Contemporary Traditions

Ha! Just barely, but I got it done before the end of the year!!

I had fun quilting this one. The stars have Continuous Curves.

In the sashing I did a traditional pattern called Diamond andRope.

And here is how it all looks on the back.

Feels good to have it done. The only quilt I had hoped to finish this year that is not done yet is the little urchin quilt. It only needs the binding… I have a little over 7 hours… plenty of time!!

A quick look back at my quilting progress in 2006. I had 3 main goals for the year and I was fairly successful at filling those goals. The goals were:

1) to explore new techniques and to develop a style for my quilting

2)to finish one art quilt every 2 months

3) to practice on my new longarm quilting machine

Through the Journal Quilt Challenge I was encouraged to explore a lot of new techniques and learned which ones I enjoyed. That, in turn, moved me closer to developing a style. The challenge also helped to fulfill goal # 2 as I finished 7 journal quilts through the year. I spent a lot of time practicing on my new longarm and I am much more comfortable with it now than I was when I got it in January ‘06.

I found that my quilting priorities took a turn sometime during the year. I think that it was a result of getting the quilting machine. Before I had the quilting machine I kept most of my quilting at a small size; less that 40″ square. I just was not comfortable quilting larger pieces on my DSM. Because of this size restriction most of my work resulted in art quilts. Only a few baby quilts were actually “usable”.

Now that I am able to work on larger pieces I’m enjoying making quilts to actually be used; lap quilts and bed quilts. How nice it is to be able to give away quilts that I know will bring comfort to the recipient.

So it was a good year of quilting for me and I am looking forward to what 2007 holds…

My mother brought over a scrap book yesterday that she acquired after the death of one of my uncles. The book was made for my grandmother in 1910. It is so sweet. The title page says:

The Possible Life of Flora L Sanders 1891- 1968.

Wishing you a merry Christmas

From your chum, Annie R Hancock, December 1910.

The pages are a heavy weight paper that has yellowed and crumbled around the edges over the years. They are bound together with strands of pink and grey ribbon. The pages are full of photos and drawings from that time depicting what Annie envisioned that my grandmother’s life would be like.

I imagine that the pictures all came from catalogs and magazines and they have been very carefully cut and pasted in place with handwritten captions.

My grandmother was only 19 years old when the scrap book was made. It is interesting to see how many of the predictions did come true. Annie predicted that grandmother would marry a soldier returning from a war; she did 10 years later. She predicted that she would learn to drive; she never did. She predicted that grandmother would have 1 son and 1 daughter; she had 1 son and 2 daughters. She predicted that my grandmother would live until 1968; she lived until 1986.

But… the most interesting part is the little piece of folded paper tucked between the pages. On it, written in a beautiful flowing manuscript is a love poem, written to my grandmother.

Fond hearts must part as surely as sinks the golden sun.

But ours I trust shall ever be two hearts that beat as one.

Where rocks and hills divide us and we are far apart

Remember your name, in golden letters, is written on my heart.

Farewell to you, a sorrowful adieu, I often sigh and think of you.

Your name will cling around my heart and from my memory will never part.

Written by a boy that loves you with all his heart.

Sniff, sniff, how beautiful!! No one in the family knows who wrote this poem to my grandmother. I’m sure she remembered, she kept that paper for at least 70 years!

Santa came through with the design wall!! He even let me go out to get it so I would get exactly what I wanted. I got some 1/2″ thick foam and covered it with white flannel. The overall size is about 6′ by 6′. Small blocks will stick to the flannel by themselves or I can pin larger blocks up. Being able to pin is also a good thing because I like to run the ceiling fan a lot and it can send blocks flying!

The clerk at JoAnn’s asked what I was going to make with the materials I was purchasing. When I told her it was for hanging up my quilt designs on the wall she replied that I must be a “serious” quilter. I think the more accurate term would be “obsessed”.

So, on to the Work in Progress… see that small block hanging on the design wall? That is the beginning of my 12×12x12 piece for January. I’m sure Santa is wondering why I needed such a large wall space for that small project… Don’t worry, Santa, I will get to the big stuff soon.

On Go Away Dark Night I am 1/2 done with the binding. On the quilting table is the baby quilt with the urchins.

I recieved this in an e-mail:

In case you can’t read the small print, it says:

Air Force Chief Master Sgt. John Gebhardt, of the 332nd Exeditionary Medical Group at Balad, Iraq, cradles a young girl as they both sleep in the hospital. The girl’s entire family was executed by insurgents; the killers shot her in the head as well. The girl received treatment at the U.S. military hospital in Balad, but cries and moans often. According to nurses at the facility, Gebhardt is the only one who can calm down the girl, so he has spent the last several nights holding her while they both sleep in a chair. 

It’s Wednesday again, already!

Go Away Dark Night is on the quilting table! Yeah! So why am I not quilting it? Because I am still waiting on the batting. I ordered it a couple weeks ago but it has not arrived yet. I’m sure that the problem lies not with the manufacturer but with the shipper. Next year I need to remember that any ordering I need to do in December should be done in November! Is that what they call “planning ahead”?

So while waiting on the batting I pulled out an UFO to work on and got it pieced and ready to quilt too. The fabric print has the cutest little urchins on it. I am thinking of quilting little hand and foot prints on it.

I read aloud to my kids just about every day. We try to tie our reading in with something we are studying, usually history. Right now the boys and I are doing a quick overview of the Revolutionary War so we are reading The Sherwood Ring.

The Sherwood Ring is a great story about an orphan that goes to live with her uncle in upper New York State. She finds that the house is also inhabited by ghosts; her ancestors that were living during the Revolutionary War. These ancestors tell her some  stories of the war from their perspective and how they were involved in it. It is a very entertaining story- for this mom and her teenage sons.

Christina and I are reading The 20th Century Children’s Book Treasury. It is 40 wonderful children’s books bound into one. Some of my favorite titles are Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Goodnight Moon, Make Way for Ducklings, A Boy, A Dog and A Frog, and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. It is an easy way to read lots of great titles without having to tote all those books home from the library.

I’m taking the easy way out with most of my Christmas gifts this year; gift cards.

I feel a little bad about it though so to quiet my  conscience I made some little bags in which to put the gift cards. They were very quick and easy but put a little of myself into the gifts.

I’ll leave you now with a glimpse of the Christmas flowers that my brother and his wife sent. Aren’t they lovely? And they smell like Christmas (evergreens). I was hoping to find some mistletoe in there but I didn’t.

It’s Work in Progress Wednesday again. I have a couple of projects to share with you.

On the quilting table I have a quilt for Quilts for Fallen Heroes. It is patriot fabrics in the Yellow Brick Road pattern. I quilted it with a stars and loops pantograph. Actually, I finished it this morning so I will be able to hand it off to the binder at the guild meeting next Saturday!

And then, of course, I’m still working on Go Away Dark Night. I started on the sashing so you can get an idea of what that is going to look like with the green cornerstones. The sashings and cornerstones are all cut just waiting to be sewn. So, hopefully, by this time next week it will be on the quilting table!