Another Quilt for Al

Kevin's been on my mind all weekend -- ever since he called to tell me that he and Shannon will be getting married November 27. So when I was wondering if I had anything to put on my quilty blog, these photos came to mind.

After Al was born, Kevin decided he should make him a quilt. I don't remember having much input -- I did offer him some jeans squares, but he decided himself on the layout and with a little bit of instruction he stitched it together.



He wasn't able to finish it before we took a trip downstate, but he got busy while we were at Sharyn & Greg's and finished it up in time to give it to Al before we left.




I think he was hoping Al would be a little more excited about it.

Sisters' Choice

When Traditions was still operating, Barb and I were persuaded to teach a quilt class. We came up with this simple pattern appropriately named Sisters' Choice. It was a bit stressful preparing for the class, but once we got going it was lots of fun working with an enthusiastic bunch of students.

(I should have edited the neighbor's refrigerator out of this shot -- I guess I've gotten so used to it I forget it's there. The camo paint job has almost completely faded away so it is more noticeable now.)

The students all did a great job on their quilts -- I'd be curious to know if any of them continued their quilting adventure.

I won't even try to list the names in the correct order because I'd mess up for sure, but my records list our students as Martha, Wendy, Lianne, Danita, Sarah, Maria, Kathryn, Sally, Cathy, Myra, Marcy, and Jennifer. Looks like Sarah didn't make it to the photo shoot.

Anniversary Quilt

I skipped over to ma’s last night and dug this quilt out of her closet. What fun it’s been to rediscover all the memories we stitched into this quilt.
The quilt was made for Mom and Dad’s 40th anniversary – June 7, 1981. Back when they had only 25 grandchildren. Thinking about that as I took pictures of the quilt made me realize how many of the grandchildren probably don’t remember ever seeing it.
The brown squares in the quilt were made by Judy, the green by Ann, the white by Barb, and I made the blue squares. We were all new to quiltmaking at that time and really had no idea what we were doing, just an idea of what we wanted to do.

If you happen to stop by Park Avenue for a visit, ask to see the quilt – it’s fun to look at each square and if it doesn’t bring any memories to mind, ask grandma to share hers.

Auntie Mary's Quilt

This Cathedral Window quilt was made by Aunt Mary and is dated January 9, 1986, which is the date she turned 82 years old. I’m not able to find a date that she started the quilt, but I’m sure it was many years in the making. It’s likely that many of the fabrics came from her own “stash,” however I do recognize a few that came from Barb and from me, so chances are she collected scraps from others also. The quilt measures 98” x 88”.








Auntie Mary was born on January 9, 1904, in Pudasjarvi, Finland, and emigrated to the United States on June 23, 1905. She died at the age of 96, on April 2, 2000. She filled many of our lives with wonderful memories. I love the memories I have of visiting her home in Big Traverse and being served fresh blueberries with real cream – yummy! It didn’t matter to her that I was probably only 5 or 6 years old – she served it up in china bowls. That must have been the start of my love of blueberries and pretty china dishes.

Calendar Quilts

In 1984, Barb and I had a plan to make "calendar quilts". Before the year began, we each picked out fabrics we would like for our quilts. She sent me her fabrics and I sent her my fabrics, saving enough to later add sashing and borders.

Every month, we would make a quilt block for each other and send it out. At the time, I was living in Walled Lake and she was in Boston Location, so it was a fun way to keep in touch. One rule we had was that the blocks all had to be pieced by hand.

For each month, we separately picked out a pattern that we felt represented that month. These are the blocks that Barb sent to me. I added the sashings and borders and assembled the quilt. Let's see if I can remember the block names and what they represented -- beginning at upper left and going to lower right.

January: Robbing Peter to Pay Paul (something many of us do in January)!
February:Amethyst (birthstone for February)
March: Weathervane
April: Double Wedding Ring
May is the logo for a quilt show we attended together at the mall in Troy -- good memories
June: Lover's Knot (Ma and Dad's anniversary)
July: Liberty Star
August: Lazy Days
September: Indian Summer
October: Devil's Claws (Halloween)
November: Turkey Tracks
December: Snowball Wreath



This next quilt is composed of the blocks I stitched and sent to Barb -- She did a beautiful job of putting them all together -- love her quilting stitches!




The blocks in this quilt are:
January - Snow Crystals
February - Arrowheads (I guess that must have made me think of cupid's arrows for Valentines)
March - Wedding Ring (for Barb & Bill's anniversary)
April - Lilies (for Easter)
May - American Tulip (memories of the Tulip Festival in Holland)
June - Memory (can't remember why;)
July - Strawberry Basket
August - County Fair
September - Best of All (for my favorite sis's birthday)
October - Love Ring (for Sweetest Day)
November - Storm at Sea (for Edmund Fitzgerald)
December - Bethlehem Star

It was always a treat to open up the mail and see what block had been made each month. We were both surprised that we never both came up with the same idea for a monthly block.

Home Alone

I enjoyed my trip home, travelling alone, and seeing a part of the state that I hadn't seen before.
After heading up I-75, I headed East just North of Bay City and drove up 13 (which changed to 23 further north). My goal was to visit the quilt shops located in that part of the state. The further north I got, the more beautiful the drive.

I stopped at quilt shops in East Tawas, Oscoda, and this charming one in Harrisville.

I headed west at Alpena hoping to visit a quilt shop in Gaylord that Sharyn's neighbor told me about, but the detour around the Gaylord business district changed my mind.

Of course, I added to my fabric stash along the way. Many of the green fabrics had already been purchased in Howell and Pinckney.

Now I patiently wait for repairs to be done on my sewing machine so I can get back to stitching.

More Grandkid Quilts

Photo's courtesy of Sharyn . I forgot my camera so she was happy to take these photos for me. She knows how to capture their personalities!