Sunning Quilts

Sunning Quilts

By Effie Smith Ely

Out from their scented chests I draw
And hang my bright quilts in the sun,
Fashioned by deft and patient hands
Whose work-days now are done.

This Irish Chain in vivid rose
Was Great-Aunt Phoebe's hope and pride -
Dear little girl, who died too young
To be a happy bride.

These colors, with fair stitches joined
to form a bold True-Lovers' Knot,
Were lame Aunt Miriam's - in their glow
Her dull days she forgot.

My strong grandmother, unto whom
Life brought most bitter grief and smart,
Piecing this flower basket learned
To mend a broken heart.

Dead kinsfolk, who have left to me
These quilts you made in vanished springs,
Would that I had your fortitude
Your joy in simple things!

Sewing Projects

School's done, and now I am spending more time sewing. Here are pictures from recent sewing projects.

This is quilt I am making for my mom. She had tons of dresses in the back of my closet, most of which she sewed herself many years ago. She never wears them any more, though, and instead of getting rid of them, I offered to make them into a quilt.
Here is Woody, who always loves it when I spread quilts out on the living room floor to pin them
This is the quilt back, pieced from the dresses.

I recently started attending English Country Dance classes. Think Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice. They put on "performances", and to be a part you must have a dress. So, my mom and I took this stuff.....
And turned it into this dress for me!

The back of the dress.....

My big project for the summer is to turn the huge stack of fabric into three quilts by the beginning of September! Wish me luck!

Please Accept My Humble Apologies!

I know, I know......it has been way too long since I posted something! And now it has been so long that I don't even know where to start. I don't have tons of time right now, so I'll just post a few pictures.
This one is fabric for a mystery quilt I am starting. It was so fun to be able to go to Jo Ann fabrics and buy fat quarters and real quilting calico! Yay for gift cards! Anyway, I am slightly nervous about this quilt, because I have no idea what it is going to look like. But, as my mom repeatedly tells me, "That's the point of a mystery quilt!"


This is an apron that I made from a charm pack I got for Christmas. I found a picture of it online, as well as the fabric requirements, and used those to figure out how to make it. I love wearing when I bake!

This is that backing fabric I was talking about in the last post. I love it so much.

And finally, this is the last quilt I made; it is a stash-buster quilt, and I named it "The Charm Of It All". I have yet to put a label on it though........
Well, there is a quick post. I'll try to do more tomorrow......
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Number Twelve Done!!!

Today, since I had the whole afternoon free, I finished Cati's quilt! I really like it; I think it looks very nice. But then I was thinking about how many quilts I have made since I started in August 2007, and I counted 12, including this one!


I also want to say that I had a lot of fun watching the Super Bowl! Last year I went to a youth group party, and it was tons of fun, but since we weren't really doing anything this year, I didn't think it would be very exciting. But it actually was! I watched the whole game, I am proud to say, and I basically understood what was going on! But, while I was sitting there, I decided to do some drawing. So here is what I drew. His name is Seshat, and he is Neffaru and Kerrian's "pet" dragon. He looks kind of evil, but he's really not. I don't know if you can tell, but he is supposed to be bowing....as much as I dragon can. And I know this may be weird, but the only language he speaks is Dutch.

So, there you have it, folks!

Like An Over-flowing Sink

Well, I finally finished the front of Cati's quilt today. After making more foolish mistakes in this quilt than in all my other ones combined, I declared the mistakes to be like an over-flowing sink: they just kept coming. I think I made about 15 mistakes while sewing the front of the quilt; however, I was thankfully able to correct them all easily. This picture is of the center of the quilt before I added the tea-cups.

In other news, I just finished reading a book called The Bell Messenger. It is such a good book! I highly recommend it; it's by Robert Cornuke. One phrase that is repeated through-out the whole book really stood out to me: the Bible is the book that gives life and saves life. Isn't it so true, though? Through the Bible many are saved, and shown what true life is. The book gave me a whole new appreciation for what an awesome and powerful book the Bible is, and how very much the Lord works in our lives through the Bible. Well, that's all for now!

It's A Little Tea-Cup!

Well, I finally started sewing Cati's quilt after my long and blissful break from sewing. It is a tea-cup quilt, and the cups are on shelves. In the center will be some larger blocks. The tea-cup blocks are very fast and easy to make....it only took about 1 1/2 hours to sew 20. So here are some pictures. The first one is my three favorite tea-cups, and the second one is a closer look at the block.




I'd like to have it finished by the middle of February, but I may end up being lazy and procrastinate. So, whatever. I also, drew some more today. This picture is of Kerrian's brother, Neffaru.
They will probably have some really smart pets, too. Maybe a dragon.....well, I'm off to reading!