Six quilters created a fractured quilt depicting the Blue Bridge, an iconic symbol of our local area. It was exhibited at a local art show and sold with the money going to the local cancer society. The money was used for fuel vouchers so that patients could drive to their therapy sessions. It was the first foray into fractured quilting for all of us. It turned out to be wonderful and we're really proud of it. We're currently working on another.
I would like to share my favorite reversible story quilt which features the history of my family and its six generations of quilt makers..... The reversible story quilt above is called "HOMEGROWN". It chronicles the history of the Edward "Ned" Titus family. Ned and his family members were brought to Freestone County, Texas in 1852 ,as slaves , by the Simeon and Nancy Lake family from South Carolina. Six generations of quilt makers developed from this family lineage. I am a fifth generation quilter in the legacy. I created this artwork to chronicle and record the history for future generations to enjoy!!!
This piece of folk art has been featured in the inaugural exhibit of the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, Texas, in 2001. The exhibit, IT AIN'T BRAGGIN IF IT'S TRUE …. and all the items featured in it .…were declared by one source as being the best that Texas had to offer to history in the past 200 years. We count ourselves honored to have had HOMEGROWN chosen to be a part of the illustrious lineup of historical items chosen to help tell THE STORY OF TEXAS on this history making occasion !!!
President George Bush gave the inaugural speech for the museum's opening day and most of the Texas Politicians and their family members attended the event. Among them were Governor Rick Perry and three former Texas Governors...Preston Smith; Dolph Briscoe; and Bill Clements. All these dignitaries had the unique opportunity to tour the new museum with the President and First Lady and also to view this unique piece of folk art.
This story quilt was created from recycled materials and found embellishments.
This reversible story quilt will always have a very unique and special place in my heart.
Three weeks ago my sister fell while changing laundry, breaking her upper arm ... very painful and immobilizing since it cannot have a proper cast. I'm hours away and could not help. But I had this idea and ravaged her Facebook friends for contacts and help.
I asked for 5 inch squares with get well wishes from her friends and family. There are quilters, fitness friends, auto cross buddies, high school chums and others included. Her daughter purchased a bag of batik squares and sent with her brother to an auto cross event for signatures. Her friend, Bonnie, went to her local quilters' group and fitness center. One friend made a mini-nine patch and another took fabric transfer and added a photo of my sister behind the wheel at an auto cross event. Some non quilters sent knit fabrics which I stabilized on a light colored square before piecing.
I pieced the squares and priority mailed the top to my sister's friend, Bonnie, who is a long-arm quilter by profession. Not only volunteering to do the quilting, Bonnie added a border before getting this on her machine. She used a motif of sewing tools for the quilting since my sister is a seamstress by trade and a quilter for the love of it (she just had a quilt place second in its class at an area show).
This is my fourth project and I am so proud to have been a part of making my sister cry. It's okay, they were happy tears, and as you can see she is smiling now! The hardest thing about the project? Not having my sister to go to for advice! At least now I can share all my pictures with her and talk about it!
We are all familiar with Bali batiks, but the Indonesian batik story is far richer than we can imagine, with its roots in Chinese and Arabian motifs which are centuries old. Yes, 'batik' in Indonesia can refer not just to a process, but also to a design.
Come on an Indonesian journey with Pamela Davis - she's been addicted to Indonesia, with it's incredible patchwork of cultures, ever since she began to learn the language when she turned 50!
And when she found the fabrics.....!!!!! Now she even thinks Indonesian could become the new Japanese!
Pamela created her quilt from one of the beautiful batik border fabrics, from the island of Java. It's a magic-squares design, made in the quilt-as-you-go manner, so you can see, it's more simple than it looks.
Just saw your screen test (hope to win the GO). Wanted to share a husband/stash story with you (since you had discussed that in your screening.)
