Monday, September 22, 2014

Needle Pricks

Lin shared her story about quilting and her experiences "getting back into it" after some time off.  This brought back a flood of memories.  I am in possession of a very old quilting frame because my late wife, Ellie, was a quilter and I still have some stuff.

 This was the last quilt Ellie made.  Pattern is "Hunter's Star."

 There are eighty blocks in this quilt, all hand-pieced, 32 pieces per block.
That would be, uh, hmmm.  Way north of two thousand pieces.

 Ellie chose a light pink backing and had much of the quilting done before she died.

 Her friends in her quilting club finished the quilting. (Bigify to read.)

The quilting frame is tall and the artisan stands while she works.  A tall barstool will work, too.
It occupied a four foot by twelve foot space in our living room for quite some time.
Each of Ellie's grandchildren has a crib-size quilt that their grandmother made.

14 comments:

Lin said...

Ooooh, that is beautiful. I love that the guild finished it for her. That's what I love about quilters--they get it. Nobody wants to die with an unfinished quilt.

Okay....you are inspiring me to dig the big quilt out of the closet. I may have to post photos one of these days.

I like this post today. :)

Grace said...

That is a work of art. I'm always amazed at the artistry never mind the patience and needle skills. A wonderful legacy...

Vee said...

Beautiful quilt. What a treasure!

Shelly said...

What a lovely, lovely thing to have, and to treasure. I still have well loved memories of my great grandma and my grandma quilting together.

vanilla said...

Lin, thanks for the inspiration for a blog post. My head seems to have few notions these days. Looking forward to seeing your needlework.

Grace, a great deal of skill, and a lot of time represented in this. Good memories, too; I am blessed to have this item.

Vee, thank you. I do treasure it.

Shelly, I have noted that some of the younger women are taking up the needle. This pleases me, as I hate to see such beautiful arts die out.

Pearl said...

How wonderful. I've always wanted to quilt. And what a wonderful thing she has left behind...

Pearl

Secondary Roads said...

What a fine piece of artistry. Very nicely done.

vanilla said...

Pearl, you might start tomorrow, if tomorrow ever comes; or start today, and you will be a quilter!

Chuck, for me, there is much more beauty there than meets the eye.

Carol Kilgore said...

I didn't know which of your blogs to comment on, so I picked this one. It was great meeting you at Shelly's blog today.

vanilla said...

Carol, thank you for stopping by STSTT. Come again anytime.

lotta joy said...

My husband has told me many times that when I die, he will be surrounded by "me" in all the things I have made, sewn, painted and created. (but he meant it in a good way)lol

Thank you for visiting my humble blog.

vanilla said...

Lotta Joy, you are a crafty little thing. I have visited your very entertaining blog for a while now, decided I should make my presence known. :-) Thanks for coming over; come back anytime.

Sharkbytes said...

Beautiful. My grandmother had a quilting frame like that. She donated it to the church and someone threw it out, not knowing what it was!!!

vanilla said...

Sharkey, the expression, "One's trash is another's treasure" does not apply in this case because someone ignorantly discarded a real treasure.