Happy 4th of July!
"Blessed is the nation
whose God is the Lord." Psalm 33:12
The 4th of July is certainly a time to think about more than discount shopping. I read some interesting stories in the "Good Old Days" magazine about where people were on V-J Day, 14 Aug 1945. I recently spoke with my aunt and asked about her memories and her husband's experience in WWII. He was a Marine, wounded on Guam and sent home on a hospital ship. She said he never talked much about his experiences. Their son was also a Marine, who served in VietNam and was injured as well. This is a quilt I made a few years ago to salute the military in my family - me, my husband, my brother, my nephew, my uncles, my cousins, and sister-in-law. My parents are included as Dept. of Defense employees. I also inscribed 13 (only some) of the Revolutionary War patriots from our family tree. It's been an exciting discovery to see how many family members contributed to the founding of the USA. Happy 4th of July! "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." Psalm 33:12
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I just love these vintage fabrics in my grandmother's scrap brick wall quilt. The aqua and brown Waikiki Girls were taken from a shirt my mother sent to my grandfather. At the time in 1947, Mom was working for the Dept. of Defense at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaiian Territories - not a state yet! I think the shirt was considered a little risque by my grandmother, hence it was cut up for projects. I have been carefully taking the top apart, teeny tiny stitch by stitch, some done by machine and some by hand. The seam allowances are frayed and many of the seams are separating. I think the top must have been washed several times over the years, but was never quilted. My plan is to reassemble and hand quilt, probably in a clam shell pattern. I received the top when I was living in Hawaii as an Army wife. My mother sent me this top and a quilt and some doilies soon after my 96 year old grandmother passed away. All had been made by my grandmother. I remember sitting on the edge of the bed opening the box and as I lifted the top I was transported back into my grandmother's house. There was a familiar fragrance from the items, and touching the fabrics brought back comforting, sweet nostalgic memories. I burst into tears, lay down and wrapped myself up in Grandmother's quilts. I thought, then and now, what a tenderhearted gift from my mother. I truly treasure this top and have displayed it everywhere the Army sent us, never being brave enough to begin the needed repairs. I guess I felt it would be disloyal to undue all the hard work my grandmother put into it. But now I see that finishing it is a tribute to her work ethic and color sense. I don't plan to change a thing about the setting. "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21 Donald's company was sold along with his copyright and original molds, so the pink flamingo continues to be produced, in MA. I think I will always display one of these wacky lawn ornaments, even if in an obscure place in the backyard. They bring back good memories, like this time at Silver Springs, FL. I chose to add a whimsical flamingo in my "quilt that went to Paducah 2015" called "Snakes in My Garden." It was such a thrill to have been selected as a participant at the show from the thousands of entries this year. Thanks, Donald, for the inspiration. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" Matthew 6:26 Donald Featherstone passed away this week, a name of obscurity to most. I appreciate Donald's artistic work that I see everyday in my backyard - a plastic pink flamingo. As a native Floridian, flamingos were a rather common sight at local attractions, parks, and zoos. I've always liked them, perhaps because of their skinny legs and balancing act, as well as their color. I have a very small collection of flamingo feathers gathered from the pond at our local TX Sea World, and they all have varying shades of pink. My mother always said flamingo pink deepened if the birds were fed more shrimp. My husband didn't buy into the flamingo frenzy, but he tolerates it. I also have flamingo features in our guest bathroom - flamingo cotton fabric shower curtains, a triple flamingo ceramic bowl, and vintage Florida postcards featuring flamingo photographs. And there is always a flamingo ornament on our Christmas tree!
My mother crocheted blankets, 18" squares used as "kangaroo" covers for the NICU parents (when holding the babies skin-to-skin, the little blankets provide some privacy.) Larger blankets were given to our local military wounded warriors. I crocheted kangaroos also. My granddaughter volunteered to assist as needed, sometimes sorting donations, folding and packaging items, etc. She even completed her community service project for school at TOL, making an informative powerpoint presentation for her school's open house. With my mother's declining health and subsequent death, we have not visited TOL for awhile. But this summer my granddaughter and I are trying to put in some volunteer hours again, between her summer camp schedules. Today she used the sewing machine, a vintage straight stitch Singer, to add labels and close little fleece bead bags used as positioning aides for the preemies. I finished two more crocheted kangaroos and am knitting another. My daughter will be donating her wedding dress to TOL which will be used to make burial garments and to line small caskets. It's a wonderful thing to be able to help others and I'm happy to see that my family puts their love into action. Like mother, like daughter, and so it goes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them." Mark 10:16 Over the last couple of years my elderly mother, granddaughter, and I volunteered at our local Threads of Love (TOL), a non-profit (www.threadsoflove.org) that primarily provides support to NICU babies and families. Working with high risk pregnancies and critically ill children is not my forte, but the ministry is needed and we all found something we could do. The more you sew, the more possibilities you imagine for the tiniest scrap. That makes it SO difficult to throw those itty bitty pieces away. And I love scrap quilts. It's my go-to project just about all the time. I get bored with repeating the same block over and over. But this weekend the scraps need to be tamed. I'm in the process of replacing my sewing room carpet with bamboo flooring, so it's time to get my scraps in order. All the bookshelves will have to be moved out of the room, and I have loads of books, magazines, and bags of scraps filling them. I've been in a quandary about which sorting method to use after referring to lectures I attended by nationally known scrap quilters, and online Pinterest and google searches. My current method has been to put like colors in large ziplock bags. The bags are overflowing, and to find a piece I want I end up dumping the contents