Family quilts

Over spring break I made a quick visit to see my parents in SE Kansas. While there I spent some time looking through some of my Grandma's things. I was very excited to find some old quilts. I was even more excited to find a short note written by my Grandma pinned to the back of each of them. I took a few pictures of each quilt and made notes about who made each. When I was finished I packed the quilts back up and left them at Mom and Dad's.

The above quilt was made by my Grandma's sister Lela Webster. This is probably the newest of all of the quilts.



The note on the gold quilt said pieced by "grandma". This was my Grandma's Grandma. I am not sure which Grandma. I need to ask Dad. The light colored blocks are all string pieced. It is machine quilted. I am guessing Grandma had it machine quilted.


This quilt was made by my Grandma and her Grandma Foushee. It is hand-quilted in straight lines about 1 1/2 inches apart. I did not notice the discoloration of the quilt when I looked at it in person, I only noticed when looking at the photographs that I took.

The above quilt was the most exciting find!!! This quilt was made by my Grandma's Grandma Wright (My great-great-great Grandmother) in 1883. It is in fairly decent shape except for the stains that you see in the photo. I spent some time drafting the block this week. Drafting one block seemed to take forever, I can't imagine how long it took to cut all 20 blocks by hand and to sew them by hand as well. My goal is to make a smaller version of this quilt, maybe 5 blocks and I am thinking of making it in apple green. The other exciting thing about this quilt is there is a tag stitched to the back that says it is a part of the Kansas Quilt Project in 1986. I don't know anything about it but will look into it this week.

This last quilt is designed and made by me. I had it with me at Mom and Dad's to take some photos of it there. I thought I would throw this photo in for good measure.

Because I am ready for spring....

Yesterday we woke up to a few inches of snow on the ground. Thankfully, it melted by afternoon. I am soooo ready for spring. While looking through my UFO's (unfinished projects) tonight I ran across a few that reminded me of spring, so here we go.... (and yes, I do have a lot of unfinished projects, projects for every month and every season!)



These are a few bunny blocks from an on-line block swap that I did many years ago. I still have not figured out the perfect setting for these cuties. I will need to make a few more of my own blocks to incorporate with the ones that I have.




This is a table runner, or a wall-hanging I made, I don't know how long ago. The applique is fused- on, it is just waiting to be stitched and quilted.



I also ran across this picture of my daughter and our real live bunny while I was putting together this blog post. I thought it should be included since the theme today seems to be bunnies!!! Here is to spring, expecting warmer weather and sunshine the rest of the week!

Another WIP (work in progress)

Here is another project I have been working on, actually it seems like I have been working on it forever! I started this quilt a couple of years ago at a retreat. After a frustrating night and a lot of help from my friends I got most of this top pieced at yet another retreat in January. (Thanks Nan and Katrina!) I still need to add a skinny light colored border and then a pieced border made up of 100's of 2 1/2 inch squares. I love the colors in this quilt, they remind me of spring! Sorry, this picture is not the best, it was a windy day here in Kansas when I took the picture. Plus, my help was getting pretty frustrated holding the quilt for so long. I promise a better picture when I finally get the quilt finished.

Carry Nation

All of you Kansans know of Carry Nation, the hatchet and Bible carrying woman that destructed bars across Kansas in the late 1800's. Tonight my oldest daughter dressed as Carry to participate in her classes living history exhibit at their school. It was a fun night of learning about many Kansans and the contributions they have made to our country. Great job 4th graders!

Works in Progress

Thought I would get things started with a few pics of some of the projects I have been working on.




This is from a quilt- along from here. The blocks are 20 inches. I plan on making 8 more blocks. I am using fabrics from both of Sandy Henderson's Meadowsweet lines.




This is a small wall quilt. I started this several months ago and am really close to being finished. Three borders left and some quilting. I am using fall fabrics. When November came and went and I still didn't have this finished I put it on the back-burner. I plan to finish this soon then it will be ready for next fall!

O.K. I am off for now. The rest of the week I will dedicate to showing you my works in progress, and practicing my computer skills so I don't have to have my husband help me post here every night!