40 Years A Quilter, Post 5

As I have said before, I LOVE Patriotic Quilts! This is the first one that I made back in the early 1990’s! I worked for Kaye England and she was working on her first book. She owned Quilt Quarters in Carmel, Indiana. We had a fabulous, creative group of ladies working in the shop. We worked there and taught classes. Kaye offered us the opportunity to design a block for her book “Voices of the Past, A History of Women’s Lives in Patchwork”. I was lucky to be assigned Betsy Ross as my famous woman to honor! Here is my quilt titled “Dear Betsy” and it is 70” x 70”.

Here is a photo of the book and the page where my block design is illustrated.

A little bit about reproduction fabrics back in the 1990’s…there were not many! Fabrics that were popular then were brights and lots of fabrics with gold on them. I wanted my quilt to be a little on the old fashioned side, so I overdid the entire quilt when it was completely finished with a “tea dye” product in a box that was sold in quilt shops. While I was very nervous it would ruin the quilt, I was actually quite happy with the final product. Here is a close up of the quilt:

I used a special “Yes Mam” fabric that was part of a fundraiser for Breast Cancer. The fabric was sold and used in quilts for competition at a show that was held in Indianapolis, Indiana for several years. The large, national shows were held several times at the Hoosier Dome and had both quilts on display,  but several vendors. We were all happy to be a part of it!

 Years later I decided to make a mini “Dear Betsy” quilt and give it to my mother for her birthday. She was very involved in DAR (Daughters of American Revolution) and she loved anything patriotic. She was a librarian for years and very involved in genealogy and history. Here she is with the mini quilt on her birthday.

And finally, using up leftovers and a special blue "star" fabric, here is the back of the quilt:

Thank you for reading my blog! It is really fun to revisit these quilts and their stories!

Snowy Day here at Blue Jay Quilt Studio

Before heading downstairs to my studio this morning, the Bluejays were calling me because they wanted peanuts. I had to sweep the snow out of the way so they could get to them. Here are a couple of them landing immediately after I put them out. There were actually about 7 of them this morning!

On to my next quilt to post for "Forty Years A Quilter". I have made baby/kid quilts for all of my grandchildren. This quilt was the very first one I made well over 10 years ago. It is adapted from a quilt pattern in the book "Polka-Dot Kids' Quilts" by Jean Van Bockel. If you are in the market for a great whimsy/kid quilt pattern, this book is loaded with patterns and ideas. Here is my quilt:

I love this line of "Funky Monkeys" by Moda that came out several years ago. I used flannels and had fun playing with these fabrics. The quilt size is small--33" x 43", just right for a cute baby to lay on it. Here is my little granddaughter doing "tummy time" when she was a baby: 

She loved that quilt and used to stare at all the monkeys for quite a while! Here is a close up of the big monkey on the front: 

Loved the little band-aid on his head because of course he was jumping on the bed and fell off! The story is on the back of the quilt:

Making kid's quilts is always a joy and this one was particularly fun! While I don't have any grandchildren that are babies anymore, someday this one will hopefully be passed along to a great grandchild! Stay warm if you are in the snow belt and enjoy the sewing time!

 Patriotic Quilt Love

I LOVE patriotic quilts. For many, many years I have admired patriotic quilts in any design. One of my very favorite Patriotic Quilts is one that was made during the Civil War by a Mother for her son that was going off to war. Here is my version of this gorgeous Stars and Stripes Quilt:

It often hangs in my entryway. I loved reproducing this quilt as closely as possible to the original quilt that is housed in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. The maker of the Smithsonian quilt was Mary Rockhold-Teter of Noblesville, Indiana in the 1860's. The pattern appeared in the July 1861 issue of Peterson's Magazine published in Philadelphia. There are thirty-four stars in the center, representing the number of states in the Union. The same numbers of stars are appliquéd around the border. Mary made the quilt for her son, George, a Union soldier. Here is a photo of Mary's quilt from the book "The Smithsonian Treasury American Quilts" by Doris M. Bowman.

My quilt has the same number of stars and is the same size as Mary's at 86" x 87". I spent many hours looking at the photo of this quilt through a magnifying glass to come as closely as possible to the original quilt. Below are a few up close photos showing the quilting on my quilt.

I also told a bit of the story of the original quilt on my label on the back of the quilt.

While I have not seen this original quilt in person at the Smithsonian, I have seen a few of the quilts housed at the museum. Someday, I'd love to have a behind the scenes tour of their quilts! 

Forty Years of Quilting

I have been quilting for forty years! Before that I dabbled in assorted hobbies, most related to stitching. I always sewed. My grandmother let me sit on her knee while she operated the treadle when I was a very little girl. That's when the bug bit me. I even made my own wedding dress! The quilting bug did not bite me until my first child came onto the scene. I took some time off work and we moved the year after he was born, so I decided to take a class in quilting. All was done by hand at that point! It was also before rotary cutters were invented. It's amazing those of use who quilted back then kept it up. It was quite laborious and not nearly as much fun as it is today with all the gadgets available!

At any rate, I have decided to post photos and notes on the many quilts I have made over the years. I would like to start with the very first quilt that I made in the early 1980's! Without a rotary cutter, these strips were cut with scissors on a marked pencil line on the fabric made with a yardstick. The strip cutting took as long as the sewing! Not know better, I also used a cheap sheet for the backing. It was done in a quilt-as-you-go manner, so the blocks were hand pieced together. The quilt still resides in my home although it was very well loved by my son and even went to college with him. Here is a photo of the full quilt:

Log Cabin, extra long twin

A little worn, but still together! Notice the cheap sheet backing. I had to whip stitch those blocks together by hand on the back. It is not fun to sew cheap sheet fabric together by hand! 

While making this quilt was a labor of love, it was definitely more difficult than it need to be. Today's techniques would be super quick and easy! Soon I will share the last quilt/s that I made for Christmas gifts. For now...back to my studio for my brand new project! 

 Why Blue Jay Quilt Studio????

Well, I have several blue jays that show up every single morning on my deck screaming for peanuts! If I am not in the kitchen to see them, they literally sit on my gutter upstairs while I am in the bathroom and rat-a-tat-tat on the gutter to get my attention. One morning this week, I counted nine on the deck picking up peanuts. This little guy in the photo was my only one this morning, but it is very cold. I think the others are probably hunkered down in their nests this morning until it warms up a bit!

At any rate, I have decided to start really blogging this year as I am celebrating 40 years as a Quiltmaker! 40 YEARS! I am posting photos on my Instagram and Facebook pages with quilts that I have made over these 40 years. It has been a hobby and sometimes money maker with classes, commission quilts, etc. over these many years. I have never really kept a good diary of the many quilts, so this blog will help me track it all down and keep photos with descriptions all in one place!

I am very lucky to have a beautiful large studio in my walkout basement home. A few years ago I added a longarm to the mix. I still do not feel up to snuff on it, but I can do a pantograph and a bit of custom. I'm not "in business" but enjoy the entire process of making a quilt--not that I am a control freak. :)

Please join me in the days ahead as I post photos and stories of the many quilts I have made over the past four decades!