Tag Archives: Grandma

Half Hexagons – Finished

November 7, 2016UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt Fabric, Grandma, hexagons, Katie Jump Rope Fabric, Vintage, Vintage FabricBrooklyn Quilting Co.

The Half Hexagons quilt featuring Denyse Schmidt’s Katie Jump Rope fabric is officially done!

When I first posted the quilt top in a June blog post, I was seriously rethinking my decision to group the fabrics together by print instead of randomly distributing them throughout the quilt. I still think I probably should have randomly distributed them, but the groupings have kind of grown on me.

For the back of the quilt, I used a vintage piece of fabric I found in an old box of my grandma’s quilting supplies.

The colors, the little flowers…I think it works perfectly with the Katie Jump Rope fabric.

It’s hard to see in the images, but the quilting is really dense quilting that follows the hexagons.

So there you have it! Another Denyse Schmidt quilt in the books.

P.S. I have so much Denyse Schmidt fabric I could make quilts with only DS fabric for the next few years and never run out. Seriously.

Grandma’s Scrappy Pinwheels

July 25, 2016UncategorizedGrandma, Vintage, Vintage FabricBrooklyn Quilting Co.

Don’t you love scrappy quilts? I know I do. And so did my grandma, who was the queen of scrappy quilts and using whatever fabric you’ve got.

Today, I’m sharing another one of the quilts she made and I finished; She made the quilt top, and I put it together and did the quilting. I have to say, I love this one.

The colors are bright and happy and perfect.

I think she did a great job coordinating the fabrics and laying out all of the pinwheels, too.

It took me about a year to find the perfect fabric for the back of this quilt. I found this multi-color confetti dot fabric by Dear Stella over the holidays last year. Once I saw it, I immediately knew it was the one.

I like the modern confetti dot pattern with the vintage fabrics in the pinwheels. Plus, the colors in the confetti dot coordinate perfectly with the colors in the quilt top.

For the binding, I didn’t have to figure it out because my grandma had already taken care of that! Almost all, if not all, of the quilts my grandma has made in her life have used these little triangles for the binding. Whenever I see them, I think of her.

Also, don’t you love the polka dot border?!?!

So there you have another one of my grandma’s quilts. The other quilts of hers I’ve finished are this Vintage Fans quilt and this Applique Butterfly quilt , if you would like to read about them. I have one more quilt top left of hers to finish, but more on that one later!

Fallingwater – Finished

September 6, 2015UncategorizedGrandma, Kona Cotton, Lotta Jansdotter Fabric, Navy, Studio EBrooklyn Quilting Co.

My Fallingwater quilt is done! This quilt uses the River Mist collection from Studio e Fabrics and Lotta Jansdotter’s collection for Jo-Ann Fabric – a perfect navy blue and aqua color combination.

I kept this quilt pretty simple with some basic patchwork squares, but I wanted to switch it up a little with the placement of the squares; the result was a deep V pattern. I think it works pretty well and I like how the lighter aqua fabric falls into the darker blue fabric.

I used up every last bit of fabric for this quilt and pieced together what I had left for the back. I probably spent way too much time thinking about it, but I finally came up with something that I liked.

I’m glad I did spend so much time on the back, because I think I like the back of this quilt more than the front! Has that ever happened to you? Along with the leftover scraps, I used Kona Cotton in Navy to bring it all together.

If you look closely, you might notice a small amount of gold accents in the fabric. I took the gold accents as inspiration for the binding and used a gold polka dot fabric from my stash. After the back, my second favorite part of this quilt is the binding, but I’m a sucker for polka dots, metallic and otherwise.

Like the Butterflies quilt I shared last week, this quilt was photographed at my aunt and uncle’s farm, which used to be my grandparents’ farm. The truck in the pictures belonged to my grandpa. Many years ago it was sold at an auction and has had a couple of different owners since. But my uncle recently tracked it down and bought it back. The truck is now back on the farm and is being used today. Pretty great story, huh?

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend and the only laboring you do is making quilts!

