Isn't She Lovely?

Good morning! I have to share with you this latest treasure that has crossed my path, I couldn't be more tickled! A friend has trusted me with the safekeeping of this Sunbonnet Sue quilt made in 1930 by her maternal grandmother. This was her grandmother's first and only quilt! She was part Cherokee and likely learned to stich from her mother. She was from Missouri, later moved to California where she married and gave birth to my friend's mother when she was forty years of age!

This treasure is hand appliqued and machine quilted. The pencil marks that she followed for the quilting are still visible. The background fabric is a coarse-weave muslin, the calicos used for the dresses contain some feed sacks along with some heavier twills and poplin-type fabrics, probably salvaged from worn out clothing at the time. It measures 62" X 80". Extremely typical of this time period is the bubble gum pink and bottle green solid fabrics used for the sashing and binding. It is backed with the same muslin as is in the background of each block. 

As you can see there are some dark threads shadowing behind, along with quilting lines; but, in my mind, that only makes this quilt all the more precious. Can you imagine this being your one and only quilt? All that applique in the form of hand embroidery must have done her in! I've made label to fully document the work of this quiltmaker with as much identification and pertinent information as my friend has been able to glean. Every quilt tells a story and this one couldn't be sweeter or any more lovely. 

    Life is Good!

Document Those Quilts!

This is the second in a series of things that we all know that we're supposed to do when making quilts but are overlooked a good deal of the time. The previous post covered prewashing fabrics that might bleed before they're used in our quilts, thus avoiding catastrophe. Today's post is about documenting your quilts. You know how glorious that feeling of pride and accomplishment is when you take that final stitch in a completed quilt? You want to revel in the moment and you think you'll add the label and vital information later. Later has a way of never coming. My Mom asked me if I would help her to document her quilts while I visited earlier this month. We rounded them all up; I found eleven without labels. Believe me, it's much easier to remember given quilt names when it's in the front of your mind, not years later! We persevered. Mom supplied the best information that she could and I took it all down, photographing each one as we went. Remember, adding labels isn't for you, (although it might be handy to check on the information for yourself), but all the data on the label is really for discovery by the next generation or recipients of your quilts; it can be as extensive or as brief as the quiltmaker chooses. 

So, what exactly should go on a quilt label? Bare minimum of facts to be included are the quiltmaker's name, his or her geographical location at the time the quilt was made and the year. 

My own labels include the quilt's name, my name, my location, the year (often the year begun and the year completed, they're not often the same year!), any pertinent pattern designer information if that applies and the name of the quilter if that varies from myself. Typically I design my labels on my laptop and print them out onto a paper-backed photo-transfer fabric sheets*.  You could also embroider your labels or write them by hand with a permanent fabric pen onto a piece of stabilized fabric. Once it's completed I attach it to the bottom corner of the quilt back, incorporating it into the binding at that corner. 

Believe me-- adding your labels as you finish your quilts is one less worry that you'll have later when you're trying to remember "when did I make this?", "did it have a name?", "what was the pattern source?"!! Time's wasting; go forth and document your quilts! You're welcome. I will be working on a dozen labels or so in the next few weeks, wouldn't you like to join me? 

Life is Good!

*I have always used Dritz Printed Treasures for this process in the past but find them harder and harder to find, and when I do they're much more expensive; I may switch to EQ printable sheets in the future, they do get good reviews.     

Before There Was...

I finished quilting this for my Mom over the weekend, she has entitled this one: "Before There Was Color", it's a cute throw-sized quilt; it quilted up easily. I tried out a new pantograph that I recently bought from Willowleaf Studios, "Let's Have A Party" by Timeless Quilting. 
It was quick and fun to do, I'll definitely be using this panto again soon. I need to cut some binding strips for this quilt today. My Mom and Dad are arriving for a visit , I know she'll enjoy the hand work finishing this quilt while she's here. If my blog posts are rare or erratic over the next few weeks that will explain why.

Continuing on the "Before There Was..." theme: you might remember that I  have been documenting and organizing photographs for my parents. This picture was among the stacks, it happens to be approxiamtely sixty years old.

