Cuddle Quilts

If you read my previous blog, you know that I've been hustling to get emergency quilts done for the children. I was fortunate that I had one quilt already finished in my "stash" of finished pieces. So, really I only had to make 1 quilt in 48 hours. Which I did. See the pic, below. I took the quilts to the funeral home with the intention of leaving them for the children, but was lucky enought to ge tto give the quilts to the children personally. I hope those quilts provide something to hold on to in the middle of the night when they're missing their Mom the most.




You'll notice that these quilts aren't "show" quilts but simply cuddle quilts that can be used up.

I'm also happy to report that I shipped my three quilts to Quilter's World magazine today. I really consider that an achievment -- three quilts for one issue -- the April 2012 issue. I hope you check it out.

In the meantime, I have a great baby quilt featured in the Quilter's World October 2011 issue. It's on page 15 -- check it out. Super quick and lots of fun.

One last thought for tonight -- in two days I'm headed to my annual quilt-cation with my three friends Mary Lee, Leslie, and Cathey. We're headed to Chautauqua Institute for the Quilting Around Chautauqua event. The event is actually on Saturday and SUnday, but we start the week end early -- on Wednesday so we can get in some serious quilting. Stop by soon for more about Chautauqua!

Quilters Respond to Tragedy

In my community yesterday, there was a terrible tragedy. A man shot his way into an ex-girlfriend's home in the middle of the night and murdered her. Then he shot himself. Upstairs sleeping were the woman's two children. I saw it on the news and thought "how terrible." This morning, while reading the newspaper I saw the name of the victim. It looked very familiar to me so I began trying to place it. Then I knew. The woman killed was the mother of two children I had in my prekindergarten classroom anout five years ago.

I flashed back to a similar tragedy that happened perhaps eight or so years ago when the father of a former preschool student shot and killed the mother and then himself while the three young children watched. At the time, my response was to make quilts for the three children -- my former preschool student and her brother and sister. I organized my coworkers and we whipped out three throw sized quilts for the children.

I'm already beginning quilts for these latest two children who are now motherless in a blink of an eye.

The area where I live is quite rural and it scares me to death that even bad things happen here. To people I know. To children that I loved and once taught.

Then I think of my response as a quilter to such tragedies and I think of all of the other quilters out there in the world who respond in a similar way in similar situations. And I know I'm not alone. Quilts of Valor.....Project Linus -- these are but a few charitable quilt projects. I know that great numbers of quilts were sent to Japan after the earthquake and tsunami. What about September 11th? I bet there were a lot of quilts donated to victims and their families.

The incredible capacity that quilters have to care for complete strangers and their troubles is a humbling thought. Quilters are some of the most special people in the world.

Quilts Talk....REALLY!

It's hard to believe that today is the 10th anniversary of September 11th. It was aday that our nation will never forget. I hope everyone takes a moment today to reflect on all of the lives lost on that day as well as on your own life and how you can make a difference in the world. Perhaps today you planned to make a quilt and donate it to a charity. Or to volunteer your time to help others in your community or in someone else's community. It doesn't really matter what you do, just do something.

The past few weeks have really flown by as I've picked apples, made applesauce and apple butter, prepared and froze garden produce for the winter.... Oh, I've been working like a crazy woman on the three quilts for Quilter's World, too. I'm almost done and hope to ship them at the end of the week. At the latest, I need to ship them next Tuesday.

I promised to share a photo of one of my new quilt acquisitions -- the one from my Berlin Ohio trip a few weeks ago. So, here it is:



It really isn't anything spectacular, but this quilt told me a story. I fell in love with the story of this quilt and brought it home with me for a pretty reasonable price.

The center part of this quilt (the pieced blocks and alternate pink squares) was made in the circa 1900-1920 era. The top wasn't put together very expertly so I'm guessing that it was never completed into a quilt.....that is until the Depression. The person who completed this quilt (it could have been the original quilter, but who knows?) added chunks of opened up feedsacks to three of the edges to make the quilt top big enough. Big enough for what? you may ask. Well, the batting inside this quilt is a worn out indigo and blue quilt! The backing of the whole completed piece was made from several opened out plain off-white rough feedsacks. The back was brought around the front and whip-stitched for binding and the quilt was tied with multi-colored crochet floss.




