An Older Little Wallhanging

I did this little wallhanging sometime in the early to mid 1990's. It's hand quilted and machine appliqued. The patterns came from.............

this book by Jeana Kimball, one of my favorite designers. I have several of her books and have always loved her style. The book is lying on some of the loose pieces I have inside - an article from a magazine showing different versions of the cover designs and photocopy enlargements of some of the patterns. How things have changed in a few short years - love, love, love the pc and scanner and what you can do with patterns in this day and age. A couple of these were also used on sweatshirts in my sweatshirt embellishing period. (Click to enlarge)

Fashion Friday

On this cold, winter morning in February, I thought you might like to look at a picture of some lovely ladies in their swimming attire. I am very confident that these outfits would have been the latest in style as the Pearce girls, Nelle and Nan, were always dressed very fashionably and their friends would be no exception. Nelle and Nan are on the left of the photo. The picture was probably taken at the Sionilli, the Pearce cottage up the Illinois River from Peoria. The fabric of the dresses looks as if it were still wet, giving a bit of the "wet t-shirt" look. My, how times have changed! I doubt if this style will ever return, don't you agree? (Click to enlarge)

Quilt Projects from the Past

Back in the very late 1980's and early 1990's, Red Wagon from Liberty, MO, published several books that had some really nice very primitive patterns. I thought they were so cute and did do a couple of wallhangings from them. These books are all by Red Wagon and most of them were published in 1991. Certainly have been buying books for a long, long time and have a lot of them. We quilters love our books - and fabric!This book called Snowbound was one I especially liked and I did the little piece that is on the bottom left of the cover page.

This was done about 20 years ago and is machine appliqued and hand quilted. There were a lot of patterns for primitive pieces done in the old homespun plaids and small prints. I still enjoy things like that but my interests went in other directions - got caught up in the batiks, orientals and bright colors. I can honestly say I really enjoy all styles of quilting and have done most of them. I think it's safe to say that one's interests do change over the years when it comes to the work you actually do. One thing for certain, the fabric has really changed over the last twenty years.

I still wish I could do it all but realize I have done a lot. There are some pretty good sized UFO's hidden away at my house, but many, many more pieces have been finished. I am taking some pictures of some of my older work and will post those for you to see. (Click to enlarge)

Not Much Quilting Right Now

Every once in a while, I find myself not doing as much in the way of quilting as I most generally do. It's no big deal, and I think it's fine to kind of just ease off and do some other things for a bit. This time of year is kind of blah but I actually am not all that bothered by it as I do have so many things I enjoy doing. I so love to work on the computer and to add to my blogs - and one of the things I have been doing from time to time is going through some of the old photo albums and pulling pictures to scan for future posts. Sometimes while I am working on a post, it will trigger the thought of something else or another photo. I really love doing this. A few posts ago, I put up a picture of some granny squares I was making. I have continued working on those. Originally I was going to just butt them together, but after adding a border of white around a couple of them I really do like the way it makes the colors just sing.

On another note, I bought a new crockpot sometime ago and just used it for the first time today. I followed a recipe I bought in a little cookbook on crockpots at Joann's the other day. It sounded so good. Chicken, sweet potatoes, and onions cooked all day - then thicken the liquid, add peach preserves and pour over the chicken, etc. It wasn't bad but it wasn't anything I would try again. Always kind of disappointing when it isn't great. Although I actually think it's not the food - I think it's the fact that I am getting old and things actually do not taste like they did before. Except for good old sweet stuff - that is absolutely delicious!! (Click to enlarge)

Some Sweet Little Old Things

This little baby who used all the things in the next photos was my husband, Ray, pictured above. If you have been to my other blog you will probably think you are seeing double.

I have already posted these pictures - only in an antique colorway - to Pieces of the Past but I want them here also. These were all used or worn by Ray when he was a baby. His mom, Clemie, saved all these things and passed them on to me. There are more little articles of clothing down in the basement - I especially can recall some little woolen pants. One day I will get them out and take photos of them also. I have these hanging below a shelf with the little baby dish, wagon and some other things on top.

Aren't the little long stockings cute? All babies were dressed in dresses back then - even the little boys. Clothing for little ones has certainly changed. Everything in this post is about 84 years old since Ray would have celebrated his 84th birthday a week from tomorrow on the last day of February except for Leap Year. Here is a little sweater and some mittens. Probably there was a bonnet that went with this at one time.