Butterflies – Finished

August 30, 2015UncategorizedApplique, Denyse Schmidt Fabric, Grandma, Vintage QuiltBrooklyn Quilting Co.

Way back in January, I posted about an applique butterfly quilt top my (almost 93-year-old) grandma made many years ago. She can’t quite remember when she made it, but we guestimate it is at least 20 years old, if not 30+. Since grandma doesn’t quilt anymore, I took this one on to finish for her and I’m finally done.

This quilt took a long time because it is so large; it measures approximately 78” x 86”. I don’t think I’ve ever worked on a quilt that big, and let me just say it was a lot to handle.

While it did take a long time to finish, I actually had it done a couple of months ago, but I hung on to it for a while before I photographed it. That’s because I was waiting for my summer vacation to begin.

While I was away this summer, I spent some time with my aunt and uncle, who now live on my grandparents’ old farm. The white barn you see is the original barn that still stands. I thought it would be appropriate to photograph my grandma’s quilt on her own farm so I packed the quilt in my suitcase and waited until I got to the farm to take photos.

Turns out that was a good move, because I love the barn in the background. I also got to see my grandma while I was visiting and I showed her the finished quilt. Needless to say, she was very happy to see it done.

The back of this quilt was a bit challenging, mainly because it took me a long time to decide on a fabric. I knew I wanted to do something red and floral, but I couldn’t find the right fabric. It finally occurred to me that a Denyse Schmidt print would be a perfect complement to the vintage look of the butterflies. (Side note: Many of the butterflies are likely made with actual vintage fabric. My grandma was known for cutting up old dresses, aprons, etc. to use for quilt fabric. My mom even recognizes one of them as a dress she wore as a child.)

I ended up using a print from Denyse Schmidt’s Sweet Ruby collection for Jo-Ann’s. I am so happy I went with it; I think it looks perfect.

I also used an extra row of butterflies for the back. When I found the old quilt top in a storage bin, there was an extra row of butterflies that were packed with it. I wasn’t quite sure of what I was going to do with them. I thought about attaching another row to the quilt and making it a little bit longer, but then I decided to use them for the back. It ended up working out really well, because I needed a little more fabric for the back. Once I had the Sweet Ruby fabric and the row of butterflies, it was just enough fabric.

Now that this is done, I’m itching to dig into the other quilt tops my grandma left unfinished; I think there are two more left. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you might remember that I previously finished another applique quilt top of hers back in 2013. You can read about that one here. Maybe my next one will be finished in 2016. Stay tuned.

Butterflies

January 25, 2015UncategorizedButterfly Quilt, Embroidery, Grandma, Vintage QuiltBrooklyn Quilting Co.

I’ve written before about my grandma and how she was a longtime quilter but, now that she’s in her 90s, unfortunately her eyes don’t allow her to quilt any more. She still does a little bit of embroidery, but quilting for her is done and instead she’s happy to know that I like to quilt.

The good news is that before her eyesight became too poor to quilt, she finished a handful of quilt tops that have been stored away in a box in my parents’ house. I finished one of those quilt tops back in 2013 (you can read about it here), and when I was home visiting my parents over the holidays I pulled out another one of the quilt tops to work on this year. This one is appliqued butterflies.

I don’t have a full picture of the quilt because this one is large and in charge. It measures approximately 78” x 86”. Whoa! I will have to clear some major floor space just to get this one basted.

My grandma liked to do a lot of applique but I’ve never made an applique quilt myself. I have a couple of ideas for some modern applique designs I would like to try, but for now they’re just that…ideas. I have too many other quilts I want to make that aren’t applique and they are my priority, so instead I’ll just finish this applique quilt my grandma made.

As someone who doesn’t applique, I’m a bit stumped right now on how to quilt this one. There’s quite a bit of white space on the quilt that needs to be taken into consideration, but also what to do with those butterflies? I think I’ll be doing a bit of research before I start in on quilting it.

Any applique quilters out there that want to weigh in on quilting it? I’m taking suggestions!

