Artful Homemade Quilts Have A Way

[Divine Wind]

I wonder what the 14-to-17-year old men were thinking as they were being picked off in battle? I truly do not think they were thinking about overlording slaves.

Agreed. I'm sure most thought they were defending their "country" from the northern invaders since the vast majority of the battles were fought in the South:

Even President Lincoln knew the Civil War wasn't "about slavery" as some modern revisionists try to assist. It was about "preserving the Union".

Abraham Lincoln's Letter to Horace Greeley

As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing" as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt.

I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.

 

[freedombecki]

Well, I'm glad the Union was saved, that American blacks are free people, and that we came back together to eventually keep our European family free from sundry dictatorships in the twentieth century. Growing up in postWWII America has been a privilege for me, and the older I get, the more I appreciate what my parents went through--times of worry and separation due to military tours of Europe, Japan, Australia, North Africa, South America, and Alaska. Dad was a Marine and sharpshooter specialist and was always getting records lost and recalled to duty (his & mom's story) when I was growing up. I got to see my first snow and Yellowstone bears when I was 7 years old on the way to Seattle, where we spent my birthday before hopping a plane to Ft. Richardson. We were back in Texas 2 years later, and Dad spent the rest of his life superintending, coaching and teaching mathematics at various high schools until he died in 1991. He served as a Marine in WWII, a POW at a very bad Japanese camp, and by the time we got to Alaska, he was a Lieutenant in the Army. He had a drawer full of purple hearts, sharpshooter medals, and I don't know what all, that my youngest brother proudly owns.

 

[Divine Wind]

Well, I'm glad the Union was saved, that American blacks are free people, and that we came back together to eventually keep our European family free from sundry dictatorships in the twentieth century. Growing up in postWWII America has been a privilege for me, and the older I get, the more I appreciate what my parents went through--times of worry and separation due to military tours of Europe, Japan, Australia, North Africa, South America, and Alaska. Dad was a Marine and sharpshooter specialist and was always getting records lost and recalled to duty (his & mom's story) when I was growing up. I got to see my first snow and Yellowstone bears when I was 7 years old on the way to Seattle, where we spent my birthday before hopping a plane to Ft. Richardson. We were back in Texas 2 years later, and Dad spent the rest of his life superintending, coaching and teaching mathematics at various high schools until he died in 1991. He served as a Marine in WWII, a POW at a very bad Japanese camp, and by the time we got to Alaska, he was a Lieutenant in the Army. He had a drawer full of purple hearts, sharpshooter medals, and I don't know what all, that my youngest brother proudly owns.

Thanks for story of growing up and your Dad, Becki. Yes, completely agreed on how the Civil War turned out. The die-hard, blue-blood Yankee Liberals don't seem to understand how I can support the right of the States to secede and the fact most Southerners were fighting for their country yet be happy that the Union was preserved and we are now united Superpower instead of a mix of middlin' American states. Not just a superpower militarily, but economically.

 

[freedombecki]

Thanks, DW. Hope ya'll's flight is going well.

This may be an antebellum Civil War quilt from one of our Texas mothers (my copy of Karen Breshnehan's book on Texas Quilts may be somewhere in a moving box from 2 years back):

​

 

[freedombecki]

Quilts of Valor gallery of quilts made for soldiers by quilters from all over: Photos

 

[Divine Wind]

Thanks, DW. Hope ya'll's flight is going well.

This may be an antebellum Civil War quilt from one of our Texas mothers (my copy of Karen Breshnehan's book on Texas Quilts may be somewhere in a moving box from 2 years back):

I love the quilts and the links. Never made it to Ft. Walton Beach due to a misconnected flight so was sent home for the night. Tonight I'm in Lafayette, LA, but not long enough to eat a good Cajun meal.

 

[freedombecki]

Thanks, DW. Hope ya'll's flight is going well.

This may be an antebellum Civil War quilt from one of our Texas mothers (my copy of Karen Breshnehan's book on Texas Quilts may be somewhere in a moving box from 2 years back):

I love the quilts and the links. Never made it to Ft. Walton Beach due to a misconnected flight so was sent home for the night. Tonight I'm in Lafayette, LA, but not long enough to eat a good Cajun meal.

Glad you like the links. Quilters are funny people. I was scrambling to find all the quilts I'd made this year and last. I've lost my husband's help with photographing my quilts due to his early dementia that just got diagnosed a couple of months backs, and me being the world's absolutely worst photographer, I just don't know how I'm going to do that. If I record stuff, the day gets blasted away, and nothing happens in the sewing room, like this morning. All I got done was the tops to 14 soldier Christmas stockings, and only finished 2 at Charity bees yesterday since the first time completion takes the longest, and other people make demands of my time when I'm in a group.

