Where in Western Pennsylvania are all the quilts?

Every once in awhile in your life, you get the opportunity to take inventory. And that opportunity can come to you from the most unlikely places. I have been on quilt making hiatus for about two months now (time to get going again) and had just sent off the quilt entries for ROAD TO CALIFORNIA for the AQS Grand Rapids, Michigan and Des Moines Iowa shows when a friend at the Museum brought me a post card last Monday morning. Addressed to no one in particular, it was entitled "Quilt Documentation Days." A group of textile historians from the Beaver County Historical Research and Landmarks Foundation and Saint Vincent College's Foster and Muriel McCarl Coverlet Gallery are sponsoring a two day event, asking the owners and makers of quilts in the region to bring their quilts to the gallery on June 1 & 2, 2012, to have them documented and added to the National Quilt Index (www.quiltindex.org). Of course, I immediately went to the web and checked out the quilt index. Yep, you betcha. I want my quilts as part of this source. So, before calling and making an appointment, I thought I should make a list of all the quilts I have made and I currently own, all the quilts I have made but given to others who live in the area, and all the quilts of my foremothers that I did not make but have the privilege to own for now, all which reside in our old house on Tremont Avenue. Here is the list: Quilts at home (my own): 1. Halloween cross stitch 2. Christmas cross stitch 3. Benny’s quilt 4. Watermelon quilt 5. Crown of thorns wall hanging 6. Ramona’s first quilt 7. Mom Long’s first quilt 8. Small Christmas quilt 9. Fall wall hangings (1) 10. Fall wall hangings (2) 11. Thanksgiving cross stitch quilt top 12. Ati’s star and log cabin quilt 13. Three hearts wall hanging (small) Quilts in the area (my own): 14. Phyllis Knupp Ligonier Valley Historical Society 2007 15. Vera Hisker Gramma’s quilt 16. Josh Parker pet quilt 17. Sara Parker spring quilt Family quilts: 18. Great Gramma White’s flower garden 19. Gramma Taylor’s maple leaf 20. Ruth’s mother's Texas star Collected quilts: 21. Yellow and purple pansies (bought in Adamsburg, PA) 22. Small pink Dresden plate (bought in Greensburg, PA) 23. Hand pieced quilt top 1 (bought in Greensburg, PA) 24. Hand pieced quilt top 2 (bought in Greensburg, PA) 25. Hand pieced quilt top 3 (bought in Greensburg, PA) 26. Hand appliquéd quilt top (bought in Ligonier, PA) 27. Birds in Flight w/black (bought in Pleasanton,CA) 28. Men’s shirt quilt (bought in Pleasanton, CA) 29. Blue yo-yo quilt (bought in Pleasanton, CA) 30. Monkey wrench in aqua and white (bought in Monterey, CA) 31. Sunbonnet Sue on pink (bought in Greensburg, PA) 32. Sunbonnet Sue and Overall Sam (bought in Greensburg, PA) 33. Robbing Peter to Pay Paul (bought in Greensburg, PA) 34. Brightly colored quilt (bought in Greensburg, PA) 35. Boston Commons Arch quilt (bought in Latrobe, PA) 36. Cross stitch rose quilt (bought in Greensburg, PA) 37. Whole cloth blue quilts 1987 (bought in Greensburg, PA) 38. Half square quilt (bought in Greensburg, PA) 39. Leaves appliqué quilt (bought in Greensburg, PA) 40. Flowers appliqué quilt (bought in Greensburg, PA) 41. Rustic log cabin quilt (bought in Latrobe, PA) 42. Rustic patchwork quilt (bought in Latrobe, PA) 43. Double wedding ring with swastika fabric (bought in Latrobe, PA) 44. Flower basket quilt (bought in Greensburg, PA) 45. Cross stitched flower quilt (bought in Greensburg, PA) 46. Triangles puff quilt (bought in Greensburg, PA) 47. Pastel Dresden plate (bought in Greensburg, PA) 48. Pastel patchwork (bought in Greensburg, PA) 49. Wool nine patch (bought in Youngwood, PA) 50. Red and yellow patchwork (bought in Latrobe, PA) 51. Sunflower quilt/tied throw (bought in Greensburg, PA) 52. Tiny blue patchwork wall hanging (bought in Greensburg, PA) 53. Amish wall hanging (bought on ebay) 54. Small green and wine wall hanging (bought on ebay) 55. Purple mountains majesty wall hanging (bought on ebay) Yikes! 55 quilts, quilt tops or quilted wall hangings. Far to many to haul to Saint Vincent so I called my friend, historian and fellow quilter, Karen Kehoe, to ask for some advise. She came up with a brilliant suggestion, call the historians and see if they will come to me! So I made a call to the Beaver County Historical Research and Landmarks Foundation and met a historian named Brenda Applegate who told me their goal is to document every, EVERY quilt they can find in Western Pennsylvania! Audacious, I said. I want to help you out, I said. I can show you 55 quilts in one day, I said. Will you come to me? So, yes, they are coming, not sure when, and we will make a day of it. They measure, describe, photograph and identify patterns when looking at these quilts so it will be great to learn the names of some of my beauties. I will set up the table extender on the dining room table (they asked if I had a space big enough) and open all the shutters (they asked if there was light enough) and feed them lunch to boot! My friend, Phyllis, also wants to bring her quilts so I am wondering, how long does it take per quilt? 5 minutes, 10 minutes? This could be a very long day. I have started calling local folks who have some of my quilts here in Pennsylvania and their quilts have started returning home. This weekend, Josh and Sarah Parker's kids quilts arrived. See my next post for pictures and info on them. I am expecting a quilt from my friend Vera and have to go pick up one from an acquaintance in Ligonier who received the 2007 Ligonier Valley Historical Society quilt in a silent auction. It is so cool to see these children of mine again and amazing how much I forget about them! Are we having fun yet?

