Progress on the Y2K Quilt reproduction

Difference in value

Last night I placed the border on the Y2KQ repro.  (Thanks to Anita Grossman Solomon for kindly providing the fabric!!! and to my longtime quilting buddy, Judy in Ohio, who met up with Anita at the Cincinnati quilt show and sent the fabric onward to Iowa!  You ladies are gems!)


If you remember, the repro is done with 1.25 inch squares, using a 1/8 inch seam on my vintage Singer 15-91.  The final quilt will be 40"x60" plus the border width. This is considerably (I do not exaggerate) smaller than the original which is a huge queen size.


As you can see there is considerable difference in value between the replacement border fabric and the original, so I felt the black inner border might blend too well with the new "2000" fabric.

Border on the repro...will bind in black

Instead I used a rather neutral fabric from my "recycled shirt" stash.  I admit, I put a few shirt squares in the quilt, too, wherever I could fit them in.  I just cannot get away from my shirt addiction. lol


I plan to baste today, hopefully. I had chemo yesterday and still have some extra energy from the steroid they infuse with the chemo.  If so, I will begin handquilting.

The original Y2KQ border

I debated hand quilting vs machine quilting (mine or professional) and decided on HQ.  Many days I do not have the gumption to sit at my machine. Secondly, I worried that MQ might not set off the quilt as well as "quiet hand quilting" might do.  Thirdly, on my more tired days I can still sit in the recliner and hand quilt. Fourthly, the original is hand quilted.


I think a black binding will be the best.


So what have YOU been doing for creative recreation?

Upon Which I Duplicate my Y2K Quilt in Miniature

2000 1-inch squares of fabric

In 1999 I did a crazy thing.  I was a member of an online quilting forum and we began swapping packets of 2.5 inch assorted fabrics to make a 2000-piece Y2K (Year 2000) Quilt.  It was a huge success and if you google "y2k quilt" you will come up with remarkable quilts.


A few months ago I decided to reproduce my own Y2KQ in a smaller format. The original is a huge queen size. I wanted a smaller size to use as a wall quilt (art quilt). And I had plenty (shall I say PLENTY) of squares of fabric still in my stash.


Well, the 2000 pieces of my reproduction are now stitched together...almost...it is pinned to the wall in four sections so I still need to sew three horizontal seams. The original,  completed in 1999, consisted of squares 2-inches in size after stitching. The repro is done in 1-inch squares and finishes to 40 x 50 inches.  (The design is my original design.)


I still need to add the border.

My original was featured here.

My original was featured in the Spring 2001 issue of QUILT magazine along with my graphed pattern.  And it was part of a special exhibit of the Y2K quilts at the Houston Quilt show in 1999.  You can read about that exhibit here.


I still have squares left over.  And a quilting buddy in Canada can look for a packet of 950 squares in the mail to make her own Y2K quilt. As she mentioned in an email to me, she considers this a "masochistic plan". 

Vintage Singer Model 15-91 in Queen Anne cabinett

 In the meantime, I'm cleaning up my cutting table...I have a huge pile of "leavings" after cutting 2000 squares down to size.  I cut at 1.25" and used 1/8 inch seams. It was easy to do as my vintage Singer 15-91 has a 1/8 inch pressure foot. Perfect!  This has been my most used machine over the years for it is durable, easy to maintain, has great speed, and with a darning foot, I have used it to machine-quilt many a quilt.  The only maintenance I do on it is to clean and oil it periodically....no trips to the shop to pay someone else to do that...it is an easy task.  I love this machine!

The Quilting Biddies Have an Evening of Laughter

I was reading some old journal entries today and came upon these notes I jotted down nearly twenty years ago.  Several of us had decided to form a small quilting group and met on a regular basis at each other's homes.  Here's the conversation from one such meeting as near as I could record it.  There's actually more, but due to space, decided to omit about half the evening.
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She had been talking and telling stories. She was a natural story-teller.  The others could not keep from laughing as she spun the words, rolled her eyes, waved her hands.

"They sent his ashes home to me."  She was talking about her deceased brother-in-law.

"Did they send them UPS?"

"No, Federal Express."

"Did they insure them?"

"No, but I had to sign for them. And they wanted me to sprinkle them around the tree in the yard where they used to live."  She made a circle with her hand around an imaginary tree.

They were laughing and couldn't stop.

"But I didn't want to go down and ask the people who live there now. They'd think I was crazy."

More laughter.

"And I didn't want to go down in the middle of the night and sprinkle them like that."

Remarks and laughter.

"I told my sister I didn't think it was even legal. And I could just hear Jess if he was alive gettin' after me. He'd do that, you know, and just go on and on about it. And I wouldn't be able to sleep for days when he did that."

"So I told my sister, I said, why don't I just take them out to Blue Lake. It's nice out there. He'd like it out there. But she said, no,  she didn't want him out at Blue Lake. So I said, well, what about the Loess Hills. It's really nice out there with all those trees and things. But my sister didn't want that, either."

The others were rolling with laughter. Everytime she said something new, they laughed. She couldn't even finish a sentence before they were laughing afresh.

