2019 Quilts for the Grand Children!!

Last year was such a productive year.  I have seven grand children that all needed new quilts.  I couldn't start with the oldest and work down because younger siblings would have to wait too long for theirs.  So, I decided to make them all quilts for Christmas 2019. 

I'm so proud of the work I got done.  Each quilt is made especially with that person in mind. Back row from left to right.  Jonny:  That's his favorite color.  He was 13 when he received it, but now he's 14 and ready to be a freshman this year.  He is my Lean Green Drumming Machine.  Adia:  She loves running, moving and colors.  She was 11 when she received it and is now 12.  Her expression was priceless as she hugged her quilt after she opened it!  Bryson:  My oldest grand child.  He is twenty-21 and attending WPI.  He will graduate next June and enter the real world.  His quilt is an optical illussion in the center.  Front row left to right:  Anna:  She was 16 and is now 17.  Her favorite color is this turquoisy blue.  Her's is a panel quilt with extra special quilting.  She kept looking at the back!  Jessie:  She was 12 then and still is.  She is always so concerned about others.  The quilt is called Sweet Jessie Berries. Her favorite color is blue red; this is a little to the other side of red, but she loved it anyway.  Riley:  She was 10 and still is.  Her favorite colors are yellow and blue.  She stroked the yellow dresden plate with a smile of pleasure.  Nora:  She is my crafty grand child that knits, crochets, loves her sewing machine and makes quilts among other things.  She turned 14 the day before she received her quilt.  She was fun to watch as she examined the technique.  I sat with tears in my eyes watching this beloved group of "Children".  I expect they will always remember the day they all received one of Grams quilts.  Good memories!!!

What is happening in this country is out of control!

So, we are still trying to reopen businesses in this state...very slow on the uptake.  I'm ready to be free again.  For me, I can go out in my yard and work in my gardens without a mask.  People walk by walking their dogs and children with no masks.  This is the advantage of living in farm country in eastern Massachusetts.  I've gotten in my car to simply to keep it running.  But I'm still feeling like I'm being forced to comply with regulations that were intended for NewYork City living.  I have a little quilt shop not too far from here that I would like to go into to purchase something because when I needed a marking pencil, they walked out to my car so that I didn't have to go in.  There are so many freaked out people that think you should be in panic as they are that I feel intimidated by what their responses might be.  This is a disgusting situation.  I want my freedom back.  I want to choose whether or not I wear a mask.  Masks are breading grounds to all kinds of things.  Gross.  I am a country girl  that has always believed fresh air is good for what ails you.  Now, the truth is, my husband has had a kidney transplant; he is compromised.  I do theses things because I love him.  I wouldn't go into church without a mask.  In my church, we are almost all in the compromised age group.  I love them.  But truly I really don't care about those that are control freaks.  I have no interest.  Stay away from me.

That's my view on the coronavirus shutdown.

Meanwhile, American cities are burning.  Truly I do not understand the reasoning behind this other than "never let a good crisis go to waste." My heart breaks for the family of George Floyd.  I cannot image having to live with this reality.  Someone knelt on my little boy's neck until he stopped breathing.  What is wrong with this police officer?  I'm not satisfied with 3rd degree murder chanrge, not at all.  That's not justice...and I'm white.  But why destroy a black community?  It makes no sense.  Haven't they been through enough with the COVID shutdown?  Now, all hope of getting back to normal is gone.  I'm so angry over this.  People have worked too hard for too long to have all simply taken away from them.  Heads should roll on this one, too!

I've vented.

This is my Coronavirus Blog April 2020

Well, this is the year of the Coronavirus.  It has been brutal in many places.  Massachusetts has spent a lot of time third on the list of Number of Cases.  We, my husband and I, have been in since March 16th.  I'm finding it hard to really figure out what is going on here.  There is so much conflicting information non stop. There is very little information on how many people have left the hospital healed or on the mend.  We hear tons on how many in hospitals have died.  So many are afraid and near hysteria over every little thing.  Most information is fast changing.  And as always,  the President is unable to do anything right.  I like nothing better than having the TV off.

Merry Christmas 2019

I have worked hard this year from scratch to finish eight quilts.  This has been a major accomplishment for me.  I, first, needed to quilt a couple of unfinished tops.  Two I've already posted and the third one that had been waiting for about six years is also finished.  This one is a strip quilt using my favorite colors from my stash. 

 

I stitched this quilt on a 1878 Wilcox and Gibbs chain stitcher.  The little machine is a really nice, smooth machine.  It is one of the most relaxing things to do, to sew at a treadle machine.

 

Along with these quilts, I also made 8 quilts from beginning to end this year.  One was for my cousin Claire to celebrate her birthday.  She came up to New England from Florida this fall to see our beautiful fall foliage.  She has had four little dachshunds in her life and they were great little friends to her, each in his or her own time.  As a gift to her to celebrate, I made her a Dogs in Sweaters quilt by Elizabeth Hartman.

 

One of the little dachshunds suffered a broken back, hence the little wheel to represent the wheelchair she used.  The little guy on the bottom it wearing a lizard print jersey because he keeps the little lizards out of Claire Florida home!!

I also made seven quilts for seven grandchildren ranging in age from 10 to 21: two boys and five girls.  I plan on adding each quilt individually to the journal, but for now just a picture of all together.