Another dress - a very long one. I don't think either of the dresses shows up in the first picture. I actually dressed Sherry in little dresses like this a lot when she was tiny. They were so hard to iron. What was I thinking? (Click to enlarge)

Fashion Friday

Let's go back to 1968 in Topeka, Kansas, when Sherry was a junior at Topeka High. Here she is looking very cute and wearing a dress that I made her for a special dance - maybe prom? Now that I look back, I hope she enjoyed wearing what I made her. I guess I always wanted to do something special and didn't think that she might have wanted something that had been "storebought". This has a blue underdress with a white eyelet overdress open in the back and trimmed with ruffles and a big blue bow. She wore white sandles and gloves and earrings. Mighty pretty girl, our daughter - and she still is! (Click to enlarge)

From One Thing to Another

I am like a flea sometimes - hopping from one project to another. About five years ago, I did a lot of crocheting and made a scad of long, skinny scarves that made up quickly and were fun to do working with the really cool yarn. All the girls got several scarves for Christmas and I think they are still wearing some of them. The picture above shows some of the scarves that I made.

I have that urge to crochet again so bought some bright yarns out at Michaels and have started doing some granny squares. Like eating potato chips.....the more I do the more I want to do. When, oh, when, will I quit wanting to do everything - everything, that is, except cleaning and cooking. I don't want the last thing I do on earth to be cleaning! I am making good headway on the little storybook challenge for our quilt show. And I am going to try and keep from starting anymore BOM's and will finish the two pretty ones that I have almost done. Behind two blocks on the Tisket a Tasket but those little blocks go pretty quickly when you finally get at them! Oh, me, oh my! How can a person ever be bored? End of lament. (Click to enlarge)

Button, Button

Today was our monthly Sit and Sew day held on the third Tuesday of each month. About 8 or 9

of us worked on the little giveaway cards for the quilt show at the end of April. We had scheduled this project for the guild meeting last week, but there was a "snow night" and guild was cancelled. Cute little cards needed buttons so we did it this morning. Eight or nine of us sat at a round table and the task was done in just about an hour. By the time we left the glue was all dried and ready to come back with me. Lots of cards and lots of buttons.

A couple of the gals cleaning up the table. I meant to take pictures of the work in progress but forgot to do it. The day out is always fun and especially welcome when the weather keeps you home more. (Click to enlarge)

Twenty-nine Years Ago on Valentine's Day

In 1981 on Valentine's Day, this handsome couple, Bill and Ann, were married in Chillicothe, Missouri. It was such a beautiful wedding.

Norah, who was 3 1/2 at the time, was flower girl. Here she is in her little dress that was just like the one worn by Ann's sisters and attendants. I made this dress for her and it did turn out well. She made it almost all the way down the aisle with her flower petals - so cute.

So to Bill and Ann, a Happy Anniversary! And to my entire family - Happy Valentine's Day with much love. (Click to enlarge)

Fashion Friday

On this Fashion Friday, I am posting a picture and Maggie and Leah, my grandmother and aunt, which was most likely taken sometime in the 1940's. Maggie is wearing a full length double breasted coat with a velvet collar topped with a pretty hat which features a nice big bow. Aunt Leah wears a light colored fingertip coat that sports three large buttons and a cute hat to complete her outfit. Aunt Leah never married and lived with my grandparents and later with just grandma after my grandfather passed away. I have always been a little sad that she didn't marry - she was a fun lady and I loved being around her. (Click to enlarge)

Valentine Exchange

Tuesday evening's guild meeting was cancelled because of a lot of snow. Several things that were going to be done at the meeting had to be put on hold until next month and a task we were going to do for our annual quilt show will now be done at a Sit and Sew next week. A group of about fourteen signed up to do a secret Valentine exchange which we will do in March. When I was working on mine, the first one I did turned out just a little whopperjawed but too pretty to toss away so I finished it. I learned a couple of things from this one. Instead of cutting everything out, layering and quilting, I found out it is much easier to cut them all bigger and trim to fit afterwards. You would think I would know that anyway! The second one I did is similar to this but different! Will post that one after the meeting next time. I'm pretty sure I know what I am going to do with this one. (Click to enlarge)

My Second Blog Book

This time I ordered a book of my Pieces of the Past blog from it's inception in July of 2009 until the end of the year. Again, I was very pleased with the outcome and it came very quickly. An added little bit of whimsy is the word "Rome" right beneath the cover picture of my mother, Nan Pearce. That, of course, is the name of the little town I grew up in. The various other names on the cover and back cover such as Paris and Greece, however, have no meaning! But Rome is good!