"So, finally, my brother came and we took the ashes out to the Missouri River. And that's what we ended up doing. He's probably spread over several states by now."

They laughed and someone asked, "Tell us about the Aztec casket."

"Well, I was down there (in Mexico for the winter) with my sister when her husband died. He was six foot six. He was a retired federal judge. And she and I were putting him into this casket."

"He died in Mexico?"

"Yes, and they wouldn't let her bring him back. We were putting him in this casket and it was too small for him. Everytime we would get his head in place so the lid would go on, his feet would stick up. And everytime we would get his feet down in place, well, then his head would go up. And we were having a terrible time. And he was beginning to get stiff."

She stretched out the story.

"And finally I crossed his legs like this." She stuck her legs out in front of the chair and crossed them at the ankles and flexed her knees slightly.

"And my sister was already upset at me. We'd been going round and round already. And I had made her put on his socks. But I said, 'Well, what else can we do?' And so we finally got him in there in just such a way that we could close the lid.

"And we were standing there with the lid shut and my sister said, 'Well I just don't like it. Not with his legs like that. It's just not right.' And I said, 'Well, he's not going to a dance you know.' And we both just busted out laughing."

Someone else spoke. "I didn't know we were going to spend the evening talking about death."

They were all laughing. Except the one at the end of the table. She was trying. But you could tell she didn't think this was as funny as the rest of them thought.

"She doesn't like to deal with death."

"Well, we all have to, you know. And its healthier to laugh about it."

"Yeah, you know, sometimes that's where you hear the funniest stories about people is at the meal after a funeral."

"Well, that's how people deal with it."

The talk shifted to the reason for the meeting ... quilts.

"How did you make that star quilt. The one with the black? Do you have a pattern? I'd sure love to have it."

"Well, you just use a diamond shape. For all the pieces, even the black."

"No, that wasn't the same pattern. It wasn't separate stars like this photo. You couldn't tell where one star left and another started. They weren't side by side. They kinda overlapped."

"Well, you could do that with this pattern. You just make one star like this out of the fabrics you want and then the other star lies right here and you use a fabric that would go with the first one so that depending on how you looked at it, you see stars."

"Do you all want tea or would some of you like water?"

She brought in tea and then she brought in plates with angelfood cake and strawberries.  There was a fork on each plate and one of them wondered how she'd be able to slurp up the strawberry juice with her fork. She looked again at her plate and decided that perhaps the cake would help soak up the red juice.  She liked the juice and didn't want to leave it on the plate.

"These plates are so pretty! They're just lovely." They all admired the painted china.

One of them risked spilling the juice and held her plate up high enough to see the bottom. If she knew that was improper etiquette she ignored the idea. "Don't break 'em, ladies, they're numbered and dated. These are really nice plates."

They all oohed and aahed and the discussion turned to plates and children and grandchildren.

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Three Little Ladies Find New Homes

One of the side-effects of having cancer is that you realize it's time to down-size things in your life. So I'm lightening the load, downsizing, getting rid of "stuff".


In the past week three vintage sewing machines have left our house to take up residence elsewhere.


"Three?" you ask?


Yes, three. And I still have four left. Maybe five, but I can't remember what I did with that fifth one.


Once upon a time I had thirteen. Now I'm down to four (or is it five? Where IS that fifth machine???)


That teal green machine? That's a 1950-ish Viking Automatic 21. Beautiful zigzag stitches. Made in Sweden. Heavy, heavy, heavy. Manufactured before they began using those dratted plastic gears. Everything was metal on this baby. Made to last. This machine has an open arm making it extremely easy to stitch cuffs, hem pant legs, etc. It also has a small work surface that snaps into place when you don't need the open arm. Cool! This machine has been affectionately named "Ingrid" because of her Swedish heritage.


The black one? That's a Singer 201. I named it "Leona" after its original owner. Probably manufactured in 1940-1950. This was a gear-driven (versus belt-driven) machine that had plenty of power and speed. No zigzag, though. Just a straight-stitching machine that, if kept cleaned and oiled, will perform forever. Quilters love this machine because it will sew and sew and sew. And when you are not quilting, it will tackle hemming blue jeans with ease.


And the two-tone? That's a Singer 301A, manufactured probably in the 1960s. I could look up the serial numbers and be able to pinpoint the manufacture date a little closer, but I'm too lazy to do that. The 301 is a straight-stitch only machine. It's beauty lies in its light weight...approximately eleven pounds. AND it has a nifty, fold-down handle on top. This model came in three colors, black, taupe, and the two-tone you see here. Like the 201, it is a gear-driven machine...no belt. Plenty of power. Plenty of speed. Quilters love this machine because it is so handy to carry to quilting class.


So what do I have left in the house? A Singer 15-91 (my main machine), a Singer 403 (my only zigzag machine), a Singer 221 Featherweight (which I will probably never get rid of...it was a gift from Hubby), and a Singer 66 in an oak parlor cabinet (a gift from a quilting buddy in Ohio).


Oh, yeah, the fifth. I had two Singer 301s. I think I took that one to the thrift shop. But no matter...I know where there is a third Singer 301 just like it that wants to come live at my house.