It's too bad the "filler" quilt is in such bad condition. I can just make out the pattern, swastika blocks alternating with indigo squares set on point. It was probably made 1880-1900. Perhaps I can reproducs it......

Speaking of quilts that talk to us, here is a photo of an orphan quilt made by a new orphan quilter friend, Nancy. Nancy kindly emailed the picture so that I could share it with you. SHe bought the wonderful set of scrappy late 1800's strip blocks at an antique shop. She lovingly completed the blocks into a beautiful orphan quilt. Kudos, Nancy -- way to rescue orphan blocks and give them a permanent home!



If you've made an orphan quilt (with antique or even modern blocks) email me a photo -- I'd love to show it off on my blog. My email is: littlequilts@windstream.net

Oh, one last photo about quilts talking. This orphan quilt, although completed in the 1980's or 1990's has a fantastic collection fo 1940's blocks! These blocks have incredible fabrics. Eventually I'll probably take the blocks out of the quilt and reset them in something more appropriate. This quilt really talked to my shih tzu buddy, Gizmo!

Long Time No Write......

Sorry about the lapse in blogging that I've had recently. The last couple of weeks has been so crazy I swear I see myself going when I'm coming.

I've been plugging away on my three quilts for Quilter's World magazine. My deadline is in the end of September. I have two of the quilts almost completed and I'm making the top for the third quilt right now. I hope to have it at least into the binding phase by the end of the week.

I did receive some disappointing news about my first fabnric collection for Northcott, Louetta's Garden. It was bumped from an October Launch to a spring launch. Although I am disappointed, it does make a lot more sense for it to debut in the spring -- it is a "garden" collection. I will also be designing exclusive patterns to feature the fabrics in my collection, so you will have to stay tuned for these designs.

It's funny, though, because I am now finding inspiration in so many things from old scraps of shredding wallpaper to the skirt of a vintage dress on display in a museum to dirty old rugs. I must admit that I am nowed hooked on textiles and designing! Oh, but what a wonderful addiction!

I was reading an article on quilting today -- did you know that the quilting industry is a 3.58 billion dollar industry annually? WOW! I knew the quilt industry was growing but I had no idea -- how exciting to be part of that industry now. It makes me feel even more inspired!

My garden has also been producing a lot of wonderful goodies, too -- so much it's hard to keep up with it. Tonight for dinner we are having stuffed pepppers and corn on the cob along with applesauce. Yep, you guessed it -- the peppers and corn are fresh from the garden a few hours ago and the applesauce was made fresh on Sunday (two days ago) with our very own apples. It's a lot of hard work to put up fruits and veggies for the winter, but oh so wonderful when there's three feet of snow on the ground. Our two apple trees (macintosh and courtland -- yes, I'm a northern girl) are having a bumper year. We didn't spray them so our apples have spots and blemishes BUT there are so many. It was windy on Sunday and I must have picked up at least 50 apples off the ground. That, of course, is not including the laundry basket I picked on the tree on Saturday.

A week ago, I went on a bus trip to Berlin, OH. It was a lovely visit to the heart of OH Amish country. We visited several quilt shops and I checked out three or four antique malls. Of course I brought home a new vintage quilt! I'll try to get a picture posted soon. The best part, of course, was spending the day with my two best friends, Leslie and Cathey. Oh, and the cheese factory was great -- I bought some mediterranean sunset cheddar cheese -- YUM!

The local fair, the Crawford County Fair, which is the largest agricultural fair in PA, ended this past week end. I was very pleased with the quilts that I entered. Six quilts yielded six ribbons -- 1 blue, 2 red, and 3 white. I was very surpised because the competition is usually quite intense -- there are a lot of talented quilters in this area.

Okay, I think I'm all caught up now. Time to get back to work.

BUSY WEEK END

Whew -- just got my supplies in order for a fabric dyeing demo I am doing tomorrow. It's at my friend, Melanie's shop, Quiltessentials in Pittsfield, PA. I will be demo-ing how to dye cotton fabric (one color, light to dark). A friend and Quiltessentials partner, Anita, will be demo-ing how to dye wools.

