Clever!

We go to quilt guild meetings for many reasons. We get to see our friends, we talk about quilting, we have great programs ... and at our guild, we have a fabric giveaway table at the back of the room. It's right by where we sit. Yesterday, one member left fabric there that was leftover from an antique mall booth. Score! Feedsacks, vintage blocks.

We admired a fellow member's clever way to transport her finds - in her briefcase. Wow! No one would notice more fabric coming into the house ...

I got 10 pieced blocks in the sunniest colors. My cat Oreo seems to like them.

Rosie's Pieced Shirt Quilts

Rosie Mayhew sent me photos of more quilts she has made from her shirt collection. All these quilts are Rosie's original designs.

I thought we'd look at her pieced quilts first. She calls this Leftovers, simple bricks left over from a pieced border. She let me use it in my book Making Memories. It was my first peek at the great colors she was collecting.

 

I LOVE this one, I left in Rosie's shadow (taking the picture) on purpose. Rosie writes: "This is my "Not Necessarily Halloween" quilt.   I made it after seeing a black & orange log cabin in an antique store in Abilene.   I completed this quilt in 24 days, a record for me.   But, as you can see, in my haste to complete it, I made an error in setting the rows of blocks together.   I still like it but sometimes wish it had been put together totally correct!   It is titled "Not Necessarily Halloween" because while there are some Halloween fabrics in it - stars & moons for instance, there are no pumpkins, witches, ghosts, etc..    About half of the fabrics used in this quilt are gray, orange & black plaid and striped shirts.I actually had this quilt on my bed for about a year before I hung it up and took the picture, even after it had hung in the quilt show a week or so before, when I realized the mistake in setting the blocks together!

And what about THIS one! It makes me want to RUN to the nearest thrift shop to find some tropical patterned mens' shirts. Isn't it wonderful? Rosie notes: "This is the quilt that I made from the blue Hawaiian shirts that I collected. I still have more of the shirts so need to figure out another quilt to make with them."

Last but not least:"This one is too big to photograph where I did the other quilts so I am just sending a picture of part of it.   It is about double size.   I think this is maybe the first shirt quilt that I completed."

Rosie has made a pile of appliqued quilts too - we'll look at those next.

55 Years Apart

My picture was on the front page of our local newspaper last week - in a good way too. Not being arrested, not protesting, oh no. I was touring a garden with my husband and photographer John Young snapped this:

I got to thinking - this is NOT the first time I was on the front page of the local paper. I was actually on it once before, again in a good way, if you consider a very posed photo 55 YEARS AGO good:

I was with another fellow in this photo - we were both the children of Lawrence High School teachers so I suspect being teachers' kids got us there. I seem to be awkwardly posed, don't you think. The construction paper/doily May basket is positioned perfectly ...

In another 55 years, I will be 110 years old. If I live that long, could this happen again? Probably NOT, we probably won't have newspapers then. Oh well.

I promise I'll get back to quilts soon, I have things to show.

The Purple Turnip is Open

We had a location shoot Tuesday at Maggie Bonanomi's new workspace/studio/occasional retail shop. In the photo right are (from left) designer Brian Grubb peeking out, my reflection in the window shooting the photo, Maggie's tiny head peeking over the Shut sign, and photographer Aaron Leimkuehler, working of course.

It's a swell spot. There is room for Maggie's antiques, plants, and fun items for sale. There is definitely room for a stitch group / workshop group to work. AND there is a large basement, ideal for more workshop space (cutting tables, etc.).

Maggie marveling at the brickwork in her shop basement.

There is even a little garden out back, becoming more Maggie-like every day ... here's a sneak-peek of the project we shot there (her next book, tentatively titled Another Place and Time, will be out in September).

Maggie says the shop will be open weekends when she is in town, and by appointment otherwise. It's best to call ahead (660-232-4406) to make sure she will be there. It's at 1109 Main in downtown Lexington, Missouri.

Look for the rustic purple turnip sign outside ...

Early Photoshopping

How great is this! I found it in an antique shop last week and could not leave it behind. Who knew they did photoshopping back in the day?

It made me laugh. And it's small, the photo is just 1 3/8" x 1 3/4". It says OUT ON A FLY." There is nothing written on the back. It was found in Yankton, South Dakota.

It is a minature Bird Boy. It goes with my new art, Bird Boy by Tiffany Ownbey. It made me laugh too! Bird Boy is a collage of wonderful papers: old book pages for the background, maps and tissue Simplicity pattern for the subject. Ah...............

Rosie's Collection

My friend Rosie Mayhew got obsessed with collecting thrift shop shirts a while back. It seems a quilt I made could have started this BUT Rosie has taken this to an entirely new level. She says her collection now dates to 297 shirts. She sent this photographic evidence.

Rosie has made a pile of wonderful quilts from her beloved shirts. I like this new one, she calls it a wonky log cabin.



You need to see a detail shot of this too.


Rosie reports: "This quilt top is about 50" x 70" but I may add some kind of border before I quilt it.

It didn't put much of a dent in the collection at all. I started out with just the drawer with pockets, cuffs, collars, yoke pieces and scraps and I used pieces out of that until I needed longer strips when I decided to make the blocks bigger.

Of course I am still collecting but a lot slower and I try to only find bright colors or unusual shirts or (as you said on your blog) giant size shirts!"

Rosie sent photos of other quilts from her shirt collection. Keep watching and I'll post them from time to time. Thanks, Rosie!

At the Illinois State Museum

There is a dandy exhibit of Civil War quilts at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield - now until September. It's a very clear representation of the ways women supported the war effort. The focus is on ways loyal Illinois women organized to support soldiers on the field and in the hospital, as they braced themselves for the changes in family and community life that the war would bring. 

There are many wonderful quilts but this one won my heart, hands down.

It's  a Log Cabin, (possibly) stitched by Sarah Reed of Anna, in Union County, Illinois. It's a large quilt, made of wool, delaine, silk and velvet. Family lore has it that Sarah had a son fighting on both sides in the Civil War, and that uniforms of both are stitched into this quilt.

Illinois was a state sorely split by the Civil War, since it extends so far from North to South. I have been keenly aware of that since my youth when I read the wonderful book "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt. It tells the story of the war years from the youngest son of a family with sons who went to fight on both sides of the war.  

If you're near Springfield this summer, you don't want to miss this exhibit. This is only one of many spectacular quilts there.