I had purchased a whole bunch of fabric from a friend who was in desperate need of money. I'm talking about maybe 150 yards in 1/2 to 3 yard cuts. I had it home all laid around on the couch and chairs and floor of the living room to sort and fold. I had purchased this at a very good price and intended to resell it to my quilt guild friends at my cost -- a good deed for my friend in need and for my quilt guild. When my husband came home I explained that I was not going to keep it but resell.
He asked why wouldn't I want to keep it. I replied that I could never make that many quilts in my life time. And he said - - - well, it's not about making quilts -- it's about looking at it and getting inspired for what you might make!
Then I said -- but I don't even have enough space to keep it and he said -- I can build you more shelves.
He's definitely a keeper.
P.S. I did sell most of it to the quilt guild friends.
A little baby was born , perfect, and adorable.. Reddish blond hair, what there was of it. Eyes, fingers, toes all perfect .. A healthy little baby boy.. Oliver is his name.. And , at 5 months of age, is 99.9 % blind, due to an under developed optic nerve at birth. A chance for sight, maybe so, but most likely not, from what was told to the parents of this precious child..
Being a self concious quilter, afraid to show off a quilt that I have made, I hesitate . I shake, and quake at the thought that some other quilter, male or female, would see, and start picking out bad seams, or triangles that lose their point.. It has happened more times than I want to remember, and its defeating to the spirit of the one who at least is trying to make something out of scraps ( life ) , into a work of beauty.
It's not the quilts fault that seams are crooked, or puckers are puckering more than a sweet granny kissing on a grandchild's pink rosey cheeks. Yet, this is what is still a very common occurence with my quilting. Because, I , too , have a challenge visually with eyesight. Though not blind, I am legally blind.. But mums the word, because nothing usually stops me from trying something at least once!
Ollie, because he is a normal little baby in every other way, should have a quilt .. one that cuddles him in his mommy/daddies arms. One that is bright and fun and washable!! He's a baby afterall, and drools, and spits up, and occassionally already is known to spring a leak , if you know what I mean!
A quilt, yes, for a child, just as every child should have one ( though not all do, sadly )..
I was encouraged to make this little fella a " sensory quilt".. ok, so I was a little slow on the uptake, " What's a " sensory" quilt I asked? "... a few minutes later, I sheepishly hung my head , and said, " oh"..
Thus, a sensory quilt of textures, fabrics, and tears began for this little baby, whose sight will probably never visually be able to see it, but his fingers, his mouth, and his heart will one day.
Because I needed to know, and understand how it feels to be completely sightless, I took a deep breath, and felt by fingertips some of the pieces of fabric that I recieved from quilting friends all over the ocuntry. But I did all that , blindfolded.. Yes, needles pricks, nose to the grindstone, literally as I came to close to the needle a time or two, and one finger sewn perfectly for about a quarter inch .. true! Ouch!!, but true.
Each person wanted to be part of this little quilt, because of the inspiration that Ollie's birth had meant to them. None of them knows he,, or I, for that matter.. Yet, quilting life means having more friends to inspire you by - whether its their perfect quilt tops, or ones like the one I made for Ollie, definitly crooked, but perfectly designed in love.
I set to task , on sewing some of this quilt top.. I matched with fingertips as best I could from cut squares of fleece, flannels, bumpy / stretchy material ( I have no clue what it is, though its like slipper bottoms when youre in the hospital ).. Talk about being visually challenged, when trying to sew things such as that..
But all said and done, a " sensory " quilt top was completed, with a few individual pockets sewn onto the front for tucking in special words of "You can do all that you want to do! " . " Sight is not just for the seeing.. its for the INSIGHTFUL "... and my favorite of all, " A Pocket to catch all your Dreams"...
The backing fabric , if you look close , is skatebaords.. Ollie's daddy loves skateboarding, even now into his late 20's.. His dream was to have a son, and teach him all the tricks of the death defying moves that he had learned over his 13 years of skateboarding. Moves that defy logic, AND gravity, lol.. Yet, moves the father wanted to teach his son in the worst way.. Then being told there is probabililty of no sight, his questions became, " How do I teach my boy how to do what I love to do?"..
