Do you love quilts?

My mother-in-law is really quite amazing. Aside from raising 11 children, being a farmer's wife, teaching school and driving bus she managed to enjoy many crafts and and sewing pleasures. Now that she is in her "golden years" she can put the busyness behind her and play with her hobbies and crafting pleasures to her hearts content. Which apparently she does, especially during Iowa winter's long, cold nights while her husband watches television. At a recent visit to her home I had the privilege of seeing her quilt top collection; I was blown away! She said she has always wanted to photograph them so she doesn't have to get them out each time and of course "yours truly" was up for the task so we opened up each one and photographed the top and some detail. Here are a few of my favorites:

detail work - all done by hand

I especially loved the ones where she added hand embroidered sections. She said they were all free hand - just ideas she had picked up when looking at pretty things. One was done after seeing a pretty doiley pattern at a yard sale. Others came from magazines or the fabric itself inspired ideas.

After laying out, photographing and counting them (she didn't really know how many she had - turned out to be 32!) she showed me her work space in the basement where there were stacks of tiny blocks, finished larger blocks and strips of blocks, all hanging in organized rows; probably enough to make another dozen quilts. If you look closely at the ones below you will see that instead of embroidering a large block she chose a tiny block to accent each piece. The quilt top was finished before she got the idea so she pulled each block apart to add a hand embroidered piece.

She hopes to one day soon get to actually quilting them; she wants to do them by hand as well, but admits she may need to take some to the nearby Amish ladies and pay to get them done. A few quilts have been spoken for but others she has plans as to who the recipients will be - oh please pick me pick me. It was much fun to show the pictures at a recent family gathering and hear her sons and daughters laughing as they picked out various items of childhood clothing on some of them. A true vintage quilt experience

the crazy quilt

hexagons

fans - added a little rick rack for interest. Word got out that she was trying to use up her rick rack and friends started bringing theirs in case she didn't have enough. Needless to say - she has run out of it yet!

more hexagons

the doiley inspired quilt

I convinced her to let me purchase a few squares for framing and was very excited to bring home these.

the detail work still amazes me

 

Fingers crossed that someday I will be able to snuggle under a warm, hand stitched quilt with my honey that was made with love and lots of long, cold winters.