The pictures are not always where they actually should be, but at least they are there and so are the comments that were made. Not a lot of them, but I do enjoy it when someone leaves me a few words. These two pages contain pictures of both sides of my family - Dad's and Mom's.

A couple more pages - I find myself really enjoying looking back through them and I rather enjoy what I have written. I was the editor of the school paper one year and also the yearbook so I think I have always loved working in those areas. Doing the book on our family history and my cookbook was also a lot of fun. Maybe in the next life I will be the editor of a magazine like Martha Stewart or Oprah - do you think? Probably not.

If you haven't ever looked at my other blog of old family pictures and think you might like it, the link is http://piecesofthepast-funoldhag.blogspot.com/ I'd love to have you stop by. (Click to enlarge)

Story Book Challenge

Have pretty much figured out the little wallhanging I spoke of in an earlier post. This will be the applique featured in each of the blue blocks......this one is partially buttonhole stitched. I am so glad I did not go for the 120 little tiny circles (actually there would have been 135 counting the centers) and decided to go for this pattern. Coincidently this is called "Topeka Rose" so a shoutout to an old home town.

One of the three nursery rhymes - of course, Mary, Mary. This is not quite ready for applique yet and needs some tweaking. Want to find a different color for her arm since it doesn't show up well on the yellow. I really do pretty much like the colors, though. Am going with Little Bo Peep and Jack and Jill. They will follow along later. (Click to enlarge)

Fashion Friday

Standing in a favorite picture taking spot at the Pearce home on Behrends Avenue are Maggie and her eldest son, Harry. Maggie is wearing what I believe to be a housedress since it is quite plain and the fabric looks like cotton. It is hard to tell if it is a jumper and blouse since there are straps or if it is a dress. Harry is all dressed up - he is wearing knickers and high button shoes. A sweater, mittens and cap complete his outfit. Maggie is probably kind of chilly since it appears that there is snow on the ground. (Click to enlarge)

February ATC

The theme this month is At the Circus - Under the BigTop. So I went on the hunt for some clowns on the internet. Came up with some very neat pictures including the one above. He would have worked out well - then I happened to look up over my computer and .........

there is this guy. He's crude and scary (don't think the granddaughters liked him very much) but I'm kind of sentimental about him. Way back in 1962, my brother took up oil painting. I guess he figured I might be able to paint so he gave me a book, the paints, and canvas and I proceeded to have a go at it. Actually, it was lots of fun and I was able to do it pretty well but just to copy things. No originality on my part at all. However, this old clown has been hanging around our home ever since. I think it was Hannah who really was afraid of it and I would take it down and stick it behind something when she came. (I'm sure one of them will correct me if I'm wrong). The smell of the oil paint and turpentine was something I liked. One other note, the old duck decoy underneath the painting is one that I thought was carved by my dad, who was an avid duckhunter and had many beautiful old decoys. Decoys are art in themselves. Dad's were sold a long time ago and I have always wished I had one of them. This little one though, I found out, is not one of his but was done by a neighbor kid who is a little older than I am. I think he used to hunt with Dad some. Something has gnawed the end of the bill off, but I like it anyway. The head is on a swivel screw so it can look forward or backward.

So here is my ATC card for February - my scarey old clown! (Click to enlarge)

Storybook Challenge for Quilt Show

This is what I designed on my EQ5 last week. I will be doing Nursery Rhymes and these little girls (and maybe a fellow) will play the parts of the characters. I have patterns printed out for the appliques shown and also three others that I could use. One that I have figured out is Jack and Jill and I think I definitely want those little kids. The little girl seated needs a spider on her block! As for the applique on the blue - I am pretty sure that I will change out the flowers - I love the look of the little circles and don't mind doing them but there would be 120 to go around and they are pretty small so I will find another pretty flower and make it easier. The reason the color isn't all that great in the above picture is that I printed it in draft - but you can get the idea.

Kind of a strange picture, but these are the backgrounds I will use for the blocks and some of the fabrics. I am not going to buy any fabric for this little piece - I am sure I have more than enough to make dozens of them. A little bit of the Kaffee Fassett fabric will go into the clothes and the rest will be batiks. I am showing the left side of the book as blue but I think it will be black as in the pattern and will have lettering on it. Will keep you posted. (Click to enlarge)