Andrea

Thanks to my daughter Andrea my blog has some character now. I whined, she came to my rescue and made it look good. Thanks Andrea! You can visit her blog at: http://www.amurphyphoto.com/

Did I mention that she's a talented photographer? Well she is.

Mom's first quilt

This is my mom's first quilt.

When Mom was 4 years old (in 1937) she would go to a quilting bee at church with her mom and grandma. She was the only child there and she would play under the quilt frame while the ladies quilted. At some point some of the ladies decided that this little 4 year old should learn to hand piece so they started cutting out squares for her and showing her how to put them together.

On the day Mom turned 5 (which was also her grandma's birthday --March 9, 1938) the ladies had another quilting bee and quilted this quilt. It has a variety of different quilting stitches in it. You can see the ones that were put there by a 5 year old and also the stitches that were made by the more experienced quilters. I love it because I know my mom, my grandma and my great grandma all worked on it together. Several years ago after it had been used and loved a lot, Mom decided she should put it away so it wouldn't get any more worn out. It's in remarkable shape for a quilt that's 71 years old and has been used a lot.

My sister decided to display the quilt at Mom's funeral along with several other quilts she had made. I didn't think this one was her first quilt, but after searching high and low we couldn't find another one, so I'm convinced this is the one. I hadn't seen it in a while and had forgotten the colors. After the funeral I got to bring it home with me. Thank you sister and brothers for letting me have it. I will cherish it as long as I live.

More Civil War Reproduction Blocks

I've completed a few more of my "Civil War" blocks. The first one is like the one I gave Vivian a few weeks ago only on a blue background. (You might have to turn your head sideways to get the idea that it's a heart vine--maybe someday I'll learn)

I got a little carried away with blocks with borders but it wasn't on purpose. (I won't explain that).

But I was happy with the results.
The nine patch block has always been a favorite of mine.

I can hardly wait for my birthday in October when I will get my blocks from the Civil War group. It's been a lot of fun doing this. I'm the last one of the year to have a birthday so I'll just wait patiently.

Giveaway

If you can stand ONE MORE GIVEAWAY (I'm not sleeping much lately, so I'm reading blogs) here they are: (actually that's TWO MORE GIVEAWAYS)

http://www.ankastreasures.wordpress.com/
www.fatquartershop.blogspot.com.

Blue and Yellow Flower Garden Quilt

I made this quilt in 2004. It's hand appliqued and hand quilted. I don't do much hand quilting but I enjoyed it. When I was almost done with it there was quite a pucker of fabric on the back so.... ...I made a BIG label and covered it up. It's about the size of a sheet of paper. Labels can serve more than one purpose!

The quilt is hanging in my entry-way now until it's time to put up a quilt for fall.

Two more giveaways

I just found two more giveaways. This sounds like so much fun. I guess quilters just love to give stuff away. So check these out: www.lurlineg.blogspot.com
and www.frummiesquiltedgarden.blogspot.com

Give away

Elaine at www.Faithfulquilter.blogspot.com is having a giveaway. So here's my post and here are pictures of a few of the blocks I've made recently for my "someday" Civil War Reproductions quilt.