Dancing in the Night and Doing a 180

I dunno what was up with the blankets last night. I had a difficult time maintaining control. Somehow during the night they did a complete 180. All three of them. I'm thinking they had a fine time, dancing and twisting, flying up in the air and rotating before landing again atop my semi-sleeping self. It must have been quite a sight!

Tossing and turning myself, I continue to struggle with a rash that is a side-effect of the drug Avastin. Sometimes the rash is quiet. I do not notice it. Other times one area of my body will begin an intense burning/itching. The palms of my hands insist on a repeat performance of heavy itching every morning.

The Avastin is a relatively new drug in terms of treating ovarian cancer. When I experienced recurrence in January my new oncologist (Dr. W) put me right back on carboplatin and paclitaxel which were the drugs used the first time round. And he added avastin to the mix. I finished the six rounds of carbo/taxol in July and have continued with the avastin every 3rd week since.

Dr. W (should I call him Dr. Who?) would like me to stay on the avastin. But I dunno how long I can continue with the rash symptom. Neither antihistamines nor steroid creams seem to help.

On the other hand, with a clean PET/CT scan in August and again in November I'm reluctant to give up on the drug. The current statistics show longer remissions for those who continue on the drug. It's not a cure-all. But it does extend the time of non-recurrence.

So I'm hanging in there. And I'll tuck my blankets in a bit more securely when I make the bed today.

As for Thanksgiving? I'm thankful for today's medical profession. And I'm thankful for family. Most of all I'm thankful that I can trust all to a loving God...one who provides for His people all that they need here and in the hereafter.

Disclaimer: For any readers who may be using the drug Avastin, my rash is an unusual side-effect of the drug. Don't let my experience cause you apprehension about treatment with Avastin.
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About Avastin, Quilts and John Owen

None of the items in today's title are related. Not in any way. Except that they are part of my experience today.

Even though I don't really consider today's treatment "chemo", that's where I'm headed. Chemo. Actually I'm getting an infusion of avastin into my Power Port. I'll be in the chair for at least three hours while the drugs trickle into my veins.

The avastin doesn't really affect me except I am highly suspicious that the drug is causing the light rash that began slowly in March and is a continual aggravation. There are little pin dots of single hives here and there. All over. Except for my face! Oh, I am thankful for no rash on my face! What's the biggy, you ask? They itch, Folks! They itch!

Along with the avastin I get pre-meds...decadron, aloxi, benedryl, and zantac. None of this five-drug cocktail seems to bother me (other than the aforementioned rash) except the decadron. Oh, Man! That Decadron! It has me in a whirl for the next couple of days, boosting my energy level, AND my vocabulary level. UNTIL! Until I CRASH somewhere around mid-Sunday.

But chemo is not what I meant to write about. I'm writing about my just completed quilt. You can see it in its pre-completed form by clicking here.

I make quilts. I make quilts from recycled cotton shirts and blouses. I was making them before Bonnie Hunter (a woman who makes lovely shirt quilts and writes books about them!) began making them and I have several in the closet. And another waiting to be quilted.

(If you like vintage sewing machines, you can click on the photo of this 1940s Singer 201 which is much beloved by quilters for its reliability and power...and perhaps because of the aura of being "old-fashioned". Oil this baby and keep the bobbin area free of lint and dust and it will run forever! Well...perhaps not into Eternity itself, but you get the picture. The Queen Anne cabinet is pretty nifty itself.) Ooops...edit here. This is a Singer 15-91, not a 201. My error! I do have a 201...it sits on a shelf in the basement.

This double 4-Patch is the shirt quilt I finished last night. I especially like the striped binding. Actually I would have preferred a plaid fabric for the binding but didn't have a plaid shirt in a color suitable. So stripes it is. (The corner of the quilt is folded back over the backing which is a Calvin Klein cotton sheet - 80 percent off sale - that works great with the masculine shirt fabs.)

Hope your day is great. I'll be reading in the chemo chair...I'm taking John Owen's work on the Holy Spirit with me and will enjoy digging into his thoughts...until the benadryl kicks in...at which time I will have a good nap.
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Upon Which I Am Published...And I Didn't Even Ask!!!

Although I seldom do much quilting these days, there were several years when quilting was a passion. Now and then I still have a yen to put together some fabrics...usually recycled shirt fabrics...into a quilt. But these days the yen doesn't seem to move from my brain cells to my sewing machine. Other things are more important on my mind.

Still...it was quite exciting when I was recently approached by Marina and Daryl of Quilt Inspiration asking for permission to include a couple of my shirt quilts in today's article on quilts from recycled clothing. (This quilt is not shown there but two others are.)

Their previous articles have impressed me in terms of scope, creativity, and effort! They have spent considerable time researching, gathering, writing. So when they asked if they could feature a couple of my quilts, I fell on the floor and nearly begged, "Oh, please do!" Not wishing to grovel, however, I managed to remain calm. And while I can't remember how I worded my emailed response, I'm certain it was full of graceful decorum...they had no clue I was reaching up from the floor to type my email.