Before there was Mrs. Goodneedle, there was baby Goodneedle!

She was a healthy little girl.

Life is Good!

Going Back... For The Future

This is me, I'm almost four years old in this picture. Since returning from New Hampshire I've begun organizing and documenting some of my parent's photos for them. I've got experience now, after doing my own a few years ago, it was a HUGE undertaking; I loved every minute of it! A task like this can be fun as well as time consuming... especially when each "gem" that surfaces, like this one, launches me on yet another trip down Memory Lane. That road, for me, is fraught with pitfalls; leading to many side streets and detours. I've had to become somewhat of an investigator when it comes to adding a date to these snapshots. This one was obviously taken in the summer, there are supporting photos taken in the same place at the same time. My mother is in a few of those and, given the fact that she's not expecting at the time, I can assign 1957 to this one with confident certainty; my sister was born in November of 1958. And so it goes... envelope after envelope, box after box.  I've set up two tables in the family room to sort through the piles. A lot of these pictures I've never seen before.

This one makes me laugh. I was six years old, my sister had just turned one. My mother was trying to capture a snapshot of the two if us for that year's Christmas card. I was instructed to sit still while Mom attempted to capture and postion the moving target dressed in pink organdy. My "job" was to hand my sister the little knick-knack in my hand as soon as her bottom hit the couch, all in an attempt to distract her long enough to snap off a few shots. I can still remember this, don't I look thrilled?

This was my third Christmas. Remember that earlier post about loving all things ironing related? I can now say with documented proof that I got a very early start. I would give anything to have this child's wooden ironing board today. I don't know what ever happened to that. I had a little toy iron too; and can proudly declare that my doll's clothes, blankets, etc. were always impeccably pressed!

There is one category of photos I'll need help documenting; cars.  This picture was taken at my grandparents' home, I am assuming this was their car. My Dad will know the year, model and make. I'm marking these with post-its for now, there are other car and truck photos that will await further identification, this is, by far, my weak area. 

I have just finished reading Nearing Home by Rev. Billy Graham. It's an excellent read for people of any age, it talks about the stages of life; I found it to be a book full of wisdom and hope. One theme that resonated in these pages is how things that we took for granted in our youth begin to take on new importance as we grow older. This is certainly true for me when it comes to photographs... all of a sudden I realized that if I didn't document the ones in my possession, who would know these people and places after I was gone, or could no longer remember; it was a matter of stewardship. In response to a world now drowning in the information flood, powered by devices equipped with more and more memory, the Rev. Graham writes: "Meanwhile the older generation is hanging on for dear life to the memories we have accumulated during our lifetimes, fearful we might forget the anchors that stabilized, the lighthouse that directed, the Word of God that calmed the treacherous waters." 

And so, I'm plugging on. Going back in time through these precious photographs, Sharpie in hand, adding names, places and dates with the lowest form of technology; saving it all... for the future.

Life is Good!

 

"Got Cookies?"

"Got Cookies?" 75" X 92"

Another UFO bites the dust! There's no other feeling quite like tackling those pesky languishing projects-half-done and finishing them up. Our road trip last weekend provided more than enough seat time in the car to complete the handwork on the binding and move this scrap quilt, at long last, onto the "done" list. Mr. Goodneedle helped me to rig up a hanging system off of our side porch for quilt photography, this was the system's premier. I prefer to shoot photos outside when possible, this location is perfect as it's a nothern exposure and the colors are true. I'm going to have to figure out a way to eliminate the shadow in the top third for future photos, it's the result of the overhang from the eaves, I might have to aim some light up there... we'll see. As far as improvements to the quilt itself, in regard to layout and design, I'll make alternating block quilts from here on in with an uneven number of rows to ensure all four corners reflect the same block... how many years have I been quilting before I figured this out? But, for now, this one is done and documented; and it's all good!

A shot from the side to show the quilting detail.

The back side of the quilt with the light shining through,
offering a beautiful, and unexpected, stained-glass effect.

