Where Am I?

In an effort to simplify my life, I have combined all my blogs into one location.  Future posts regarding my quilting heritage and progress can be found at Holy Camp.  Please join me there and subscribe to that blog so that you don't miss a single thing!

Memory Quilts

About 2 years ago I started a conversation with someone about a memory quilt, made from saved t-shirts.  I started working up quotes and ideas.  I had made quilts from my children's clothes before...or really material left over from clothes I made them.  I have quilts made from the material from clothes that my mother made for me and one that her mother made from her clothes....but for the most part, what everyone was asking me was for the t-shirt quilts.

I'm not a huge fan of those...maybe because my kids always wore out their t-shirts and we swapped clothes with so many other kids that their t-shirts held other people's memories too.  But I want to quilt for other people, so to get orders...I had to be prepared.

I started putting out the word and doing some quotes.

Then, a friend contacted me after her husband had died.  She asked if I could make a quilt using his shirts, not a t-shirt quilt, but one made with a variety of fabrics, into a different pattern.  We got together, talked about her husband a bit and selected a pattern. I got the pattern here.  You can read about the journey of Chris' Quilt here.

I seemed to take forever...mainly because I didn't do a very good job of managing my time....and honestly...as I shared with Leah....the journey of making Chris' quilt was a bit daunting because of the grief journey of my own that I was traveling.  Chris' quilt was healing for me and I'll be forever thankful to Leah for allowing me to take this journey with her.

But last week, I finished the quilt and shipped it off to Leah.  As I was quilting it, I "wrote" words that Leah had requested into the quilting.  And I prayed.  As I quilted over and over, I felt God leading me to put other words into the quilt...words for Leah from Him.  I truly felt guided.  It was an amazing experience.

I had such a strong sense that God was leading me more than just to "write" words into Leah's quilt...He wanted me to do it for others.  Within minutes of posting a picture of the quote on Facebook, I was asked to do just that.  I'm praying that this is something that God continues to ask me to do.

You see, while working on the quilts, I think about the person behind the clothes, how they impacted the lives around them and how those left need to be comforted and that becomes the main prayer behind the quilt...how to offer comfort.

So I'm opening myself up to being used by God to wrap people in comfort.  If you are interested in a memory quilt, please contact me at boutwell_d@bellsouth.net for details.

I also am working on quilts made from baby clothes and working them into a new pattern, so the memory quilts aren't just to remember those that have passed away, but also the passage of time.

Here's some final pictures of Chris' Quilt, the quilting process.

 Pinning, preparing the layers.

 How I set it up to quilt it.

 Started using some 60 weight thread for the bobbin and didn't have to change bobbins as often...loved this!

 Also, to put the binding on, I wrapped the binding up and put it on one of the thread holders and then feed it into the machine.

 Here's the main theme of the quilt....God is love and He wants to wrap Leah up in that love.

 The flower was the last inspired words.  This was the last corner to finish up and God had me remember that Chris had always sent Leah flowers, so it just seemed to fit.

 In each of the white leaves, I "wrote" words that Leah had used to describe her husband, dates of importance, and names of those important to Chris...Jesus being one of those.

 I did make a mistake...well many...I never claimed to be an expert quilter!  But one of the leaves got turned wrong, but it's not real noticeable.

 I love the boarder.  I changed it up from the pattern, but I love it.

Our First Street Fair

For the past couple of months, Sally and I have been busy preparing for our first arts and craft street fair.  Sally had set up a small booth at a fashion show earlier in the summer and while she didn't sale anything there, she liked the idea and decided to give one of the local fairs a shot.

She bought some vintage, unfinished quilt blocks and quilt tops and we went to town making things with them.

Here she is at the Grinder's Switch Arts & Music Festival held in downtown Centerville, TN.  It started out to be rainy day, but it cleared up quickly.

I think this was her top seller, but ones with birds painted on them.  The younger crowd went straight for these.

My favorite was a vintage quilt top she found, made from all kinds of fabrics...their scraps I'm sure.  I didn't like it at first, but when I started quilting it, it became special.  I could just see all their lives in this quilt.  And I loved the pattern.

 She only sold one quilt, one that we didn't even have to do anything to and Grannie always said if you sell one quilt, the show was a success.  So...we are headed to our next show in November.  We need to add more Christmas themed items...but we have a good start already.

Yesterday

Yesterday...not as in the day before today...but as in the days of many years ago...when Mom showed me how to make my first stitches of embroidery on bell bottom blue jeans (a beach scene) and how to cut out a pattern.  As in the threads passed down from mother to daughter from generations back.

My daughter has asked me to join her in a street fair.  Another mother and daughter team.  Sally loves all things vintage and already has lots of items made, jewelry made from older jewelry, some unique designs and some of her fashion line.  I'm to make some quilted items.

A friend gave me a box of old quilt blocks from the 1950's.  Sally ironed all the pieces and then laid out my projects....table runners and 2 baby quilts to be sold at the fall street fair.  We are deciding on a name for the booth now...New Again...or Like New.

I also decided to finish a baby quilt that I already had finished piecing and layered.  It just needed the quilting done.

So here are my finished projects so far (well almost...I still have the binding to put on the baby quilt).

I still have 2 more tablerunners to assemble, one wall hanging and 2 baby quilts with these star blocks.  I'm not touching the blocks in any way, which means I leave all the imperfections and wrinkles.  They are totally unsquare, but I just went to an art show and none of their blocks were square (The Quilts from Gee's Bend)...same time frame...same art!

