Finished Two Baby Quilts

Of the four baby quilts I started in Key West, I finished two so far.  This first one is a denim rag quilt four my third grandson, done with some of the same fabrics that I used to make quilts for my other two grandsons. I washed and dried it twice to help fray the raw edges some more. Then I trimmed it up, cutting the tangled threads off.  I was really happy with how soft and cute it came out. 

The second one is a memory quilt and a baby quilt, made with my sister's clothes.  It is for her first grandchild, a daughter, due in April.  I hand drew the stencils for the hearts, and hand stitched them on the patchwork.  I started it in Key West, cutting and hand stitching the hearts when we didn't have electricity, waiting in queue for full hookups for our RV.  As soon as we got it, I pieced it on the machine.  When we got to Key Largo, to a friend's house, I finished the hand quilting.

Initially I was going to try to quilt heart shapes in the border area but realized the squares weren't the same size as the rest of the patchwork due to the binding (shown on the right).  So I just did straight lines.  Well, sort of straight.

You can kind of see the two outlines of hearts in five rows in the body of the quilt.  It came out pretty good.  I was happy with it.

Hidden in Plain View

I just finished reading this book.  It's about quilting codes and research on how they were used for the underground railroad as secret messages to prepare to flee and mnemonics for remembering instructions and routes. It is fascinating history on quilting and on how it played a part in the struggle against tyranny in the United States.

Four Baby Quilts

I've been busy.  I pieced and basted three traditional style baby blanket quilts that I will hand quilt in the next couple of weeks.  I sewed one denim rag quilt that is finished except for being washed a couple of times to let the seams fray.

Here are the four quilts laid out on my bed, with the denim rag quilt at the top, and going clockwise, the applique hearts quilt  then a pink rectangular strips quilt, then the small multi-colored blocks with the zig-zag edge.

This is my first attempt at applique's.  I made my own heart pattern, drawn free-hand and hand sewn. This is also a memory quilt, done for my sister's first grandchild, a girl. 

This is my first attempt at a zig-zag border.  I started pinning the border on the right, just a couple of inches.  The rest of the border is wrapped in a circle in a plastic baggy laying on top of the quilt.

Reading about Quilting

I just finished this book a couple days ago and mailed it off to my quilting mentor.  It is a collection of old short stories where quilting was featured.  Many of the stories had been published in magazines popular to women.  At first the stories seemed pedantic, simplistic and sexist, but then, the settings were in the 1880's and early 1900's and many of the editors were men, so when looking at it in that light, I began to enjoy them for what they were.  The end of the book held a nice list of all the quilting books they'd found in their search.

I hope my quilting mentor reads this book and enjoys it like I did.  She is researching and collecting research books on old quilts.  She rebuilds them in the current, acceptable way which includes saving and "sandwiching" the old parts, rather than cutting and replacing like I had done with the Sun Bonnet Sue quilt.  

Rebuilt Sun Bonnet Sue

I rebuilt this quilt using as much of the "Sun Bonnet Sue's" that were salvageable from a friend's quilt that her grandmother, Annie Cordelia Earle,  had made years ago.  My friend, Lesley, wasn't sure exactly when her grandmother had finished the quilt.

The quilt had seen good use over the years and was well loved so it was well worn.  Figuring out how to rebuild this quilt, with my new quilting skills and still learning, and trying to stay faithful the the original quilter's style and measurements, was quilt the challenge.  I'd figured this would take me all winter, but instead, I finished it just after Christmas. The biggest mistake I made was in not pinning (basting) it tightly enough through the three layers.  There is some puckering on the back that the original quilt did not have.  It laid flat.  Now I know how to correct for that (using painters tape or masking tape and laying the backing on the floor, taped, before layering the others, and using a "grapefruit spoon" to place the basting pins.

It was such an intimate thing to make this quilt.  To make any quilt really.  People who don't quilt and who are given a quilt by someone, really don't have any way to fully appreciate the time and the love that went into a quilt.  I know now.  It is amazing.  It is a beautiful labor of love. 

A friend suggested I take a piece of the old fabric, still in good shape, off the original and sew it on the back and put both our names on it.  And sew I did.

Quilting Socks

My quilting mentor and Thelma to my Louise sent me these socks.  I've earned my quilting wings, uh, er, socks, she said.  Love 'em. 

My Granddaughter's Quilt - FINISHED!

We drove to Connecticut while I worked on trying to finish my granddaughter's quilt.  I'd convinced myself that it was OK if it wasn't finished by the time we got there. It wasn't to be a Christmas present (you can't give a child  a quilt for Christmas - it's just not a good Christmas present) so I figured if I had to sit and work on it while chatting and enjoying time with our family, that was no problem.  Still, part of me wanted it to be finished by the time we pulled up to the house.  

Five minutes before we arrived, I put in the last stitch.  

On this quilt, I sewed the pieces together on the sewing machine for the topper.  But I hand-stitched everything else - I quilted the batting and backing/lining together, doing a "stitch-in-the-ditch" and hand stitched the binding.