What's on the line?

It's a good thing I took a few quilt pictures a couple of weeks ago because it has been too hot to be hanging any quilts on the line. And I've been too busy! We had a great family reunion and I still plan to post some pics of that event. Unfortunately, I'm still recovering from my root canal surgery and that has put me way behind. However...............I have this wonderful quilt to share today...........

It's another one that my dad bought at auction and I just love this one. It's got some stains but it still retains incredible color and charm. By the fabric used in the quilt.......lots of shirtings and such, I am going to guess this quilt was made sometime between 1900 and 1920. Only a guess, but without any info on the maker or where the quilt came from, that is the best I can do. Notice that the maker didn't seem to keep her triangles going the same direction. I wonder.......was it on purpose or just how the blocks came together at the time?
It's going to be a beautiful day today in Minnesota. Very warm, but no storms and no high humidity! Have a great Monday wherever you are!
Sandi

What's on the line?

Ohhhh, today's quilt is just perfect for a hot day. It's bright and colorful and wow, that hot pink border! I love it!

This is a large quilt top, so large that I took the picture quickly as the wind blew it and then it didn't drag on the ground. I suspect it was made in the 1950's. It's another quilt that my dad and mother bought at a farm auction. It's extremely worn but still has such vibrant color to it.  It really reminds me of the quilts that the ladies of the United Brethern Church used to make in the church basement. And the walls were pink so it really makes me think back to when I was a kid and my mom would take my sister and me along to the Ladies Aid meetings. But anyway back to this quilt.......as I mentioned, it's worn. In fact, it is so worn that it has been repaired. The original quilter did lovely work on this quilt in the piecing and in the hand-quilting. But then..........at some point in time, someone must have wanted to continue using it and so they patched it. Wherever a fabric wore out, they replaced it with a new diamond shaped piece of fabric but they machine-stitched it in place. And so, when you look at the back of the quilt, there is all this machine quilting that shows up and it looks pretty bad. Maybe it was a quilt that was so special that someone knew it needed to be preserved. Once again I just wish I knew whose hands made this original quilt and even whose hands made the repairs. Their names are lost in time but their legacy of stitches continues for me and you to enjoy!

Now speaking of hands and stitches..........I got a little treat in the mail last Thursday. I was busy preparing to attend our family reunion and almost forgot to go out and get the mail. But when I did, I found this in the mail box..................
It's Jacquelynne's new book and I had to sit down and take a peek. It is filled with such lovely projects and some recipes that I definitely have to try. I'll have more to share about Jacquelynne's book in a couple of weeks. And I have a couple projects I'm making with her fabrics, so more on that soon, too. Finding time these days is interesting. It's been such a busy summer and my tooth problem did not help. But, I'm finally better. In fact, I am actually writing this post on Friday evening (July 15th) because I want to pre-schedule it. Our Linn Family Reunion is this Sunday/yesterday and so I am leaving for Iowa on Saturday morning. As you read this on Monday morning, I will be traveling home to Minnesota. We are to have record heat all this coming weekend and all through this coming week. I am fine with that because, after all, it is July and July is usually very hot. My favorite time of the year - Fall - is just a few weeks away!!  Thank goodness!!!  Hope that if you are caught in this heat wave that you have a way to stay cool. Enjoy the day!
Sandi

What's on the line?

Yesterday was a very, very warm day. It was definitely a summer day and so I pulled this quilt that just said "hot July summer day" to me!

I can't put a time-frame on this quilt. It's in very good condition and looks almost new but it is definitely not new. The backing fabric is a pink that is very similar to another quilt I have that has been dated to the 1920's. The fabrics in the blocks could be anytime from the 1920's to the 1950's. It's been hand-quilted and while not the finest stitches, they are fairly uniform. Notice how the maker added fabric to some of the blocks. As you can see, they are not all the same size.

This quilt would have kept someone very warm on a cold winter's night. I doubt that anyone would use it on the kind of hot summer nights we've had these past few days!  There was a benefit to all that heat, though..........we got a really good rain last night. In fact, it was kind of stormy and so we went to the basement, just in case the tornado sightings and wind warnings actually materialized. Luckily, it was just a lot of rain.
Today, I'm thinking I will do some housecleaning and then work on a little quilt project for the upcoming Quilt Minnesota event in August. Got a little design I'm working on for FireflyQuiltShop and I hope it turns out like what I see in my mind. :-)
Have a good Monday!
Sandi

To tell the Tooth.....

