Catching up

I realize it's been a month since I last posted, and I owe Part 3 from the Lowell Quilt Festival... coming soon.... but in the past month our world was rocked.   Just as we were making preparations for Grandma Mary Lou to come live with us in October, she passed away, after less than a day in the hospital.  Still, such a shock.

1992, me with Grandma ML and the Sunbonnet Sue she made for Noelle 

Grandma really lived right up until she died - made a peach pie two days before and told me all about it.  She was nearly 92 years old.  The service for her was truly a celebration of a wonderful life well lived - a life full of people, music, food, quilting, laughs, love, and service.

Making a flannel baby blanket with Grandma, 1992

I was her only grand daughter and she never let me forget it - we had a special relationship and I will miss her dearly.  She was my first and best quilt teacher, and more importantly, taught me many life lessons through example... and sometimes lecture:).

I can hardly believe I can't call her on the phone anymore.  I had really been looking forward to pampering her in her last years, but God had other plans.  It was a blessing that she could pass away in Denver and never have to make the daunting cross country move to Massachusetts.  I know it is best this way, but I will miss her so dearly.

brother David, me, cousin Dana at Grandma's. 

I am now back home from Denver... craving control over our chaotic house... waiting for our sea shipment to arrive from Japan... scrambling to paint some rooms and de-clutter like crazy.

I feel pretty exhausted physically and emotionally by quite a rough summer, but... I have witnessed God's merciful hand in my life and am so grateful for wonderful friends and family.

Catalpa trees planted years ago by Grandma 

I started this blog to in the first place to share my quilting adventures with Grandma (especially while we were living in Japan)... and I need to decide whether I will continue with it!  I think I will... I'd like to.

Next up.... the promised third installment from the Lowell Quilt Festival!

Grandmother's Fan

Here's the last of the quilts I brought out at home in MA for photographs in the front yard:

Grandma Mary Lou found this quilt top in a semi-complete, sort of sad kind of shape, and she lovingly fixed it up and finished it.

She spent many hours fixing up the blocks.  Many of them needed to have fabric added or replaced in order to be properly squared up.  She spent many hours fixing up the blocks and then piecing the completed blocks together.

She gave the top to me several years ago and I tied it with just a backing, no batting, to create a sort of large lightweight summer coverlet.   It's become a sore subject because Grandma really feels that it deserves to be quilted.  I'm sure she's right! Any volunteers? ha ha... mmm... someday...

(Come on Mom, enough with the quilts!  Let's go to Kimball's for icecream)...

Back here in Japan, my thoughts turn to several ongoing projects, two of which are truly almost finished!  I am itching to clear the decks a bit in order to start on a couple of brand new projects.  

I always tell myself, don't you dare start yet another new quilt until xyz is complete!  But it seems I've always got a dream of a quilt going... which is half the fun, wouldn't you agree?

First quilt, baby quilts

Here's my first ever quilt, made in 1991.  Felt like it took about a million hours to complete - all by hand, with telephone tutoring from my Grandma every step of the way.  I hung it on the wall over Miss N's crib.  Here she is with it all grown up:).  It's a simple nine patch using fabric from my Mom, Grandma, and even Great-Grandma.  I struggled with and loved the process of making this quilt -  I was hooked!

This is the Dutch Doll baby quilt Grandma Mary Lou made for Miss N in 1992.  It remains one of my all-time favorite quilts.  Grandma's friend Millie helped her select fabrics.  It is machine quilted in a "hanging diamonds" pattern.

It was followed a year later by this Tulip Applique for Miss K, also machine pieced and quilted by Mary Lou.  The light green alternate blocks were made with fabric from my bridesmaids' dresses.

Rose Applique, and Double Wedding Ring

Two more quilts from home...

This Rose Applique was pieced from a kit by my great-grandma "Two" and quilted by her sister.  It wasn't quite finished in terms of the quilting (in some places you can still see faint blue lines where quilting should be) but it has held up remarkably well.  This quilt was my post-college quilt.

