Today I realized it's been six months since I last posted here! Yikes.
Well, Annie and I have had other things on the burner during this time. First was Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then it was our quilt show. All of that is behind us now and we are looking at our blocks again!
But I thought I'd put up some pictures of the things we've accomplished on other fronts. So here goes.....
Annie completed her "Everlasting" quilt in time for our quilt show. It is absolutely lovely. On the label on the back, she has verses that contain the word "everlasting." It's very cool. She's working on something else, too, which will be revealed in due time!
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I finished my "Sunbonnet Sue" that has been in the works since 1938. (No joke. The story is below.) And I do love it.
Sunbonnet Sue
& Overall Sam
Helen Moe (December 8, 1895 – March, 1948) the maternal aunt of my
mother, Winifred Brown Thompson (February 25, 1931 – February 28,
2005) made this quilt as a gift for her when Mom was about 7 years of
age. It was treasured for years, both at home and at our family
cabin in Pinecrest, California. After the sale of the cabin in the
late 1970s, the quilt disappeared for several years, then resurfaced
again in 2006 when I found in in my grandfather's barn. As can be
imagined, it was in great need of cleaning and restoration.
When I took it apart, I discovered that the batting was a flannel
sheet on which old woolen sweaters had been stitched after being
taken apart. One of them had been my uncle's, another my mother's –
very much a product of the Depression.
I soaked the top and backing in Oxi-Clean to remove dirt and stains,
which worked beautifully. The original construction was tied, and had
turned in edges with no binding. The tying had left holes in the top
which I repaired with small pieces cut from the edges of the top and
bottom borders. Some of the appliqued pieces had frayed and the
buttonhole stitching had been lost, so I repaired as many of those as
I could without replacing any of the original fabrics.
After the repair work was finished and the quilt reassembled, I
hand-quilted around each figure and block, and then at the urging of
many of my quilt group friends, cross-hatched the blocks and borders
and used a twisted rope pattern between and around the outside of the
blocks. The only things not original to the quilt are the cotton
batting and the binding, which is a reproduction fabric close in
color to the original 1930s green.
Truly, this has been a labor of love and will be treasured for years
to come.
Top and back pieced and
appliqued by
Helen Moe ~
Circa 1938 ~ Berkeley, California
Restored and hand-quilted
by
Debbie
MacInnis ~ 2011-2014 ~ Chehalis, Washington
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I've also been working on my son's Log Cabin Star quilt and it's about to be basted. I've used reproduction fabrics for it and I'm so pleased with it. So is my son!
And I'm doing my first Block of the Month. The Kansas City Star is publishing this one and each block pattern is free for one week each month at
PickleDish.com. I've downloaded each of them so far, and have completed the first two blocks and am working on the third. I'm using Civil War reproduction fabrics for them, as well. It's called Where Poppies Grow: Remembering Almo. This is my first quilt that includes applique.
So, before long, we hope to have more to show for our work on our Civil War Sampler Quilts!