Get up, get out of that funky place!

I am in a serious funk. Seriously, I am feeling a bit crappy lately and I think it is time to start a new quilt. I know I am much happier when I am fueling those creative parts of my soul and that has just not been happening lately. So. Tonight it begins again. I will start on Rockstar Monkey for my great nephew Dean, son of Laura and Rob Mitchum and get myself out of this total down place. Actually, Beck and I have already started this quilt. We have drawn the pattern and she has been doing her usual cross stitch speedy magic. All 26 letters of the monkey alphabet are done and currently she is working on the monkey border. I have determined what the appliqué monkey will look like (actually, I am down to two finalists) and the background block has been selected (monkey wrench, of course) . Tonight I will begin to cut the fabric and sew the background blocks. Let’s set a goal date – shall we say finished in time to take home to Illinois for Angie’s wedding weekend, August 9-12? That may not be enough time for Becky to do the large cross stitch piece for the back. I will need to check with her but certainly, I can have my part done by then.

Detail photos of Road to California quilt

Here are some photos of the detail of Road to California.

The road takes us home from California

Well, we are back home again after a wonderful visit to California for Wyatt's first birthday. Here he is appreciating Gramma's handiwork, or looking for the many errors in the quilt!

This visit was relaxing and fun for many reasons. It was time away together for my sweetheart husband and I. We had both gone away separately this month on various recreational activities; he to ski in the Catskills and me on my sewing marathon with Becky in Texas. It was time to spend with many of the immediate and extended family who attended the 1st birthday party for Wyatt. And it was great to have the Road to California quilt done, delivered and out of my house! Always feel a tremendous sense of relief when one is done, especially a quilt as complicated and large as this one. Here are a few pictures taken from the balcony of the Westmoreland Museum where I work.

I will post more detail pictures tonight when I get home but a final one here, daughter Jamie and the little man, Wyatt.

The aftermath of a quilt (or what to do with yourself after the project is finished)

Well, Road to California is finally done and other than showing it off to my friends here in Pennsylvania, there is nothing more to do but pack it up and take it with us down the road to California this weekend. As is my usual practice, the closer I got to the end of the quilt, the more fanatic I got about finishing it. As my dear husband said to my California daughter (the recipient of the quilt) when asked what we were doing this (past) weekend, "Well, your mother is working on the quilt, working on the quilt, and oh yeah, working on the quilt." In my own defense, I did clean the house this weekend as well.

After every quilt project (but especially after the BIG ones), there is a period of hiatus, almost of letdown, as I re-adjust to normal living. Not only is time now freed up for other things (like laundry), my mind is freed as well. While I love (almost) every minute that I spend working on a quilt, there is a feeling of relief and freedom when a project is over. No longer do I have to rush home from work, do the necessary household things (like feed the cats) and get right to the quilting. I can take time to read the paper, watch a movie, or now that the weather is nicer, sit on my porch and watch the world go by.

