Auditioning fabrics

Off to Helen's house today, talking about fabric for our quilt. We are still looking for the

dark fabric in the star blocks. We are trying to stay as "true" to the original as possible, but it's very difficult. I'm hoping to find a chocolate with lines of half moons. I know it's really hard to see this particular fabric, but look closer. Have you seen any reproduction fabric like this?

Now the fencing around the perimeter is appliqued down and appears to me to be a solid chocolate, we have that, whoppee! My bff is going to use her machine to piece and I am not.

                                                                                        I am going to hand piece mine. Now, to draft it out this week...
I am very anxious to get started.

As a side note. I have had a few emails and comments about this quilt. So let me explain a bit. My bff is 83 years old and lives alone. She is tired and has made quilts all her life for her family. She wants to make a quilt just for her. I guess it's a way for her to memorialize her family, to remember them. I want to join her in making one because one day I'm going to be tired too. My hands are beginning to show signs of arthritis and I love to hand piece and hand quilt and want to do this before my ability to move my fingers is lost.  I want to make this quilt because it's a way for me to remember my family and for my kids to know who everyone was.

If you know who sells the chocolate fabric that we need, please let me know. Oh, and Helen says hi.

Historical quilts

My bff is the sweetest lady in the world. I go to her home every Monday and sew, cut and quilt my day with her. Sometimes we open a box she has in a closet and carefully unfold the contents, usually something that makes her smile. Her mother was an experienced needlewoman in crocheting, embroidery, cross stitch....actually everything, except quilting. My bff is a quilter and has made tons of them. She lives alone, lost her spouse years ago, along with her parents. She naps in the afternoon after lunch and watches wrestling on TV 4 nights a week. 

I brought an awesome book to her house to show her THE GRAVEYARD QUILT. It is possibly the most inventive quilt a woman has done to work thru the grief of losing her children. I showed her the book and the quilt. She must have been thinking of this quilt alot the past few weeks. She wants to make one. So do I. I don't find the quilt macabre. I want to make one. I have tried to do some measuring and guesstimating and think I have it down. Next Monday, we are going to go thru our stashes and see what we have. I want to  use tea dyed muslin between blocks, borders and for the center.                                                

In 1836, a woman named Elizabeth Roseberry Mitchell began stitching a quilt in memory of her two-year old son, John, who had just died. In 1843, she added another son who had died at the age of 19. What’s so unusual about her quilt is that it features a graveyard in the center; on the top is where the graveyard is located in Monroe County, Ohio.

The outer border has appliqued fencing, and also up the center, from the bottom. Now, if you look closely, you'll see embroidered vines, leaves and flowers, twined thru the fencing. The original quilt has walnut hull dyed little coffins. We don't have those here, just pecans.

This is going to be fun, me and the bff. I want to get alot of it cut and prepped and ready for my trip to see sister. She came to see me last year, now it's my turn to go see her!

If you want more info on this historical beauty, visit:

http://www.amazon.com/Elizabeth-Roseberry-Mitchells-Graveyard-Quilt/dp/0962939927 or:

http://www.kyhistory.com:2010/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/Artifacts&CISOPTR=35&CISOBOX=1&REC=3

So, what do you think?

                                                                                         

How are ya?

I started with good intentions to blog..you KNOW what I'm talking about, don't you? Be more in touch, stop being selectively mute. The earthfamily came over for dinner about 6 weeks ago, and while cutting up a chicken...I attempted to severe the index finger of my left hand. Since it was chicken and the knife was not clean...off to the doctor. A round of antibiotics, a fabulous lecture from the doctor about needing to suture the wound in a timely manner, and the hoped for Tetanous shot, I healed almost up.

    This is what happened when I pulled back, firmly embedded, in the burros grasp.  My right arm had been resting atop a chain link fence.                                                                                             

Again, the earthfamily, big daddy and I met up at an awesome Mexican restaurant for dinner. If you tried the Shrimp Fajitas there, you would drive 75 miles round trip too! I brought the usual tortillas home for the horses and Jenny the burro. I wasn't paying enough attention and Jenny nearly severed my index finger from my right hand. Not her fault, she just wanted to pluck that tortilla from my hand before the paint horse did! OMG, it hurt! I am still living with 2 index fingers, kinda sore and a wee bit of swelling, but I'll make it.

Do you see a pattern here? Either the earthfamily is dangerous or I am a danger to myself.

What are you ladies working on? I'm so ready to get back to sewing. Any new patterns or fabric lines you might want to share?

I need to get busy, but first sleep. Take care, Elaine