So if you love quilts (or if you are just plain curious) go to their article posted today..."Waste not, want not; Quilts from reclaimed clothing". You will be amazed at the creativity of today's quilters.

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The Old is Made New

One of the benefits of last week's window replacement was that the upheaval put me into "clean deep" mode. That mode is where you vacuum more than the main portion of the carpet...you move furniture; you use the brush attachment to clean along the edges of the room; things get put away where they belong; the cleaning goes deep. It takes time to deep clean but when it's done? Oh! how good it feels!

The worst room in our house is my sewing room which also serves as my office and which contains a twin bed for the occasional guest. Last week this room got a much-needed deep clean. And to celebrate I put away the heavy quilt and put a light-weight vintage quilt on the bed for the summer.

About ten years ago I found a vintage quilt top (a Double Wedding Ring pattern) at a yard sale in the City. Judging by the fabrics I'd say this quilt was pieced together in the late 1930s or early 1940s. And then, for whatever reason, the quilter placed this top aside, folding it carefully, keeping it safely on a closet shelf for the next 60 years. There it lay, hidden away, waiting for me.

The quilt top became mine. I wanted it to be as authentic to the 1930s as possible so I used a very thin cotton batting and hand quilted it in the style of that time.

I was mildly surprised to notice in these photos that I missed completing the cross-hatching in one white area. I thought this quilt was finished! But, no, it needs a couple more hours of work to be done. If you click the photos you can get a closer view.

I won't show you the old version of this corner of the room. No, I'm reluctant to do that. But I do hope you enjoy the new, cleaned up version.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Upon How I Enjoy A Lovely Antique!

I'm still playing with my treadle sewing machine Singer 66-1, aka Elizabeth Redeye by myself and now by you. I finally bought some sewing machine oil and oiled the machine this evening.

This machine is precision machined and after oiling, Oh! does it runs smooooth! A flick of the wrist on the handwheel and it purrs. I mean it Purrs! But so silently one would never hear.

The old vintage Singers are simple to maintain. A single drop of oil at every moving part. That's it, Folks! Unless, of course, you jam a needle against a button or zipper hard enough to put the thing out of timing, but frankly, I've been sewing on this and other machines since I was 10 years old and I've never had to adjust the timing. This is not an automobile, after all! This is a Singer with a Capital S! And this particular model has never suffered a recall by its manufacturer...even if it did sew though my thumbnail once.

Basically, with vintage machines, just read the manual and oil where directed. If you don't have a manual, open up the machine everywhere that you can open it, and put a single drop of sewing machine oil on each moving part. You can click on the photos to see what I mean...I've marked key areas with a green arrow. (You can usually google your Singer and Model number and find an online manual or instructions.) You can click here for one informative vintage Singer site.

Now and then one might become a bit frustrated if the needle has been placed in backwards...which I confess that I have done...but that is easily remedied by reading the manual for the particular machine...not all machines are the same in this respect.

I changed my mind on the fabrics that I will be stitching together. So last night I cut some extra to go with them. I'll show a pic when I get them assembled.

I need to get this posted...I'm off to do my chemo this morning. And this afternoon I'll be napping...the Benadryl, you know. Later I'll have all kinds of energy...the steroids, you know.


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Elizabeth Redeye, a Story of Friends, Grandmothers, and a Singer From Long Ago

Nearly thirty years ago my mother's house burned to the ground. A handful of photos, tucked inside a tin container, survived. One of those photos sits on my desk, its edges blackened, its color faded. In the photo my brother, home from Vietnam and sporting a new beard, stands at my mother's ironing board, pressing a shirt. Yah, apron or no apron, he's macho, but he knows how to do a mean press. (Click on the photo for a closer look) Behind him against the wall stands her sewing machine, a handsome Singer treadle Model 66-1 in its tiger-oak "drawing room cabinet". Fanciful decals adorn its black paint. That photo is all that remains of that machine. (The rest of these photos are of Elizabeth Redeye, the real subject of this post.)

I learned to sew on that machine, beginning with doll dresses and progressing to dresses for myself. Once while treadling at a furious speed I sewed through the tip of my thumb, breaking the needle. The lesson was well-learned and thereafter I kept my fingers a safe distance from the pressure foot.

The left side of the cabinet held five drawers hidden behind a vertical door. I often rummaged through those drawers, fingering half-used spools of thread or admiring the metal attachments.

My mother showed me how to lay fabric out on the dining room table and to hold the pattern in place with heavy coffee mugs. Later, in Home Economics class, I learned how to straighten the grain of fabric, press properly, and make a variety of seams. Even after I moved away from home I sewed most of my clothing. First on a black Singer sewing machine purchased at a thrift shop. Then on a vintage Kenmore purchased at a neighbor's auction.

Then I began making quilts. And I began finding vintage Singer machines at yard sales. Several of them! I had become a "collector". And I learned how to take them apart, clean and oil, and adjust a fine stitch.

About 1999 I met a fellow quilter in Ohio via the internet. We emailed daily, chattering about our quilts and various other things in our daily lives. I admired her bold use of bright batiks and she exclaimed over the precision of my piecing. We each love our vintage Singer machines. She named her 1948 Singer 201 "Cecil Faye" in honor of two grandmothers. I named mine "Leona" after its previous owner, an elderly neighbor.