Simple , put him on the board, have him hold on , and teach him how to feel.. feel, experience, and dream.. Its in your back pocket, I told him..
This quilt, by no means beautiful on the outside like so many shown here on this website, is to me, MORE beautiful for two reasons :
1) It is made in perfect love for a special little baby whose life will never be dull. Not with having so many quilting grannies who will always remember the pieces of fabric they sent to create his quilt..
And 2) it is beautiful because, being challenged with a lack of self confidence to show anything that is not perfect, I learned that that beauty is in the Eyes of the beHolder.. and for me, I am holding this little quilt wrapping memories of making it to teach about touch, and about love from others who never will know what it means to be sightless, yet who do know what it means to be In - Sight- Full...
JUNE, 28 2002.
I was 38 weeks pregnant and in the afternoon I don't felt well. It was a strange feeling; I still can't tell what the feeling was like. I lied on my bed for a moment, but it wasn't helping me. I went downstairs and watch TV for a while with Cecca. When it was 16.30 hour I had to see the bathroom and when I grab the door handle, I feel a snap in my stomach. When I looked to my pants it was all red. I with crossed legs to the living room and my oldest daughter, Léonie, started to scream. I said to her to stop screaming and to go to the neighbors. André came immediate. He calls 112 and in 15 minutes the ambulance was there. The brought me to the hospital and it was 17.00 hours when I arrived there. They made an echo and I saw her heart beating. Very slow, but she was still alive. Then they took me to the surgery. I got a caesarian. Nina is born on 17.17 hours and she was dead. They revive her within a minute, but then she started to convulse. When Theo arrived in the hospital he saw 12 doctors and nurses around Nina's bed. Theo understands that Nina wasn't ok. When I recover, I laid on an improvised intensive care. A doctor next to my bed and every minute he measured my blood pressure. Later, I heard I had 1 liter left. I got 12 bags of blood. The hospital in Gouda took Nina to Leiden because Gouda had no baby intensive care. On Sunday June, 30 they took me to Leiden, because Nina wasn't ok. And you can see that on the pictures with Stefano and Nikita. Before the nurse brought me to Nina, Theo and I had a conversation with a pediatrician. He told us that Nina had a brain injury. She had an injury on the basal cores. With these cores you can navigate the loco motor system of your arms and legs. Nina couldn't swallow or suck. She should live her life like a vegetable plant. She had epilepsy. She never should walk; talk and she never recognize one of us. Later on she would be spastic. When I saw her later on, I saw a little sick girl on variety of apparatus. So small and ill. The apparatus watch over her hearth and breathe. She couldn't breathe by herself. On July, 3 I went home and Nina had to stay in Leiden. We went to see her every evening and sometimes during the day. One day I got a phone call from the hospital. The nurse told me that Nina drinks al little bit. They had to hold her in a special position to let her drink, but she did it. I was so glad and thought: 'Now we have to wait, what she is going to do with the rest". Nobody could tell us more, but I believed in her. I was very positive and Nina felt that. Father 2 weeks Intensive Care, Nina moves to High Care. She drunk by herself in a special position, but that doesn't matter. Nina lost the apparatus which gives her air. Now she breathes by herself. She was tired very quickly, so the rest of the bottle went by stomach pump. On July, 15 Nina came back in Gouda. It was easier for us to go to her. Cecca saw Nina for the very first time. In Leiden she may not go to Nina, because she hasn't had the chicken pox. She still had difference medicines for epilepsy. Phenobarbital and luminal and she had still a tube in her nose for food. On July, 20 she drank for the first time a whole bottle. The nurse draws a big flag on her status. On that page you can see what see had drunk the night before and her weight. One day Nina pulls the tube out of her nose and I asked the nurse to leave it. Nina hated the tube. Since that day Nina drunk much better and she never got a tube again. On another day I told the nurse that Nina did do her best and we were invited for a talk with the doctors. There was a pediatrician, a charge nurse and a doctor. They asked us what we knew about Nina. We told them. They beated a longing of alleviation. They were afraid that the bomb would crack in our family. On august, 1 Nina should be come home, but she was crying for a couple of days and that afternoon she got an insult. She didn't come home. On august 6, Nina finally came home after we made a shopping list of appointments and Phenobarbital for the epilepsy.