How To Catch A Frog

May 23, 2014UncategorizedBrooklyn, Food, Grandma, Heather Ross, MomBrooklyn Quilting Co.

Artist, fabric designer, and author Heather Ross was on-hand last night at PowerHouse Arena in DUMBO, Brooklyn to give a reading of her new book How To Catch A Frog and other stories of family, love, dysfunction, survival, and DIY. I’m a huge Heather Ross fan and was so excited to attend the reading and get my hands on a copy of her new book.

We’ve all heard you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but isn’t this one of the most charming covers you’ve ever seen? Of course it’s one of Heather’s own designs and there are sweet little drawings throughout the book that I love. I cannot wait to dive into it and start reading.

The book, as the title suggests, is about her life and childhood, which wasn’t so typical, or what most of us think of as typical. During her reading last night we got a hint as to what that life was like for her and I’m fascinated to read more.

With our book purchase, we also all received a print Heather designed especially for her book tour. I love it! This print is so me and I can’t wait to hang it in my apartment.

As an added bonus, we all left with Meyer lemon & thyme preserves Heather’s friend Maggie Brown made to celebrate the book launch. You can read about the significance of choosing Meyer lemons on Maggie’s blog, but as quick background, Maggie mentions that Meyer lemons grew by the boxful in Heather’s godfather’s California home, and writes about how ‘many subjects could represent Heather’s life in a jar.’ Life in a jar…I so get that.

When I think of my childhood, especially summer –the smells, the flavors, the activities – I always think of rhubarb. Yes, there were lots of other things going on like riding bikes, playing with friends, barbequing on the grill, etc., but for me, summer and rhubarb go hand-in-hand. I remember it growing along the side of our house, cutting the stalks when it was ready, and then finally getting to eat it. Sometimes my brother and I would eat it raw with a little sugar on it, but usually there was an array of rhubarb sweets all summer long. Rhubarb crisp, pie, bars, you name it, and my grandma would make rhubarb preserves that we would eat all yearlong on our toast in the morning. To this day, whenever I’m home visiting my parents during the summer, I always request my mom make some kind of rhubarb dessert.

The gift of Meyer lemon preserves was so thoughtful and such a nice personal touch; I can’t wait to try it. I would like to say that I’m going to make a lovely Meyer lemon vinaigrette for a salad, but let’s be real. I think a Meyer lemon martini is in my future!

Mom’s Quilt – Finished

May 14, 2014UncategorizedClothworks, Embroidery, Grandma, Kona Cotton, MomBrooklyn Quilting Co.

I’m adding another quilt to the finished pile this week with my mom’s embroidered quilt.

My mom, who retired last year, recently decided to take up embroidery. Yes, it was a shock to everyone. Mom has never exactly been a sewer, knitter, embroiderer, etc. I would say she’s more of a gardener, but she seems to really enjoy embroidering, especially during the winter when gardening isn’t really possible in the Midwest where she lives.

It started because she had to finish some embroidery blocks for my grandma and that somehow triggered her inner embroiderer self. I say good for her! So she went to her local craft store and picked up quilt blocks to embroider, like my grandma likes to do. Once she started, she got on a roll and finished them in pretty good time. That’s when I came in and put them together to make a quilt.

When my mom visited last month, we went to The City Quilter so she could pick out the fabric for the back and the binding. It is Clothworks Everything Blue collection by Marsha McCloskey. She wanted something blue and floral to complement the blue in the quilt blocks and the Everything Blue collection fit the bill. The solid blue border between the blocks is Kona Cotton in Windsor.

For the quilting on this one, I went with navy blue rather than white thread, which I tend to gravitate towards on much of my quilting. I really thought the blue would add something to the blocks and mom agreed. I’m so glad I went with the blue quilting. It really does make the blocks look better.

Now that this is done I have to pack it up and send it to my mom so she can admire her embroidery work.

By the way, word on the street is that she’s working on some new quilt blocks. We’ll see what she comes up with next.

On the Mend

February 6, 2014UncategorizedGrandma, Kona Cotton, Quilt MendingBrooklyn Quilting Co.