Life is Good!

Mission Accomplished (Almost)!

Six months ago I turned our dining room into a photo documentation center. Using the full length of our dining table (with two leaves in place) and two additional folding tables for sorting purposes I was well on my way to organizing a  lifetime's worth of photographs into designated, labeled, boxes.
Long ago, before photos were saved onto onto hardrives, they were stashed in boxes, bags and drawers; you name it, I had pictures squirreled away there! Well, as life happens and, eventually, the dining room was needed for its intended purpose, the sorted photo piles needed to be moved. Out of sight, out of mind; that saying held true for this project. This past week I decided that the time had come to conclude this epic task! What caused me to lose my motivation late last fall?

This did! I opened the armoire in our guest room to find boxes, and a basket filled to overflowing, with more photographs that had missed the initial sorting/documentation process. At the time I sighed and closed the doors back up, feeling defeated. My husband urged me to not let that get the best of me and to carry on with finishing up what I had already started. I did just that! All of the photos that I had begun with are now neatly stored away, grouped chronologically by year; 1950's through 2005! Can I get a shout out? I will, gradually, tackle the newest "finds" and add them to the mix. I'll need another storage box from The Container Store, to get current, but will wait to buy one when they run them on sale again; that won't stop the sorting and organizing, though! This is the system that I am using:

These individual boxes allow for additions and deletions within each box; a brilliant system. Now to get on with the remaining piles. Wish me luck!

Life is Good!

No Time?

We had a wonderful guild program on Monday evening, presented by none other than the Salem Stitcher. The program was based on this book, North Carolina Quilts, that is a compilation of the data and stories collected during the North Carolina Quilt Project which documented 10,000 quilts across this state from September 1988 until January 1989. The quilts represent the quiltmaking tradition of the women of North Carolina from 1800 to 1976. I've had the book for decades, I've read it cover to cover, I even attended a showing of some of the quilt collection at the NC Museum of History 25 years ago. But, through their stories, the presentation this week brought alive to me, once again, the stories of those early quiltmakers and what they endured to cover their loved ones, and their beds, with beautiful handmade quilts. These are stories of perseverance and dedication. I was listening, intently, and realize there are no excuses for me, in this time, NOT to finish what I have started with all that is so readily available to me. I cannot say, in all good conscience, that "I have no time" if I dare to look back at history and these stories from our quilting foremothers:

"Lydia Frances Ritter (Smith) (1884-1983) Grew up on a farm in Moore County. One of eight surviving children, she knew the importance of hard work and excellence. All of her life she heard stories of how her grandfather helped sustain the community after the Civil War. Her mother was descended from prominent Revolutionary War gunmakers, the Kennedys of Philadelphia, a branch of whom carried on theor artisan tradition after relocating to Moore County.  North Carolina farmers of the era were generally quite self-sufficient.  With few exceptions, they grew and produced within their own acreage almost everything needed to sustain life.  A cash crop provided them with credit to purchase supplies at a nearby country store.  Family tradition and strong religious faith formed the moral backbone of their lives.  No work was ever done on the Ritter farm on Sundays.  In spite of threats of damaging weather approaching, no harvest took place on the Sabbath.  Frances's father simple stated, "God knows my crops are in the fields."  Resourcefulness and responsibility were keystones in Frances Smith's life.  It was she who remained on the farm to care for her elderly parents.  After their deaths this small woman (she weighed ninety pounds), her uncut hair parted severely down the middle, continued to plow, plant and harvest by herself. Her marriage to Hallie Smith came after she turned fifty.

