Merry Christmas!!!

Wow! 

December has been busy and the past 2 week have been in hyper-drive.

What have I've been doing?

Been to see an awesome Christmas light display.

That included a talking/singing Christmas Tree.

With my sweet hubby!

Watched our gorgeous son graduate from Appalachian State University (yippee!)

Made 3 baby quilts for our nephew's new triplets.

And gifted this quilt to our son's delightful girlfriend. 

(Check out his sweet smile)

And it is just now Christmas Eve!

 

I wish all of you are surrounded by love!

Local Quilt Show continued

More beauties from the local show (and yes, I asked permission before photographing!)

New quilt

Antique Mariner's Star

New Sampler (love it!)

Antique star, still in quilt maker's family, hand pieced and hand quilted

Antique crazy quilt that is also a replication of an older quilt in maker's family

New (and gorgeous) King-sized pineapple quilt

New quilt

New quilt by Ann Cline. I got to meet and talk with this talented lady. This quilt is also a blue-ribbon winner!

More of Ann Cline's lovely work (above detail of the "Tree of Life" below)

Such a delight to find these treasures on a beautiful October afternoon!

Old Quilts in Spainhour Cabin

I saw these beauties this past Saturday while at Kingfest, a great little festival in the park in King, NC. The cabin is the ancestral home of the Sainhour Family and is open to the public. I love both these quilts! The schoolhouse quilt shows the fan quilting pattern really well. The black background on the star, while well worn, really makes the colors pop!

AQS Paducah winners

I didn't win anything, BUT you can go here and see who did! Boy, some awesome work! At least my quilt was in great company. Congratulations to all the quilters who won!

never too late...

Time for a quilter's confession: I have, correction, HAD an 18 year old UFO. I started it during my 3rd foray into quilting, when my son was a toddler. The fabrics were all home-dec weight samples that my hubby had brought home from selecting fabric lines for the furniture manufacturer he used to work for. The heavier, tapestries I would use for Christmas Stockings, throw pillows and decorative vests (remember those?). And I saved these canvas stripes and plaid for a quilt top. I cut it the old-school way with scissors, and made up my pattern as I went. I sashed it with a light-weight denim and threw it into a closet. Then it made its way down to a basement. We moved to another house and it came with us. It has been on a shelf, in my basement, taunting me for quite a while. So I washe it to get rid of the musty odor, pinned it and here it is:

It is quite heavy. I used the lightest weight cotton batting and a light weight backing fabric. I wanted to quilt it in straight lines with my walking foot, but due to the thickness of the fabric, the seams were way too bulky for that.

 So I just doodled around in the sashing. It actually quilted quite quickly.

 And I have grown to like the softness of the colors with the pops of brighter colors as the centers. I am going to keep this in my car, as a utility quilt. It will be great to use as a picnic blanket, or throw on the beach. Never too late to finish a UFO!

Old quilts "Scrappy 9 Patch"

Another treasure from Granny Joyner (she was a hard-core quilter!) is this Scrappy 9 Patch.

These fabrics all seem to be clothing scraps. The light blue is chambray. What makes this one really neat is the scrap-pieced back.

It's 2 quilts in one! Seriously, what a legacy in quilts and what a lesson in frugality. No scrap was too small, and every thing was used. Again, this one was quilted in her favorite fan shape, using the tobacco twine, completely hand made.

The colors are soft, but since she washed with an old wringer washer, I have no idea if any of these used to be more intense colors.

As for the 2 sides with added border, my MIL explained that they would always slide their beds into a corner up against a wall. The 2 outside edges were usually more detailed since they were seen.

Old quilts "Scrappy Star" (Granny Joyner)

This quilt (Scrappy Star) was actually in the garbage bag at Pa and Granny Joyner's. I rescued it! The points of the stars are scrappy pieced and much of the fabric in the quilt (front and back) are feed sacks. I love how the coarse appearance of the feed sacks is softened both by the age of the cotton and the cheery, naive prints.

Isn't the little horse with cross stitch cute? 

The back is made of pieced feed sacks and Granny Joyner used tobacco twine to quilt in in her fan design, and as with all her quilts, completely hand-made.

Old Quilts, continued (Trip Around the World)

I bought this "Trip Around the World" at auction about 21 years ago. It was part of a lot that included a couple of scraps and another quilt. I resold the other quilt, but kept this one. The back is heavy feed-sack, but the front is a cotton sateen. Hand pieced and quilted with thick twine.

 

This one is in excellent shape.

Granny Joyner Quilts part 3 (Random Fans)

Today's Granny Joyner quilt came to me from my MIL, Mary Wood. She gave it to us when we got married, as an extra quilt to keep us warm. This is a pieced fan block, made from clothing scraps. The sashing was feed sack cotton. Parts of this quilt have worn away so you can see the old cotton batting inside. The back is a rough burgundy feed sack and she quilted it in here fan pattern with a coarse cotton twine called "tobacco twine". It was primarily used for tying the tobacco leaves together but also used as utility thread as needed.

All the Granny Joyner quilts are completely hand sewn. She was a tiny little woman who would speak her mind. She was stooped over in later years from osteoporosis, but would sit either in her living room or on their poarch and sew.

This is one of the good things about blogging: I am getting these quilts and their stories documented for my son!

