Schuster Mansion, Milwaukee

 

My friend Nancy invited me to come along to sample a Victorian high tea in Milwaukee.  She is in the midst of  researching sources for Victoriana artisans, B&Bs, and such to be listed on a site called Victorian Heart Shoppe.  Nancy's own gift shop, Roses and Teacups, carries all sorts of flowery, feminine, speciality items to make life sweet and beautiful.  Of course, I said yes without a second thought!

Come Home Soon

Quilts can carry so much love and so many memories.  Here's one such quilt that came to me for repair.

 

The owner told me:

My mom bought it from an Amish lady she knows in Lancaster Pa. She owns a really successful shop there. She bought it for me while I was away on my Mormon mission. It’s called “Come Home Soon.”

German Quilt Magazine!

The other day, I received the most wonderful envelope:

It contained, yep, copies of the January 2018 issue of Patchwork Professional, a German quilting magazine - with a long article about:

All About Love

 

Here's a sweet quilt that came to me carrying this very moving story.

My husband was in a terrible accident 11 years ago and was very close to dying. His church made him a quilt that they put on him when he was in the coma. He loves this blanket so incredibly much. Our black lab ripped parts of it when she was doing that circle nesting thing that dogs do before they lay down.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

I took this photo of my design wall last March, to celebrate being able to walk around enough on my healing foot to get back to pacing around while creating in my sewing room.

Here are the four quilts, from left to right, that were in progress then and are finished now.  They are all new members of my Something From Nothing series. The series is my own challenge project, based on a pile of decorator fabric samples that was given to me years ago.

Reproducing an Antique Quilt

I bought this quilt years ago when I was working at an antique quilt shop.  (It was a heavenly place to spend my time, I assure you!)  Whenever the pickers would come in to sell their finds, we had the option to buy things, too.  (Heavenly and then some!)

I bought this quilt from one of those pickers.  The back fabric is in rough condition and there are some tears in the borders through all the layers.  (The faded-looking upper left corner is due to the light coming in my window, though).  Here's why I fell in love with this quilt:

Treasured Family Hierloom, part 2 The Rings Question

Most of the story of this crazy quilt is in part 1, but I wanted to separate out this question in hopes of hearing some helpful information.

There are several patches decorated with sets of interlocking circles.  The only symbolism I know of for this kind of image are the three chain links of the Odd Fellows.   

But on this quilt, we see these configurations:

The owner is wondering if there is any tradition of representing the people in various branches of the family this way.  Any ideas, anybody?