Pages

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

When Old Memories Become New


I finished free hand quilting Mom's nine patch. 

Here it is, rolling it off the quilting frame yesterday.


My mother Lorraine created this quilt several years ago--it measured 60" x 80".

I added borders of ivory, navy, and sage green to make it a queen size quilt for her bed. 
Now it's 84" x 104"


I'm a free-hand quilter.  
I use a Babylock Crown Jewel 18" throat long arm quilting machine.

My original swirl feather design Squirrel Feathers, is a very fast free flowing edge to edge quilt design. 


Since taking this on the frame photo, I've finished quilting, added the binding, turned the binding and hand sewn.

I'll post more finish photos later before I mail the quilt to Mom.


I quilted 2 whole cloth baby quilts last week-- in preparation "getting my groove on", building muscle memory to quilt Squirrel Feathers.  

You know you have the muscle memory down and ready to go when you can quilt the design free hand in all 4 directions--literally.  

Since I was a kid, I could always always write backwards and upside down.
Who knew it would come in handy one day?????


While quilting--I listen to Rock, Blues, and Motown from the 60s.  


Sometimes I quilt at 4 in the morning when its still dark.


See what you can do with all your fabric scraps???

I smiled lots while quilting Mom's nine patch. Oh my gosh--I recognized material for a dress Mom made for me when I was studying in Mexico in 1966.

I remember all the beautiful clothes Mom made for us.  And she made the most beautiful prom dresses.  I could just cry with happiness thinking about all those old wonderful memories Mom created for us.  She's such a great seamstress/designer and can take an ordinary pattern--and make it sizzle.


Mom--if you are looking at this post I just want to say--this was a fun 3 day project--quilting your nine patch.  I love you.

4 comments:

  1. How lucky you are to be able to collaborate on projects with your mother! Your posting reminded me of a great quilt my grandmother made, which I now own and use. It gives me so much pleasure to see within it pieces of my mother's dresses, our old kitchen curtains, and even my father's pajamas!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I LOVE it, your mom is going to be so happy with this!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great job. Your mother will love this. Sometimes it's fun to think of all those good old times. I'm sure she enjoyed seeing you in the clothes she made. She probably has the same good memories as she looks at all the patches of fabric.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, I really love the quilt you and your mom made... I want to learn how to free quilt feather designs and such. I understand that it takes a lot of practice! You did a great job, while cherishing such fond memories.

    ReplyDelete