Just in Case You Wanted to Know Some Things About Me

I  went walking with my camera today and the following pictures are just a few that I snapped today.  Some of them show things I worked on today and other some of that heritage I was blessed to be around.

I did get some things finished and I'm pretty proud of this skirt.

 I got started on the blouse to go with the skirt, but my design took a few turns before I finally  cut the material.

 I hope to have the binding done on this table runner finished today and up on my Etsy shop this week.

 I washed the quilts that Sally brought me and hung them on the line.  Yes..my clothes line stretches across my back porch.  I did it for convenience one day after we moved in and it's been there ever since.  The only bad thing, my son's dog will sometimes pull the items on the bottom line off just for fun.

 I then went to my parent's house to take care of some things for my dad.  This where I lived all my childhood.  We moved in when I was 6 months old (they did a lot of remodeling, the house was much smaller and about 50 years old when we moved in). It's kind of sad to me that those trees were planted after I moved away and they have gotten so big.  Guess I've been gone long enough for trees to grow.

 But I didn't go far.  See that little red roof behind the red barn?  That's my house.  I consider myself right across the street from my parent's home...or across the field.

 I went into my parent's house to tidy up for my dad and snapped a few shots.  This is the wall in the main bedroom.  All those pictures started with the three black and white baby pictures in the center  (I'm the cutest one!).  All those other pictures are our kids through the years.  My mom spent her last few months in this room looking at this wall.  I think it brought her comfort and joy.

 This is the bed on the opposite side of the picture wall, covered with one of Mom's prettiest quilts.  All stars...she loved stars.

 My grandmother made this quilt from all my mother's baby clothes.

 Then on other walls in the bedroom and throughout the house is the art.  My mom was an artist.

 Lots of her paintings are of mountains and roads.

 She tried her hand at just about everything.  She made this porcelain doll and the ceramic pieces are some of my favorite.

 The Victorian lady probably started my love of all things Victorian.  She's a jewelry box and the other lady is a vase...there's a hole in her hat.

 Not artwork, so to speak, but the way my mom arranged things was artful.  Some of the family gave her this orchid for her birthday last year.  1 year later and it's still blooming.  Daddy is doing a great job taking care of it..

Lots of Mom's little projects turned into covers to go on the back of the chairs.  I really like this one.

Of course Daddy has some of his things hanging around too.

This is my favorite of all Mom's paintings.  I feel like I'm walking right down that road.  I need a jacket on because the fall air in the Colorado is chilly.

I guess I just figured everyone grew up with art all around them.  Don't you think it's so boring to just hang one picture on a wall....cover those walls!

This was Mom's last painting.  She did it as a challenge with our pastor.  They each took a picture from the Smokey Mountains and did their interpretation.  I think her's turned out pretty good and not to hurt his feelings...but the best.

In the midst of her paintings is this one.  I was home alone and wanted to prove to her that I did in fact know how to paint, that I was paying attention to her lessons.  I had this hanging on the wall when she got home.  Not to be for a young girl.

But I did learn from the best.

She had so much talent no matter what medium she used.

This little wall is full of lots of "my firsts".  Mom seemed to think that every time I learned to do something new, she got the first project.  The cross stitchings, Indian woman drawing, and quilling are all my firsts.  Some of the others are from other family members.

I love when my son stops by to see what I'm doing.

I had such a wonderful childhood growing up here.  I was encouraged to try everything.

My house now.

I love that the back view is so completely different than the front.

Much like the backs of my quilts....always a little different.

I hope that I've taught my kids to try anything that seems to capture their attention.  To look at things a little differently and think "Outside the Box" (the name of the quilt).

So...now I just need a blouse so I can wear my new skirt.

My Heritage in Quilts

I was asked to pull some of my quilts to be shown in a quilt show this fall.  The theme of the show is "Heritage".  At first, I really didn't want to be a part of it.  I didn't want to go through my quilts again, but I felt that I needed to show honor to my grandmothers and great grandmothers, my mother, my self and my daughter by pulling out my heritage in quilts.

I don't know what the name of this quilt is, I call it Birds & Flowers.  Pieced and quilted by my grandmother, Iva Jane Wiggs Lewis.  

 This Striped Star quilt was done by Grannie Lewis' mother (Lou Ethel Hinson Wiggs).  What is unique about this quilt is the batting.  There is a torn corner and you can see that part of the batting is actually another quilt (that is quilted) and some worn out white long johns.

 This Grandmother's Fan quilt was appliqued by my grandmother, Mildred Waldean McPeak Carathers.  My mom had asked Grannie to make me a quilt, but I was allowed to pick the pattern and the materials.  I pieced all the fans by machine and then Grannie assembled it all and quilted it.  We did a couple of joint ventures like this.  It's one of my favorite quilts.

 This Nine Patch is actually Adam's quilt, hand pieced and machine quilted by his grandmother, my mother, Frances Elizabeth Carathers Lewis.  She made it last year...one of her last quilts.  It's signed and dated.  She gave it to him at Christmas....along with a quilt for each of her other grandchildren.

Two more quilts are coming tomorrow.  Sally is bringing the quilt that I made for her and one that she and I did together when she was probably about 10 and just deciding that material was in her future.  Both of us have two quilts that are in various stages of being finished, but they won't be ready for the show.

I'm honored to have such a rich heritage.

Bags & Extra Blocks

I finished piecing the purple quilt this weekend.  I think it still needs a border around it.  The ladies at the local quilt shop started pulling bolts of solid purples out this weekend and helped me find just the right shade.  I'm seriously considering letting someone quilt it.  They have a beautiful butterfly motif, I'll just have to save up for the  cost.  Remember....this quilt is going to the American Cancer Society.  I wonder what they will do with it...I guess I need to contact them at some point.

I've been using this bag that my mom had her church stuff in for my work bag.  I carry my reading material and lunch to work in this.  Mom never liked advertising labels.  This is one of those generic grocery bags you can pick up just about anywhere.  She covered the advertising logo on the front with a left over block from one of her quilts.  I really like it.

So when I received this pink bag from work this week that was for an advertising campaign for one of our women's commentaries....I knew what I wanted to do.

I forgot to to take a picture of before.  On the other side there was the logo for the commentary in black, much like the printing on the book..

Using one of my block left over from the purple quilt, I covered the logo.  I'll be using this bag for my newest bible study and taking my things to work every day.

 

 All the ladies at work have a similar bag that they are using.  I like that mine is different.  But the purple square also reminds me of my mom, keeping me aware of what I'm doing to keep myself healthy.  I quilted a heart in one square and a flower in the other.  The flower is one I found that I had drawn in one of her journals when I was a little girl.  She kept that simple flower in the midst of her bible study notes.  It's to remind me, that even in the most difficult situations....I just need to keep it simple.

Love!  How much more simple can I keep it.

Remembrances of Days Gone By

In the midst off all my grandmother's things, there was this afgan.  I remember it as being the bed skirt of one of her beds.  It's in pretty good shape, just a few holes that can be stitched together again.  I laid the afgan on the back porch for several days (okay weeks....I forgot about it) to air it out and then this past weekend I finally decided to put it away.

But I remembered something....I've seen this before...in a picture.

This was the afgan that was on my mother's bed when she was a teenager.

The stitches that we make hold us together...through time...to bring back cherished memories, of the dreamy days of adolence and the journey we've taken.

What we stitch together today will hold through generations.