I love this picture.  It is a record of an incredible year of quilting.  I have never been this productive in all the years I've been quilting.  I've always had so many distractions through the years.  This year I was able to set a goal and keep to it.  It is really exciting.  I would not have been able to do it without Phoebe, my Q'nique 15R long arm.  I love standing at her frame and free motion quilting or ruler work.  I don't have a computerized system and I have to say I'm glad about that.  I love the freedom that comes from deciding as I go what I want to quilt.  This year has given me some giant leaps in quilting as well.  I also free hand embroidered messages in each quilt on my sewing machine.  I haven't FMQ'd (free motion quilting) in some time and was pleasantly surprised to find that I was able to easily return to FQM. I'm looking forward to doing some more this coming year.

This Has Been A Productive Year 2019

I'm so excited about the work I have accomplished this year.  I have pieced and quilted 8 quilts this year (or it will be soon that all are complete).  I also quilted two tops that were made years ago.  I have a baby quilt for Juno who was born the Monday before Thanksgiving yet to make.  I'm looking forward to adding them to this Journal.  Come January, I will go back through my quilting journal to remember the work that was done and I will add pictures at that time.  Right now I'm in a time crunch and need to get all finished and washed.  Looking forward to doing this work and showing off these quilts I'm so proud of even with all their issues!!

April 25, 2019 Just having a great day!!

I haven't come in to talk about my quilts at all.  Phoebe was out of commission for about 3 months. I'm finally back at work.  I have completed 2 quilts since February; hope to finish my third very soon.  I'll post pictures later this year.  I'm in work mode and don't want to take too much time blogging about the quilts. 

I just want to record that today I'm having a great day.  My back has been giving me grief, but the weather has changed and I finally got a good chiropractic adjustment.  I have good shoes with arches (Birkenstocks) to work in and I'm feeling good to go.  Spring is blooming out here which is always great!  This is my favorite time of the year.

Just got notification that the backing for quilt #4 will arrive Saturday, hopefully, could be Monday, either is good.  I'll put #4 on the frame soon and begin cutting out #5.  Excited!  I love quilting!!

Break has been long enough...back to work.

Just stopped to enjoy my blessings!
d

Back to work! February 14, 2019

Really March 18, 2019

It always seems so long since I last wrote.  This is something I enjoy, but find hard to be consistent.  Life keeps happening.  After my husband's kidney transplant (our blessing), I was simply exhausted.  Went to the doctor this fall because my heart was beating strangely (PAV) and I simply felt depleted.  I started with a medication and vitamin D.  I cannot believe how much better I'm feeling after a couple of months of vitamin D.  My skin and nails are so much happier than they have been in years and my husband is doing awesome!  My back has been giving me trouble; he's been doing all the snow removal and I haven't had to help!

So, now today is February 14, 2019.  About the time of my last entry, Phoebe got knocked out of commission.  She had a thread in the bobbin case that I couldn't remove.  I was afraid I would have to pull apart the bobbin case in order to get her working again.  I don't know enough about the bobbin area, so I called a local person to come to work on Phoebe.  That was back before Thanksgiving.  Finally, I bit the bullet and worked on Phobe myself.  It took me hours and hours to work through what I needed to do, BUT the money for the repairman ended up in my pocket.  So finally, I'm back quilting on Phoebe...Yay!

Quilt #8  Last quilt of 2018 finished in November

 

This quilt was given to my third son.  I made this quilt top  about 1980-82.  We had a mill in Lowell, MA that was still producing fabric then.  We could go in and purchase a brown paper grocery bag of scraps from clothing produced in the mill.  That bag of scraps was $3.  I made two of these quilts for him.  The first was tied rather than quilted.  I thought I would make a second top back then figuring that quilt would not last long.  My son had that quilt on his bed for years.  He took it off to college with him and into marriage 7 years later.  I thought that it had seen its end to find out he still has it in 2019.  When I walked in the door with this quilt, my expectation was that it would be used on the beach when they head there....noooo.  My son claimed this quilt for himself!  end of story.  I guess all four of my sons would like quilts for themselves, especially seeing that their wives and my seven grandchildren all have quilts.  With Phoebe it is possible!!

This is the quilt that I was working on went Phoebe went down.  I started this quilting in 1990 by hand.  The three borders were put on in the early 2000s when I finally found something that I really liked with the patches.  The the white areas are hand quilted.  I finally got to a point where I simply couldn't sit and work on this one.  My neck would get so tired.  I took it off the frame a few years back, then this past fall thought I would simply put it on the long arm frame and finish it by machine.  I'm so glad I did.  It would still be hanging around waiting for me to work on it!!

 

This shows off the Single Irish Chain pattern.  It has just been washed; it smells so good!

 The Pumpkin Seeds in the nine patches are done on the long arm.  I really like the way this came out.

 

The quilt was sitting in the sun in the window.  It really showed off the border quilting.  It is invisible otherwise.

 This is the backing along with the binding and the front border.  I simply liked this picture :-)  This quilt went to my second son and his wife as a thank you for all there help.

So, this year I'm hoping to start and finish eight quilts again.  So far, I have two quilts pieced and quilted and trimmed.  I need to attach the binding on one, cut and attach the binding on the other.  The third is in need of borders, then it will go on the frame for quilting.  Liking the long arm.  Best purchase I could have made.  I Still have another six or seven quilts that have been waiting for years.  I'm enjoying the quilting process more than I ever have and I'm a person that has always enjoyed hand work!  But it feels so good to be able to finally get them finished. And it really stimulates my creativity!!

Enjoying my blessings!!
d