Of course, before that, I have to drop my quilts off at the Crawford County Fair for judging. Wish me luck!

On Saturday, my friends Leslie and Cathey and I will be playing hookey and going on a shop hop to Berlin, OH. We are really looking forward to this quilt escape for the day. What's more fun than spending the day going from shop to shop with your best pals???? (Except maybe unlimited funds to use at those shops, of course!)

So here's to busy week ends!

In the Good Old Summer Time

Like most of you, it's been really hard recently to keep up with my garden. The weeds are growing as fast as the veggies. It's race with the bunnies to see who gets the beans and carrots first! But the fun is beginning, too, as I've begun doing some of the harvesting. The cukes have been doing well -- there's nothing yummier than fresh cukes out of your garden. Unless of course it's the broccoli or the green beans. I'm not crazy about tomatoes, but they are fun to grow. Our tomoato plants are more like bushes than plants. Does anyone else have crazy tomatoes?? Then of course, this is a bumper year for our two overgrown dwarf apple tress. Yesterday I picked two bags of apples. They're small but they'll make great apple sauce and apple butter. Ah, these crazy summer days.

Of course, I've been doing some quilting as well. Right now I'm working on three quilts for the April issue of Quilter's World. The first top is doen at at the quilter's and I am ready to quilt the second top now. THEN I'll move onto the third and final quilt. Oh, I still have to write all of the instructions too.

About a week ago, I had the opportunity to do an orphan block mystery quilt project with the Happy Scrappers quilt guild. It was a lot of fun -- I hope they all had as much fun as I did. Check out these photos! This was my first orphan block mystery quilt, but as you can see, it turned out great! Each quilter brought her own blocks and fabrics and each quilt turned out great. It never fails to amaze me how it all comes together and that no two quilts are ever the same!

Support YOUR Local Museums

Have you taken the time to visit a museum in your area yet this summer? Today my mother and I went to the Baldwin Reynolds House Museum in Meadville, PA. It's a wonderful place to see. The house itself is magnificent and such a "fish out of water" in northwestern Pennsylvania, so to speak.

The house is a circa 1840's Southern style plantation home with a Victorian mansard roof (added later) and an amazing solarium on the side of the house. A second floor wrap around veranda adds to the Southern feel. The house was built by Supreme Court Justice Henry Baldwin, later purchased by his wife's nephew, William Reynolds. William Reynolds' son, John E., inherited the house. John E.'s widow, Katherine lived in the house until the 1960's. It was later purchased by the Crawford County Historical Society and turned into a House Museum.

I have always had a special place in my heart for this museum. I worked there through college as a curatorial assistant. Later I ran the house for a little while until they hired a new curator (which wasn't me, sadly). Currently the museum has a fantastic director, Josh Sherretts. Josh has done wonders with the displays and the tour information. I was very impressed. And oh so pleased to see the house so alive.

Our main purpose for visiting the house today was to see the museum quilt display (which is over this weekend, unfortunately). It included several gorgeous Victorian crazy quilts in the downstairs parlors as well as some Civil War era quilts in the bedrooms upstairs. Oh, did I mention the log cabin quilts?

It was lovely to get lost in history this afternoon. Josh has set up the exhibits so cleverly -- a bottle of wine and two glasses on an occasional table.....a pair of spectacles on an open book next to a comfy uphostered chair. These little touches made it seem like someone had just left the room right before we walked into it!

If you haven't visited the local museums in your area, you really should. Most of them have quilt and textile collections which are truly a treat for quilters to see. Not to mention the art, the furniture, the architecture....

It's important now more than ever to support your local museums due to so many funding cuts at the local, state, and federal levels. The Baldwin Reynolds house received about 25% of the funding it used to. Your support could mean the difference between staying open or closing the museum. So get out there and keep history alive in your community! You know, local museums are oftem desperately in need of dedicated volunteers as well, so get involved!

Below,enjoy some photos from our trip to the museum. Please note that I did not use flash when photographing because flash photography is damaging to textiles, etc.