Labors of Love

Hello Gentle Readers. Mid-week in mid-October finds me amazed by the passage of time. A rainy cloudy weekend gave way to crisp days and sunshine. This week's warmer weather will be good for the last garden chores. Hoses need to be drained and stored. I plan to scrub out pots and let them dry in the sun before stacking them in the shed. I'd like, well more like need, to pull spurge from the tomato patch, one more time. Muted autumn color slowly creeps into the foliage. Chores and all, I plan to enjoy every one of these beautiful fall days. 

Wednesday's is the day to link with Kat and the Unravelers. This past week, most of my making time was dedicated to mending a quilt and a trip down memory lane. According to my quilt scrap/photo book, I worked on this basket quilt from the summer of 1989 until August 1991. The blocks and the appliqué are hand stitched. It was the first large quilt, I hand quilted in this quilting frame.   

September 1990

The frame itself is a story. The father-in-law of a friend of ours had made her a quilt frame from a walnut tree that blew down on his farm. He salvaged the wood, had it planed in a mill, and then stored it in his barn for several years. This gentleman drafted a pattern from a magazine photo and made a quilt frame. It can be set up with shorter rails for a crib or twin size quilt or longer ones for queen and king sized quilts. He cut the pieces and stained them.  As one quilts, the piece is rolled up to expose more top to be quilted. 

These are the pins, a thimble and spool for thread, that hold the rails in place. My husband commissioned and paid him to make the same frame for me as a birthday present. When we went to pick it up, he had one of his mother's quilts in the frame to show us how to set it up. It is the work of a master woodworker. Although I haven't used it for awhile, it is carefully stored in the basement. 

I designed the basket quilt beginning with a block pattern came from a Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, #115. The square blocks are set on point with alternating plain blocks. The owner of a quilt shop helped me figure out the vine on the border. As I recall, it involved folding long strips of paper (the actual size of the border) to come up with an even undulation. I added the tulips and stems. I used a bias binding method to appliqué the basket stems and the vine. Some of the quilting designs came from a book of Amish designs. 

I made this quilt to use and use it we did. At one point, the border ran along the top. It wore out so I cut it off, did some creative mending with a flowered handkerchief, and added new binding across the top. 

Last Spring when I was laundering quilts, I found many worn spots in the top row of baskets. I set it aside to mend and procrastinated. Two weeks ago, I sat down to more creative mending. I appliquéd pieces of old linens over worn spots. I embroidered white lazy daisy stitches over some tiny holes and used a feather stitch on frayed seams. I dug out the manilla envelope with the quilt template pieces and cut a few tulips to cover other frayed fabric. This time around, I undid parts of the basket handles to place fabric underneath and then stitched them back down. 

I'm not sure why I put so much time into mending this quilt, except that I have always loved the soft blue and white fabrics and the basket pattern. The original binding on the sides and bottom is a little worn but for now that is part of the charm of this quilt. Back in the 1980's when I began quilting in earnest, I wanted but couldn't afford to buy antique quilts. Now I have an antique of my own making. When did that happen?

I'm half-way through A Year of Marvellous Ways by Sarah Winman. The story of the 1947 friendship between a young soldier and an older woman is bittersweet and charming. The aftereffects of war and life intertwine and are eased by their relationship. Winman is an excellent writer and the writing as well as the characters remind me of her more recent book, Still Life. It's a lovely work of fiction. 

I hope you are well and enjoying the week.