And then my Ohio email buddy sent a photo of a Singer treadle she had purchased in years past. I oohed and aahed and admired, for it was almost a duplicate of the one upon which I learned to sew. She had named the machine "Elizabeth Redeye" (Elizabeth for the eight Elizabeths in her family tree and Redeye for its red decals). And then that woman (who loves stirring up trouble) made an offer which I was certain I would never be able to accept. She said that if I ever showed up on her doorstep in Ohio the machine was mine. At that time I lived in California. As much as I coveted (yes, that's the word!) that machine, the 2600 miles that separated us just seemed too much.

Then, on that fateful Tuesday in September 2001, I was visiting my daughter in Minnesota when the Towers fell. She and I spent the next several days glued to the news. Although the airlines were shut down for days I managed to board my scheduled flight on Saturday and flew home to California. The fellow seated on my right, a New Zealander, had been near the World Trade Centers. He had been evacuated from his hotel and had lost everything...luggage, clothing, computer, passport. He had to acquire a temporary passport at the NZ consulate in order to return home. He was shaken. Who wouldn't be? Our world had changed. We all changed. Over the next two years I experienced an unsettling, a feeling of having lost control over the events of my life. I went about my days with a small nag of trepidation affecting all that I did.

In the midst of all this ensuing uncertainty a thought came to me. I would drive to Ohio. I could take control of this much of my life. I would go off on a 2600 mile adventure and do it by myself. My hubby gave me his blessing to drive his shiny silver pickup to my friend's house and home again. (Trusting soul, he!)

When I showed up on her doorstep my friend had a welcome sign on the front lawn. We laughed as we met each other face-to-face for the first time. We had a long list of things to do during the three-day visit. We made a trip to a nearby quilt shop in a barn, a huge place with tall rows of bolts of fabric, a paradise for quilters. She cooked her favorite chili. We played on her quilting machine. We had tea with a group of other Ohio quilters that we had met online. We laughed and giggled and played with fabric.

In our emails my friend's words had been witty and full of anecdotes of family and home. I had imagined her voice as a slow drawl and instead her words were quick and as wise and funny face-to-face as she had been in her emails. I met her family. I met her cat. We toured her flower garden. She showed me the finely crafted cabinet her wood-working hubby had made for Cecil Faye, her Singer 201. Oh, my, that man knows how to work wood. Drawers galore. Wide sewing surface. Cecil Faye is much loved.

And my friend presented me with Elizabeth Redeye. The machine was simply gorgeous and only my best manners kept me from jumping up and down with excitement. She, her husband, and I managed to load Elizabeth into the back of my husband's pickup, making certain she was stable and secure, protected from the elements under the topper for her long journey.

My 2600-mile trip home was an adventure in "I can do it". A silver-haired grandma, driving a shiny pickup toting a vintage Singer treadle, radio blaring loud, pumping my own gas, reading maps, guzzling coffee and diet Pepsi, braving heavy traffic in large cities, proving nothing to anyone except to myself.

As I pressed westward I imagined the women who traveled at yesteryear's pace in wagons drawn by horses or oxen, their scant sewing supplies tucked in a trunk or perhaps ready at hand to sew a few stitches at a moment's notice, stitches that might provide practical things as well as things of beauty. I thought of trail dust and of precious belongings left behind or cast aside as wagons needed their loads lightened. I felt a kinship with these women, knowing that life today brings its own hardship and travail.

Elizabeth Redeye now sits in my living room. She is a reminder of the generosity of a friend, of my sewing past, and of lives long past of grandmothers and great-grandmothers. It is good to sit down with Elizabeth, to quiet the noise of daily life to a soft hum, no louder than the noise of a treadle sewing machine. This week Elizabeth will be sewing together more squares of fabric for Project Linus. Her previous owner, in Ohio, is a PL coordinator and the product of Elizabeth's efforts will be mailed to Ohio.

(The age of vintage Singer sewing machines can be determined by the Serial number. This particular Model No. 66-1 was manufactured somewhere around 1910 or soon thereafter. The original instruction manual is "Form 7876 Reissue March 9, 1911". The oak parlor cabinet, or drawing room cabinet, as it was called is a Model 21.

This particular cabinet has a spring-loaded lift mechanism. Touch a small button on the front of the cabinet and the machine lifts to its sewing position. Pretty nifty. Tucked away in the drawers are a complete set of attachments for fancy sewing...a subject for another time.)

It's About Time! or Thankfully, It's Finally Done!

It took me two years to make this quilt...not that I worked on it full-time. Quilting has evolved from a "passion" with me to "handwork to pick up now and then".

