Aunt Irese's basement

I visited a group of quilters at a retreat the other day. Loosely organized by Julie Kiffin, they have stitched together every fall for 13 years. I judged items they made for a challenge using charm packs donated by Andover fabrics. 20 creative items were entered and they were all wonderful.

Luckily, I didn't know anything about their stories when judged because the one below would have won my heart.

Later Kay Beach of Kirksville, Missouri disclosed that her quilt was decorated with vintage buttons and battenburg lace from her Aunt Irese Burnett's collection. Aunt Irese passed away in June in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Today would have been her 99th birthday.

Aunt Irese was a collector. She went to auctions and bought boxes of textile items. Kay said her basement was full of all sorts of treasures. Kay got the battenburg lace, she said there were boxes of it. And there was an original receipt for everything there too.

What I would have liked to have seen most was what Aunt Irese did with quilts. She stitched strips of fabric to the edges and staped the quilts to her basement ceiling! The ceiling was covered with quilts! What a lovely vision that is.