Two Mennonite Quilts

Each Wednesday this summer, I have been driving two neighbor girls to their job at a nearby "Amish" market. The girls are our neighbors and are Mennonite. Odd isn't it, that the store is owned and operated by Mennonites, yet everyone refers to it as 'The Amish Store'?

Anyway, the girls - young women, actually - Kathaleen and Betty, are sisters, and have been nothing but delightful to chit-chat with as we drive to work each Wednesday morning and back home in the evening. They have heard me prattle on about my quilting endeavors, and have shown such an interest. At one point, I even took a stack of my basket blocks with me to show them.

Last Wednesday was my last day to provide their transportation due to my university semester beginning this week, so they asked if I had time to stop for a quick peek at two of their quilts, made by their grandmother, one of which is a basket quilt.

Seriously! How could I say no? *grin*

This basket quilt is Kathaleen's. The block size is larger than mine, so I estimate hers to be 8 inches. The work is entirely hand-done. The quilting in the alternate blocks is strikingly beautiful.

Betty, left, and Kathaleen hold up the quilt for a picture. I could tell they were very proud of their grandmother's handwork. The fabrics are a variety of scraps and to Kathaleen's knowledge had not been remnant of dresses - just a lot of scrappy calico prints.

Interesting coincidence discovered through our weekly chit-chat to and from work - Betty knew the workers from the Ashland quilt shop I visited in May. Small world! Click here for that post.

Betty then invited me to see the quilt on her bed, and well, yes! So, here is another handmade quilt by their grandmother; the pattern is called Periwinkle. The quilting is not as dense, but still looks very attractive beside the pieced blocks. And speaking of the pieced blocks, all the periwinkles are made with checks, plaids, or stripes, which I find to be an interesting departure from the typical calico I would expect to see. I wonder if these fabrics were from discarded shirts or dresses.

I noticed that soft pink was used in both these quilts. I wonder if the grandmother did this with all the quilts made for the granddaughters, and, likewise, used soft blue in ones made for the grandsons. I wish I had asked. I will surely be seeing them again, so I will try to remember to ask. I also want to ask how many grandchildren there are, as they told me that every grandchild did get a homemade quilt from Grandmother. How nice.

Isn't it great to have friendly neighbors?

Today, Sharon was here for sewing. We both made good progress on our Roman Holiday quilts. I will show you Sharon's first, as her top is now put together. She will next be adding borders. I have about half of my vertical rows stitched to together with the sashing, and will continue plugging away on them this week.

Come on back for the Roman Holiday update!
Happy Quilting, Friends!