Nina's first years.
Nina had suffered from her intestines. She couldn't discharge. The doctor told us to use a few drips of oil trough her milk, but that doesn't work. After 8 months of worry, we got movicolon and that’s works perfect. She still uses it. Nina didn't have any insults at home. In October we had to visit the neuropathies. She told us that we had to try to stop with the Phenobarbital. She didn't tell us that these children had to become totally dry. Nina got 1.8 ml Phenobarbital and every 2 weeks we put 0.1 ml off. 0.1 is nothing, but when you had seen her reaction... She totally tense up. When that happens the first time, I was totally in panic. I called the hospital and had a talk to the neuropathies. She told me that it was normal and I got angry that she didn't tell me about tense up. I told her to tell always the parents what can happen when you stop with medicines. The date we put off 0.1 ml Nina was totally tense up and in the course of the week it gets better. The week after she was better until next Monday when we had to put another 0.1 ml. So we had a bad week and a good week until she lost the 1.8 ml. She got her last 0.1 on December, 31 2002. In October that year Nina also went very ill. She couldn't drink a bottle anymore so I had to feed her with a pipette. I didn't want her back in the hospital with a tube in her nose. She drunk 100 ml and it cost me 2 hours to feed the 100 ml. I carry on with the pipette until January 2003 and one day I thought, I do the milk in the bottle again. Turn on the TV and I'll see what happens. Of course always in the back of my head I was afraid of the epilepsy, but I tried. I laid her on my legs and let her watch The Teletubbies and..... she drunk. Finally! The TV deduces her from the bottle. When she stops drinking, she had 10 or 20 left in her bottle. That what she left, I did with the pipette. Now I was ready in 40 minutes. Now Nina watches TV. When we are on holiday, she goes to live music evenings. Loud music doesn't matter to her. She is only dancing on her manner. When Nina was 6 months old, I could with al lot of difficulty, to make her at laughing. I practiced it every day and one day she makes also noises when she laughs. Nina doesn't have much strength. I practice every day one or two times. Slowly she became stronger, but sit up or crawl she couldn't do it. Her neck was so weak that her head always fall to the left. By much practice Nina becomes stronger, but with her first birthday, Nina still couldn't sit up by herself, crawl or stand. Also we had to think about the future. A highchair for example. I found one. The chair could upward and below. I could topple it when she was too heavy for her. On June, 28 we celebrate her birthday. It was a special day for a special girl.
In her second year we kept practice. I did it every day. She got ones per fortnight physiotherapy. That was, of course much too little. But because I practice so much, she makes progress.
The doctors in Gouda and Leiden dared nothing more to say. Every time I was there for a visit, Nina could do more things than the last visit. In November 2003 we asked for a walker and a stand-up table, I don't know the right word for it. It's a table where a child stands in. The legs and hip are fixated. I hope someone know what I mean, so that I can use the right word. I thought it spends a few months, but it took 7 months before we had both things at home. When I knew this before, I asked much earlier for device. When you get a child with a handicap, you are thrown in the deep end and you must learn to swim by yourself, nobody told me anything about aid and where and how to get it. You have to find out by yourself.
Every year my quilt group, Ocean Wave Quilters in Fort Bragg, California, and the local Soroptimist clubs organize a quilt show over Memorial Weekend. We can't grow very large because venues are limited and the weather is too iffy to hang quilts outside. This year we decided to try a 'publicity stunt' to promote our show and a group of gals, and one cooperative husband, devised a hanging of quilts on the trestle over Pudding Creek on the north end of town.
