Family History

Today marks what would be my mother's 100th birthday.  In honor of her and my dad, whose 100th I missed a few years ago, I'm posting these photos.

These portraits, taken shortly after their marriage in 1946, stood on my mom's dresser.

My mom was born and raised in Chicago.  I love this photo of my infant mom and my grandma, 1916.  Isn't my grandma's hat perfectly huge?

Hugs and Kisses Crib Quilt

One of my best friends just became a Grandma!  I've known her son, the new papa, since before he was born, as the saying goes.  So a crib quilt was in order.

I saw this quilt on Pinterest.  Such a cute idea for a baby quilt, and also fun with lots of scraps, which I have aplenty.  The pattern and instructions can be found at Moda Bake Shop. 

These are 4 16" blocks plus sashing and borders, ending up with a 40" square quilt.

And here's the handsome little fellow at a week and a half old, already knowing exactly what to do with his quilt!

And by the way, if you are interested in following this family saga, the happy parents were the recipients of the wedding quilt I wrote about a few years ago.

Paintings by Ella Gardner

My friend's grandmother Ella Gardner was a prolific painter.  And she also made quilts.  She painted lovely scenes of rural Wisconsin life, her Amish neighbors, and my favorites of course, quilters doing what we do best - making and loving our quilts.

There is an exhibit of Ella Gardner's paintings up now through  March 12 at the Steenbock Gallery in Madison, WI.  The Wisconsin Regional Arts Program has created a lovely page about Ella Gardner and her art. 

Quilting Party

Rescuing a Double 9-Patch

Here's a nice old quilt with two large, dog-chewed holes.  Needless to say, this is never a happy circumstance....

The first step was adding new cotton batting, basting down the raw edges of the holes on both front and back.  After that, I patched the back with a solid blue. 

    

   

Mushrooms!

I found this delightful fabric on the back of a cotton crazy quilt.  The top was probably pieced in the 1950s, but I think this backing was applied a little later.  The color palette says 1970s to me.

It's really silly and happy, isn't it?

The cluster of mushrooms measures 1 1/2" tall.

The quilt was very, very damaged.  The backing and batting were mostly torn and gaping in many places, and lots of the top had barely a single piece of intact fabric.  I did manage to salvage and mend a few corner areas for keepsakes.   And I found enough fabric intact on the back to take a couple of photos for my (and I hope your) enjoyment!

1934 Sock Top Quilt

A short while ago, I repaired a late 19th century baby-sized crazy quilt.  The quilt's owner shared her family photos to add to my blog post about her little quilt.  As I keep saying, I meet the nicest people when I work on their quilts!

Well, her kindness didn't stop there.  She oh-so kindly sent me this photo of a quilt she saw on exhibit at the Mingei Museum in San Diego.  It is labeled "Sock Top Quilt", made by Ada Jones in 1934.

 

"What's a sock top?" you ask.  I certainly had no idea. 

A 9-Patch Quilt with Many Stories

Some quilts are repositories of stories, memories, and love.  This is one such quilt.  It was made c. 1950 by the owner's mother.  She can relate the stories of all the fabrics in it.

The quilt is still used by its owner and her husband as a lap quilt on the couch.  The original binding was tattered, there was a hole, and and some of the fabrics were starting to wear.  Her husband found my website, and sent the quilt to me for a fix-up.  A loving gift indeed!