Oh, BTW, thanks for dropping by, Daveman, USAF, Ret.
Two more pictures of the afternoon's progress and a trip down memory lane to a show I did for city hall entitled "Jewels of the Platte II" probably 1997 or 1998. It was a few weeks before a house burned down in Natrona County, and the "Tell Them I'm a Child of God" quilt (furthest right, small boys and girls in applique) was given to the family. I heard they had 3 small children, all survived the fire, but the house was totaled by it. I took it down to the Fire Station and told them to give it to the family, who'd be needing stuff. Think I took two other quilts, too, but it's not clear to me which ones, and I may not even have pictures of them. If I do, they're not known to me. I have a hunch which ones, but it's only a hunch, and I have no pictures, but I do have a pattern that I developed when I saw a quilt made that with a little thinking could have been a lot more organized-looking.. Anyway, 4 of the 5 quilts hanging have blue in them, and to that time I hadn't made many blue quilts. That changed later.
The afternoon & nostalgia...
I am editing this because I forgot to name the quilts below:
1. Aesthetics of Victorian Applique Album Quilt, a blue Victorian era quilt I made with designs probably circa the early 20th century, with a primitive phone, a couple wearing turn-of-the-century Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes, etc. There's even a Carousel Horse, and it's part of a book I wrote for my student called "Aesthetics of Victorian Applique Album Quilt." (hahahaha try saying that after eating a couple of crackers.)
2. Color Wheel. It is of 100% Jinny Beyer designed fabric from her first "Jinny Beyers Basics" fabric, and the background is also from the same collection, pale taupe-etched cool whitish colored material, then reused in the first border with staggered rows of squares top and bottom.
3. JoAnn's Dutch Doll quilt. Actually, it's my design, but a lady named JoAnn came into my shop one day and saw my teensie weensie little embroidered doll work, done in machine embroidery for classes, and demanded that I make a big one so she could applique it onto a quilt. I assured her it was dubious that it would look as nice as the little ones, bad idea, etc. After she left, I sat down and drew one up. By nightfall, I'd done one square, and by the next day, I had done and sewed a dozen dolls and made a large, child-sized quilt with it. I improved the square, made some copies, and called JoAnn to tell her I had done a square, named for her insistent saying I could do the design, and she'd like it. She came in the next morning, and I had the small quilt top done and was working on another. She bought the first pattern for $1.00. In the upcoming few weeks, I had designed a modern dutchman in a suit, made 10 charity quilts and given all of them to the handicapped day care center in town. That's why I made the dutchman. My Grandpa was dutch, and it is a gentle reminder of him, but was only used when the Dutch Girl was his partner. She was the best seller. I hardly ever sold any of the Dutchman, don't know why. In that part of the country, people like Cowboys and Cowgirls, so they would buy the Western couple every time, except some people just liked the Dutch Girl. She was done Sunbonnet style, and now I think I know why I got that silly pm from one of the mods. This must be boring as hell to someone who has to read it.
4. The 4th quilt was the first serious pieced quilt I designed, and I named it after a song I love called "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" because the tan planks surround the blue pools of water. I decided not to sell the pattern, because it had a fitting problem at each and every stinkin' corner. I had to ooch and scooch for weeks to make it right. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.
5. "Tell Them I'm A Child Of God" is the name of the little quilt nearest the wall. Think I explained that one somewhere today.
