I've been meaning to post some pictures that I took when we visited my grandmother last weekend. A friend of hers shared some old quilt blocks and newspaper patterns with her, and my grandmother shared them with me. I was particularly fascinated by the patterns which are all from newspapers dated between 1931 and 1933. I'm so completely wedded to my rotary cutter that the thought of cutting templates out of the newspaper and using them to create all my blocks gives me the shivers. I don't think I'm quite that brave...
There are some beautiful blocks represented here. A few that stood out to me were Old Missouri...
...the Broken Stone...
...and Amethyst. Can you imagine these blocks done in modern fabrics? Gorgeous.
The instructions at the bottom of this block made me smile: "Many a simple pattern has been shown for the quiltmaker who is not an expert. This is for the woman who can make the most difficult pattern. Allow for seams, be careful when cutting the patterns. Patience and skill are required, otherwise leave this quilt to those who have both." They didn't mince words back then, did they?
Here was one of the actual blocks that were included in the bundle. I love the blue and pink flowered prints that make up the opposite edges.
In our little corner of the world there were two big news stories today. After much anticipation and only a few tears, Bunny lost her first tooth. I whipped up a quick tooth pillow in the half hour before bedtime, and she's thrilled to pieces that I'll be sneaking in there tonight to exchange her tooth for a quarter. Mostly I was just excited that she was expecting no more than a quarter...
And at last -- at long last -- I finished my Heather Ross quilt top. There were some dicey moments with this little top (I'll go into it more when I do the post on the finished product), but I'm so happy with the way it finally turned out. I believe that I'll be hand quilting this one, which will take me some time, and I just couldn't wait to share the finished top with all of you. That's my wonderful dad holding up the quilt for me -- it's been raining here all day, and I couldn't find anywhere to hang or drape this top that wouldn't get it soaking wet. He was sweet enough to help me out before all the light was gone this evening.
This is my favorite part of the quilt. Like I said, the light wasn't fantastic, so I'm afraid the picture is a little more blurry than I'd like, but trust me, you'll be seeing this block again...
Drop by here again on Monday for a special announcement and a giveaway. I can't wait to share more!