I pieced this quilt on my trusty Singer 403, circa 1960, about a year and a half ago. In the closet, high on a shelf, sat several batts. One of those was a Hobbs wool batt that I had been yearning for years to try. I'd heard so many comments that for hand quilting it "quilts like butter". I'd previously used Hobb's Heirloom 80/20 as well as Dream Cotton's "Request", both of which hand quilt very nicely. But I had a yen to try the wool. So I purchased the wool batt...about ten years ago and there it sat. On the shelf. Unused for ten years. (call me a procrastinator)

Well! Over a year ago I layered my latest shirt quilt using the wool batt. For a backing I used a name brand cotton sheet that I found at Younkers for 75 percent off. Ralph Lauren brand??? Can't remember. But it was 100 percent cotton (which I desired) and it was large enough that I would not have to stitch together smaller fabrics to make a piece large enough for a backing. And I began hand quilting using a saucer, a cereal bowl and a cup from my dinnerware for the "templates".

This poor quilt has had numerous hiccups along the way. Last January I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Talk about a roller coast of an adventure...not as exciting, of course, but certainly a lot of ups and downs. Needless to say, I had no motivation to quilt. Hah! My preferred activity was lying on the sofa, staring at the ceiling, thinking I really should get up and do SomeThing! Then rolling over to the other end of the sofa, and staring some more. It's easy to look back on it now and think, "It wasn't so bad!" But it was. Not as bad as some have it, but bad. And before I (and you) get maudlin, I want to add that all went well, I finished chemo in July, and I feel better now than I did a year ago before my diagnosis. God grant me that this continues.

Another hiccup was that, forgetting that my dishes were my templates, I gave away that particular set of dishes and put my old set back in the cupboard. The next day I went to trace the quilting design on another area of the quilt and remembered that my templates now resided next door! Probably on Joyce's breakfast table. Do you think I went next door and asked for a plate, a soup bowl and a cup? No, I couldn't bear to confess and instead dug around in the cupboard until I found dishes that were "close" in size. Betcha can't tell by looking at the quilt. (big smile)

Aw, got to wandering there. I started to say that during those months of chemo I picked up this quilt a couple times and forced myself to quilt a block or two. But progress was slow. Then in August, after treatment was done, I began quilting in earnest again and I finished the binding just yesterday! It's a largish sofa size nap quilt.

I told a friend yesterday I have no inclination to make another quilt. Instead of quilt pox I now have quilt lethargy (even though I myself am not lethargic). But that's not quite true. I'd love to recreate my Y2K quilt in smaller form. (You can see my Y2K quilt here.) My DD loves that quilt and would like to hang it in her home. But the thing is huge! About 86x96 inches! And she doesn't have a wall large enough for an appropriate display! (Well, she Does have a wall large enough but we haven't figured out how to climb high enough to hang the thing!) So I'd like to recreate it using 2-inch squares instead of 2.5 inch pieces. I have a rubbermaid box full of 2.5 inch fabs, cut from my stash long ago. I'd have to trim them down and I'd like to sew them on my treadle which was fondly named Elizabeth Redeye by its previous owner.

I've had my coffee this morning, but not yet my oatmeal. Coffee makes me jabber. Whether in your ear or on this blog. The oatmeal is in the microwave...time to eat. And if you want to check out my WhiteStone blog (separate from the WWQP-BB, click here. Love to see you there.

P.S. Yes, the wool batt was a pleasure to handquilt. Even though the shirt fabrics have a very high thread count in comparison to shop fabrics, I was still able to needle fairly easily. With Q shop fabric, I know it would have stitched smoother still. Now I need to make a label with care instructions.

Jacob's Ladder? What's That?

This quaint quilt was the first quilt I made using a "real pattern". And this quilt book (copy thereof) was the first quilt book I ever purchased. This was in the 1970s and I had made some scrap quilts but I wanted to sew a "real quilt". The pattern in 101 Patchwork Patterns by Ruby McKim was not the pattern of today with complete cutting and sewing instructions. No, it was a simple line drawing. I traced the pattern pieces onto cardboard template. I was faithful to her suggestions of color for I wanted this quilt to appear as she might have made it in the 1930s. Compared to some of today's quilts this one is pretty simple. But I love it for its simplicity. (Don't forget, you can click on photos for a larger view.)

This pattern is called "Jacob's Ladder". You might be interested to know that many of the quilts sewn by our grandmothers and great-grandmothers were made up of blocks with Biblical sounding names. For the most part their homes were Christian homes and their choice of patterns reflected that fact. In this book alone I find Cross and Crown, Dove in the Window, Grandmother's Cross, Greek Cross, Jacob's Ladder, King's Crown, and Palm Leaf. I've also seen patterns called Job's Tears, Job's Troubles, Joseph's Coat, Caesar's Crown, King Solomon's Temple, Armegeddon, Balm of Gilead, Crosses and Losses, Rose of Sharon, Tree of Life, and Tree Everlasting. The list goes on.

So what is so Biblical about Jacob's Ladder, you might ask. Oh, I'm glad you asked!

In the book of Genesis Jacob spends a night outdoors while traveling from Beersheba towards Haran. (He's going there to find a wife.) His campsite must have been a bit primitive for he used a stone as a pillow. Eww, that must have been comfy! During the night in the dream he saw a ladder extending from earth to heaven. On the ladder angels were ascending and descending (traveling up and traveling down) between heaven and earth. At the top of the ladder, the LORD spoke to him. (Genesis 28:13-15) Specifically in verse 14 the Lord says this..."in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed."

