Pinwheel Party

I wanted to take a quilting class when this journey first began. But I realized that with my work schedule and health issues .... it just was not possible.  So I have joined a couple of online "sew-alongs".  Today I am totally caught up with the Pinwheel Party at Twiddletails.blogspot.com.  The origional quilt has a black background which I love, but I let my 11 year old DGD pick out her own colors

These are pictures of what I have done.  Oh I do not have a design wall, but I do have a "design floor".

Remembering Aunt Helen

Last weekend when I was cleaning out my big linen closet, one of the treasures I found was a quilt top given to me by my Aunt Helen. She had made the gorgeous Log Cabin all in blues and pinks.  Log Cabin is one of my favorite patterns.  We traded quilts the day she gave it to me ... I gave her one of my scrappy quilts that I called Heart Scraps.

Two days later I learned my aunt had passed on ... just a few days shy of her 83rd birthday.  It was a shock because she had not been sick very long and Aunt Helen had lots of health issues all her life.  She had been at death's door so often that no one thought much of the fact she was in the hospital again.  She had always rallied before ... much to the amazement of her family and doctors!!  But this time was different and I honestly think SHE decided it was time to go to her heavenly Home.  She has many family members there to greet her and one of her precious great-grandchildren to hold.

She was a strong and vibrant person.  She could take charge of any chaotic situation and have everyone organized and functioning in no time.  She raised her daughter alone in a day and age when divorced single-moms were somewhat rare .... so was divorce, for that matter.  She was an RN and worked very hard her whole life.  She was still working up until her brief illness ... she babysat elderly folks for their families ... arriving in her own car and walking to their door with her walker !  Also not long before this illness she was babysitting her great-grandchildren ..... what a joyous blessing for her!

She was an avid quilter.  We often traded books, patterns and fabrics over the years.  There was a period of time that I would send all my fabric pieces and scraps to her and her daughter, Cathy.  They were making quilts out of any fabric handy for the homeless people in the area (Dayton,OH).  They did this for quite a while ... all by themselves.  My cousin told me today that her casket was draped with her last totally handmade quilt (finished in Oct).  And the church pews were all draped with her quilts too.  Oh my, what a tribute to her !!  They also found my Heart Scrap quilt on her bed !!

But what I remember most about Aunt Helen is her unconditional love !!  She was there for me during some very dark times in my life!!  She was always a large woman and she loved to hug .... getting one of her hugs was so very healing & wonderful ... totally enveloped in her love.  Oh, how she laughed .... a lot.  Her laugh was infectious.  She suffered in her life and life was hard for her but she always had a smile and a big laugh and freely loved us all !!!

Her daughter, her grandchildren and her 6 great-grandchildren all loved her greatly !  They learned how to love and quilt !!!

This is the quilt top she gave me.  Please excuse Miss Kitty, she thinks I laid this out just for her !

Her seams were PERFECT .... and Prairie Points all around,  Am going to miss her !!!

Treasure hunting !!

Decided to clean out my huge double hall closet.  Sorted thru lots of toys and old craft projects of the kids and then I began to discover treasure!!  Two packages of batting came rolling out and a medium box of fabric I had forgotten about.  Pretty fabric .....

Next I found 3 scrappy Log Cabin quilts ... quilted and ready for binding!!  And buried beneath old sheets was the quilt top my Aunt Helen gave me AND 2 scrappy quilt tops (flimsies) !! 

I then recalled a time when I had decided to go on a "fabric diet".  No new fabric !!   My goal was to make as many quilts as I could from all my scraps. It took me a year but I made over a dozen ..... 2 tops were donated for  fund raisers, several were quilted and shipped off to friends and family.  Here at last were the remaining ones ....

A little further into the closet I found 2 quilts I had made out of my Granny's scrap bag.  After my Granny died ever so many years ago (my kids were young) my Dad gave me a bag of her scrap fabrics.  For many years, there was a shirt factory in the area she lived and she would collect scraps from them to make her quilts with. 

 

Also inside that bag of scraps were quite a few hand sewn hexagons. I made them into a quilt.   At one time I had been hand quilting it . Can you see the cross-hatch quilting?

Here it was that precious quilt again!  Those of you who have been following my blog since I started on January 31, 2010 will remember that I stopped sewing and quilting many years ago.  I gave away most of my fabric and I guess I stashed away the things I still wanted.  But I had forgotten where it all was and even what I had kept.

There were many coordinating fabrics in the bag of scraps from the shirt factory. I started a Desden Plate quilt with some of them.  My DD in AZ has ALWAYS wanted that quilt and when she saw it being pulled out of the closet she became extremely excited ..... "Mom, please can I have it now? Please".  It was sad to see my DD, now a grown woman, begging for this quilt ... so I said "yes". .... which means now I have to finish it!    (The pix makes it look like the is a pink stain on the quilt, but there is not .... must be my camera)

I was so thrilled to find these treasures!!  Such a very special encouragement to me on my journey back! 

While DD was here from AZ with her girls I finished their quilts that I posted a few weeks ago.

Everyone went home very happy !!!!

Hunky Dory, I am done !

I am done, I am done, I am done !!!

The Disappearing 9-patch is done !  Oh, I know it is just the top and I need to do the backing, add batting and the binding.  But this is so exciting.  I had trouble understanding how to put the patches back together to make the pattern.  Spent the first day taking apart as much as I put together.  By the second day, I was on a roll.

It is much bigger than I anticipated .... I just kept adding rows to sides and bottom until I had only 4 blocks left.  It is 77 inches by 59.

I love it !