Today I want to take a little trip down memory lane. I've shown this quilt here on my blog before and I'm sure I'll share it again. It's by far the most memorable and loved quilt I've made during my quilting journey. Not because it was complicated to make or designed by some so called famous designer but because of the story it has to tell. Sure every quilt I make has a story but this one extra special.
My mom started making the hand embroidered blocks way back when I was pregnant with my first child in 1987. I had no idea this little quilt top even existed until my first born child, Amanda, was pregnant with her first child. Mom gave it to me and asked that I finish it for my daughter. I was not the least bit interested in finishing this quilt. The embroidered blocks were stitched on a very thin muslin and the yellow background fabric was a whimpy boring yellow polycotton. Don't get me wrong, I'm no fabric snob. There's a few older polycottons in my stash that I love and use often and no one is none the wiser.
How could I make this look great? Maybe some applique or add some more embroidery. I was stuck and uninspired. To be honest I hated this little project and had absolutely no interest in finishing it. It was pushed aside and eventually shoved in a box out of site.
A year or two later it somehow managed to find it's way out of the box and back on my mind. My grandson was here and like any new grandma I made several new cute quilts for him. Did he really need another? The embroidery seemed a little too girly for a little boy named Hunter Remington. So....NO, I was struggling to finish it, let alone make it look like it was meant for a boy.
After many hours of doing the quilt stare and cocking my head this way and that way it became obvious, remove the hideous yellow background fabric. Then it was time to work some quilty magic and I needed help.
Where do you go when you need help with quilting? The quilt shop of course. I took those embroidered blocks to the local quilt shop and asked the staff for assistance. They immediately suggested 1930's reproduction fabrics. Geesh,...why didn't I think of that. I left the quilt shop with six 1930's prints and absolutely no idea what I was going to do with them. They were my inspiration pieces. Then the strangest thing happened in an online quilting forum. Someone was selling a big ole box of 30's reproductions scraps. The timing and price was perfect. The powers that be were listening to plea for more 30's fabrics to make a scrappy quilt.
After a lot of digging around the internet there was finally a quilt plan. The first thing I needed to do was to enlarge the outer edge of the embroidered blocks and add another layer of fabric to the back of the very thin muslin. The quilt pattern I chose is called Hug's and Kisses. A free pattern then and still is today. You can find it here.
I wanted custom quilting but this was before I learned free motion or had a longarm. Paying for custom quilting was not an option for my budget. Did you know you can quilt with an embroidery machine? My embroidery machine wasn't as fancy todays machine. This was not an easy task but it looked much better than my quilting at the time
I was so happy how this turned out. Now to add a label.
The label is hard to read due to the camera I used at the time. It reads....
Embroidered
1987
by
L.F. Mason
Pieced and quilted
2011
by
L.A. Brummett
The look on moms face was priceless. Her ugly little duckling had turned into a beautiful swan. With tears swelling up in her eyes she stated she was going to show this sucker off to everyone she knew. Those her exact words, a proud momma. Proud of our combined effort and happy that my daughter and I thought she should enjoy her hard work.
Mom passed away a 4 years ago this month. The day of her funeral was my daughters birthday. The quilt is still on the bed in the spare bedroom of my dads home.
L.F. Mason
Such a beautiful tribute to your mom!
ReplyDeleteWe miss them forever!
Thank you so much for sharing this! It is just the inspiration I need to celebrate the hand embroidered blocks made by my husband’s grandmother and her guild. They are from patterns published in the newspapers in the 1940’s! They aren’t very attractive but oh so special because she made them. I bought some civil war jelly rolls to frame them but your pattern is much better! Now I’m excited to tackle them!!!
ReplyDeleteI love what you did with the embroidered blocks. It’s a beautiful quilt and honors all your mom’s hard work.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful quilt! Loved the story too. Your Mom was lovely. I lost mine 2 years ago. She was a knitter and I have many things she made, as do my kids. Great post :)
ReplyDeletesuch a beautiful quilt: you made the embroidery shine! And what a wonderful thing to give it to your mother! Hugs, H
ReplyDeleteLove how you finished that!
ReplyDelete