I am feeling so much better. The root canal surgery went well. I am free of toothache pain and just have to get through the healing of the incision along my gum/tooth and my swollen jaw/cheek. I must eat soft foods and I don't even mind that too much. I have figured out how to spice up mashed potatoes and I like yogurt and..........if you take a chocolate chip muffin and break it into pieces, then microwave it a bit and pour cold milk over it and then stir it.......you get chocolate porridge and it is really good. LOL! I have a bit of a bruise that is showing up but that was to be expected. It will all be good in a week or so.........just in time for me to go home and eat all that good food at our Linn Family Reunion!!
I'll get back to some quilty blogging next week. Hope you all have a great weekend!
Sandi

Keeping my sense of humor............

When I closed my last post I wrote ....."I never thought I'd be so anxious to see my dentist but I can hardly wait to get to his office.......LOL! Gotta keep my sense of humor!" Well, that has certainly proved to be true! Yes, I got to my dentist but an x-ray and some other tests  showed the need for a root canal and that meant I had to be referred to an endodontist. So, this morning, I was excited to head out to said dontist and thought I'd be getting a root canal. To be honest, though, I had my doubts because this is a tooth that has had two root canals already. Within minutes, a new set of x-rays and a couple tests/exams and the endodonist had a new plan. He took me to the computer screen and like John Madden when he draws Monday night football plays, he drew around areas of my tooth and described the need for some surgery, a cut here and a cut there and then seal the problem root. Ugh! And that meant another trip back home and then back again. So by the time you read this, I will likely be on the way to or in the middle of having my mouth held open for more than an hour. Yes, go ahead and feel sorry for me. But not for long because when it's all done, I am promised the pain and infection will clear up and I should be fine. There is only more step if this doesn't work and that means ........ goodbye tooth. So, I might be absent from blogging for a couple days. We'll see how I feel.

In the meantime, though, I thought I'd show you that the last few days haven't been totally lost to tooth pain.  On the 4th of July, I started another block for the quilt that I'm making in memory of my dad and finished it on my son's birthday, July 5th. It was a simple flag that I appliqued to a navy polka dot block. I had to focus to finish it because my tooth pain sometimes got the best of me.

I also worked at sorting my patriotic fabrics. I have a couple projects I want to make - a tablerunner and a candlemat - so found the right fabrics for those items. But I was also sorting my fabrics because my friend Connie from the post office is working on a project with me. We are making a signature quilt for a local soldier who was wounded in Afghanistan.

A week ago, there was a benefit for Jack and so I prepared this board and then Connie and Jack's grandma, Jan, got friends and family who attended the benefit to sign fabric strips. We will stitch them into blocks so we can make a quilt and send it off to Jack. He will be in Texas in rehab for more than a year as he goes through therapy for his injuries and gets the prosthetics he will require. To learn more about Jack, you can check out this YouTube video.....just click HERE.

And then something good came in the mail yesterday...........

the 2012 American Patchwork and Quilting Calendar and the booklet with patterns for all the quilts. Just the other day, I thought....."I need a calendar for 2012" and ..... voila! here it is! I found some really neat patterns in the calendar. Even someone I know has a quilt featured in it! Yes, Jacquelynne of TheNobleWife has a quilt for the month of August. Pretty cool!

Well, that's it for today. When I return, I hope to say "no more tooth pain for me!"  Have a good day all!
Sandi

Time passes way too fast!

Today is our son's 35th birthday. I can't believe that 35 years have passed since that tiny little guy was born. I remember the evening before he was born very well because it was the year of our Bicentennial and there was all the news coverage of the tall ships sailing into East coast harbors. Oh, yes, time passes way too fast!!  I remember how Devlin loved playing with his cars and trucks and building things with Legos. He still likes cars and this past weekend he helped his dad do a brake job on our Blazer.

