Bill doesn't remember how long this quilt was on his bed. His mom made it - one of a number of quilts she made for family members. I haven't seen any of the others, but I've got a folder and a ring binder stuffed with patterns and fabric swatches and handwritten notes. I couldn't find notes about this particular quilt, but I could swear I've seen them. If I find anything I'll add it to this post.
Anyway, you might not be able to tell from the image above, but I patched this one at two different times. The first time, I tried to copy the shapes and placement of fabric pieces as accurately as possible. I got some squares and triangles done, but eventually abandoned the project for some reason - possibly because it hurt my carpal tunnelly hands.
This time around, I abandoned the original game plan and only cut out triangles.
I used the freezer paper applique method again, as I'd done with the Christmas quilt.
I only patched big holes, or big areas where seams were fraying. I left small frays for now.
It's a huge quilt.
And as I'm sitting here, typing, I was about to say that I don't know where to put it, since we have a lot of extra quilts and blankets around here, but now I realize that I could take the Christmas quilt off the loveseat in the living room and put Bill's quilt there. So I guess that's settled. I'll pack the Christmas quilt away with all (or almost all - I found two nutcracker gentlemen and a tiny tree in the music room last night) of our holiday decorations and enjoy it again next December.
So that's settled.
Besides quilts, Bill's mom, Elsa, also made braided rugs. I remember there was one under the kitchen table. Bill said there was one long, narrow one in the hallway but I don't think it was there when I came along.
It's funny...my grandmother, the one who crocheted and knitted and drew and painted and played piano, also made some braided rugs. And there was one under her kitchen table, too.
The next quilt I work on will be the one my grandmother made for my bed when I was a kid. It's a flying geese pattern, and it is just about falling apart. I found some extra strips of the flying geese, but not nearly enough of them to patch all the worn out sections. So this will be a larger repair job than this one and the Christmas quilt. I don't think I'll doing any applique. I'll be rebuilding.
For now, I'm doing some knitting, and working on a couple of other projects that I'll write about in due time.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, as he was with Christmas quilt, Otis was extremely helpful with Bill's quilt.
I really admire your patience. And your skill. And your patience. And your skill...
Posted by: Kat | January 02, 2020 at 11:58 AM
I've always wanted to learn how to quilt. It must take a lot of patience and determination. Happy New Year.
blessings
~*~
Posted by: laura | January 02, 2020 at 05:39 PM
There's something very satisfying about mending a handmade item. My partner has a knit afghan from his grandmother which I've repaired a couple times.
What made you decide to not match the original quilt pattern in the mending? This method seems much faster. I can easily imagine myself thinking "I could get it done this way, or have it keep waiting for me to be in the mood to repair it the original way". Was it something like that?
Posted by: Trish | January 15, 2020 at 07:32 PM