Saturday, December 1, 2018

Scraps of Fabric and Time

It's December!  I can hardly believe it, the time passes so quickly.  Little Buddy and I put up most of the Christmas decorations this week.  I'm saving the tree for next week.  We're spreading the joy of the season all through the month.
Here's what I've been working on.  The top for this quilt was finished back in February.  (Click HERE to go to the post about piecing it.)
It's quilted at last!  And shown here on my queen sized bed.  The quilt finished at 72 in. x 81 in.
As you can see, I did very simple quilting.  Mrs. Pfaff and I quilted in the ditch to stabilize everything, and then we quilted the ditches of the nine patches and just continued the lines across the unpieced squares.  I marked the lines with soap.
It was easy to include the pieced border in the grid lines going across the quilt.  When I finished the grid, there was only the outer unpieced border left to quilt.
I sort of copped out, and used a swag stencil I've gone with a lot.  It's easy to mark and easy to quilt.  Plus I actually like it.
Here's the back, a lovely repro fabric I bought on sale a long time ago.  I love turning over a quilt to find a pretty backing.
Did you notice the binding?  It's the same fabric I was thinking about using for a border on my Wagon Trail quilt.  It's really dangerous to leave a fabric laying around in the sewing room.  It can get snatched up and used for something completely different.  Will I have enough left for the border I was planning?  I don't know yet.  I might have to go to Plan B.

This week, we had a sad event in our family.  Little Buddy's great-grandmother, Grandma Betty, passed away.  She was 90 years old, and had led a full life, but she will be sorely missed.
Grandma Betty was my son-in-law's grandmother.  My son-in-law (E.) told me this story.
When E was born, Grandma Betty made him a quilt.  He kept it all his life, and had it with him when he was living on his own.  His puppy chewed up the edge of it several years ago, which really upset E.  Last summer, E asked Grandma Betty if she could mend it.  At first she told him to just throw it away, but he refused.  Together, they cut off the damaged edge, and Grandma Betty mended the quilt.  Both of them were very glad they had preserved it, and E has this very special memento of his grandmother.
We just never know how important the gift of a quilt might be to someone.  It's a lovely way to be remembered.


I'm wishing happy memories, new and old, for you all this week.
Cheers,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with
Sarah at Can I Get A Whoop Whoop
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Angela at Soscrappy
Cynthia at Oh Scrap








12 comments:

  1. I love your nine patch quilt. I think I might have found my next scrap buster project!

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    1. Thanks, Mike! It was super easy--2 in. (cut) squares, 5 dark, 4 light, set together with pairs of 5 in. (cut) squares. I wish I could say I cleaned out all the 2 in. strips!

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  2. Your 9-patch is really lovely--great reds in it...hugs, Julierose

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  3. That's a lovely story about your son-in-law and his grandmother.
    Love your nine-patch quilt! I think nine-patches may be my favorite block - soooooo many possibilities!

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    1. Thanks, Gayle. It brought tears to my eyes when he told me that story, just a couple of days after his Grandma passed away.

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  4. Beautiful 9 patch, and love the way you quilted it.

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    1. Thanks, karenbbsnow! Right now I'm just a walking foot quilter, but I hope to learn how to free motion quilt someday.

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  5. Congrats on a lovely finish! This quilt is so homey, cozy and inviting. Such wonderful scrappiness! The straightforward quilting is exactly right for it, too.

    I'm sorry to hear about E's grandmother. My condolences to your family. May she rest in peace.

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    1. Thank you, Louise. The family misses her, but she was ready to go on ahead, to be with her husband of more than 60 years.

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  6. What a lovely story. Thanks for sharing it with Oh Scrap!

    And I love the nine patch quilt. I have been itching to start a new project and it just might have to start with the humble 9-patch.

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    1. Hi, Cynthia! Your projects are amazing! I'm sure anything you did with nine patches would be inspiring.

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Thanks for reading! Post a comment--I want to know what you think!