The weather was decent so they had a good day to do the work. It was nice to have him come out for the day to help his dad. And like many a parent, I wished he could have stayed longer. :-)   As my own kids grew up, I came to realize how much it meant for my parents to have us visit for more than a few hours. But life gets busy so we do what we can and that's all one can do. While they worked on the car, I was cooking up some homemade Maid-rite's/loose meat sandwiches. It's an Iowa thing and they are really good.
We took a bit of time to talk about a CD of hymns that I will be doing soon. Devlin is a partner in a recording studio so I will be going to their studio to do the recording. I'll keep you posted on this. I think it's going to be really fun and it is definitely an item that is on my "bucket list".  I was glad we weren't doing the recording that day. We had originally planned it for this past Saturday but I said I'd reschedule so the brake job could get done. It's a good thing I did.
I wasn't feeling all that well that day, thought I had a sinus infection and when I get one, it sometimes settles into my cheek and so I also took a nap while they worked. Unfortunately, I didn't get better and realized my problem was tooth related, not sinuses. I had to call the dentist Sunday morning and he suspects a cracked tooth or the need for a root canal. Ugh! He called in an antibiotic and it, along with extra strength acetiminophen are keeping the pain at bay and I am feeling a bit better. However, it has not been the greatest of Independence days around here. I have so many things I want to do and just can't concentrate because my tooth hurts. I want to share what I'm planning for these little bags...........

because it involves the GO!Baby project that I made with niece, Sue Ellen. This is the two of us as we prepared to play with some fun seersucker fabrics that I brought along when I went home to see my mom a couple of weeks ago.

That was such a lovely day. We took our project outside because it was just too nice to be inside! So, once I get this tooth thing taken care of, I will get to that project and also to some crazy quilting things I've been wanting to share. All in good time..........
I never thought I'd be so anxious to see my dentist but I can hardly wait to get to his office.......LOL! Gotta keep my sense of humor!
Sandi

What's on the line? and a Happy 4th of July!!!

