Grandmother's Blocks

I am so glad autumn has arrived. It is one of my favorite times of year with cool nights and colorful sunny days. I cannot tolerate the heat of summer. It makes me cranky, lethargic, and I don’t feel the least bit creative. Now that it is cooler I can feel my creativity coming back!

I’ve been making pumpkins and scary cats for my wooden trencher that we keep on our kitchen table. Mainly, I have been clearing away a lot of unfinished projects. One of those projects was quilt blocks that have been around for 30 years. When my grandmother was becoming old and sick, my Aunt gave her scissors and material to cut into quilt blocks so she would have something to do. Most of the squares were for nine patch blocks, but some were for a triangular pattern called “Flat Iron.”

 

After my grandmother died my Aunt gave me several shoeboxes of the cut material. Several years ago I had sewn most of the nine patch blocks but had never assembled them together into a quilt top. I had to sort thru the blocks and only kept the best because some were of unusable fabric. It is a busy quilt with fabrics that I can still remember from family’s clothing or my grandmother’s kitchen curtains. I have heard the term “poverty piecing” when every scrap of material is used and even some of the squares are pieced, but I don’t think my grandmother would like that term. She just used what she had and didn’t want to waste anything.

The quilt is now sewn together and it turned out better than what I thought it would. I have not “stretched” a quilt in a very long time. Since I didn’t have any help, I did not get my mothers frames out; but I basted it together on my studio floor. The quilt is now in my mother’s quilting hoop and the first block in the middle is quilted.

I used painter's tape to stretch out the backing fabric.

Then centered the backing, cotton filler and the top together.

Starting in the center, I smoothed the top out and basted using quilters pins.

I really love the curved quilters pins. They are so much faster and easier to use than basting.

Simple quilting with a dark blue thread.

I am going to save the rest of the quilting, for when the snow flies! It will be nice this winter to sit in front of the wood stove quilting, drinking my coffee, with Sadie at my feet and remembering my grandmother. 

 I'll show you my trencher full of cats and pumpkins as soon as I have it filled!

Hope you are having a great first weekend of autumn!

Louise

Trouble with Blogger

The last posting I did on The Days of the Pioneer show did not show up for some reason.
I had a couple of people tell me the pictures did not come through so I deleted the original posting and then re-published the post. Hope this works for everyone!
Louise

Days of the Pioneer Show

 

This weekend Pog and I went to Jill Peterson’s Days of the Pioneer Antique Show, which was held at the Museum of Appalachia in Clinton, TN. The museum is one of my favorite places! Each time I have been there I have such a wonderful feeling. I truly love this place and to attend an antique show on the grounds was delightful. There were so many early American and Colonial antiques, really too much to take it all in.  Wooden bowls, dough boards, firkins, bee skeps, cabinets, shelves, quilts, coverlets and early textiles, and the list could go on and on. We managed to bring home a couple of nice pieces but I didn’t have a boat-load of money to spend so I had to leave a lot behind!!

Enjoy the pictures of the show and our finds!

Herb Dryer

Chicken Ladder

 Tobacco Stick Fences

Crocks

President and Mrs Lincoln

This is a warping mill

General Lee and President Lincoln

A cabin built from tobacco sticks

Civil War Re-enactors.

Barn loom in one of the museum's cabins.

Cantilever Barn

Lots of old time music

Cowboy Cobbler

Largest pot of soup-beans I have ever seen

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50 gallon crock!

Our new treasures we brought home.

Yoke for carrying water in original blue from Missouri.

Wooden money drawer.

This is a large grain storage barrel from Staunton, VA area. The age is estimated to be around late 1800,s. It has been cleaned up but I loved how sturdy it was and the look of the wood.

Hope you had a great weekend too. 

Louise

Sad Day

Yesterday we had to say goodbye to Kit. She could no longer eat and was getting very weak. She was in constant pain. So we made the very difficult decision to put her to sleep.

She has been my friend and companion for 13 years. She always knew when something was wrong with me and would curl up close and offer comfort. She was playful and snooty at times too, but was always loving.

There were times when she sounded like a freight train when she galloped from one end of the house upstairs to the other. She would run at top speed, thumping her feet on the wooden floor as hard as she could, making it resound like a drum. She did it just for the fun of it to please herself at what a fearsome sound she could make..

 

 She was part of our family and will be missed for a long, long time.

Christmas Came Early

Something I have wanted for a very long time, showed up in the middle of the night recently. My son-in-law found a horse drawn wagon for me and then he and a friend delivered it!

I will have to do some research on it, but we think it is a farm wagon from the 1800’s. The older gentleman he bought it from lives in the Chinquapin area of NC. He had bought it from an auction and didn’t know any of its history. The wheels are in good shape but the bed needs some work. It has the tongue and single trees with it, but if there was ever a seat it is now missing.

 Pog is planning to build a cover for it that looks like a covered bridge. That will be a lot of fun to decorate for Autumn and Christmas.

I have the greatest son-in-law in the world!