Moondance

Mom - Moondance, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

This quilt is made out of Robyn Pandolph's "Moondance" fabric, and the pattern is one that I believe was published along with the fabric, but my mom and I thought at the time that this block was called Radiant Star. I like this quilt, although I think it's too low-contrast to show off that pretty block. (I haven't come across this quilt so far; it may have been one of the ones she sold at some point. Or it may just be buried deeper than I have so far ventured into her closets.)

Batik Storm at Sea

Mom - Batik Storm at Sea, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Another one of Mom's quilts that I brought home - it goes well with the big batik quilt that I have on the bed, and it's a beautiful piece in its own right, isn't it? You can see my husband's hands holding it up, it's not big at all. Mom kept it on a chest in her bedroom, and it's laying across my couch at the moment.

I need to find out who's running the guild quilt show next year - somebody had suggested that they have an exhibit of my mother's quilts, and if they're interested in doing it, I need to make sure the ones we might want for that stay together, or at least stay where we can get to them! (On the other hand, there's no shortage of her quilts to choose from.)

Buttermilk Farm

Mom - From Buttermilk Farm, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

I keep bringing quilts home - I have no idea what I'm going to do with this, but it's too pretty to just let sit in my mother's closet. "Buttermilk Farms" or maybe "From Buttermilk Farms" is the name of the book it's from - I'm not sure if this pattern has a different name.

I was looking through Mom's books today - the one this pattern is from was there, which is what reminded me of it. She had quite a lot of quilt books, and I made a "keep" pile and a "give away" pile - the keep pile was quite a lot smaller, which will make my husband happy. A lot of her books were applique, for one thing, and since I don't do applique there's no sense in taking any of those, even if I do like to look at them!


Amazon is a wonderful thing - here it is: Buttermilk Farm (A Quilting Book)

Patchwork Keds!

Keds "mosaic", originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Keds has a way of suckering me into buying more shoes. Last year it was the Eleanor seahorses and now these. OK, they're calling them "mosaic" but they look an awful lot like patchwork to me.

Trio, and who made it

Trio, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Quilt above made by Emily Parson of St. Charles, Illinois; winner of the Master Award for Innovative Artistry (and a $5000 prize) at the 2001 International Quilt Festival.

I'm pretty sure I've put this picture up on the blog before, but it was one of a handful of pictures from five years ago or more which I didn't have names for - and I stumbled across a picture of it today in an old quilting magazine, so here it is again with proper credit. It's a beautiful thing, isn't it?

Batik double star block

batik double star # 2, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

This is one of the blocks that I made for the Friendship Bee, which led to my mom making the quilt two entries down (here). I like this block a lot. I can't remember ever having seen the quilt it would up in, and I'd like to.

Belated St Patrick's Day picture

Green quilt with both borders, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

I probably put this up around this time last year, too, but oh well. I've been thinking of this quilt because I just came up with a use for it. (I'm not telling right now what that is.) Now I just need to finish it.

The Double Stars story

Mom - batik double stars, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

I brought this quilt home last weekend and I have it on my bed. It's really beautiful - I'll have to get Rob to help me get a decent picture of it.

There was sort of a whole saga behind the making of this. When I was still going to Friendship Bee, maybe 4 years ago, a couple of people requested a block like this*, so I made at least two of them for that. Then after she looked at the ones I was making, Mama got intrigued with the block, and she started making her own. I'm pretty sure she made every one of these blocks herself, she didn't have the bee do it or anything. Then when she got them all done, she started putting them together (without any sashing) and she hated it. It really did look bad - I agreed with her - I think it would be ok with a coordinated color scheme but these randomly-colored blocks just didn't work. But we stumbled across this setting in a book, I think, and it worked great, don't you think? Now mind, I think she had the quilt top completely assembled with no sashing, and she took every bit of it apart and put it back together again. But I think it was worth it.

*I've probably explained this before, but the Friendship Bee does an exchange deal where you make a block for somebody every month, and when it's your turn, you get to specify what block, what colors, etc. So in return for your monthly block, each year you get a set of 12 blocks back in a pattern of your choice. I used two years' worth of Friendship Bee mojo to get the majority of the blocks for my Faceted Amethysts quilt, and Mom's Blue Oregon Trail was done the same way. I finally quit because making the block every month was too much for somebody who quilts one day a week - I mean, I got them done, but it was taking up a large amount of my quilting time every month, and after two years I got tired of that. It was a very good experience, though.

