A Joint Effort

This quilt was cut by Mickey Archer and I did all the sewing. We made it the summer of 2009 after I retired from teaching. All the strings are cut in a graduated measurement from 3/4 inch to one and a half inches. There are 10 to 13 strings in each square. The black sashing has less than an inch finished. It was a fun quilt to work on together. Mickey was very exact in the cutting. (Not my favorite part). Richard Larson quilted it. It is called Fandango. I really like this quilt.

Canton Canton Canton

Well isn't this one interesting. Made in the thirties and from the scrap drawer. I believe we call that a stash now. I couldn't stop looking at it because I couldn't figure out how it was pieced. Some inset seams I guess. I think these are easier by hand and they had all the time in the world. No television. The quilter could listen to the radio and quilt at the same time.

More Canton

This one was interesting for two reasons. It had yellow and there aren't too many yellow quilts. And it has the original star I made at my grandmother's house. It would have been great for the top of the bed....so cheerful. But I bet it was under the bedspread to be used for warmth. What a great country quilt!

I Digress.....

I have been showing quilts I have made, but we went to Canton Saturday and saw some really interesting ones. This is a fan quilt from the thirties. The fans are on point except for the top and bottom border. Beneath the top border there is a sliver of a bottom of a fan and at the bottom is the rest of the fan. So country and a bit primitive.

My Next Full-Size Quilt (I think)

I don't really think this is my next quilt, but of the ones I have it is the next one. I made this somewhere in the nineties. I really liked this row quilt and took a class that was only about 4 hours long toward the end of summer. We came to class with all the pieces cut, and in class we made one snowman, one mitten and one tree. Then, I didn't work on it for about six weeks. I started on a Saturday and finished on Sunday night. Most of the fabrics are Thimbleberries. At this point I had never had a longarm quilter quilt my quilt. But I found one close to my house and took it to her. I thought she did a great job. I didn't have any material left over for the binding so I took it to my quilt shop in downtown Garland. The lady helping me wanted to see it. As soon as I spread it out I saw my mistake. I really couldn't believe I had done it, and all the precut pieces came out even. Well I did have a few pieces left over.....and I did have to cut a few more...but not many. The lady helping me just said one snowman is right and all the others are sagging. A few years later when teaching in a Jr. High I thought of my snowman quilt every time I said "pull 'em up". A much easier fix than my quilt.

My Son's Quilt

When my son was two we put

him in a twin size old iron bed

that we painted red. By now

I had learned how to strip piece

but not the art of 'scrapy'. I just couldn't get that random look. Again I pieced it, mother quilted it and I put on the binding. After piecing it, I had several blocks left over so I gave them to my mother. She made a pillow sham the width of the twin bed to match his quilt. The pillow he slept on was always under the pillow with the sham. Neither of my guys at this point understood just how a SHAM FUNCTIONED. They aren't to be used, just looked at after you make the bed....right? Each night until he entered first grade his dad would read him a story. They both laid down on the twin size bed with their heads on the quilted pillow sham. When it began to look dingy, I washed it often but that didn't help much. I have quilts over 100 years old that are in great condition. This sham disolved. The fabric disappeared and there was nothing but the batting showing. Now that is a lot of bedtime stories.

My Second Attempt

In 1985 there were not many quilt stores. Actually the black calico was left over from a sort of long dress I made when I was pregnant with my daughter in 1974. You see, I was starting my stash even then and just didn't know what for. The blue was also left over from something. I just don't remember what but I actually bought the green and yellow for this quilt. Now I know it isn't very sophisticated but it was 1985. I also didn't have a book or the internet. Was the internet even thought of yet? By this time someone had told me about strip piecing and this quilt went a little faster. Once again I pieced it, my mother quilted it and I put on the binding. It is faded and worn but I can't give it up. We used it as a bedspread on our teak platform Danish modern bed. I am not sure what I was going for but thought it so sheik at the time. Mother quilted some of the hearts going one way and the other half going the other way. She tried to convince me that was the way they were suppose to be. I wasn't convinced.