Daily Blog - TheQuiltShow.com

The Little Quilts That Could!!

Story Submitted by: SDQUILTER

It was a beautiful spring day, actually summer like as it was 77 degrees outside & all was bustling to get the farm cleaned up for spring. The 1st order of business was to clean out the old hog house which will be burned down so a new and improved building/shop can go in its’ place someday. Yes, we were hit by Tornado Tues 2004 and things on the farm have changed tremendously since then and this is the final clean-up to be done from that scary night. As I walked over to the hog house, dad (my dear father-in-law) called me to a box that was reeking of mold & mildew. Here’s something for you he said as he pointed to the open box. I looked and on top there was a thread stand with 5 small spools of old thread & then 2 mildew ridden sheets. I pulled them back for further inspection of the contents and to my amazement I found 2 quilts made with love no doubt by a loving grandma somewhere. I gave them a quick once over and there was not a stitch of mold or mildew on them, just some odor that the washing machine took care of after a few runs. One was a patchwork of various fabrics & the other was a cute little Sun Bonnet Sue & Sunny Jim quilt that surely was happy to be back in the sunshine. We don’t know when or why the box got put in there as the hog house hasn’t been used for anything but storage since the early 70’s, but I had a mission to do now that the quilts were found & saved from the pending fire. With no labels on the quilts & the only other immediate quilter in the family that I knew of had passed at the glorious age of 101, I was off to do some investigative work, starting with a closer inspection of the quilts. Grandma’s father had bought this farm in 1893 after coming over from Sweden & she was born here on the farm in 1899. She was a teacher, a farmers’ wife & Pastors’ wife during her lifetime and I was blessed to have many opportunities to learn from her so I could pass down her stories & traditions to our children & grandchildren. The patchwork quilt was the only style quilt I had ever seen her make as she was a thrifty woman who never threw any good piece of material away and always took in others’ scraps that were offered to her, so I am positive that she had made the patchwork quilt. With some reluctance I have to admit that the 1st dead giveaway in it was the old heavy nylon stocking she used to make the brown patch in the bottom left of the quilt bigger so it was the same size as the other squares; 2nd, each square was made of several pieces of the same fabric sewn together and lastly, the backing was an old bedspread that had been pieced in 3 long strips and brought around the front for binding, another trade mark of her quilting. I’ll be giving the seams some attention, but other than that, it will go proudly on display for future generations to see & learn from. The other quilt is a panel and looked to be made of fairly newer fabric (within the past 20-25 yrs) and is the one I will find myself doing some further investigative work to find the quilter, but if my hunch is right I won’t have to travel far for that either. So to end this story, the hog house went up in a “Blaze of Glory” and by some Devine intervention as if Grampa Paul & Gramma Esther, previous owners of the farm & a Lutheran Pastor & Pastor’s wife were standing by close to make sure everything went ok, a steeple appeared in the front of the hog house as it burned and I’m sure Gramma was smiling with joy to know that the lovely little forgotten quilts are now happy, safe & sound and catching up on all the love they missed out on when they were left to live in a dark dingy box in the old hog house.

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Feature Quilt This Week

Simply Mad, by member jogriffith.

This week more than 1000 quilts have been posted! Yeah - that is awesome. Remember, the drawing to win Ricky's Rhapsody Reality quilt will happen when we reach 36,000 quilts. In simple math that means only 6000 of our current members have to post 6 quilts. Nobody wins the quilt until our goal is met. Look through profiles and if someone has one or two quilts - contact them from their profile page and urge them to post their quilts. The instructions for doing it are posted in the link on the right that also gives details about this contest. Remember, quilts do NOT have to be made BY the person posting them - post family treasures, etc.

To remind you of the variety of quilts that are now in the gallery we have randomly selected this quilt made by member jogriffith for you to enjoy. Check out her pfofile page and see her fun and whimsical designs.

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Kennebecasis Valley Guild announces show

Quispamsis, New Brunswick, Canada - September 20-22, 2007 This year's show is entitled "Joy in Quilting" and will be held at the Island View Lions Club. Features include a judged show, display and sale quilts, a raffle quilt entitled "Home Comfort", an expanded Members' Boutique and Christmas Corner. There will also be a Wearable Art fashion show daily at 3pm and 7pm. For more information contact Anna Marie Hutton at rjhutton@nb.sympatico.ca

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Chat with Alex

Tuesday night (June 12) - 6:00 pm west coast time. Room: Anybody out there?

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Get out and meet some of our members

I was looking through our quilt gallery last week and found so many great quilts that I felt compelled to let the artists know how much I liked their work. Funny as it happens several of the members are living out of the US. And one of them lives in Okinawa, Japan. Our last duty station overseas. What a coincidence! I have now been corresponding with her to find out what has been going on and what she enjoys working on.

In August she (Quilterwithhearts) will be coming to one of the tapings of The Quilt Show in La Veta, Colorado. We are planning on meeting face to face. All of this from just a quick e-mail regarding her quilt.

If you like someone's work let them know. You never know, there may be a friend just around the corner.

Lilo

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Dancing with the Alligators

A few have asked about dancing with alligators - watch show 5.

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Groveland Outdoor Quilt Show

Today was the first Groveland CA Outdoor quilt show. Groveland is in the CA foothills on the way to Yosemite. The local guild, The Pineneedlers, hosted this fun event and all went smoothly - though the ladies are TIRED tonight. I hung out at Bunny Rose quilt shop (who is listed in our quilt shop directory www.bunnyrose.com) all day signing books and just generally having a great time. The gals said it this is going to be an every other year event - but I think it needs to be every year. Possibly that thought comes from the idea that two years is SO long away! Great job ladies, Groveland may never be the same!

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Heading to Minnesota

Is anyone going to the Minnesota State show next week? I'll be there. It will be my third time to participate in this amazing state guild event. If you are going, remember our secret code - "It's a New Day!" - If you haven't made a badge, I've posted it again for you here to use as a guide. It's about 4 inches square and I've seen fused, stitched, embroidered, printed on fabric, and done with colored inks. - Just wear your badge. It will help other members identify you. Those who don't know might ask and you'll have the opportunity to tell them about the site. I'll be reporiing in from the show. - Ricky, looking at a starry night sky in Colorado.

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Check Out That Chat Room

Good news. For all of you that like to chat but do not want to wait for forum responses, we are scheduling some great individuals for live 1 hour sessions. Right out of the starting gate will be Ricky and Alex. They are both holding an open forum, so get your questions ready. I will let you know of upcoming guests next week. Please be patient while you are in the chat room as there may be many of you trying to ask questions at the same time. So check out the chat room. - Lilo - the TQSWizard

Ricky-FRIDAY - 6/8/07 in "Quilt Police Free Zone" at 8:00am Pacific/11:00am Eastern

Alex-TUESDAY - 6/12/07 in "Quilt Police Free Zone" at 6:00pm Pacific/8:00pm/9:00pm Eastern

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The FLAG!

We now have the flag doing what it is supposed to do. Rather than using your login-logoff date and time stamp, Bob, the web guru, has set it to work with your last visit to the Rhapsody Reality blog page. If the flag is flying, like this

there is something new you haven't seen on that blog. If it is still, like this it means there is nothing new since your last visit to that page. Now - the system does not know if you READ that page, but it knows that you went there. If your flag is flying and you go to the Rhapsody Reality page - when you come back to the Daily Blog your flag will be still. - Hope this sorts it all out for you.

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