Tuesday, July 7, 2009

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!

9 comments:

  1. Lisa ~ I love the story about Grandma Ruth. It's my very favorite thing about quilts and quilters. Every quilt has a story, whether it is about the quilter who made it or the person for whom the quilt was made. Your Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks are beautiful and I hope you'll show a picture of the quilt when it's finished ~ it's going to be wonderful.

    And I love your husband's quilt! Pink and lavender? With a pink floral border? I hope he's making it for a very special little girl in his life... :)

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  2. i was beginning to wonder in all this bag sewing if you still worked on that flower garden quilt. you defn have much more patience for that sort of quilt than i do. haa haa.
    man, we've got ourselves in deep for lots of sewing amounts...
    good thing i got laid off from picture people :P

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  3. The thing about grandmas quilt is I can work on it when I sit down to watch a movie. It really irritates Brett if I use my sewing machine :) while a movie is on.

    And for the record, Brett made that quilt for our baby Lorelai. His grand plan is to make one for each kid we pop out because how many kids can say that their 'blankies' were made by their daddy's? Gotta love him :D

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  4. haa haa
    i was sewing last night while joshua was trying to watch ace of cakes...
    which i happened to be the one to turn on.
    all the more right for me to sew during :P

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  5. Nothing better than a Grandmother's flower garden, thats for sure. Looks like you are off to a great start! I can't even tell you how impressed I am that your husband made a quilt for your daughter. How special is that?

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  6. That tablecloth is amazing. I really like your grandmother's flower garden blocks. I haven't tried that yet but I'd like to someday.

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  7. I love hearing about your grandmother. I think she and my grandma would've been good friends. Your flower blocks are lovely!
    Well done to your husband too. I'm glad I don't have to fight my husband for sewing machine time!

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  8. What a sweet story. Love your grandmother's flower garden blocks and your husband's first quilt.

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  9. Thanks for sharing that story about your grandmother. The tablecloth is beautiful! And, I love those flower garden blocks. I really can see the improvement from your first block to the yellow one. Very pretty!

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