On one of our weekly sewing days last Fall, Aunt Marjory came in with a wry little smile and said, "Oh, you're going to hate me." What? Why? Well, turns out she had Uncle Jack drive her to a local quilt shop a couple of times where she had become friends with the shop ladies. She loves seeing all the fabrics and colors. She had spied a nice outdoorsy panel quilt on the wall on a prior visit, and her new friend, Carol, got Aunt Marjory all set up with four "Bear Meadow" kits to make quilts for her four sons!
Then (and you've probably had this happen to you, too) a beautiful stack of fat quarters with sunflower prints simply leaped into her arms, and since she's got three daughters, well, of course, they'll each need a new quilt too. And, while she was at it, she thought Uncle Jack would love to have his very own quilt as well! Sure enough, here came Uncle Jack with 6 big sacks full of fabric, plus a laundry basket full of old Levis to cut up and make a quilt for himself. I just had to giggle. I think she's hooked. I love it!
Time to get busy! We talked about all the ways to make a quilt from the fat quarters, and she thought it would be good if we started with squares. She said, "I'm kind of a square person." Over the next few weeks, we cut out blocks to make a couple of "Turning Twenty" quilts.
Uncle Jack used my rotary ruler with the blade enclosed so I didn't have to worry about blade safety. Once the blocks were cut out, the real fun was laying out the quilt blocks, arranging, re-arranging, then arranging again to get a pleasing balance of color and design.
Uncle Jack, as the designated cutter-outer, began to cut apart all of his old Levis, removing the seams, then used the AccuQuilt cutter to die-cut 6-1/2" squares for his quilt.
Every once in a while they'd bring others with them to come and quilt on our sew days. Once Aunt Marjory brought her quilting friend, Aljean, who helped to pin and press, and we talked "quilt" all afternoon. Another time, they enlisted their daughter Joan to come. While I was working on the longarm, quilting the last Elephant quilt, Joan laid out the denim quilt and sewed the rows together while Aunt Marjory pressed. Just spreading the
Winter was just getting started when Aunt Marjory fell and broke her hip! That brought our weekly sewing days to a halt, and put her in the hospital. I finished the Levi quilt and dropped it off so she could give it to Uncle Jack for Christmas.
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| Quilt #7 - Uncle Jack's Denim Throw |
Then I had to add a teensy little owl at the bottom for Aunt M's "Owl always love you" signature.
And check out this "Open Range" Cuddle plush fur on the back. Perfect for a cowboy from Wyoming. By the way, Uncle Jack loves his quilt!
Aunt Marjory's surgery and rehabilitation certainly put a dent in her quiltmaking schedule, along with the fact that Uncle Jack is no longer able to drive. But she continues to have a happy attitude as always and has drawn out a couple of new ideas for quilts, and wants to try making a Celtic "Céad Míle Fáilte" ("100,000 Welcomes") quilted banner.
But first, we'll get those kits sewn up for her boys and maybe collect more fat quarters for another Turning Twenty quilt for another daughter. And now, one of the granddaughters has decided she wants a wolf on her quilt ("Howl" always love you, maybe?) And what about quilts for the grandsons? and great-grands...?? Aunt Marjory has decided that she'll need to live to be at least 100 so she can make all the quilts she wants for her big family.
Stay tuned for more Aunt Marjory Quilt Chronicles!'
Chapter 1 - Owl Always Love You
Chapter 2 - Bear in Mind, Owl Always Love You
Chapter 3 - Remember, Owl Always Love You
This is such a wonderful family of loving giving souls. Prayers for Auntie M to recover and get back to her sewing of quilts for all. Uncle Jack's denim quilt is fabulous. You have such a sweet group of helpful quilters, pressers, cutters, stitchers and how blessed you all must be. Hoppy Easter Dear...<3
ReplyDeletegood to read your Aunt is recovering well from the broken hip she does not look anywhere near 85. So many quilts to be made this will keep you all busy the jeans quilt has worked beautifully
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