Category: Family Quilts

100 Quilts · Family Quilts

Crossed Canoes

Elizabeth E.6 Comments

My sister’s friend recently lost her daughter.  As a memorial, my sister organized a group of friends to make quilt blocks in the crossed canoe pattern.  She laid them out on her floor, called and asked, “Can you help?”  Yes.  I asked her if she wanted me to get it quilted down here, as she couldn’t even get a quilter to take on the project before Christmas, and she wanted to get it to her friend.

She fast-mailed the quilt to me and it arrived overnight.  I put it up on my pin wall, and I have to admit I was discouraged. Really discouraged.  I had one more block to add, but all I could do that first day was true up the squares and put them back up on the wall.  That actually improved the balance of things, as part of the trouble was that they varied in size, as do all group projects of this kind.  I made mine and added it to the mix, but it was still problematic.

I went to bed, taught my class the next day, and came home and stared at it.

I called my sister.  Some changes were allowed.  I took apart one block to make it more the size of the others, and did a quilt intervention on two other blocks, substituting fabrics.  I moved the blocks around on my wall.

Better.

I had called my quilter, Cathy Kreger of CJ Designs and she had agreed to quilt it (a little miracle), so I kept working, knowing I had to drop it off the next morning.  I started stitching it together.

Borders on.  I didn’t smooth it down so they look a little wonky, but really, they’re straight. Done with the front, and I stitched together the back, trying to cut it creatively so I would have enough left for the binding.  The next morning, I dropped it off at Cathy’s.  She had one of mine ready for me, so I asked her if her small machine had anything on it, and if by any chance she could put this one on.  I told her the story and added that my sister had called and said she was coming down to Southern California for the weekend–I could give it to her then.  Cathy agreed to get it done quickly, and two days later, Thursday, it was done.  Like I said, she’s a miracle worker.  We chose the quilting pattern titled “Calm Water,” a fitting pattern for these crossed canoes.

Back from the quilter, I took a photo of my block–it’s right next to the boldly patterned block of my sister’s.  I like that we’re together.

Sewing on the binding.

My sister came by and picked it up late on Friday night (nearly midnight) and she was thrilled.  A few days later, she sent me an email with these photos, a fitting conclusion to our shared escapade.  I’m so happy she’s happy with it, and I think it turned out to be a lovely memorial quilt.

The label listed all the quilters, including Cathy.

I love how the canoes really show up in this angle–kudos to all the quilters, and for my sister for this perfect idea.

100 Quilts · Family Quilts

Baby Anselmo #4 Quilt

Elizabeth E.

My son and his wife are having their fourth child this October, and she just announced that it was a girl.  So, I put together this quilt for them, just as I have for all my grandchildren.  I liked this one because of the printed panels that show sweet little animals.  Awwww.  Yep.  That’s just how I felt about it.  I feel the same way about new babies so it’s a good fit, I think.

Here’s a bigger picture of the Sneak Peek detail I showed last week.

This is also unique because of the giant rick-rack around the edge of the border.

I had originally chosen a cute little print with paper dolls for the backing (see below) but the colors were too strong for this sweet little quilt, so I went with rosebuds instead–a favorite piece of fabric that I’m gladly donating to my newest granddaughter.

 

100 Quilts · Family Quilts · Quilt Finish

A Quilt, or Two

Elizabeth E.

I couldn’t really talk about these before because they were both gifts. The one above was for my son and his wife. When I made the first round of HUGE quilts, they’d just gotten married and weren’t really sure they wanted a quilt (she told me later her grandma made VERY traditional quilts, and she’s more of a modern gal). But after seeing some of mine, we all went down to the fabric store last Thanksgiving and picked out the pattern and fabrics; I added some from my stash when I needed to broaden the palette.

I gave this to Matthew and Kimberly this weekend, and they seemed happy to have it. I’m sure they’ll send me a photo of it on their bed soon (hint, hint) and I’m happy they like it.

I didn’t really have a name for it when I sent it off with them, but today I had some time to think about it. . . and go through my favorite quote book. I couldn’t resist Marlowe’s verse, from The Passionate Shepherd to his Love:

Come live with me, and be my love,

And we will all the pleasures prove,

That valleys, groves, or hills or fields,

Or woods and steepy mountains, yield.

While it’s everyone’s mind runs to the obvious (we are so conditioned) I read it on a different level. The quilt has zig-zags, that when looked at from a sideways direction, looks like little mountains, so the name is Steepy Mountains. And for Matthew and Kimberly, who are one of the Most Alive Couples in the universe, they will have lush groves in their life, mysterious woods, rolling valleys, but also the steepy mountains and fields and fields to sow and tend and harvest. Of course, I wish them cuddle time under this quilt, but I wish them most of all, that they live together forever and ever and be each other’s love.

This one, titled Sun and Sand was made in honor of the marriage of my son Peter to his love Megan this past weekend. While they both live in Davis, the wedding was held in Monterey, where a lovely confluence of beach and tide pools and sun and sand occurs. The colors of beigy/yellow of a warmed beach and delft blues of a clear summer sky I thought would represent the world around them on the weekend of their wedding.

It was begun in a class I took last summer, and I wasn’t quite sure about it initially. It’s hard to see the final project when you’ve just spent hours at the sewing machine. I bothered my friend Rhonda in Washington, DC until she said finally: “Get it quilted, and then decide!” I took her advice (she’s an award-winning quilter with impeccable taste), and when I brought it home from the quilter’s, I fell in love with it. I’d already decided it should go to my newlyweds, but boy, did I have a hard time parting with it!

And isn’t that how love happens? We begin, we stitch our lives together, not always knowing how things will turn out, but over time, we blend our hopes and dreams and fears together, and our love changes a few disparate pieces, a lump of wadding and some raw materials into a sun-bursting of a quilt. And we like it, and each other. (Of course, this is all rather cheesy, but hey, I’ve just been to a wedding and I’m all aglow.)

I first discovered this experience when I was stitching a quilt at the bedside of my mother, who had just had a heart attack. I had just pinned the quilt top to the batting and backing and struggled to get it in the hoop to quilt it. I sat there day after day, visiting, working. As I put more quilting stitches in, the quilt sandwich ceased to be three separate pieces of fabric and instead started to behave as one piece.

Enough of the metaphors. . . I just know I send my love to these two couples with my hands and heart and quilts.