It simply ticks me off when others decide to sell my quilts for less than I spent on materials, instead of giving the quilts to the shelters I designated. This time I'm not going to look for a new group. I'm going to write a contract that the receiving organization will give the quilt to a poor child, an abused mom, or a senior with Alzheimer's or worse, or I am going to find my own sources. One of the leaders suggested her husband would like to buy a quilt I spent hours making for a homeless child. I answered her that would be better put in the hands of a child who needed a quilt who didn't have a mother who could furnish one for him or her. She didn't give me the satisfaction of an answer, and the following meeting, the cochair made a statement they would designate whether the quilts were sold to people who wanted one so they could purchase batting, and that was final. My response was that I would buy batting for them if they needed it that much. Yesterday was a fizzle, and the chairwoman who wanted the little red quilt her husband liked left before other people did when I showed up. I just don't know what to do, but I'm not taking part in the good ol' gals clubs of seeing to it poor kids get only ugly quilts.

Think I'll finish up the stockings, then look up where they're made and give them there.

My work may be good, but I started dedicating my quilts to God years ago, and his poor, as is described in the book of Deuteronomy and numerous other places in Proverbs and the New Testament. That's how it has to be, and I'm not making more quilts for rich people to give to their choice grandchild who already has a silver spoon in its mouth upon birth.

Their family has plenty of talent in it to make or provide beautiful things with which to surround it. My family is that of the poor.

Am I going wrong somewhere, DW?

 

[freedombecki]

Quilts, quilts, quilts, and more redwork quilts....

 

[Divine Wind]

It simply ticks me off when others decide to sell my quilts for less than I spent on materials, instead of giving the quilts to the shelters I designated. This time I'm not going to look for a new group. I'm going to write a contract that the receiving organization will give the quilt to a poor child, an abused mom, or a senior with Alzheimer's or worse, or I am going to find my own sources. One of the leaders suggested her husband would like to buy a quilt I spent hours making for a homeless child. I answered her that would be better put in the hands of a child who needed a quilt who didn't have a mother who could furnish one for him or her. She didn't give me the satisfaction of an answer, and the following meeting, the cochair made a statement they would designate whether the quilts were sold to people who wanted one so they could purchase batting, and that was final. My response was that I would buy batting for them if they needed it that much. Yesterday was a fizzle, and the chairwoman who wanted the little red quilt her husband liked left before other people did when I showed up. I just don't know what to do, but I'm not taking part in the good ol' gals clubs of seeing to it poor kids get only ugly quilts.

Think I'll finish up the stockings, then look up where they're made and give them there.

My work may be good, but I started dedicating my quilts to God years ago, and his poor, as is described in the book of Deuteronomy and numerous other places in Proverbs and the New Testament. That's how it has to be, and I'm not making more quilts for rich people to give to their choice grandchild who already has a silver spoon in its mouth upon birth.

Their family has plenty of talent in it to make or provide beautiful things with which to surround it. My family is that of the poor.

Am I going wrong somewhere, DW?

Hmmmm, that's a tough dilemma, Becki. Several thoughts here; one is that some people don't respect quality. There's so much cheap crap around, many wouldn't recognize a quality product if it bit them in the keister.

Another is that a gift is a gift. Once given, it is up to the receiver's discretion on what to do with it. Hence, I'm careful on how expensive, either financially or time spent, a gift I give to certain people.

With that in mind, mediocre quality quilt provides as much warmth as a top-notch quality quilt. If two mediocre quilts can be provided for the cost in time and money of one high quality quilt, it shouldn't automatically be ruled out to go with the lesser quality in favor of higher production quantity. Especially if those receiving it don't appreciate the quality in the first place. Just guessing here, but if a poor family knew they had a quilt valued at $100-300 dollars, they'd probably sell it to pay toward the month's rent and buy some used airline blankets at the Good Will.

Lastly, there is a lot to be said for the maxim, if you want something done right, do it yourself. If you aren't comfortable with how a group is distributing your efforts, either find another outlet or do it yourself. My recommendation would be to find a retirement home or VA home/hospital and find a worthy person for your donation. That can be a bit time consuming, but I'm sure other's who make quilts in your group can work together to find a worthy place for your efforts.


Sorry to hear about your husband, Becki. It's a tough road sometimes.

 

[freedombecki]

Thanks, DW. You know, I think I probably had a run of 4 hours of sleep nights, which doesn't do much for waking up refreshed. Most of the time I have enough brainpower not to bite my nails out loud over something so petty. From their view point, it could most likely be frustrating to be a chairperson of a committee of picky, self-righteous saints, when they could be doing their own quilts, and I should have taken the red quilt offer as a compliment and made another one just as nice. It would have only taken a couple of days, and nobody would have had to listen to my little caterwaul. Also, I truly need to accept other people for where they live, not where I live. Thanks for taking a minute, though; I'll try to do better in the future.

