Pots and Pins

Go Fund Me Donation...

A while back I hosted a baby shower for a dear friend, Kjarsta, and she was SO excited to have a shower for her SIXTH baby...she already has 1 girl and 4 boys and  baby #6 is a girl - after so many boys, she needed some pretty pink things!  But guess what happened...never mind, I'll tell you...the day of the shower my friend went to the hospital and delivered little Lucy at 30 weeks...mom and baby are doing okay now...Baby Lucy is still in the hospital slowing gaining weight and hitting those all-important milestones!  Go Lil' Lucy!!  Some of you who know the rest of the story, and have wanted to know how you can help Kjarsta and her family.  For those of you who don't know, I'll just say one word that hopefully will fill you in without going into detail...Kjarsta, wife and mother of 6, has glioblastoma.

If you'd like to help - please click on this link:  Go Fund Me

(You'll notice that the Go Fund Me original goal has been met, but take a minute and think about it...their needs are great, so whatever you can donate will be greatly appreciated and will go directly to the family to help with on-going medical and life expenses.)

Sue's Grandmother's Quilt...

I met Sue about 3 years ago and I instantly knew I would love her.  She's got style.  In spades. Sue reminds me of old Hollywood, not that she's old, but she's got glamour galore, (which is missing in young Hollywood, know what I mean?)  And while she would deny that, it's true.  Sue asked me to have a look at her grandmother's quilt to see if I could repair some of the damage it had - this is her quilt:

This quilt is heavy - the batting is actually an old flannel blanket and the backing, which is wrapped around to the front as the binding, is heavy, too!  The weight of this quilt is just one of the things I love about it - the crazy-ness of it is another!  Big colorful hand-stitches were embroidered on to outline each piece of satin and many of those satin pieces have raw edges or edges with selvedge - guess Sue's grandma used every last piece of satin she had!  One of the black pieces had a good-sized hole in it and I appliqued a piece of black satin over the top to cover, if you can find it, good on you!  There were several other small holes that I was able to "darn" and repair...I darned darned it! 

Pity our lawn cannot be a beautiful, lush area to display this quilt...our little dog Rosie makes sure of that!  The mister tries everything he can think of to get the grass to grow but we live in a forest and nothing really grows for us here except moss!

I'll be returning this quilt to Sue soon, but I've enjoyed having it in my workroom - I know there's a story to this quilt but alas, no label, no date, no nuttin'.  Remember to label your quilts girls, in the end, it matters! 

 

Quilt Group Friday...

I'm pretty much back to normal, which isn't saying all that much.  I've been released/retired/let-go/banished from my church job after almost 4 years.  It was both good and bad, happy and sad, and now after a few weeks of stumbling around wondering what to do with all of my new found time, I am back to being swamped!  I don't know how that happened but I'm ready for a vacaSHUN-me-to-the-beach-with-a-good-book-and-an-umbrella-in-my-drink! 

This picture makes me laugh...feet!  But this quilt makes me swoon!  I love the happy batik colors - and how perfectly precise the border is.  This is Diane's quilt and Diane somehow managed to sew down the binding by hand while she was medicated after a total knee replacement...now that's some kind of talent right there!  The last time I was medicated I wasn't able to tie my shoes, let alone thread a needle!  Way to go Diane!

This is a GIANT quilt - as in California King meets Canadian Serengeti.  Stephanie pieced this quilt for a friend, who has no idea about quilt-making, and will have sticker shock when she gets a price for quilting this beast/beauty!  Stephanie's heart is as big as this quilt though, because who does that?!?!

This beautiful antique quilt belonged to Mary's grandmother (I think...Mary, my memory is as flighty as those butterflies!)  Notice how the antennae are embroidered on with black floss - making for a pretty interesting pattern - almost Japanese-like, as if I know what that means.  This quilt is truly beautiful in person - but it has no label so there is no information about who made it and when...labels are important!!

This is a panel quilt - well the center is but the star blocks are pieced.  Terry made this for her grandson.  It's big enough for a bed, which is what Terry's daughter said all the quilts from now on must be - big enough for beds.  I guess as the kids grow so must the quilts!  Nice job Terry!

Terry took some house blocks and "Terry-ized" them.  Look closely and you'll see she added flowers and puppies next to the houses!  How cute is that?!?  Terry is great about adding in a little surprise to her quilts!  I love this quilt...I have house blocks, too...wonder where they are?!? 

Jen brought in this quilt - it belonged to someone in her family, can't remember who!  It's a "cutter" quilt...one that is too far gone to be saved, so it can be cut up and made into other things, which is exactly what Jen plans to do with it.  I can't wait to see what she comes up with.  I have used cutter quilts to make many things over the years - below is the bag I made from a cutter - I have used it a lot.  The trick is to make sure the old quilt isn't doing any of the work...the straps of the bag are doing all the work so no real pressure is put on the old fabrics. 

Still one of my favorite bags and still in pretty good shape, all things considered!  The quilt I cut up was probably made in the 50's but it didn't have a label either so it's anybody's guess!

 

Don't you just love these fun fabrics??  This is Barbara's latest creation - she has all new family room furniture so she is making a new quilt to go with everything.  This one is a beaut!  Barbara is the most precise quilter I've ever known - just look at how all of her points match!  Fascinating!!  I truly admire her skills, in my next life I plan to be skilled like Barbara!

One more from Barbara - and this one I LOVE!  Fun fabrics, fun design, oh be still my heart!  Christmas is only 111 days away so we should all be working on Christmas quilts/gifts!!!  I'm still working on a Valentine project though!!  I'm never in the right season in my head!  Love Barbara, love her quilts! 

Speaking of Barbara, she hosted us last week and served us a fabulous lunch.  Her sweet husband grilled steak for us and we had a veritable feast!  I had to scoot out early, I cracked my tailbone so sitting is a bit of an issue for me...just another reason I haven't been working on anything...soon Grasshopper, very soon!