Sweet Memories

“Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart. ”
― Washington Irving

My sister passed away a little over a year ago.  She loved to do cross stitching and her favorite designers were from Blackbird Designs.  This is a sample of her work completed the summer before she died.During one of the many medical procedures she endured during my visit, I escaped for a mental health break to a quilt shop and found the book “In the Meadow” by Barb Adams and Alma Allen of Blackbird designs for quilts!  I bought it and took it home and we pored over the photos and designs.  The book has wonderful photography in it.  This is one of the “Sweet Memories”  I have of our last little time together.  I purchased a group of Civil War prints to interpret the pattern.

When I returned home, I started the quilt.  Our local quilt guild has an annual quilt challenge and show in December.  As it happened, the challenge for last year was to use a fat quarter of a fabric that by itself was not very attractive.

It just happened however, that it blended very nicely with the fabrics that I had selected for my “Friends of a Feather” !   I worked on it for most of the year.  When it was displayed at the December quilt challenge, I won the prize for the traditional category.

The finished size of the quilt is 78×78 inches.  The designs are machine appliqued on to the squares using a small buttonhole stitch.  The quilt is hand quilted using a 1″ cross hatching to emphasis the applique pattern.

I walk by the quilt and fond memories of my sister come to me!

Advertisement

Holiday with/without family

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
― Dr. Seuss

I had moments of reflection, sadness and great joy this Thanksgiving.  I miss family members that have gone beyond us and sadness that they couldn’t share in our celebration and also great joy in being with family and seeing friends from another lifetime!  Mostly, I’m smiling because it all happened.

This is the latest addition to my quilt pile!  Actually, I surprised my husband a couple of weeks ago and actually gave away 2 finished quilts and 3 quilt tops.  His first question on completing a quilt always is, “What are you going to do with it?”  I don’t make them with doing something with them as the potential outcome. . . It’s just the process and where it leads me!

The center of this quilt is hand appliqued and the pattern is taken from the book “Applique in Reverse” by Teri Henderson Tope.  I have to admit to using the patterns and ignoring the technique!  The border blocks are a continuous pattern “Pointed Tile” from the Aunt Martha series: Quilts Modern-Colonial published about 1954.

Size is 60×60 in

Wool batting

hand quilted, machine pieced, hand appliqued

Size: 60×70

Quilting during a long winter

There’s no better way to spend a long, cold winter than by hiding away in my quilt space.  Whether I’m daydreaming, creating designs or using a tried and true pattern, burying myself in color and pattern make the days fly away.  One of my big projects over the past few months is a pattern from Michele Hill’s book “More William Morris Applique”  http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?SKU=10878  published by C & T publishing in 2012. I’ve always been fascinated by the art created during the Arts and Crafts Movement and especially like some of the fabric designed by William Morris.

I used a fused raw edge technique and finished the edges with a double buttonhole stitch. I used a rayon thread to enhance the designs and set off the colors. I mixed batiks and more traditional cotton fabrics. I enhanced the edge with a bright yellow piping. I used a wool batt, which is a dream to hand quilt. It does however have a higher loft, but with the crosshatching quilting I think that it set off the designs.

Here are some close up details. . .

 

 

 

Size: 64×64
machine applique, hand quilting

Sensing spring in the air

The sun is shining, the icicles are melting, you can actually see some grass coming out from under the snow. It makes me think that spring may actually be a possibility this year.

This is a pattern by Laura Heine called Flowers and Flies. It is a wonderful whimsical design that let’s you use all those delicious batik scraps! It looks like she is now offering this as a block of the month on her website.

<a href=

Size: 65×100
Machine appliqué, hand quilting

Window Boxes

It’s snowing today – and snowing and snowing.  12 inches so far and its not supposed to stop until tomorrow.  We could accumulate several more inches.  The snow is wonderful for all the skiers, it’s not so good to try to get to the grocery store!

The snow is even accumulating on the fence which is waiting for the peas this spring.

How better to stay warm and  think of spring than to do some more quilting.  This was just finished, labeled and hung!

The flowers are from the book “A Celtic Garden” by Philomena Durcan.  The flowers are done is colorful batiks.   They are mounted on a print fabric that has architectural motif.

The solid box outline is hand quilted with King Tut variegated thread with turquoise, creams and browns.

Size: 40×64

Finished: 2013

machine pieced, hand appliqued, hand quilted,

Dying is such sweet sorrow but getting there is hell

This final journey with my sister has included the ups and downs that we were told about. It is primarily her husband, daughter and myself with hospice involved providing care. This week an aide was hired to come in at night to help so that the rest of us could get some sleep. We were all becoming completely frazzled. Each person experiences this journey at a different rate. Yesterday the husband was convinced that her cancer was in remission and we weren’t doing enough. After another emergency visit from hospice we were assured that in fact what we were experiencing was not remission but another of the little ups.

During this week, this is all the quilting I have been able to do. I had purchased the book Appliqué in Reverse by Hote
Because I liked the patterns. Didn’t have much intention of using a different method than what I usually use.

I had also purchased Transfer Eze fromOriginal Creations Quilt Shop in Lawrenceberg, IN which was recommended to transfer a pattern for embroidery or appliqué. It’s a product that you can run through your printer than it adheres to the fabric and when complete will dissolve in water. I got it because i wanted to applique on a dark fabric. Haven’t done too much as you can see, but so far I ‘m not too happy with the stiffness or the way it needles.

Anyway, back to cancer. By Friday afternoon I needed a significant break from the high emotions so decided some quilt therapy was in order. I took a couple of hours off and headed to Aunt Ruth’s Quilt Shop in Sharonville, OH. They have a wonderful selection of batiks and fat quarters that I love to peruse. This week has been really crazy and I’ve never been quite sure what day it is, so on my way into the shop I checked to see what day it was. Yup, Friday, October 5th… So I’m sunk deep in the enjoyment of color and patterns and one of the ladies says to me, ” just want to make sure that you know that it is Fat Quarter Tuesday and all the fat quarters are only $2.50″. OK …..now I have completely lost it. I must have had a really strange expression on my face because the second woman chimed on and said ” oh, yes, every Tuesday”… I kind of looked at them and said that I thought it was Friday. They looked surprised and started to laugh uproariously. It seems that they usually work together on Tuesdays on Fat Quarter Day. The good news is , I’m not as crazy as I thought and I got my fat quarters on Friday at Tuesday rates!

So it seems I got my own little uptick on this journey. And some beautiful fabric to soothe the soul.