Friday, May 18, 2012

Spring Bloggers' Quilt Festival 2012

Yea!  It is spring Bloggers' Quilt Festival time.  This is such a fun event out in blogger land, hosted by Amy Ellis from Amy's Creative Side

"Hello" to all of you fellow bloggers participating in the festival and visiting my blog, I love visiting your blogs and reading about your quilts.   This is my second year participating.  There was really no decision in which quilt I would share, it would be the States Quilt.

I made the States Quilt with my Mom.   My mother has early dementia/Alzheimer's and last summer she and my Dad moved into assisted living.  Because her sewing machine was becoming increasingly difficult for her to operate the decision was made not to move it with them. She was also struggling with knitting and hand quilting, but I noticed she was doing some hand embroidery on dish towels etc.  I had seen this quilt with the 50 states embroidered and an idea was born. 


She was very excited to work on this quilt together.  I would trace the embroidery patterns in colored Pigma Pens so she would know what colors to embroider the state outlines, birds, and flowers and then because they live in another state I would mail 5 or 6 blocks at a time to her.  We continued in this fashion over the fall and winter, in the mean time I worked on star applique blocks and came up with the center eagle block. 


By the end of winter I was starting to sew the blocks together.  I must say I was not  thinking ahead when I choose a pattern with hexagon blocks...LOTS of set in seams. 

I machine quilted the States quilt on my home sewing machine.


 This past April I was able to bring the finished quilt back to my Mom, she was thrilled to see it completed and she enjoys showing it to her many new friends at the assisted living center.   


Happy Stitching All,
Cheri

23 comments:

  1. How wonderful! I always love hearing about the special memories that are attached to quilts. The embroidery is lovely and the hexagons are fabulous!

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  2. What a special quilt! The stitched states are lovely.

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  3. Amazing quilt...its just gorgeous. And so special!

    Happy Quilt Festival.

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  4. I love this quilt and more so, LOVE the story of how you made it together with your mom! Thanks so much for sharing this!!!

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  5. I'm blown away by your quilts. They are gorgeous!

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  6. Beautiful quilt with a wonderful story. I love the photo of your Mum holding the quilt.

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  7. Replies
    1. What an amazing experience to share! I love the quilt and I love its story!

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  8. What a precious gift for your Mom. and for you! You will always cherish the time you spent on that quilt. You will always cherish the joy it brings your Mom. Thanks so much for sharing this story and this quilt!

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  9. There is so much love in this quilt. I am sure your mother is happy to have it. A beautiful quilt and a touching story.

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  10. Beautiful quilt, and to have shared the making of it with your Mom makes it so special. Fantastic photo of your Mom as well!

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  11. amazing embroidery!

    Check out my blog if you can...

    Margaret Gunn
    www.quiltsoflove.blogspot.com

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  12. Thanks for sharing your story with us. Your mom surely treasures that quilt. Hexigons made it a fun quilt though.

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  13. Beautiful quilt and wonderful story - thank you so much for sharing!

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  14. It is a truly splendiforous quilt! I love the photo of your Mum enjoying it, that is the best part.

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  15. What a touching story, and what a beautiful quilt came out of your joint efforts. You have truly created a treasure. Thanks for sharing it with us.

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  16. wonderful story love how you put it together
    Ann

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  17. that is just a stunning quilt! i've always thought it would be cool to embroider all the states, but so much work--how very sweet your mom could be involved in it. love the hexies, the eagle is fantastic...whole thing is just fantastic. thanks for sharing and have a great day

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  18. How wonderful that you were able to create this memory together. What a special quilt. Your mom may not always remember that she made these special blocks but she will always treasure it. Thanks for sharing this story and the quilt.

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  19. What a beautiful quilt and a wonderful project. You created some special memories together making this! A treasure indeed and something the family will no doubt cherish for many, many years to come!

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  20. Your red and green applique' blocks are just wonderful. Love the states quilt; it is just as beautiful as your Mom!

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