Crafting, it's in our blood/ My First Quilt

In case you didn't know Emily and I are related through our dads. They are twins and we cousins are their awesome offspring.

There is no doubt that Emily inherited a massive amount of her craftyness from her mom (Joanie!) and it was my mom (Mom!) that taught me to sew. But there is no denying that our fathers side can hold its own in the craft world.

I want to talk about our Great Grandma Ruth for a minute. Grandma Ruth passed away in 2003, it's okay it was really her time, she was 99 years old. I spent some time with her growing up but I wouldn't say that I knew her very well, Em would probably say the same.

But from what I hear she was one amazing woman.

* She survived 2 world wars

* Acted as woman of the house when she was only 11 because her mom was too sick

* Raised 4 wonderful children 3 girls 1 boy

* Has around 25 grandkids

* I have no idea how many great grand kids!

During WWII Grandma Ruth was a real life Rosie the Riveter! Her abilities were specially requested when it came to cutting the manholes in submarines and ships because she could cut a perfect circle. She would ride the train a couple of hours to get from work to home and along the way she would crochet flowers that eventually made up a beautiful table cloth that covered the display table in her Relief Society. We used it for the funeral service and then grandma Myrna donated it indefinitely to their wards Relief Society. But here is a pic!

Anyway, she made a beautiful grandmothers flower garden quilt all by hand many, many years ago. In recent years its begun to fall apart and while Grandma Myrna is still trying to find somewhere to repair it (it is soooo delicate) in the mean time she and I have endeavored to recreate it! I get a flower done from time to time while working on other projects in between. Its an on going process but through it I have really grown as a seamstress.

So this is my entry for Camille's Parade of Quilts

This is one of my first blocks made in 2004, before we discovered hexagon templates and just after I sadly realized I would not be able to do this on my sewing machine.

And here is my most recent flower block. Much crisper and you can't see the thread connecting the little hexagons.

There you have it! We need some 56 flowers to complete the quilt and are up to mid-30's! I hope you enjoyed the reminiscing.

And just for fun here is my husbands first (and most recent) quilt!

Oh and BTW I've almost finished 3 more football scripture cases and just have to pic up a bit of purple fabric and then I'll be all over making some more girlie ones! You can check out what I've already got by following my Etsy link to Carroll Cousin Creations there on the right. Ooo and I need to remember to add that custom requests for scripture cases are totally welcome! Good times, talk to you soon!