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“I have given skill to all the skillful, so that they may make all that I have commanded you. “ Exodus 31:6


“O Thou who art the all pervading glory of the world, we bless Thee for the power of beauty to gladden our hearts.
We praise Thee that even the least of us may feel a thrill of the creative joy when we give form and substance to our thoughts and, beholding our handiwork, find it good and fair. “.
Walter Rauschenbusch


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"Come, and listen, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me.
I cried out to Him with my mouth; His praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the LORD woud not have listened and heard my voice in prayer.
Praise be to God, Who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me!" Psalm 66:16-20
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Monday, January 17, 2011

Looking back.....

.....quite a way back, I mean, not 2010. 
I was thinking today about all the numerically 'special' dates that have occurred recently, like January 1 and January 11 of 2011.  The reason I was reminded was that I spied evidence of the first time I remember commemorating such a date. 
I was quilting this quilt one day, and it occurred to me that the day's date was 01-02-03 !
I had seen many old quilts that had interesting things quilted into them, where people didn't notice until their eye accidentally fell on that particular spot.  I decided that I just had to include that day's date into that day's quilting.  Blessedly, I was quilting the borders, so it worked out perfectly to include the date at one end of the quilt.
I finished this quilt shortly thereafter, in 2003, and yet, until today, it had held it's pencil markings throughout several washes.  Today, I washed it to remove likely dust from it having hung on my living room wall all summer, and SURPRISE..........among all the lovely, cottony crinkles, the pencil marks are GONE !   Oh, I'm so glad of that !

The center of the quilt was all hand-pieced, one of those many-year projects that you keep in a little box and pick up and put down for 'lap work'.  When it reached a size big enough for a throw, I wanted to quilt and bind it, but I stumbled across some odd borders that I had pieced years before, and miraculously, they fit it.  So I added them by machine (they had been machine-pieced), and I hand-quilted it.
For the back, I used 3 toile fabrics that I had been hoarding and couldn't bear to cut into little pieces.  Since the borders were three different color-families, I felt that it gave me 'license' to use the three colors on the back (this was long before I used multi-fabric backings as a general rule ).

So, it turned out to be a favorite quilt, front AND back, and now it's truly wonderful with it's CLEAN new look.

This whole thing has me thinking about the quilt I'd like to be working on on November 11th of this year !   Think about it --  11-11-11

Oh, and a little edit here........I made this today.
  I know, I know, it's small and kindof useless, but it kept my mind and my hands busy, so it was definitely not worthless.  I had 10 or 11 little blocks leftover from the zigzag top and when I lay them together on my cutting board, I took one look, and then another, and then I said, "oh, why not just sew them together just like that?"  They fit a little pillow that I had lying around, probably 9 inches square or so, and give it a fresh look.  The hubby called it pretty, so I'm calling it a success.

4 comments:

  1. That is a lovely quilt, and hand-pieced, wow! I love that you quilted the date into it, such a great idea. Wish I had done that with all my quilts, I intend to keep that in mind for next time.

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  2. what a beautiful quilt and I love the story behind it!

    pincushion would be an awesome use for your lil' bit of fluff! it's looks so very Amish!

    enjoy your day!

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  3. I wish I had 1/10 your talent and initiative. =) ! Everything you make is SO beautiful! Thank you for the H.Birthday wishes....you are sweet, and I enjoyed your comment very much.

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  4. Your star quilt is a beauty! How very special to have the date quilted in. I just like its bright happy colors, Dolly.
    :-}pokey

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