Then I looked down and saw my mother's hand, my grandmother's too.  That's what this is all about...passing down lessons from years past until finally we just seamlessly go from one woman to another.

Trying to Put the Pieces Together

Over a month since I've chronicled any sewing projects and that doesn't mean I haven't been busy, but I honestly don't fill like I've been busy in the way of stitching..

But then again...in that past month I've visited a prescriptive college with my son..which he didn't like.  He did like the class rooms and it was the only place where I truly could not pick out my son from all the other boys.  Every one of them looked like they just stepped off the farm...not a baggy pants in the entire gathering.  Lots of camouflage though!

Then I went with my daughter who had her first official "outside of college" runway show.  The proceeds were to benefit human trafficking and she did great.  She wasn't sure what to expect and she was the only designer there that had made her entire line herself.  Most of the other designers had boutiques and the outfits were being commercially made.  But she had the models arguing over which dress they wanted to wear and has since sold some pieces and made some good contacts.  The MC for the night really gave her some high comments about her clothes being for every age group and body size.

 Se also set up a booth to sale some of her smaller items.  She got so excited that we are now planning on doing a street fair this fall.  Yes, those are necklaces made from T-shirts.  I can hook you up if you are interested!

I'm still working on the commissioned memory quilt.  I'll be honest...I'm not sure I like sewing for others...or maybe its just not being free to do what I want.  But I was glad to get the main part of the quilt finished up, just need to add the border now.  And yes...there is a mistake that I didn't see until it was put together...so it stays!

 I tried making me a blouse a few weeks ago with material in my stash.  Unfortunately, once it was finished, I looked like a clown in a striped blouse.  So it got stashed away to be cut up for another project.  I found some orange material I bought last year and decided to play with it a bit. I made an apron of sorts on the front of the skirt.  It makes one huge pocket.  I added the flower pot just for fun. I thought that big pocket would come in handy at the street fair for holding my phone and stuff.

In the midst of all this fun...my son graduated from high school.  I was planning on making him a quilt, but just like when his sister graduated, I did not get it finished.  I'll keep working on it and maybe by this fall have it finished.  I'm hand piecing the Drunkard Path and then I'll hand quilt it.  I want at least one all by hand for my kids.

 I know...he looks really excited doesn't he!  I'm so proud of him!

Now...I need to really get busy.

Freedom to Create

Anyone can design a quilt.  Every quilt can be different, even using the same basic pattern pieces.  With just 3 little pieces, a multiple of designs can be made.

While working on my Grannie Lewis' Conversation Quilt Block (the Far East variation of the Churn Dash)  I started playing around with different blocks that make up the pattern.  Remember that the block was basically a 9 Patch with a 9 Patch at it's center.

Here's some of the different designs I came up with, using enough of the original block pieces to make 2 blocks (with the darks/lights switched).  

I took the 9-Patch out of the center and just put a solid piece.

This time I used a light in the center.

9-Patch back in the center, but I turned all the outside pieces.

Swapped out the center piece again.

I worked with the different shades, using a combination.

Not sure I like these, but sill playing.

A friend pressed some of the flowers from my mother's funeral and presented me with this picture this week.  I think it turned out beautiful.

And then a sweet young girl is having a sweet baby and I pieced this 4-Patch.  I started playing with the two colors and then add a bit of the yellow when I ran out of the blues and needed to make the quilt a little bigger.  I got it machine pieced in one night and the quilted finished in just a couple of hours.  I got the binding finished tonight and delivered it to the family.  I loved the colors.

Oh, the fun you can have with a few pieces of material, some pressed flowers, and freedom to create!

Conversation Quilt - Grannie L.'s Scrapbook

While the photo to the right (the four hands) is four generations of quilters down through my mother's side of the family, my father's family also had talented quilters.  I have quilts from four generations back on that side of the family too.  Since I was going through the scrapbooks, I decided to pull out what little I have of Grannie Lewis' patterns.

Most of what I have of hers, is in tattered envelopes or actual blocks.  She did a lot of  chain letters where quilt patterns were passed back and forth between her and her friends.  She cut all of the envelopes up (saving the stamps),  most of the letters were from friends in Nashville or family members that lived outside Centerville, TN  (where she always lived) but some were from out of state.

The patterns are hand drawn on pieces of notebook paper or newspaper, some on cardboard.  She pinned all the pattern pieces together or sewed them together.  She put as much of the instructions as she could on most of the pieces, but not a lot.

Her blocks are more of a mystery than anything.    On the outside of the envelope, she labeled it "Conversation Quilt".  It was mailed from Reynolds, GA  sometime between 1954 or 1961 (which is when the 4cent stamp on the envelope was used).  There were several pattern pieces and a list of all their names.  There was one block in particular that I decided to play with today. On this particular, one, she drew off the pattern.

 She had the pieces for a 12 and a 14 inch block.  I went with 2 colors and it only took about 30 minutes to cut and machine piece.  This one could really be done even quicker with strip piecing.  I have no idea what the name of the block is.  Grannie labeled it "Mrs Morris Pattern".

The center is a Nine Patch and the outside pattern resembles a Monkey Wrench or Churn Dash, but the lines are off-set, centered on the triangle instead of even.

 I'm very pleased that I figured out this mystery today.  I've had fun in the scrapbooks this weekend.

Update:   I did find the pattern on-line and it was called Churn Dash variation-Far East, click here.  And here is another one without the 9-Patch in the center, click here.