My Old Quilts, Granny Joyner part 2 (Sailboats)

Today's Granny Joyner quilt is so cute! It was onee I found in her attic. It had never been used, she had made it and put it away for future use. I call it (obviously) "Sailboats".

 

The colors are still as bright as they were when she made it. Being packed away in the attic kept it from fading. The bright blocks of color look very current. Granny made the top wonky, I have no idea why.

Several of these fabrics were shirtings and dress fabrics.

There are some places where the fugitive dyes have migrated to adjacent colors. Granny quilted this in a fan pattern, which she used as her standard quilting design.

My Old Quilts, still digging them out of storage! (Bow Tie)

A while back someone asked me how many old quilts I have. I answered "I don't know"; after this exercise of photographing and blogging them, I will have a count! 

Today I am showing another "Granny Joyner Quilt", it had been on my husband's bed before we got married, so the quilt came with him!

This is a "Bow-Tie" made mostly from wool scraps. And let me tell you, it will keep you warm.

These scraps seem to look like they came from old coats, possible old upholstery. There are also several pieces of velvet used. Complete hand-pieced and quilted with tobacco twine.

This quilt is extra crinkly, having been machine washed and dried. 

It is going back to school with my son. The high yesterday in Boone (he's at ASU) was 12 degrees. I believe it will be a welcome addition for him!

My old quilts, continued (Velvet Strips)

I hope you are enjoying seeing these. I am enjoying it! I had packed them away so it is nice to air them out and fondle them again. Additionally, quilts need to be refolded so the fabric will be evenly stressed. I am washing these as well. We still need to sell our house so, I will have to pack them back up, but at tleast they will have been loved this week! I fully intend to have them out in our new place.

This quilt is one of several I have that came from my husband's maternal grandmother, Granny Joyner. (I love how they call the grandparents "granny" and "pa"!) Her name was Ruth Joyner nad she lived on a farm in Iredell County NC. I was fortunate to know Granny and Pa Joyner. They were lifelong farmers who had made it through the depression, raising my MIL, Meme (Mary) and her brother, Harold. Pa and Granny raised tobacco to sell and all there own food. Granny taught me how to chop and make saurkraut. I never liked saurkraut that came from the store, but homemade kraut is delicious!

Granny made quilts for warmth, but she also enjoyed the handwork aspect. She would quilt with any materials that came her way (as you will see!). I acquired most of my Granny Joyner quilts after helping to clean and organize their tiny house when their health began to fail. Granny had quilts packed in the attic and mice were beginning to eat away at them. Granny knew I loved them and gave me the pick. Other quilts were given to other family members as well.

This is my very favorite Granny Joyner quilt. I call it "Velvet Strips". It is made from various scrap velvets, handsewn together, back with a rough feedsack fabric and tied instead of quilted. I think it looks quite contemporary!

Some of the velvets have worn away, but that adds to the vintage charm!

Lovely!

My old quilts pt 3 (Farm house)

I call this one my "Farm House Quilt." 

I bought it at auction 25 years ago for $20. I love the blocks with the blue striped shirting, as well as the fact the quilter arranged like blocks in rows. 

My favorite part of this quilt is the back. It is made of feed sacks! 

The prints are so cheery with happy little farm animals and flowers. This quilt was well-used before I got it and we have continued to use it since.

Another special quilt by Aunt Minnie (Teddy Bears)

This is a very special "Aunt Minnie" quilt as she made this for me when I was expecting my son. This is a little crib quilt, approximately 38" square. Aunt Minnie bound the edges by squaring up the backing and folding it over the front. I love the vintage ginghams and the embroidered faces! What is especially neat is that we didn't know I was carrying a boy!

Yes, those are stains, but I did use this quilt!

In other news, I am making serious progress on the redesign of my sewing studio. My son helped me move the bookcase around to another wall, we moved a larger table in and I have been cleaning out. Next up: stash management! I have been keeping my fabrics in a variety of plastic boxes, but the lids are hard for me to remove. So I am toying with the idea of just folding the fabrics and laying on the shelves (this is how my Mom has most of her fabrics.) Well, I will try it and see how I like it. I can always change it if I don't! Any advice from anyone on stash organization? All ideas are welcome!

my old quilts (hearts and flowers)

I am in an in-between place right now quilt-wise. I have 1 top ready to quilt, another top on my design wall (the blocks are complete, I just need to sew them together), my machine is in the shop for its yearly service and I need to work on my lesson plan for my upcoming free-motion class. I am also going to work on rearranging my sewing studio/sweatshop while the machine is away, but I don't want my blog-buddies to forget about me! So I am going to post my quilt collection.

I am starting with a quilt given to my husband and me as a wedding gift by his Great-Aunt Minnie. Aunt Minnie passed on about 4 years ago, but she was a strong personality and an avid quilter and definitely not forgotten! This block pattern she called "Hearts and Flowers". She hand-appliqued each block, machine stitched them together and hand-quilted it on her quilt frame that would be suspended from the ceiling in her living room. I love the colors. We have been married 26 years, so this quilt is close to 27 years old. There are parts where the navy floral are a little faded, but we have used this quilt! It is large enough to serve as a spread for a full bed, and as a bed-quilt on a queen. I like knowing that her strong hands blanket-stitched each applique piece, and took each even quilting stitch. 

A detail shot:

Beautiful work and a family treasure!