Now you might think this was an ordinary and not a significant dream. So he had a dream! So he dreamt about angels! So the Lord speaks to him in his dream! Soooo???? Aha! I thought you'd never ask!

Let's look at John 1:51 where Jesus speaks to the brand-new disciple, Nathanael, who is astounded that Jesus knows him when he himself has never met Jesus. Jesus tells him, "Truly, truly (which means, Listen up, I'm telling you something true and I'm telling you something important), I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Jesus is saying that He is the ladder, so to speak. It is because of Him and through Him and for Him that the angels serve mankind. He, Himself, is the ladder, the only access, the one through whom we have access to heaven and to the Father. He is the mediator, the intercessor, the path, the way. He says it Himself in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."

You might ask, "How can that be?" Aha! You ask very good questions!

John the disciple tells us this in 1 John 2:1-2, "....we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins...."

Stop! Don't ask! I'm one step ahead of you. The word propitiation means "satisfaction". Jesus' death on the cross satisfied the law's demand that death is ours due to sin. Do you remember in Genesis 3 where Adam deliberately disobeyed God's single command to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? God had told him that when he ate, he would surely die. And he did. Spiritual separation from the Source of Life, God Himself, occurred when Adam turned his back and deliberately followed Satan rather than God. Spiritual death occurred. And physical death came upon him. Oh, he continued to be physically alive, but death was his, and after he had lived his allotted time, he died.

You and I are subject to death as well. Why? Because when Adam died, we died. Death became ours. As Adam's children we are born in his condition of sin. You sin. I sin. We are all subject to the penalty for sin which is death. EXCEPT! Except that Jesus took our collective sin upon Himself at the cross. He died our death. He "satisfied" the demand of the law. And in return! Oh, this is the good and gracious part! In return he gave us His righteousness. To all who trust in Him. To all who are His. In John 5:24, Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him (that's God the Father) who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life."

There is only one mediator (one ladder) between sinful man and the Creator God. And that is Jesus Christ who took upon himself our death and offers us His righteousness so that when we stand before God on judgment day, we are counted as being clean. Jesus is the ladder in Jacob's dream. He is our access to heaven.

Oh! By the way! If you are a quilter you can go to www.mckimstudios.com to read more about Ruby Short McKim and find reprints of her quilt patterns. As I say, her's are very simple instructions and you may have to adjust quilt sizes for today's queen beds. And I'll bet you can adjust the patterns to today's new cutting techniques.

Bless you!

Just a Minor Diversion

This is just a minor diversion in today's events. I hope you will not think me light-headed when I shift abruptly from my previous post to this one. It is a wonder of today's time that we pack a laptop wherever we go and hence, even in the midst of the most unusual day, we can do the usual. (She said with a smile.)

I've been quilting for nearly twenty years. There were a handful of quilts prior to that but I didn't yet consider myself a "quilter". In those twenty years I've made a ton of quilts...mostly of my own design...mostly using traditional blocks. It's not that I don't admire the patterns and the new ideas of today's quilt shops...it's just that somehow my favorite quilts are those that look vintage. And about seven years ago I began a series of shirt quilts.

I think it all started one afternoon at a garage sale. There were four men's dress shirts hanging on a rack. The fabric was 100 percent cotton and I sez to myself, "Why not?" Since then I've purchased a ton of shirts...shirts made by name brand companies and whose fabric is the finest.

This 4-patch in a square in a square is based on a vintage quilt that I found on eBay. I didn't buy the quilt...but the pattern was simple enough to recreate with my shirt stash. The stripey border? Yep, a man's shirt. Such a simple pattern to make such a lovely quilt.

P.S. Check the armpits on those shirts. If they stinketh, pass them by!

Hand Quilting with a Wool Batt

I've been taking a Sabbatical of sorts from quilting. Somehow I hadn't done a lot of quilting for the past two years...too many other things in life along with lack of enthusiasm.

I've had a Hobbs wool batt in the closet for about ten years. (In the last ten years we've moved three times!) The first cold days in November I decided to get out that wool batt and use it on a twin-size shirt quilt. I've always machine-quilted my shirt quilts but somehow couldn't bring myself to remove the computer printer from atop the cabinet where my 'main quilting machine', a vintage 1950s Singer 15-91, is tucked away.

That is a strange sort of "lazy". Instead I'm hand-quilting this one. (I didn't say I had a good sense of reason!) I had heard that wool batts are very easy to needle and I must admit I believe that is true. For in spite of the high thread-count of all-cotton shirt fabrics, this hand quilting is going along very nicely. (Click on the photo for a closeup)

I thumbed through my quilt templates and decided, 'No, I don't want to do some tedious fancy quilting.' So instead, I'm using a salad plate, a bread plate and a cup to draw the circles (plus stitching again 1/4 inch from two of the circles. Nothing fancy, mind you, but I'm going to have a warm nap quilt when I am done. About July 2009 just when I need one.

Proverbs 31, Verse 22. (She quoted with a smile.)

