A Book of Days

We just put the finishing touches on Maggie Bonanomi's latest book. This one is a Book of Days that I am eager to make myself. Maggie tells how to put together a book, then you get to fill it up with memorable events. Her model for this book is inspiring. I plan to make mine as gifts, family momentos filled with birthdays and other events to remember.

Maggie and I always have fun working together. She used to live in Kansas, but now resides in Lexington, Missouri. She understands the Missouri-Kansas divide as well as anyone but look - she sent me a Kansas Day card! It's made of scraps - both paper and fabric - all familiar to me from other book projects. Thanks, Maggie!

We are stumped

Look at this quilt! Yes, you will note hands at one end of it, I did photograph it over the owner's head at quilt guild the other day.

Can you figure out how to make this block? So far, we are stumped about that here in Lawrence, Kansas....... If you don't know, we just may have to arrange another viewing and see if we can figure it out!

Happy Valentine's Day

 

I work on a fund-raising project every year with a very creative friend. She sends out Valentine's greetings every year - when I got mine in the mail the other today, it reminded me of these blocks. As we worked on the project last fall, she said she found these crazy quilt blocks at a sale years ago. She threatened to take them to our local thrift shop if I didn't want them. So now they are mine. There are 15 blocks, each is 18" square. Most have elaborate embroidered flowers on them. They are worked on a foundation, made mostly of silks, and are in excellent shape. 

This is the back side of the block shown above.

Here's a detail of another block.

In Progress Now.....

I have seen this quilt on display at the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska. This photo does not do it justice but it is the image they have on file for the quilt. This week I'm working on a bed-size version of this quilt. For our guild challenge this year, one option was to make a bed-size quilt so I decided this would be my challenge. The original is a strip quilt made by Lucille Young in Tuscaloosa, Alabama around 1930. When you see it in person, you can tell it was made from old clothing. The light strips are very soft and inviting. I've collected shirts mostly to make this. It's part of the Cargo collection at IQSC - you can view it online.

Happy Kansas Day!

I have a deep and abiding love for my home state but it puzzles me too. I'm doing a Read Across Kansas to try to sort out my thoughts about Kansas. Does it always need to be so extreme? Seems so.....



 I was lucky to edit Linda Frost's new book celebrating our State's Sesquicentennial. Sesquicentennial is quite a mouthful so we called the book (what else?) Happy Birthday Kansas. Look at this cute bird Linda's daughter created in honor of this occasion, a party Meadowlark (state bird)!

Do check out Linda's book. It features a great Kansas-theme sampler quilt. An extra treat is her observations about Kansas - they make you chuckle. 

Today we'll toast our state as the KU-KSU basketball game begins at 6 p.m. central time. To Kansas! And may the best team win!!

Block Sampler

This is one of my favorite quilt tops. I found it in Manhattan, Kansas a few years ago. Fellow shopper the quilt historian noted all the fabrics seemed to be from about the same time period - 1920-1930. When I took the top to a guild retreat, an older guild member told me she remembered when sewing groups would make quilts like this one. She said everyone who had an extra block would give it to one person and that person would put together a top like this. That makes sense, look at how different all the blocks are. The quilt measures 65" x 65", the blocks are about 13" square. There's a detail shot of the quilt below.

My friend and fellow blogger Jenifer Dick is featuring this quilt on her Wednesday Quilt Show blog today, check it out.

Pat's informative pocket

My last post prompted my friend Pat Kyser to send this photo of the back of her fantastic Ancestor Quilt. Each block features a family member Pat has researched. Pat quilted and finished each block separately - they hang together as a group. That way, she can continue to add to the quilt as she collects more family information.

On the back of each block, Pat made a pocket that contains a laminated card giving biographical information about the person pictured on the reverse side. Note the ribbons to hold the cards, added after she realized when she took the quilt along for a lecture, all the little cards fell out.