The following is a Double Wedding Ring quilt made by Two in the 60's probably (?), and given to me by Grandma Mary Lou when I got married in 1990.  It is in near-perfect condition.

Bed quilts from my youth

One day before returning to Japan, I begged help from Miss N and Tommy for a little impromptu photo shoot of the quilts we have at home in MA.  I will break them down into several posts.

This first one - "54-40 or Fight" was made by my Great Grandma "Two" in about 1969.  The pictures don't show the big holes where my first dog, a beagle named Sally, chewed up the quilt years later when it was relegated to basement storage!  I have often contemplated cutting up the quilt and making pillows or something, but I just can't bring myself to do that.

That quilt was replaced by the following Butterfly Quilt, made by Grandma Mary Lou in 1976.  This quilt was on my bed for years, and it's what inspired me to make my own version, which I blogged about here and here.

And when I went to college in 1982, Grandma Mary Lou made me this Irish Chain.  It is one of her early machine quilting efforts.  It really grew on me over the years - a classic pattern.

"Are we almost done, Mom?" :).

More quilts from home soon.... stay tuned!

Scrappy blue 4-patch - progress

I'm in the middle of three relatively quiet weeks here in Tokyo, with two out of my three chicks back home in the U.S... Miss K here but working full time... me working only very part time... so a quiet (air conditioned!) apartment and long stretches of time for quilting - wow!  I know it won't last... soooo... Tommy's 4 patch beckons. 

Tommy picked out most of these fabrics and even pieced a bunch of these blocks (truly eclectic and scrappy, little boy style, love it!) when he was about 10 years old.  I supplemented later, with fabric from outgrown shirts, plus some neato Japanese finds.  

Time to get it done.  

A little bit of work to figure out the numbers.... 

Auditioning backgrounds...

Only two fabrics showed up for auditions... muslin and... this shirting, originally meant for the backing... but I like it so much... 

It's Heirloom Shirtings by Sara Morgan for Blue Bill fabrics.   

I know I don't have the floor space or the patience to lay out all these little blocks... 

So I conveniently decide to wing it, Two's style...   

"Two" was my great-grandma and always had a quilt going.  I knew her well but as a girl I wasn't tuned into her quilting side!  My grandma describes how she pieced... just randomly picking out patches from her basket and piecing them together.  Design wall?  Um, no.  

Mmmm.... but now that I've really started... I figure I'd better make a plan to piece this thing in four manageable sections... sticking with "random", yes, but building each row off of what's already pieced...  just enough control to somewhat balance out the red bits. 

 Moving to the carpet now... for once thankful to not have cats and dog underfoot...  

Will have to move furniture soon... but not yet... and that's all the quilting I can do today!

Sunbonnet Sue

And for the seventh of Grandma's quilts in seven days.... how about this wonderful, hand pieced and hand quilted Sunbonnet Sue, probably made in the 30's or 40's.  I love examining this quilt!  This one was made by one of my Grandma's aunts in West Virginia, many years ago.  It is in pristine condition.

Grandma and I both marvel at the expert detail on this quilt.  Oh how I wish the maker had labeled her quilt!!

And there you have it - seven quilts beloved by my Grandma Mary Lou.

When I am back home in Massachusetts this summer, I will photograph more of Mary Lou's quilts.

Cheers!

The Pretty Ugly Quilt

Here's another quilt top given to my Grandma.  I quilted it, right after being on a machine quilting retreat with Harriet Hargrave.  Somehow quilting it turned it from "ugly" to "pretty" so we call it the pretty ugly quilt.  This one was fun to quilt and seeing it again at Grandma's made me want to dust off some of the techniques I learned at that retreat.

Double Wedding Ring

Here's another quilt rescued and fixed up by Grandma ML.  In this case, the backing wasn't quite big enough for the top, and so Mary Lou added panels to the backing where needed and finished up the quilting.  This is such a sweet quilt.