P.S. You may think I'm crazy for quilting with cotton fabrics gleaned from slightly used men's shirt quilts. But I'm not the only one with this idea...you can read about Bonnie K. Hunter and her book, 'Scraps & Shirttails" here. Tell her I sent ya! AND! If you click here you can see my previous Shirt Quilt posts.

The John C. Michael Co., Chicago, Illinois, and his "Mickey" Cut-To-Size Quilt Patches --- or quilts from the 1930s

Many vintage quilts from the 1930s were created from pre-cut quilt kits that were ordered by mail from various companies. Today my daughter gave me this little 1930s catalog by John C. Michael Co., Chicago, Illinois. The 51 page booklet describes pre-cut quilt patches for various popular quilt patterns of that era. Item No. 28 is a Grandmother's Flower Garden. I quote..."It is composed of approximately 3600 hexagon patches which make 72 different blocks of flowered prints and plain color with a row of white around each colored center and dividing patches and border of green......the finished quilt top measures 68x90, straight at the top and bottom and the scalloped edges on the sides..." And, Quilters, get this! The total price is $5.00 post paid. If that seems a little steep, the quilter could buddy up with friends to combine orders for a 10 percent discount on all orders of $10 or over shipped at one time to one address. (Click on the photos for larger views.)

The back of the booklet features a photo of John C. Michael and his seven sons. The fellow had a sense of humor...the back of the booklet mentions his seven sons and "not a quilter" amongst them.

Neither John C. nor his sons were quilters but I'll bet a ton of quilts were produced from their "cut-to-size quilt patches". And it's possible that your vintage 1930s Grandmother's Flower Garden or Trip Around the World or some other 1930s quilt was made from a mail-order kit.

Bunbury Red is the Name

It's about time to post a quilty post.

In 2006 an online quilting buddy and I entered a quilt challenge from a quilt guild in Australia. We each purchased a small packet of challenge fabrics and went to work on our original designs. It was great fun, partly because I had just the right fabrics on hand to add to the challenge fabrics and did not have to make a trip to the local quilt shop. The size is approx 24 x 24 inches and it hangs as a wall quilt in my sewing room. You can see entries from several years here.

I didn't expect to win any prizes (and I didn't!! LOL) but it was great fun to put this little quilt in the mail, ship it off to Australia, knowing it would be hanging with entries from all over the world.

Don't you agree that red, black and white are great quilt colors? I named my entry Bunbury Red.

My Dolly Has a Vintage Postage Stamp Charm Quilt

I love quilts. And in particular I love vintage quilts and the fabrics used in them.

A couple years ago I found these vintage shirting fabric samples in a box of linens purchased at an auction. A tiny tag indicated they were samples of fabric sold by Davidson Brothers Company, a department store established in Sioux City, Iowa in 1884. The potential buyer (who probably sewed nearly every shirt and dress worn by her family) could thumb through the samples and choose which ones she would purchase. These samples probably date to about 1900 or thereabouts.

The samples in this little bundle were perfect for a postage stamp quilt. I carefully washed, pressed and trimmed them to a uniform size. From old quilt blocks and scraps I selected other fabrics including indigo blues, black fabrics, and the burgundy or magenta reds from the same era. Then I stitched them together using my treadle sewing machine (I have multiple old sewing machines and love using them!)

In keeping with the vintage theme I decided the backing should be vintage also, so I dug down into my stash of strange items and found an old cotton flour sack. The binding was pieced from vintage scraps, too, some of which were only a few inches in size. The batting is 100 percent cotton.

I'm not a doll collector but this American Girl doll was such a bargain at a yard sale that I couldn't resist bringing her home. She has two more dresses in the basket.

The blanket looks as if it were made for her, don't you think?

Don't forget that you can click on photos for a closeup view.
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Sparse Sewing Times

Wow! Events beyond my control have prevented me from sitting down in front of my sewing machine for even a few moments. Today won't be much better. My current project is a 4-Patch quilt made from shirt fabrics and I'm stitching the 4-Patches first. Then I will assemble them in a manner similar to this quilt which I completed several years ago..

Postage Stamp Basket Quilt Block

Isn't this a nifty quilt block? It measures a mere 4.5 inches finished size. I made it yesterday. However, I've already made one quilt using this block and will probably not make another. So this Postage Stamp Basket Quilt block hangs pinned to the curtain for its decorative effect...and perhaps to entice me to make another...and another...and...No! I'm not going there! There are too many other tasks today!

You, however, may have time on your hands. If you do and if you are intrigued by this pattern, you can read Alex Anderson's instruction at this website.

This is a great pattern for scraps. Each basket takes two pieces of fabric, one light, one dark, each 6"x8" in size.

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I'm Still in Love!!!

This is an amazing photo! You don't think so??? You WOULD if you had seen these fabrics two days ago. I was in the middle of finishing the blocks for the Log Cabin Shirt Quilt (LCSQ)and fabric was piled high on my cutting mat. Now they look so TIDY! And I'm still in love with them, even after wrestling for weeks over these blocks.

The red/white toile was so lovely I couldn't bring myself to cut more than a couple small strips for the quilt. Instead I plan to make an apron where the fabric will be fully displayed. Photo later!!!