Guess I'm feeling my oats because I finished the machine sewing part of the soldier stockings, (except for one that got misplaced with a pair of scissors around here someplace). I was so happy to have the task behind me instead ahead of me. It's tedious to make 16 of one item at one time, especially when I'm crocheting different green or red laces to match the stocking fabric to sew onto the stocking cuffs, and that takes a couple of hours apiece. However, the effect and the feel of the thin little stockings is so improved by the handmade lace, I'm going to put them by the tv and crochet the remainder while watching the news.

 

[freedombecki]

Finally! My pal JM took a pic of my Charity bee stockings with her Iphone at sewing class today, so I can finally share them. We'll see how this goes. Otherwise, when I get home, I'll send them to photobucket where nice things happen to yer pics. As it were, when I made them larger, my usually clear pictures became a little muddy.

So far, I have 17 sewn, 15 have crocheted borders, two also lack hangers. I'll fix that tonight or later tomorrow, Lord willing and the Creeks don't rise.

 

[Divine Wind]

Finally! My pal JM took a pic of my Charity bee stockings with her Iphone at sewing class today, so I can finally share them. We'll see how this goes. Otherwise, when I get home, I'll send them to photobucket where nice things happen to yer pics. As it were, when I made them larger, my usually clear pictures became a little muddy.

So far, I have 17 sewn, 15 have crocheted borders, two also lack hangers. I'll fix that tonight or later tomorrow, Lord willing and the Creeks don't rise.

Great job, Becki. That's a lot of work. Yes, cellphone photos are convenient, but lack the resolution to enlarge for detail. Photobucket would work better.

 

[freedombecki]

We put the Soldier Christmas Stockings on the flannel board, pinned them on, then JM photographed them with her iphone. Technology is so wonderful.

The stockings are about ten inches (25 cm) high. Sorry you can't see all that slave labor of detail on the crocheted border. Each is a different pattern, no two are alike, and these differ from regular crocheted lace in that I crocheted a tape base with single and double crochet to later add picots, rolled edge laces, and scalloped lace of a variety of ways. (huff puff, huff puff) Each lace is made to be about 12 inches long so it will go all the way around the cuff of the Soldier Stocking.

I'm so pleased to get it done, and at the computer machine embroidery class in the quilt store, I bought some more pieces to make different stockings and cut 9 of them out before class.

The new fabric is totally wonderful. Sorry I can't get the wireless thing to work. It says I can get a USB cable to attach the computer to the printer, will have to figure out where to go to get that. Bye for now.

Time to go home. Have a loverly day!

 

[freedombecki]

Oh, hi, Divine Wind. Thanks. I have to leave the shop and go home for now. BBL

 

[freedombecki]

This week, I made and embellished 2 more soldier stockings at our Quilt Guild's Charity Bees. I got to wondering what people put in these stockings, and looked online and found a shopping list for soldier stockings. Their list included, (and if anyone near you does soldier stockings, I found a shopping list online for soldier stockings, and it was pretty specific):

Christmas candy,
gum,
fruit roll-ups & gushers,
cracker jacks,
Beef Slim Jims,
pretzels,
lemonade & flavored drink mixes
coffee
individual flavored teas
hot drink mixes,
commercially packaged Trail Mix,
nuts,
oreo or other commercial cookies, (Sorry, no home-baked items),
Ramen soup,
chips,
small cans of tuna,
lasagna,
Beefaroni,
canned fruit,
any small size of
anything to eat.
Pocket games & puzzles,
DVD movies,
music CD's,
current magazines,
Beanie Babies,
AT&T phone cards,
paperback books (no romance novels please),
dominos,
disposable cameras.
Lip balm,
foot powder,
small sizes of toiletries & lotions,
crew socks,
hand & foot warmers,
fly swatters
& a Holiday Greeting Card with your messages of Support &
Friendship. If you include your return address, (email or snail) you might hear back from the soldier who receives your card. http://stockingsforsoldiers.org/PDF/Stocking%20Shopping%20List.pdf

hmm, Now that I see that list, I may want to redesign the tops of our stockings to make them wide enough to hold a cd, plus 2 or 3 inches for bulkier items like food packets, etc. I bet a small pencil with a decent eraser, a ballpoint pen, and a writing pad (small) would be useful, or a mini pack of stationery for them to write home on would be good for some. My favorite game is Free Cell, and you used to see hand-held Free Cell games in the kids' sections at toy departments, but they were so expensive. I wonder if I wrote the Free Cell co. if they have developed a less expensive version that is wafer-thin plastic that could be sent to soldiers. I guess a pack of cards would get them a way to play solitaire, but it could also get them in a mighty amount of trouble if they lost their paycheck playing poker, not to mention the fights it could cause...scratch playing cards...

