Thursday, March 20, 2014

Six Months......

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!




2 comments:

  1. The Everlasting Quilt is beautiful, and what a keepsake in the Sunbonnet Sue. Totally awesome!
    I like the Barn Raising design too, and love the colors in your block of the months.
    You've been busy! That's a good thing. :-)

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