connections....

I love when this happens....someone from the past resurfaces in the present in a most unusual way. When I first came to Austin, TX, in the 1970s, I took a community school class that was offered in quilting for beginners. I'd always been a stitcher but never did any quilting. Connie, a very accomplished quilter, taught me the basics and then I was on my own. I never did come in contact with Connie again. Some  25 or 30 years later, I joined a quilting bee and met Barbara and Margaret who talked about Connie as they were all members of the Austin Area Quilt Guild. Connie had passed away in the early 90s and Barbara had quite a few of Connie's pieced blocks that had never been quilted. About two weeks ago, Barbara showed some of those blocks at quilt bee and there was one that I admired because it looked like an old cotton hanky. Barbara generously offered it to me and I said I would make a pillow. Well, I so enjoyed hand quilting that block that I did nothing else for a couple of days. I put an edge on it with some fabric from my stash and made it into a pillow. I just love it....especially the connection that this is Connie's pieced block and she was the one who taught me the basics of quilting. I will gift the pillow back to Barbara if she likes it.

click on the images for close-ups...

hand quilted and edged

the backside showing the quilting

the finished pillow measures about 12" x 12"

I was also given this small patchwork piece that I hand quilted and edged with piping. It will become an outside pocket on a future pouch.

measures 4½" x 9½"

I stopped at the thrift store this week looking for something specific and couldn't pass up this beautiful white tablecloth, in pristine condition, that measures about 36" x 60". It was $4. It looks like Indian Chikan Embroidery.  Hoping Anita from India will weigh in on this and tell me if I am right.

I have managed to spend some time knitting in the evenings and made some headway on this Love and Loyalty Pinball. It is done on size 0000 double needles so it's quite fiddly to handle. I do love watching the pattern emerge with each row.

Love and Loyalty Pinball

Have a great week and enjoy the present moment.

An easy to make Envelope Bag

Wendy has made some great envelope bags out of some of her weavings. They are so easy to do and I thought it would be a great way to use up some of the quilted pieces I have around from various projects. You have to start with a square and then it's a simple fold. I took a paper pieced block I had made in a class a few years back, stitched it to a piece of flannel and turned it right side out. I'll probably do a bit of stitching on this before I make the envelope shape but I wanted to show it to you. So here it is. Thank you Wendy.

an old paper-pieced block cut to about 13" square

stitched to a 13" piece of flannel, turned inside out and folded into envelope shape

front of bag--a little off center because I wanted to highlight the flower

 think I will add this little headless doll to the flap that I made a long while ago

 

   

                                         

back of envelope bag

Old quilt blocks revive a treasured box...

In the 1960s, my dad built me a mahogany table with a glass top for my first apartment. I remember carrying that very heavy glass up the stairs and thinking we would never make it. There was some mahogany veneer left over and he put together a wonderful little box with a hinged top that I used for various things through the years. The hinges came loose a few years ago but I never got around to fixing the problem. While at the Houston Quilt Show, I saw some old sewing machine drawers made into beautiful boxes by covering a base with quilting blocks to place over the drawer. I removed the hinges from my box and surrounded the cover with some thin batting and used 2 old quilt blocks (given to me by a quilting friend) to cover it up. The old has become new again. Click on images for a closer view.

old mahogany box with new cover

mahogany table made by my dad in the 1960s
it sits in my living room with all my supplies close at hand