Remembering Christmas Past

The hustle and bustle of Christmas is over and there is finally some time to relax. I promised that there will be pictures from "Christmas Present" but first I have to remember "Christmas Past".

Several years ago, my mother and dad gave me a vintage quilt for Christmas. It's the one in the picture with my dad that you will find on the right and in the post when I first began blogging. The quilt is a child's quilt and only slightly worn. We gave it the nickname "The Puzzle Quilt" because at first we couldn't quite figure out how it was constructed. I took it to my quilt club for show and tell and no one there had seen a quilt like it. Then one night at Crazy Quilting my friend Carol (in the picture below) brought a project to work on that had been given to her by an elderly neighbor. The project was "in progress" - a little box full of cotton print squares and then slightly smaller flannel squares (pajamas scraps most likely). Carol said that her neighbor lady called it her "Depression Quilt" and was made during that time when every bit of fabric was used for quilts, clothes and any needs. Finally I had the answer to the name of my dad's quilt! The name "The Puzzle Quilt" has stayed with the quilt because it just seems to fit. So, how do you make it?

Well, it's quite simple but you must love to do handwork to make this one! A few months ago, Carol brought the box of quilt pieces to our Crazy Quilting meeting and I asked if I could take a couple of pictures to post here on my blog. And, so here is Carol with the pieces that are still "in progress"!!

In this photo you can see that Carol has two stages of strips that make up a "Depression Quilt/Puzzle Quilt".

To begin you will need to have flannel squares and cotton squares. Cut the flannel squares that are 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" and cotton squares that are 4" x 4". Then as you can see in the picture above, you place a flannel square in the center of a cotton square, fold over all the edges and baste them in place. You sew these together as seen below (length of your strips is up to you).

When your strips are finished, you fold them over and slipstitch the triangle edges together. This will give you long strips as you can see in the picture above. My friend, Sue, made a tablerunner using this technique and my friend, Carol, made a full-size quilt for her bed using this technique!!

This past summer when my mother got out quilts to share at the library quilt show, she had two that she shared that belonged to my Grandma Goldie. One was the autograph block quilt made for her by the members of her Ladies Aide group. The other quilt was, of all things, a Depression/Puzzle quilt. I knew that my mother had another of my Grandma's quilts but I didn't know it was one of these. So, perhaps the reason my dad was drawn to that quilt he bought for me at auction was because he recalled Grandma making one when he was young. We will never know as Grandma Goldie passed in 1994, but I think it is interesting how things happen. I've had a couple of those "interesting/serendipitous moments" this Christmas and it just makes me smile to think of them. That's all there is for now. It's not really a tutorial so if you have further questions on this technique, just send me an e-mail.

Sandi