Norah's Quilt

All of my grandchildren have Christmas Quilts. Once a long time ago, Kate and I picked out motifs for her Christmas quilt blocks. Some patterns came from quilt magazines, some from a quilt book, and some from a coloring book I bought in the 1970's. A few patterns exist on purple and white "ditto" coloring sheets from the 70's. Those would have been copied on old ditto machines with cylinders that turned and the ink had a unique sweet smell. Were some of those machines turned by hand with a crank? Who knows what chemicals we inhaled from all those ditto worksheets.

I've written this story previously -  how my son gave his quilt to his son, and my daughter gave hers to her oldest son. Then came three more children and three more quilts. Norah's quilt, the latest rendition is finished. All of them are set together differently. The set for this quilt was inspired by a quilt in the Christmas Patchwork Loves Embroidery book. I stitched the blocks, set them together, and then had the fabric sandwich machine quilted. I hand quilted Kate and Aaron's quilts but wanted these quilts to be loved and washed as well as finished in a timely manner. Perhaps machine quilting makes them a little sturdier. Norah will be in her crib this Christmas but the quilt is ready for her "big girl bed" whenever she outgrows the crib.

I finished the ribbed socks. The lighter colors looked a little frosty which was a good thing during the hot hot days of last week. I cast on a Christmas gift knit because Christmas will come. I have gathered leftover yarn for two shawls because they start as small projects. Last week during the heat and humidity, I set the sweater aside but I'll get back to it eventually.

I continue to enjoy Elizabeth Alexander's poems in Crave Radiance, reading a few each morning. My book group selection is Washington Black by Canadian Esi Edugyan. This novel is quite the story about a young boy born into slavery and his adventures after he escaped. It is well written and should prompt a good discussion at our August gathering. I am also reading The Dark Flood Rises by Margaret Drabble. Drabble is an English writer and I had never read any of her work. This main character is an older woman and part of the story is her musings on aging. Drabble writes with a dry sometimes cynical wit. I think older women characters in novels are often portrayed in the same stereotypic ways so I will be interested to see how this character evolves.  I am intrigued enough to keep reading.

I'm linking to Kat and the Unravelers. I enjoy seeing what others are reading and making.

It was me or the quilt. We chose the quilt.