Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Passed Along Quilts

Last October I gave away a whole bunch of quilts; 14 in fact. They went to family: a brother and sister-in-law; a niece; and nephews. I asked them, if they were so-inclined, to share pictures of the quilts being used, and I'm happy to say my sister-in-law has been obliging. Here she is with one of her two grandsons. 

The quilt they're on is "Outer Space," 60" X 72", made in 2017. It was a QuiltCon reject.

These are both of her grandsons - my great-nephews.

The older of the two boys used two quilts to pad his horse seat - a saddle!

The second quilt is "Patriotic Pinwheel," a 24½" X 24½" quilt made for the 2017 Patriotic Painter's Palette Blog Hop. More info about it, including the free pattern I wrote, is here.

My SIL is displaying an all-batiks quilt on a very old chair, found at our grandparent's empty farmhouse. 

This 39" X 40" quilt was made in 2006. "Space Crystals" was started in a workshop with Sara Nephew, a designer known for her graphic patterns. The quilt is among the first of those I domestic machine quilted with elaborate custom quilting patterns. It earned a second-place ribbon at the Des Moines Area Quilter's Guild (Iowa) annual quilt show.  

As any maker knows, it's a nice feeling seeing one's creations in the hands of others who will enjoy, appreciate, and use them. Thank you dear SIL for making me feel that way!

Seeing the ribbon on the quilt reminds me that in addition to no longer having the quilt, I no longer have the ribbon. Parting with ribbons was one of several very difficult decisions made when we purged our household in preparation for our 2012 cross-country move from Iowa to Florida. I took this photo before putting them all in the trash. This is my only remembrance of ribbons earned from entering quilts into dozens of shows, and the Iowa State Fair. 

Book Recommendation

The Searcher by Tana French is about Cal Hooper who's recently retired from the Chicago police force. He has purchased 10 acres of land and a dilapidated farmhouse in rural Ireland, thinking to "get away from it all." He sets himself to fixing up his new home, taking long walks, and settling into the pace of the small provincial village. His suspicions are aroused when a teenager begins to hang around Cal's place. When he gets to the source of the teen's interest in him, he finds himself in an unwanted situation but he's unable to turn away.

Cal is a decent person (in spite of using profanity) and he has a thought so profound I wrote it down:
 "Never underestimate the spectacular natural wonder that is people's stupidity."

I'm probably showing my true colors by thinking that's a statement worth repeating, but I can think of so many people and situations to which this applies!

So my overall review of the book is to say... I'm not generally drawn to detective stories, but the geographic setting, the narrator's perfect Irish brogue, and my interest in the teen kept me engaged.

Linda's score: 4.0/5.0

And now, for something different... During this season of Lent, Christians are encouraged to maintain and deepen their prayer life. Reminding myself of my word of the year, "refuge," and who I am taking refuge in means making time for prayer. Pastor Mike shared this during a sermon. Maybe you'll find it helpful too. Linda

11 comments:

  1. I like the quilts this family has!!! That is a mess of ribbons...... if I ever got a ribbon I don't think I would part with it. The photo is great.... could it be the pattern to a new quilt?

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  2. Your dear, dear SIL really knows how to make a quilter happy, Linda!!! :o))

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  3. That was quite a stash of ribbons. Beautiful quilts and it's great to see your nephews using theirs.

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  4. And therein lies the joy of quiltmaking!

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  5. Nice to see your quilts in use. I'm impressed with the sheer quantity of ribbons you won. I will soon be doing the same thing with swimming and 4-H ribbons from when I was a kid. Photo documenting them and then? All part of writing my story and purging my personal mementos.

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  6. It is fun to see the quilts in their "natural setting"! Oh, the ribbons- truly they are wonderful, but what do you do with them? You had an impressive array, with more to earn I'm sure. Chuckled at the quote- my husband had a boss years ago who always said, "There's nothing worse than a man who don't know that he don't know." We've always remembered it. Nice prayer guide. I'm leading a Lenten study on Zoom about the names Jesus is known by in the Scriptures. A good time for these reminders.

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  7. Love the photos and the grandies are so cute. How nice that your family appreciates and uses the quilts. The ribbons are awesome as is your work.

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  8. So wonderful to see your beautiful quilts being used isn't it!!! And all those ribbons! How cool to at least have your photo. I had trophies and ribbons from my days of showing/raising horses...gave them to local Boy Scout group that would re'use the ribbons.

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  9. I love the outer space quilt! My quilts have all been rejected by QuiltCon despite assurance from someone :D Since I design to suit myself, that's OK.

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  10. I took a class from Sara Nephew and made that exact same quilt wall hanging actually, still not finished! I love the pattern.

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    1. Hello Surya! Your Google profile is set to "no-reply commenter," so I'm unable to respond to you personally, so I hope you see this. I agree that Sara's pattern is great. I don't recall the workshop exactly - I made the quilt SO long ago - but I like the design. Now I never make anything using batiks, but at the time, they were "hot" to use. It seems lots of quiltmakers have been finishing UFOs during the pandemic. I hope you're one of them! :-)

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