and searching through the pile. But I do like the visibility see though storage allows. I decided on boxes that would stack neatly on my bookshelf. After a few trips to Jo-Ann Fabric and Michaels, I brought home an assortment of cardboard photo storage boxes, with a fabric family in mind for each one: pink, red (a shoe box), yellow/orange (I don't have a lot of orange), green, light blue, dark blue, purple, black/white, tan/browns. I must say I was disappointed with the limited box choices from both stores. But, they were half price, so that was a plus. I then had to decide how to sort the pieces, and based my attack according to some known future projects, mainly Yo Espero (see my other posts.) The 48" x 60"-ish quilts will go to special needs kids and vulnerable mothers at Village of Hope-Guatemala. My idea for those quilts is using scraps to make simple 12-1/2" squares, using up any UFO blocks and adding strips log cabin style. I'm also making color block strips which will be alternated with solid color strips. Both settings will be completed quilt-as-you-go method. For that joining process I need 1" and 1-3/4" inch strips. The sort begins. In this yellow and orange group, it's easier to separate the two as I go, so I have a few extra piles than with other colors. From left to right starting at the top row I have: reject pile to be moved to the appropriate color family, throw away ...YIKES! CAN I REALLY DO IT?, little UFOs, folded bindings, 1"-ish strips, trianular-ish pieces, the largest pieces, 2-1/2"-ish strips, and squares. I decided to move all the Yo Espero folded bindings and UFO pieces to a separate container. Ta Da! The finished product. It makes me happy to see this so organized. (Did I mention I have OCD tendencies?) It will be so easy to look in the box and find exactly the size I need. Some people would go ahead and sub-cut the large pieces down, but I just don't want to waste my time. I will do any cutting as I go along. I've already started with the 2-1/2"-ish piles and larger pieces to make some of the Yo Espero color block strips, aiming for 60" long and about 4-1/2" wide, without repeating any colors as long as possible. The two most difficult parts of the process were: 1) deciding the sorting piles, and 2) giving myself permission to throw away pieces. After my first sort of the reds, I did go back into the garbage bag and pulled out a few of the larger pieces. It got easier to let go as I went along, establishing internally that there was no way I wanted to work with 1/2" wonky pieces of fabric. Although, I do have that mini-circle jean quilt started that needs tiny little inserts...NO, NO, NO...I WILL BE STRONG because I love the results of my scrap discipline. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "But all things should be done decently and in order." 1 Corinthians 14:40 I've taken a couple of stained glass classes and find my quiltiness predicts my products. The two crafting styles are so similar: take big pieces of product, cut it into smaller pieces, put it all back together, add 1/4" 'seams' and a border, and voila! I purchased more glass for an outdoor rectangular privacy piece for the deck, hoping to get to it later this year. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then shall I know, even as also I am known." 1 Corinthians 13:12 Spring Fever must be to blame for the condition of my sewing room. I have so many ideas and projects, I just keep starting more and more. I have 1)one crochet and 2)one knit mini-blankets nearly completed for our local Threads of Love, items for NICU babies. The 3)challenge fabric is awaiting inspiration for my local quilt guild's September show. It's tiny glow in the dark stars on a dark blue/violet background. I purchased an organza type blouse from a thrift shop to try my hand at dragonflies? It's very clear in my mind. We'll see how it goes. There is a 4)finished top in the corner using my great-niece's rodeo shirts. It turned out really cute, just haven't gotten to the quilting. I just put a scrap border on the 5)scrap rainbow top for a new great-niece which I want to finish before her first birthday. YIKES, I have to hurry! Also have a 6)planned scrap wall hanging top 1/4 finished, using all novelty fabrics with some fussy cutting. I've wanted to make this for a few years and have been collecting fabrics, but it turns out I think I have enough fabric for about 20 tops...over achieving. Then on the wall are about five 7)scrap string quilt-as-you-go 6" blocks I wanted to turn into something, maybe another rainbow of scraps. I'm just itching to use up all my little scraps. In the bags below the cutting table I have turn of the century 8)cheddar and shirting blocks that I am taking apart to remove the disintegrating fabrics. I spent many weeks researching the fabrics and ordering similar reproduction prints to remake this treasure. True vintage cheddar is hard to find. This project will need to be hand quilted, of course. I've started hand quilting the 9)random Amish Log Cabin quilt which just makes me happy when I see it. It's for our quilt guild's Storybook Quilt Project, a collection of over 70 small quilts loaned out with accompanying books to schools throughout the county. In my attempt to clear out some of my PIGS (Projects I've Gotta Sew), I pulled out some old donated 10)paper pieced cowboy boot blocks. They were marked heavily with lead pencil for hand quilting and the marks won't come out, so I'm doing a quilt-as-you-go method and just ignoring the marks. I have all the backs and battings cut. These two kid sized quilts will go to our local Children's Shelter. I recently decided to start a 11)circle jean quilt but decided I wanted miniatures, so I have a small string of 2" circles. What was I thinking? Waiting in bags are 12)red-white-blue blocks and pre-cut borders for about four tops which will go to Home of the Brave (www.homeofthebravequilts.com). These quilts go to families of military KIA from recent Iraq/Afghanistan conflicts. .. finally, a finished project!!! I have leftover pieces scattered about from my 2015 Quilt Alliance "Animals We Love" entry. Look for touring of the 90+ mini-quilts over the US and the ebay online auctions in November. (www.allianceforamericanquilts.com) Well, that's a dozen projects staring me down every time I open the sewing room door. That doesn't even include all the projects hidden behind the closet door. Oh, for a little more time and energy... Anyone else in this pickle? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Whatever you do, do it from the heart for the Lord and not for people." Colossians 3:23 |
AuthorI started making patchwork in the 1950's with my grandmother on a treadle Singer and have been creating ever since. I tend to take life seriously, so I make an effort to add some whimsy along the way. My mantra...leave things better than you found them. Archives
December 2015
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