I had written a little self-memo last week, wonder where I put it. Well if I can find it I can put it together with this list and maybe come up with a better way of making stockings, to be sure they are full of treats that can be eaten and done away with (except for the movies and music, that is).

My notes of last week sometime:

They can hold playing cards, simple shaver, folding knife, candy, nuts, handkerchief, small game or radio, maybe more. I think there's a list somewhere. The army sent a suggested size, and I used the master pattern first, then redesigned it (see the dark red stocking lower left on picture. I redesigned the cuff to be separate from the stocking, so it could be used as a fold-in-and-over item to keep stuff inside the sock at some other time. Some of the stockings I've seen are in Army camouflage, which might be smart to make some for giving to those stuck out in surreptitious terrain in which bright reds, etc. would show up on enemy sights. It wouldn't matter if someone was doing desk duty where expected. OTOH, if florals were sent to troops in jungle areas, they might fit right in with the flowers on the shadowed floor of tall trees, where troops might be walking. That's why I want to get the project done by Oct 31--so they can be sent to a center where determinations can be made where they go. It may or may not matter all that much, I'm not sure.

Wonder if I can print this up and take it to the store with me today when I go shopping, get the stuff for one stocking, and see what fits in it.

Well, my new printer still isn't cooperating, so I will just have to go get some paper and do some copying. *sigh* Life is hard when you grow older and can't figure out where you put the disk to the printer and the computer at different times...

 

[freedombecki]

Today went well. While I was redesigning the soldier stocking to accommodate movies and music CDs, I began thinking of other things that seamstresses could do to help save lives besides just send little gifties during the holiday season for our boys and girls. I wrote down some things and sent it to my Senator to present to the department of the Army. It would incorporate two different things--soldier education, and soldier wearables. If they institute my ideas, it has the potential of saving 50% of lives and 50% wounds that would land a soldier in a wheelchair, plus it would make more comfortable wear for soldiers who have to endure the heat of jungle or desert. I was really excited about this, hope my suggestions would be taken to heart and instituted where it could do the most good. One good thing about devoting all my spare time to sewing since 1966, when I sewed garments in a factory, sewed all my kids' clothes, husbands shirts, pants, etc. through the years, one gets a feel for what makes people comfortable. My studies in human health brought further attention to tried-and-true methods for avoiding disease, and the research was a good exercise to do this undertaking.

I pray for our kids over there.

In the meantime, it's sew up the new stockings that hold movies and music for our front line people. I love them so. The years I spent making quilts for them made me think of them and pray for their betterment on a daily basis. It'd take a couple of weeks to work out a new plan for my gals in the purple heart quilters group, but when all was said and done, I used my color knowledge to make as pretty of quilts as I could, and I tried to make each quilt as though I were making them for my own child, because soldiers are most special people.

The minute they stand in line for duty, their lives take a turn few of us ever think about. But they do. There's hard work ahead for them in boot camp that not everyone can complete. The majority do get through, under duress of someone carping at them morning noon and night like they've never been carped at before. It must feel like dying to get chewed out for the tenth time to keep his butt down when he's crawling on the ground, but that's a hail of bullets that will miss him if he knows what the sarge said and does it.

I love our troops. I just hope the little I do lets the few who receive a gift from back home helps them to get through a few minutes of lonesomeness at holiday time when they're saving our lives, and some upper level officer is praying for his men and women who've served us all so faithfully.

 

[freedombecki]

Worked on four more small soldier Christmas stockings today. It was good to put thoughts and heart into a remembrance for the soldiers who may be away from home for the first time or separated from family after his new baby is born thousands of miles and several months away from home, especially if winter communications are down at due to storming in his hometown.

They're America's finest. It's an honor to think about them.

 

[freedombecki]

God bless our troops for all they do. Still working on Christmas stockings for them.

Took 5 to Charity Bee closet, made 5 on the 1st, Made 5 on the 2nd, Crocheted 4 baubles for future ones. Total currently at 30, that I can remember.
Here's the ones ready to go, not counting starts:

 

[freedombecki]

Red stocking with gold/green band shows crocheted bauble/hanger. We have to get them ready by the end of this month so those who fill the stockings have a chance to have enough to put out the word to the community to provide money or goods for filling the stockings. Above, I mentioned doing the work of redesigning the stockings to accommodate putting a cd in. Well, doh, the first two I made, I already did the work, then realized, the pocket goes on the front. They will go to the regular group who doesn't want too big of stockings on account of low budgets among their senior group. *sigh*

I'm gonna persevere, till I can remember: MAKE THE POCKETS FIRST. Guess I need to make a calligraphy of that and tape it to the front of my sewing machine.

 

[Divine Wind]

They'll love the stockings, Becki! Great job.