Show and Tell

My friend (and neighbor) Lois and I belong to a quilt guild and a needlework guild.  My favorite part of the meetings is "Show and Tell" ... where everyone gets up and shows off their latest finished quilt/project.  It's mostly "show", but there's usually a little bit of "tell".  As much as I enjoy seeing the finished project, I wish we could hear a little more about it and about the quilter.

Today we're having "Show and Tell" here on ENBFH (Empty Nest but Full Heart) with plenty of "tell".  ;-)

As most of you know, I'm a quilter.  I started quilting when my paternal grandmother gave each of her grandkids a pieced quilt top.  My mom insisted that I help her with the quilting ... since the finished quilt would be mine.  I really don't remember very much about quilting that quilt (I was 18 and no doubt thought that I was way too busy to spend time quilting).  Nevertheless, I loved that quilt ... and used it until it fell apart.

Fast forward to 1982 when, on a whim, I decided to make DD a quilt. I've always sewn (I'm no seamstress, but I sewed a lot of my clothes through high school and a lot of DD's clothes when she was little), so I figured how hard could it be to make a quilt?  I made a log cabin quilt, using the barn raising setting.  I made a couple of other quilts in the mid-1980's and discovered counted cross stitching.  For the next 10+ years, I preferred counted cross stitching because I could frame them myself and have pretty wall art that I had made myself ... and because I could finish the project a whole lot more quickly than I could finish a quilt.  No patience here ... I'm all about the instant gratification!  ha!

When my DD announced that she was pregnant with T#1, I just had to make a baby quilt.  When he was moved from the crib to a "big boy bed" in anticipation of the arrival of T#2, I had to make him a "big boy quilt" ... and thus I rediscovered my love of quilting.  I've made each of the Ts a baby quilt, and I've made big boy/girl quilts for T#1, T#2, and T#3 (I've got the fabric for T#4).

Speaking of T#3's big boy quilt, I finished it earlier this month.  I did straight stitching, down the middle of each strip ... to accentuate the zig-zag piecing.

Now I'm working on another quilt, one for DSIL.  I've been reporting on it the last couple of weeks, and I thought I ought to share a picture of it in progress.

The top picture is the quilt top (I use a 16" lap hoop); the bottom picture is a picture of the back (which gives a better picture of the quilting pattern I'm using).

Like I mentioned, a big girl quilt for T#4 is next on my agenda.  After I've finished it, I'm definitely going to make a quilt for DH & me.  Of all the quilts I've made (from start to finish), not a single one has been for myself.  I've got the fabric for that one, too.  ;-)

This afternoon DH & I removed our old desks from the office and are in the initial stages of setting up a sewing area.

Imagine, if you will, the ironing board gone, a wider table, storage bins to the right of the table (for my stash and my supplies) and a bulletin board on the wall above the table.  Ok, it'll never be like the professionals have (or even my friend/neighbor Lois), but it certainly beats using the kitchen table or a table taking up a good third of the space in the living room.  I've been wanting to do this for some time ... and I finally just declared to DH that today was the day.  ;-)