What's on the line?

It's August, a time when the butterflies are usually quite plentiful. However, it seems there are not quite so many of them this year and I read that it has something to do with last year's drought. Perhaps next year, there will be more real butterflies. In the meantime, I am sharing this vintage butterfly quilt that was made by my Great Aunt Bell and my mother, Mary.

Many of the butterflies are from Feedsack fabrics. They were placed on squares of white cotton and my Aunt Bell started the embroidery around the blocks but it was my mother that finished stitching the blocks. She sewed them together and added the borders, too. I love the placement of all the butterflies! She took the top to the ladies at our church (United Brethern Church of Lehigh, Iowa), sometime in the 1950's, and paid them to do the hand-quilting. The quilt belongs to my brother, Doug, but it is "visiting" me right now because Doug has asked me to repair some of the embroidery around the butterflies. Time has worn away some of the black embroidery floss so I'll take a "before" photo and then an "after" photo after I make the repairs. To see a close-up of one of the butterfly blocks, just click
here for another blogpost on this quilt.
I have shared a couple other blogposts about quilts and quilt tops that were made by my Aunt Bell. The quilt top that I have from her is a "Trip Around the World" quilt top. It was made by her and her mother-in-law, Granny Blair. I featured that quilt top in my first post of my "What's on the line?" feature and you can read about it here.  The quilt top that my sister received from Aunt Bell can be found by going here.  It's probably time for me to decide whether to quilt the top I have or just leave it as it is. Oh, my decisions, decisions, decisions!

And speaking of decisions...........I made a decision not to show you the four quilts I mentioned last week that were made by Delores Jebron. It's not that I'm never going to share them, it's just that I haven't had time to take the photos. I'm going to need help from my husband as they are large quilts and just like this butterfly quilt, they are going to drag on the ground. I'm going to spread a large plastic tablecloth on the ground and then have him help me get them on my clothesline. He's too busy right now because he's staining our deck. I figure it will be early September when I can share those quilts.

 

Fortunately, our son has been helping him and it's almost done. While they were doing staining this week, I was juggling meals, laundry, quilting projects, and a sick dog. Kaiser, the Wonder Beagle picked up a bacterial infection and he was, well...........he was "sicker than a dog" as the old saying goes. He's doing much better now, but taking care of a sick dog is not an easy task. Kinda like taking care of a toddler that can't really tell you when they are gonna be sick.  

It will be good to have the deck finished as there's another project that I'm anxious for my husband to get to..............and that's UV protection on windows in our living room. I am anxious to hang some quilts up on the walls but hesitant to do it until there is proper protection on the windows. More on this project in a future blog post. Before that project happens, though, the two guys are planning some car repair projects. Me? I'm just going to try to catch up on blog posts and quilting projects!  Coming up this week will be posts about some Henderson events........Classic Cars and Hummingbirds and a quilty project that will be a tutorial. Oh, and pics of family visitors and quilty outings. Lots to share. Just wish I had more time and was more organized!! That's all for this Monday. Make it a good one!

Sandi