Thursday, November 18, 2010

A Poem

Back in September, Quiltmaker magazine's blog had a contest for 2 yards of the new Dr. Seuss fabric from Robert Kaufman. They were asking for a comment of something quilty in Dr. Seuss style. 


A quilter who quilts
Dr. Seuss, it would seam,
Has unlimited help
She can quilt up her dream!

From Thing 1 and Thing 2
Then to Hopping on Pop
Of course fishes in teapots
Make awesome quilt tops!

Is there fabric of Whoville?
And Mulberry Street?
Of the Lorax, or Horton?
That would really be neat!

Oh the quilts I would quilt!
Oh the stitches I’d stitch!
Oh the blankets I’d build!
I’d stitch one of the Grinch!
I’m just ITCHING
to stitch up a quilt
of the GRINCH!

But alas, we shall see . . .
if I do get a stash
Of this Dr. Seuss fabric
Without paying cash.

There are other poems, too!
And their authors quite clever.
I don’t know if I can
Make my rhymes sound much better.

All I can do is to sit, sit, sit, sit -
Think what pattern would be fun
To quilt Seuss
If I won!



A few weeks later, this came in the mail:




I think I need to sit and think some more - I still haven't decided what I'll do with it...probably a baby/toddler quilt.

Almost finished...

I've almost finished my Thimbleberries wall hanging. Just the binding to do now. Quilting it got easier as I went along. It sure gave me fits at first - I had the fabrics too tight in my quilt frame. This is my first hand quilting project.

Bluebird Trail pattern from Lynnette Jensen of Thimbleberries from the book Cozy Cabin Quilts

Friday, November 5, 2010

Giveaway at Lavender Ridge

http://lavenderridge.blogspot.com/2010/11/go-giveaway.html

Ends Nov. 10

Giveaway at Everything Etsy

http://www.everythingetsy.com/2010/11/fabulous-moda-fabric-giveaway-jojos-quilt-shoppe-giveaway-week/#comment-31474

Ends Nov. 8

Giveaway at We Love Quilting

http://welovequilting.com/november-give-a-way-2/

Ends the end November.

Giveaway at Mariliz's Musings

http://marilizsmusings.blogspot.com/2010/11/moda-freebird-charm-pack-giveaway.html

Ends Nov. 7

Giveaway at Stitchbird

http://stitchbird.blogspot.com/2010/11/birthday-giveaways.html

Ends ... hmmm - it doesn't say!

Giveaway at Stray Stitches

http://straystitches1.blogspot.com/2010/11/80th-post-celebration-giveaway.html

Ends Nov. 16

Anniversary Giveaway at Burgundy Buttons

Happy Anniversary, Burgundy Buttons! Check out BB's giveaway:

http://burgundybuttons.blogspot.com/2010/11/celebrate-good-times-come-on.html

Ends Nov. 8

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Giveaway at The Child's Paper

http://thechildspaper.blogspot.com/2010/11/scrappy-fabric-scrap-give-away.html

Ends Nov. 8

Giveaway at Somewhat Simple

http://www.somewhatsimple.com/2010/11/sys-blog-link-party-with-vinylize-it.html

Ends Nov. 8

An answer

I got an answer about my Great Grandmother's quilt. I was trying to do some research online to find out when in history people began to get their quilts machine quilted. I came across the name Harriet Hargrave - from what I read, she seemed like she would be able to give me some idea, so I e-mailed her my questions with a link to my last post. She quickly replied, and told me that the quilt is a 1920-1930 era tulip quilt and the type of machine quilting on the quilt was quite common during that time. She said that there are quilts from the late 1800's on display at the Smithsonian that are machine quilted. Interesting!

Great Grandmother's Quilt

I've always wanted to start making quilts someday. Around the time I was married, my Grandma Eunice Mohr gave me a quilt that her mother had made. What a gift! My great-grandmother's name was Helena (Petersen) Wiese.
Arlo, Lucille, Helena, William, and Eunice Wiese


 I don't know much about her, except that she ran a little cafe in Milford, Iowa. She and my great-grandfather had divorced sometime after the photo, I guess - pretty unusual in those days. Upon checking my mom's geneology research this morning, I discovered that she was born June 29, 1884 in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany and died 70 years ago today, in 1940 . So it's perhaps fitting that I post about her quilt today.

When Grandma first gave me the quilt, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it is so bright and cheery! Somehow I was expecting dull browns and plain squares. But no! Appliquéd tulips in bright pinks, purples, and oranges!



 Interestingly they are appliquéd onto squares set diagonally (on the point), which you can't tell unless close up because the background is all one color.


















   It has colorful stripes of what I think is bias tape or something, right near the yellow binding.


It's machine quilted.


The back of the quilt is of a somewhat brighter yellow than the front.

 I love it. I wonder if she made lots of quilts, or just one. I wonder who she had machine quilt it. I wonder who she made it for, and what she thought about while she stitched on those tulips. Questions that will have to remain unanswered...




I've been thinking about this quilt since I posted about it the other day. Something is not making sense about it and I'm wondering if Grandma told me all the facts. Did ladies get their quilts machine quilted before 1940? It seems to me that back then a woman would probably hand quilt it herself. Now I'm wondering if perhaps Great Grandma Helena only made the top and Grandma (who was not a quilter, as far as I know) had someone machine quilt it later. Perhaps someone who knows more about quilts can tell me when machine quilting became common. In the meantime, I'll ask my Aunt - maybe she knows...

Giveaway at A Quilters Place

http://aquiltersplace.blogspot.com/2010/11/100th-post-reader-appreciation-giveaway.html

Ends Nov. 10