Much of the cloth Frances used in her quilts was recycled.  She carefully unraveled the string from feedsacks, wound it into hanks, and tossed it into the dyepot with her cloth, to use as quilting thread.  The batting was "yellow cotton" gathered from the farm, unopened bolls left in the fields that opened after the first frost.  Her Evening Star quilt (above) is especially noteworthy in that it is made from alternate plain blocks, whereas most quilts of this era are made with plain, wide, single sashing.  This was an old an classic pattern that lent itself well to a scrapbag palette.  Frances was proud of her quilts.  Like many old houses, the Ritter homeplace had been built without closets, making storage a problem.  When not in use, her quilts were stored on a "quilt table", a simple four-legged structure on which they were folded and stacked.  Because she dyed most of her own fabric, using both commercial and natural dyes, she knew that the colorfastness of her fabric and thread was vulnerable.  To protect her quilts, a heavy window curtain known as a "tielet" was hung from the wall behind the quilt table and drawn around the quilts to keep the sunlight from fading them.  Late in life (she was still quite alert well past her ninety-eighth year) she made sure that her niece, who is heir to the quilts, knew their stories and the family remembrances that are part of them."   - from North Carolina Quilts, 1988, The Univesity of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill & London.

This is one of hundreds of such excerpts contained; if you enjoy history, and quiltmaking, you'll love this book. I plan to reread mine, and be inspired, all over again!

Life is Good!

Whatcha Waitin' For? ~ Part 2...

These are a few orphan blocks and a strip of half-square triangles being auditioned on a black background fabric for placement. They're not mine. These blocks and pieces (there was also a tall stack of 4.5" squares) belong now to my friends, the B. sisters. These were included in one of many boxes of inherited items from their dear mother who passed away several years ago. When she took ill, parts and pieces of a quilt-to-be for her grandson were on her design wall. They were later taken down and stashed away with the other black and white fabrics that all resembled one another. Now that the B. sisters have created quilts for themselves from their Mama's scraps they've decided to turn their attention to finishing this and other quilts intended for the grandchildren. Last week they brought what they had here; we put our best detective hats on trying to figure out what their Mama had in mind with these blocks. I had the privlege of knowing this precious lady and one thing I knew for sure was that whatever she had been planning would have been precise and definitive; she always put forth her best effort. We finally settled on a design for an arrangement as pictured. The central portion will contain these blocks and a narrow border on either side will separate a pieced border of like fabrics. Of course, we're still not sure exactly what the plan was but we do feel confident that the original maker would approve. Then, there's that aforementioned stack of squares... another quilt for another grandson. We'll make this work; and, ultimately, all the grandchildren will oneday own a quilt made from their grandmother's fabrics.
As quiltmakers we all have the best of intentions. We hope to wrap all of our loved ones in quilts from our own hands and hearts; we also hope to live forever... but, sadly, that won't happen. The last thing we would want to do is leave puzzles for our family members to struggle with solving. I've learned a few extremely valuable lessons through working with the B. sisters, I would like to share them, and my "five step plan" with you today:
1.  Finish your UFO's; document and label them, and if they are to be gifted make a note indicating to whom and for what occasion. If you own quilts that were gifts to you from others document that too, your family may not know whose work they possess. Include your name, date, and where you lived when your quilt was made on every quilt label.
2.  UFO's waiting to be finished need to have all patterns, designs and notes included with them. This seemingly obvious task will save hours in the future... for you, whenever you get back to the project, or for whoever is blessed with finishing what you've begun.
3.  Clean out. UFO's that have no prayer of ever being completed can be discarded or donated; if this was a "process" piece feel free to let it go. You may not like it anymore, or ever choose to finish it, but your children would have no way of knowing that.
4. Take inventory of your finished quilts and assign them to loved ones today; if you're not ready to let them out of your hands just yet, put down your desires in writing so there's no confusion later on. You may think that they'll "just know"... believe me, they won't.
5. Take joy from the knowledge that others highly value and appreciate what you create!

No matter how young and healthy you are it's never too early to start on this five step plan. 
For me, the work at hand is crystal clear; I'd better get busy...

so, whatcha waitin' for?

Life is Good!

Keeping Track...

