Breathing New Life

Our DIL inherited a box containing 36 quilt blocks, all Churn Dash, that her mother, Phyllis, had stashed away for years. She had always planned to do something with them, they were pieced by her mother, our DIL's grandmother. Some of them were in pretty rough shape. The maker of these blocks used what she had: flour sacks, what appears to be bed sheets and some very sheer Leno-weave florals, all pieced together with many and various thread colors. Our DIL knows that these blocks are at least eighty years old.The idea was to set them together in three quilt tops, one for each of Phyllis' grandchildren. I helped a bit with a design plan but after that our ambitious DIL ran with it. In a few days she sent me a photo...

Hooray! What a glorious accomplishment. We deemed those blocks too fragile for washing before they were stabilized with sashing, all cut on the straight grain.

They came back to me for baths, all delicately hand done and rinsed...

...before they were stretched out, covered for protection from the sun, birds, etc; 

and dried outdoors one at a time. Stay tuned for what happens next!

Every quilt tells a story!

Life is Good!

Charms Of A Different Variety

I've been sharing charms lately, fabric charms; today I'm sharing charms of a different variety: have a look at these treasured silver charms. My sweet mother-in-law has been going through her jewelry and giving pieces away. Our daughter had expressed an interest in this charm bracelet of her grandmother's; she remembered wearing it many years ago when she would stay after Sunday dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house to play dress-up. Grandma would let her wear some of her special jewelry and she'd dress up in layers of Grandma's tops and scarves, she was, maybe three or four years old. Marcia remembered that Grandma told her: "someday, when you're grown up, that bracelet will be yours".  Grandma remembered that too, she gave it us a few weeks ago to deliver to our daughter in the Capital City. The story behind the bracelet is that my mother in law wore it when she was in high school; in the late 1930's to 1940. The heart charms were all gifts from friends and family, most of them are engraved with names or initials. Look carefully at the puffed heart in the center of the close-up, "Daddy" is engraved there. I never knew my husband's grandfather, but this touched my heart. There is also a charm from "Mother" as well as one from my father-in-law when he was but a teen too, so many memories... so much love.

I polished it up as best as I could before giving it to our daughter. Some of the enamel-faced hearts were already worn, I believe that only adds to the value. I know that our daughter will cherish this gift, as she does the precious relationship with her grandmother. The best part of the transfer of ownership of this bracelet is this: Grandma knows that the love goes on... from one generation to the next, to the next... this pretty bracelet full of hearts is only a symbol; someday our daughter can pass it down too, the bracelet is now a family heirloom. 

My heart is smiling.

Life is Good!