Today's quilt is very, very special. I've shared some photos of this quilt before but never "on the line".  So, what makes this quilt so special? Well, it was made for my Grandma Golda in recognition of her time as President of the Ladies Aide Society at the United Brethren Church in Lehigh, Iowa. It was made sometime in the late 1930's. After my Grandma passed away in 1994, the quilt came to my mother and dad. And then when I was home to see my mom a couple of weeks ago, she said it was time that the quilt could come to me. I am so very happy to have this quilt. The names on the quilt are those of family and friends at the U.B. Church in Lehigh and at her sister church, McQuire Bend U.B. Church just north of Dayton, Iowa. I knew many of the women personally and watched them sew other quilts in the basement of the U.B. Church in Lehigh. It was those women who instilled my love of stitching. There's my Grandma Golda's (always called Goldie) name and so many others.
The name in the upper left is the name of my great great grandfather who was my Grandma Goldie's dad. His name was Noah. Her mother's name was Martha and she was a dressmaker. She had passed away before this quilt was made. And while, I don't think Great Grandpa Noah embroidered his name it is likely he wrote it and someone else embroidered it. Each of the names is written by the individual women who made the quilt. When I read the names, I recognize all of them but some are more significant than other's. Like the block next to Noah's. That says Elsie Linn and she was my grandmas' favorite cousin and then they married brothers and became sisters-in-law!  Elsie died about two years ago and lived to the age of 105!
Some of you won't be interested in the names on the quilt but for those who know me and knew these women or their families, I want to share each name.  And so next on the top row is Ilda Ford and then Mae Wertz and Alma Davis. The last name in the row is Marie Lind who was my Grandpa Thurman's sister. I am fortunate to have a couple of pincushions made by my Great Aunt Marie and also some pillows and her spool rack made by Aunt Elsie's husband Leslie. So are you keeping this all straight? LOL!
In the second row is Pauline Karasek, Regina Long, Violet Damstrom, Wanda Hacket, Blanche Linn, and Edna O'Dell.  The third row begins with Lillie Linn and she was my Great Grandmother, mother to my Grandpa Thurman, husband of Grandma Goldie. She quilted and she made rugs and she gardened and oh, what a garden she and Grandpa Willie had!! The next block is Sylvia Groshart, my Grandma Goldie's younger sister. Next is Viola O'Dell, then Sadie Dutcher, Dorothy Dutcher and Madelene O'Dell. My Great Grandma Martha's maiden name was Dutcher so these were all cousins of Grandma Goldie. So were lots of the O'Dells.
In the next row, the fourth row, it begins with Rose Dutcher. I remember Rose well and her daughters. They were just a bit older than me, but they were so pretty! Next to Rose is Gertie Cutting, then Mary White, then Mrs. A. D. Trueblood, and Aunt Rachel. I don't remember Aunt Rachel but my cousin Charlotte talks a lot about her. Charlotte is our family member that keeps all the genealogy straight!! Last name in that row is Leona Baker. She lived just down the street from us on the other side of Harry and Dolly Harrington's house. I loved walked down the street to the grocery store for bread and milk and a 3 cent chocolate Lunch Bar. But I'm straying from my topic.........
Next row is Eileen Trueblood who was a good friend of our family. Her son, Dick and wife Pat, had three kids and lived about a half hour from us. We loved to "take a drive" and stop for a visit. Next name in that row is Myrtle Hamitt and then Ruth Heck. Ruth was a young woman in her early 20's when this was made. Her father was the minister of the church, the Reverend Lester Heck. As the years went by, it was my grandma Goldie who played for church and Ruth played the piano for Sunday School. I can see both of them sitting at that upright piano and playing on Sunday mornings. In fact, I have an old hymnal from the church and it was Ruth's name written in it. It is very worn and I suspect it's the one she most often played from on Sunday mornings. Ruth's maiden name was Linn and so her kids were my cousins.....Sherrill, Dale, Shirley and Janet. They lived "up over the hill" from us. I loved to visit because they were allowed to drink coffee with toast and because they had an upstairs bedroom with really lovely, comfy quilts. I can see that room clearly. Next is Carolyne Long, then Grandma's name....Golda Linn and the last name is Rev. & Mrs. C.L. Randall. I realize now that I am writing this that I do not know who they are. Perhaps he was the pastor before Reverend Heck came to the church. I'll have to find out! (Called my mom and found out that was the case.......he was pastor prior to Rev. Heck.)
The sixth row begins with Grace Brundage, then Nancy Culver, and Gladys Fritts. I remember Gladys very well. She was my Grandma's best friend. The next block says Cora & Lester and is the block of Reverend Heck and his wife Cora. Cora's maiden name was Linn and they were parents to Ruth. Next is Ophelia Linn. She and her husband and family lived on the other side of Leona Baker and with Ferris Curtis in between. Ophelia's daughter Bette is the one who coordinated our annual Linn Reunions before I began doing it in the late 1990's. Bette took it over from Ophelia. And thanks to that chain of family members we will celebrate our 82nd Linn Family Reunion in just a couple of weeks. Last name in that row is Dorothy Barker.
The final row begins with Marge Whipple. I have this vague memory that she was postmistress in Lehigh. I'll have to check that and make sure it is fact. Maude Richardson is next and I remember her well. Maude was active in our Bible School activities. I think she was one of my Sunday School teachers. And now my own memory is beginning to fade! LOL! The next block says Bessie Ech. which is short for Echelberger.  Then comes Aunt Alice, Berneice Carpenter and Pearl Goodpaster. Berneice is another of the ladies that is very familiar. Her daughter, Margie, was our babysitter. I could go on but as mentioned, these names don't mean much to most of you. I love the thought that these women put their names to this quilt and that their "Legacy of Stitches" remains for me to enjoy and share with all of you. Most of the quilts the Ladies Aide made were sent off as mission projects. My mom can remember having a couple of quilts that my Grandma Goldie made but because we used them, they just plain wore out. Interestingly, there is another quilt owned by my cousin Patty, that has many of the same names on it. That quilt was made for my Aunt Lottie. And now that I think of it, it's odd that Lotties' name isn't on this quilt. I suspect that maybe Lottie wasn't living in Lehigh when this quilt was made. Another fact, I'll have to check on when I go home for our Linn Reunion.
I'm really happy to have this quilt and to know I can share it when I do a program on my quilts. It's a special gift to have it and I will take good care of it while it makes it's home with me. Sharing it today is also a bit special. My Grandma Goldie just loved the 4th of July and going to Gowrie for the parade and the Bill Riley Talent Show held in the park. I have a clear memory of her sitting on a park bench one 4th of July as she waited for the show to begin. If any of you are from Iowa, you know just how special Bill Riley was to the state of Iowa and county and State Fair events. It's been many years since I attended that parade and celebration in Gowrie but I have great memories of those times. Memories are still being made today by lots and lots of moms, dads, grandparents, kids and more. Hope you are making some happy memories today!  Happy 4th of July to all of you celebrating Independence Day! Have a great day!!
Sandi