Of course, I am already thinking about the next quilt. This was such a huge project that I think it is time to do a few smaller ones before I attack the next wedding quilt which will be for my third "daughter," our neighbor while the girls were growing up, Artemis. The next quilt will be a baby quilt for my new great nephew Robert Dean Mitchum III, now about 4 months old and fondly (and shortly) called Dean. The pattern is cross stitched alphabet letters (which daughter Becky is busily working on) with a center block we are tentatively calling ROCK STAR MONKEY after the pattern of the nursery. The center block is still in the jello phase (not quite gelled yet) so during this downtime, I will be thinking about that.

After Rock Star Monkey, I will be doing a reprise of the sunflowers in a baby quilt for my new grand niece, Emily Elizabeth Allmendinger-Goertz. I have some gorgeous Legacy Collection sunflower fabric on blue that looks like Van Gogh. I have asked what the nursery looks like but I am getting no response. They must be too busy with the new baby so I will just go with what suits me. Her grandmother, my sister-in-law, Cheryl, wants pink but that is just too precious and predictable for me.

We leave for California on Thursday, gone for 4 days to celebrate grandson, Wyatt's first birthday. Then it is home to do the taxes (oh dread!) and finish up the semester for professor husband. Things will be busy for me at the museum I am sure. We have an artist market scheduled for April 21 that will be fun and interesting. We are not traveling again until late June, middle July, middle August and middle September so plenty of time to get those baby quilts done!

I will post more pictures, including the surprise part after Jamie and Jeff receive it this coming weekend!

Sewing marathon with Becky - pictures of the Thanksgiving quilt

The Thanksgiving quilt is shaping up after my sewing weekend with daughter Becky. Here are two pictures. Next I will put on the pieced border with cross stitched corner. Let's see... it is the end of March...yep, I should have it done by Thanksgiving!

Lexie, one of Beck's two Rhodesian Ridgebacks, inspects the quilt for flaws in the above picture. And that gorgeous sewer is my daughter, Becky. Believe it or not, I once had hair that color. She looks very much like me at that age.

Steve wants to learn to sew too. He must have really like the sound of the sewing machine. He stayed curled up at our feet the entire time!

Road to California detoured to the Road to Plano, Texas

Well, the Road to California is all quilted - it took 65 hours in all - and the edges are bound. The "special feature" to be unveiled after the quilt is given, is also finished and ready to be put on. This was all accomplished by March 8th so with two weeks left before the California trip and delivery date of the quilt, I took off for five days to visit Becky in Texas. My hands really needed the rest so it was a good time to get away for awhile but we haven't been idle in Texas, oh no!

Last December, George and I gave both of our daughters sewing machines. Now that they had homes of their own, and talents to boot, it was time they learned to use a sewing machine. So Becky and I planned a trip for me during her spring break. We had blocks all cross-stitched ready for a Thanksgiving quilt and we wanted to make the quilt top. Additionally, Becky, who is a champion cross stitcher, had some projects of her own she wanted to get done on the machine. I arrived on Friday night and after a nice Mexican dinner, we discussed the plans for the projects.

Saturday morning, we started with a travel bag and a handbag made from Becky's husbands ACU's - Todd is in the Texas National Guard. What fun to recycle the uniforms and make something meaningful. Next came quilted Christmas stockings that Becky had cross stitched the fronts of. That was enough for one day and we headed to bed at a reasonable hours.

Sunday, day two, we started on the Thanksgiving quilt top and two days later, it was done. We always draw a plan first but somewhere along the way, we threw the plan out the door and go with our guts. We made a trip to a fabric store (one of four trips this week) and purchased fabric for the pieced borders which I will finish later. We decided that was about as far as we could go on this project (after two late nights) and moved on to the next one.

Tuesday, Day four, we made a key chain and two luggage tags from ACU's again and did some teaching/learning on the sewing machine, which by the way, Becky has mastered very quickly. I taught her how to monogram and applique as well. In between all these projects, we have had time to watch some movies, visit some three month old twins, and eat great food.

Now it is time to go home. The visit has been memorable, the company wonderful. I love spending time with my daughters each and this month, I am so lucky to see Becky twice - she will be going to California for Wyatt's first birthday in just eight days as well!

I also had the opportunity to take some digital photos of other quilts I have made, which now belong to Becky. I will be posting them when I get time. They are a genuine timeline of how my quilting has progressed over the last 30 years.

Talk to you soon!