I was visiting my brother in Denver last summer when I noticed an old quilt of his needed some repair work. This is a quilt my grandma made a long time ago and my brother uses it to nap on the couch. Or at least that’s what I assume he uses it for since it lies on the floor next to his couch. It has to be at least 20 years old, and it’s showing its age.

I know a lot of quilters make quilts they treat like museum pieces and I get that. They are definitely works of art and I can appreciate taking that approach, but that’s not what I do. I always say that my quilts are meant to be used and loved. That’s what we’ve done with my grandma’s quilts and that’s what I do with mine. They go through the wash, they get thrown on the ground outside for picnics, and they’ve probably been spilled on a time or two.

This is one of those quilts. It has been heavily loved. It’s gone through the wash many times and the fabric is super soft. It’s thinning in a lot of places, but the main issue is the binding. As you can see it is completely worn out.

My brother sent me the quilt so I could try to make some repairs and make it last another 20 years. At first I took a seam ripper and started to remove the old binding, but then I realized some of the most worn areas were right by the binding. That’s when I decided to save myself a lot of time and cut off the old binding along with the fabric near it that had worn thin.

Once that was done, all I had to do was attach new binding, where I used Kona Cotton in Navy. I also mended a few small holes in the fabric that I found. Nothing major, just a few spots that could use a little help.

This is the first time I’ve repaired a quilt and I think it turned out okay. Hopefully this old quilt now has a few more years in it.

Dishing Up Lots of Pretties

January 10, 2014UncategorizedGrandma, Hazel Atlas Ovide, Vintage, Vintage DishesBrooklyn Quilting Co.

If there’s one thing that can compete for my love of fabric it’s pretty dishes. New, old, colorful, simple…I love them all. I especially love antique dishes and share this love with my aunt, who surprised me with an amazing gift.

Over many years, my aunt has been collecting the antique Ovide by Hazel Atlas pattern. It started a long time ago when she was cleaning out my grandma’s attic and found some pieces of Ovide. She has slowly been adding to her collection and has acquired quite a bit over the years.

When I saw her over the holidays, we sat down to dinner one evening and were using the Ovide dishes. It was then that she told me they were mine. What?!?! She had always said she was going to give me some one day but I wasn’t expecting them for many years.

I am now the proud owner of 12 place settings and some serving pieces, some of which are the original ones found in my grandma’s attic. Not only are these dishes so fun, colorful and pretty, but they hold a special meaning that I will cherish for always.

Anyone else share my love of dishes? Now my goal is to find a place in my tiny New York City kitchen to store them.

Something Different

December 16, 2013UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt Fabric, Embroidery, Grandma, MomBrooklyn Quilting Co.

Today’s finished quilt was something new for me and had me saying whaaaa?

I’ve written before about my grandma and mentioned she can no longer quilt but she does do some embroidery. To keep her busy with fun projects, my mom buys her old timey embroidery panels that when finished can be sewn into a quilt. I say old timey because does anyone even do these anymore? I must confess I had never heard of such thing, but I’m also not that familiar with embroidery so it’s not surprising this was new to me.

In the mail one day arrived this stack of finished embroidered quilt blocks my grandma had completed.

After wrapping my head around exactly what they were and how they work, I discovered
that six blocks come to a package, but that really doesn’t make a lot of sense to me because you need 12 blocks to make decent sized quilt. Why not put 12 in a package? I digress.

When my mom bought these for my grandma, the store only had one package of each pattern so she had to buy two packages of different but coordinating embroidery panels. I think it ended up working out for the best and actually makes the quilt more interesting.

The nice thing about these embroidery panels is how fast a quilt top comes together. There was really very little work I had to do! I did decide to add a border around the panels because I thought it needed something.

For the binding, I found Denyse Schmidt’s Greenfield Hill Ladies League in Cranberry and the color and design worked perfectly with the quilt top.

I have to say that this is not the typical type or look of a quilt that I normally like, but that isn’t really the point of it. It’s a joint project between my grandma and me. Although I think I could see this at the end of a bed in my future country home that I own one day!