... of each other, generation to generation. I've written a LOT the last few days about cleaning out and the importance of documenting. My focus was on quilts and needlework, even though we think we'll remember what we've done, and when and why... we don't; it's important to label, and to give ourselves credit, if not for ourselves for those generations to come. Believe it or not, our quilts will outlive us!  When visiting Nova Scotia last fall we stopped at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site in Baddeck. Before exploring this fascinating museum I was under the extremely limited delusion that he had just invented the telephone; boy, was I wrong! This gifted genius invented so many things and possessed a mind brimming with concepts, ideas and quotes. I photographed this genetic portrait chart there, realizing how important (and unique) a photo chart like this would be for my grandchildren; I hope to create something similar very soon. This past Saturday morning, as the grits were simmering on the stove, I browsed through my Google reader looking at new blog entries when I landed on Barbara Brackman's Civil War Quilts blog and a picture of a gorgeous quilt made by Dianne. I clicked on the site link and began to read, I couldn't believe what I was reading (or seeing) when my eyes landed on an actual block from 1865 bearing the name of a man from my own hometown. I am from a relatively small place (West Boxford, MA; made even smaller by the inclusion of "West" in the first position). Dianne was doing research, the blog post went on, to learn more about this individual. A quick phone call to my parents and one by them to a local historian (a childhood friend of my father's) revealed that the man in question was a distant relative by marriage to the historian himself. My mother called me back with his contact information which I promptly passed along to Dianne. As she stated in an e-mail response: "isn't the internet an interesting way to communicate and learn?" Yes, Dianne, it surely is! This was a timely "God wink" for sure, I rarely read through the aforementioned blog for content (I usually just look at the photos) and had I not on Saturday morning this information connection may not have ever happened. We have the  responsibility to keep track, not for us, but for those who follow; with a wealth of information at our fingertips, it's never been easier. 

Someone might just be looking 

for you tomorrow~ help them out.

Life is Good!

TGCDP*, Part 4

Today's post exhausts the supply of quilts that have been hiding in the closet, I'm unsure yet if I will document lurking UFO's. I'm strong and courageous but I may have reached the limit, I don't need to push myself over the edge! Big, black, trash bags are my new best friend... and they'll never tell! The closet organization of culling, folding and neatening  fabric took me over twice as long as the time I had allotted for the task; (tr: I'm not done yet!) but, I had to remind myself of how many years it took to get that disorganized and messy, that made my snail's pace easier to accept. I'll keep chipping away. The quilts pictured here are in two sections, the first: quilts made by me, the second: quilts made by others. Enjoy.

The Best Part Of Waking Up

71" X 59"

2002

Sowing Seeds Of Love
36" X 44.5"
2003

Stenciled Strawberry Sampler
28: X 28"
2004

Four Block Sampler
Class sample: Quilt Camp For Kids
29.5" X 29.5"
2005

Leo And Friends
72" X 60"
2009

Every Year Is the Year Of The Dog
58" X 46"
2010

Sam And Sue
tied and appliqued comforter, gift for our first child from my parents
49" X 34"
1976

China
(front) purchased in Xian, China
60" X 34"
1991

China
(reverse) purchased in Xian, China
60" X 34"
1991

China

(detail from above, polyester double-knit)

Bonhomme de Neige

16" X 12"

made for me by Debra S. Baker

1996

Friends

20.5" X 15"

made for me by Maredda Nelson

1997

Table Talk
29" X 29"
made for me by Holly Alloway
1999

Ribbons Of Friendship
16" X 16"
Signature quilt made for me by the Pins and Needles group~
The American Women's Club of Geneva, Switzerland
1999

The Miracle Quilt
38" X 38"
tied comforter, given to me after surgery by Augsburg Lutheran Church Quilt Ministry
2005

Friendship Signature Quilt
48" X 48"
made for me by Forsyth Piecers and Quilters Guild
1995

Strawberry Hill Drive (top)
28.5" X 28.5"
given to me by Holly Alloway
2006

These are quilts from the closet and only a small representation of my quilting journey through time, thanks for coming along. Countless more quilts and wallhangings have been gifted through the years or currently hang on our walls and cover the beds and chairs in our home. I didn't keep a quilt journal, this will have to suffice; however, I will continue to document from this day forward.

Life is Good!
*The Great Closet Documentation Project