I has sleept a lot sinse I wer at ur howse. I got wor owt!!
I luv u!
-rocky



Now, how about that?? A cat who can take his own picture, write a letter, and send an email!! We have such talent in our family. :-)

Happy Quilting, Friends!