Judaica quilts

Judaic quilt, originally uploaded by aviva_hadas.

Maker unknown.

In wandering around Flickr, I found user aviva_hadas, who has a whole set of pictures of Judaica quilts. Really cool stuff.

Say goodbye

Flickr is down, or I would post a picture of the silk urn we are burying my mom's ashes in tomorrow. It's this one, and it looks pretty much exactly like that picture, except that maybe the blue isn't quite as bright as it appears in the picture. It's very pretty, anyway. I was thinking of getting some kind of porcelain urn, but somebody sent me the picture of this one and I'm glad they did. I like it. I know I could've made something like it myself, but I didn't really have time, and at least this one fits right and everything!

I think that burying the ashes may be a bit of an adventure - the rural cemetery where the rest of her family is buried doesn't seem to have ever had to deal with a cremation before. They eventually said we could do whatever we wanted to do, within reason - except that we can't plant a rosebush, which was my initial idea. I guess it would mess up their mowing, later. Anyway, I will report back after I get home on Sunday.

Mom's "Bear Family Album"

Mom - Bear Family Album, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

One of Art's daughters asked if she could have this quilt for her son, and I was happy to give it to her. It's not my style, and my nephew is way too old for it. (He's 16.)

Also, it occurred to me that I mentioned buying the Tutto bag, but didn't give the link. It's here. I sure hope I like it, because it's not cheap. I imagine I will, though!

At least I'm doing ONE craft...

Look, I'm a jewelrymaker!, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

I may not have gotten any quilting done lately, but I did take a jewelry-making class - just the basics of stringing beads, really. This is what I made, along with a matching pair of earrings. (Regular readers may remember having seen this same color scheme in a quilt of mine!) Not that I'm planning to give up quilting for jewelrymaking, but this was really fun.

Seminole or French Braid?

Paula pointed out in the comments to the last entry that there is a book that seems to have patterns very similar to my mom's "seminole" quilt. It's called French Braid Quilts: 14 Quick Quilts with Dramatic Results. I had seen it before and forgotten all about it. (Also, I looked on Keepsake Quilting's website, and if they still have that pattern, I couldn't find it.)

Mom - watercolor seminole

Mom's seminole quilt, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

(Is seminole the right word for this? I've never done one, and I'm not 100% sure. I'm pretty sure it's a seminole variation, at the very least.)

This is one of the fairly rare quilts that my mother did straight from a kit, although she did do a good many blocks of the month, which amounts to the same thing in the end, doesn't it? Anyway, she and my aunt went to the Sisters quilt show somewhere around 5 years ago - I think I was invited but I was too broke at the time - and she bought this kit there. If you like it enough to want your own, I'm pretty sure it's been in the Keepsake Quilting catalog very recently, although I couldn't find it in my current copy. You might still be able to get it there.

(I need to dig in my mom's quilt pictures, and scan some of them. I'm pretty sure she took a lot of pictures in Sisters that year.)

Pink!

Mom's hollyhock quilt, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

(Like Anna Nicole, my mother liked pink.)

In other news, I ordered a Tutto bag from Planet Patchwork. Every time I have tried the cheap route with wheeled things, they break, so I decided it was time to get the good stuff. So at least I can take my sewing machine to spring retreat in comfort.

My aunt Linda and I spent the afternoon playing with my mother's fabric. She had an awful lot of it, since she made so many quilts. I brought home two big under-the-bed boxes full, and I was picky. I could have taken a lot more. (Although we didn't even finish going through it all, so there may be more, in the end.)

Christmas Trip Around the World

xmas trip, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

I brought this quilt home with me Sunday - no telling when I'll finally get around to making another Christmas quilt, anyway. (I gave the only one I ever made away.) And this one of Mom's is simple but cute. The squares are around 3" finished, I think.

Kim on Moda's spring lines

What with everything going on in my life, I haven't gotten around to writing about the luscious fabric in the new Hancock's of Paducah catalog, like I meant to. But luckily, Kim of Dioramarama has done it for me! So read what she has to say, and then go dig out your catalog - or go find these fabrics at your quilt store, because they're fabulous.