Fort Bragg is an old fishing and logging town and the trestle is a remnant of the haul road the lumber mill used to transport logs to the sawmill. It is now renovated and part of a coastal trail. As part of McKerricher State Park, the trestle is a popular attraction and many people enjoy its spectacular vantage for ocean viewing.
Our group collected ten large quilts for hanging and many more to drape over the handrails of the trestle. We were waiting with baited breath for a sunny, still morning to pull our stunt, and our photographer, a member of the OWQers, set up on the beach below. As we marched out with our show flag and hurredly hung our quilts, we were encouraged by honking motorists and morning walkers. It was great fun and the pictures, as you can see, turned out wonderful!
While these particular I Spy quilt panels were available, I made lots and lots to give away. These were the years after my children were grown. My husband has 16 brothers and sisters - so there have always been lots of baby quilts to give away! Finally, when I had about 3 of these panels left, I decided that I had better save a couple for my grandchildren. This was years before there was even a possibility of grandchildren, but I didn't want to let something special slip away!
When my grandson was born, his first quilt is a simple Patience made with receiving blankets matching his room decorations. It was a great hit and was ready to present to him in the hospital. Forward to his 2nd birthday party - I decided that now he has some language skills and is interested in looking at pictures, so the time was right. I took one of my two precious remaining panels, added borders, and got it ready for his birthday.
Of all the I Spy quilts I made over the years, I had never ever sat down with a kid and played with it. I encourage everyone to make one, go find a kid and play. It's so fun! My grandson found the sunflower, then he found the sun. We can find penguins, spotted frogs, etc etc. He can use this for language, for color recognition, counting - the possibilities are endless! And his "qilt" is always ready for play and goes with him on numerous visits.
After observing the play value of this quilt, my mom decided her grandson needs one for his 2nd birthday - my nephew is 1 year younger than my grandson. So lucky nephew gets one next year and lucky me gets to make another one!
Although mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few years back, I could see her head thinking and doing things. Even more so, I would see her wanting to do things. So when I went to visit her and dad in October/November 2008 in Florida, I brought along quilt pieces for us to work on together. I prepared the leaf on fusible using scraps from my stash. I purchased scissors for her arthritic hands, and mom helped me cut them out. She was worried when she’d cut below the line, thinking she ruined it, but I told her that not any two leaves in nature were exactly the same and however she cut was perfectly fine. She cut out most of the 130 leaves. Once our leaves were ready, she also helped to decide which four would go together on the block and I would fuse them on each square. When the time came to teach her to stitch around each leaf, I put her chosen leaf in the hoop, she chose the color floss she liked, and I taught her to do an up and down running stitch around her leaf. She watched me do the blanket stitch, and tried it a few times, and I think she would have really mastered it if not for the fact that the house was full of confusion with nurses coming in and out taking care of my father, and we did not have the quiet we needed to concentrate! We also paid a visit to the local quilt shop and she chose the fabric for the borders for the quilts. We decided that we would make three smaller versions of the quilt in the magazine, one for each of her two sisters and brother. She signed each leaf she stitched, and decided which ones would go to which sibling. I then brought our supplies home to Virginia and finished each quilt for my uncle and aunts. As a little aside to the quilt story, during the same month, I also taught mom to type (one finger!) on the computer and write emails to her sister, and we worked easy Sudoku games together. Dad’s nurses were amazed, asking me if mom had ever done anything like this before in her life. She had not, and they said then she may have dementia and short term memory loss, but probably not Alzheimer’s as Alzheimer patients didn’t learn anything new. Mom was pretty pleased with her quilt making and I treasure the memories we made together that month. The picture shows Mom stitching, and her two sisters, Theresa and Anita and her brother Phil with their new quilts.
Joan Johnson
Scrappy Maple Leaf Quilt designed by Cheryl Kerestes, QUILT Magazine
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