::the oldest daughter:: block of the month

Well, I signed up for a block of the month quilt at my local quilting shop.

I've been interested, but I always a little shy about getting involved because I'm afraid I'll be way over my head. When I asked and found out that it only cost TEN DOLLARS, though, I jumped at the chance. I'm too cheap not to. These fabrics are more pastel than I would ever normally choose, but it's a good way to get out of my comfort zone.

Of course I waited till the very last moment to get this done. I had all month - and waited till the last night I had possible!

The instructions that came with this were horrible! As in, there were no instructions! They gave me a pattern for "Thangles" which I couldn't figure out, so I finally just looked online for instructions on sizing the two triangle squares. And it worked, more or less.

A little messy down there on the corner, but I'm not ripping it out. No way.

(I hate the seam ripper.)

::the mom:: Santas Parade of Nursery Rhymes Part 3

Here are the last of the blocks from the "Santa's Parade of Nursery Rhymes"
quilt that I haven't shown before.
All of these blocks were hand embroidered and hand quilted.

::the mom:: Santas Parade of Nursery Rhymes Part 2

Here are some more of the blocks from a quilt that I showed earlier called "Santa's Parade of Nursery Rhymes". Can you name the character or rhyme?

::spotlight:: Eagle Patriotic 1976

The top was a gift from Anita and was made by one of the Cherry Creek ladies. It's a combination of quilting and tying when we lived in the two-story house north of Lawton. It has to be seen to be appreciated. The colors are red, white and blue with a tan eagle and yellow stars. The center square is hand quilted. I quilted around each star and around the eagle. What you cannot see are the hand quilting details of the eagle's feathers and also the eagle heads on hte borders around the stars. (Point of interest is that artistic Grandad drew the markings inside the eagle and made the pattern of the eagle head for the border.)

I had repaired two places on the quilt (remember to search for them on your next trip here), had washed it and hung it under the carport on my clothesline. When the husband came back from the north farm, he said it looked totally gorgeous from the road.

-The Gramma

::the gramma:: feedsack quilt finished!

Failed to tell you all that the prints are feedsacks. The solid colors are "thirties fabric". As far as I remember, I never saw a solid color feedsack. There were white flour sacks and sugar sacks. I auditioned one of my sugar sacks for the pillowcase but it did not suit my taste - it seemed a little on the flimsy side. This quilt covers the top of a standard mattress - in those days I never saw anyone with a queen or king size bed.

I decided to go one step further and make a pillowcase, too. Enjoy!

-The Gramma

::the mom:: Santa's Parade of Nursery Rhymes

I have added the quilt label and finished the binding so that means it is officially finished!

I chose the yellow fabric with red polka dots for the sashing and binding, because it seemed to go with the mood of the nursery rhymes.

The name of the quilt is "Santa's Parade of Nursery Rhymes" by Jeanne Poore which is a historic redwork quilt from The Kansas City Star. Each square represents a nursery rhyme or story. Of course, there is a picture of Santa, too.

Another favorite is the blue fairy. (mmm, guess she is really the red, blue fairy) Do you remember which tale she was in? Yes, the story of a little wooden marionette who got his wish!

This jack in the box is the last block that I embroidered and I went a little wild...adding colored thread for the balloons.

Now here is the whole quilt. All finished and ready to display at Christmas or sooner.

-Vickie

::the gramma:: feedsack quilt sneak peak

These are patterned feedsacks from the 1930's and 40's which was the depression era. The ones we used came with chicken feed. The fabric is 100% cotton and a little bit thicker and courser-looking than the 100% cotton we get today. It is very durable and was used for dresses (if you were lucky enough to get the amount needed), aprons, bonnets, backings for quilts (with four sewn together and un-matched) as well as pieced quilt tops. The quilts were usually "tied" rather than hand quilted. In working on my feedsack quilt I am surprised how easily the needle glides through the fabric.

You will notice a dark strip across the top sack in the stash pic. That is a strip of the brown fabric which I was "auditioning" for the sashing. When I complete the quilting for the row of the shown block, the quilting will be half done! Watch for the finished project.

-The Gramma