Snowy days often are quilting and project days, especially when school is cancelled and the grandkids and I are home.  (I do substitute teaching so likely as not head off to school with the youngsters.)
Snowy days in March also remind me of a saying in our home when I was growing up, “Remember the Blizzard of ‘88.”  My grandparents lived during the unforgettable blizzard that paralized the east coast area starting March 11, 1888.  Grandpa’s stories of this time were fascinating to me as a child.
If you’d like to learn more about this period in our history, check out my …read more

It’s a good idea to take photos of all your quilting and fabric art projects.  It’s even easier today, with digital cameras, than when I had to get photos developed from negatives.  Sometimes you’re pressed for time and don’t bother.  Then eventually you wish you had documented that particular piece of fabric art.
Why take photos?  Here are 10 of the reasons:
 

To have a record
To remember specific patterns and designs
To document your techniques
To build a portfolio or album
To put on your blog
To show customers
To use for making your own fabric
To play with in photo programs
To enter contests and shows
To have for …read more

To some quilters, tying your quilts seems “the easy way out.”  However, there are times for tying the three layers together and other times for stitching them.
Since my grandmother, my aunt and their friend Susie tied their quilts, that’s what I knew.  When I helped them make quilts, you might say I attended a “tying bee,” when they spread the layers out on the large dining table and tied and chatted.
When I began making quilts during the Bicentennial Years of 1975-76, I naturally tied them.  I continued to do so to make the quilts affordable.  Because it doesn’t take so …read more

Valentine’s Day was a fun family day when I was a youngster because Mother made it so.  Do you celebrate with your family in a special way?  Do you make special goodies, as well as quilted gifts?
Mother had been a school teacher and held parties for her students.  Even though she was no longer taught after we four children were born (school districts were very reluctant to hire married teachers, particularly ones with children, in those days), she introduced us to many of the activities she’d enjoyed with her students.  She also cooked special foods for Valentine’s Day, midst her busy day of mom and …read more

Today is National Bird Day!
It’s a time to appreciate your birds (if you have birds for pets) and those in the out-of-doors.  Perhaps you’ll even get inspiration for your quilt and fabric art designs.  I haven’t done a great deal with birds in my quilting.  But at one stage in my life, I did oil and watercolor paintings of birds for clients.
Some activities involving birds are mentioned below.  You may want to involve your children in them, or use them as quilting inspiration.

Do you have a bird feeder you keep well stocked in winter?
Do you read and learn about birds?
Can …read more

I recall, even though it was many years ago, the lovely silk pillow cases with golden fringe my Uncle Al sent to my grandmother when he was stationed in California during World War II.  These pillow cases had scenes from San Francisco where Uncle Al visited.  One had the Golden Gate Bridge on it and the other a scene from Chinatown.
My grandmother stuffed throw pillows in the cases and placed them on the couch in her living room (we called it a parlor in those days), where they fascinated me as I imagined this place Uncle Al visited.  (Many years later I …read more

Some of your family members may have memories of Pearl Harbor, the attack on December 7, 1941 that precipitated the United States’ involvement in World War II.  Some fought in the war, others worked in war related industries on the home front.  Children helped with Victory Gardens, learned about rationing, air raids, and black-outs.
I was a child during those years of World War II and give talks about this era to those who have no memories of it. 
“Write down your memories about World War II,” someone told me.  So I’ve begun doing this so that my daughter, grandchildren and …read more

SHARING MEMORIES
Thank you, my readers and fellow quilt lovers, for sharing your memories and experiences with “blankies” and quilts your grandmothers or moms made you.  I hope you’re writing them down, taking pictures of the quilts if they still exist, and preserving these memories for future generations.
I’d like to share some of these with other readers, so from time to time will post your comments here since not so many people may see them in a comment.
(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Feedsack fabrics fascinate me.  So I collect them whenever I can. I haven’t done a great deal with those I’ve accumulated so far.  But they bring back memories.
These are what Nanny used for many of the squares in the quilts she and I pieced for my sister, brothers and myself.  The feed for the chickens on their farm came in bags made of these colorful fabrics.
Two of the sacks I used for my first clothing sewing project in 4-H.  My very first was a drawstring apron.  The next was a drawstring skirt that I modeled in the 4-H fashion show.
My daughter has …read more

QuiltingAndPatchwork.com

When I saw the picture of this rocking chair surrounded by patchwork border, I was reminded of my grandmother and quilting.  I learned to quilt with Nanny, who sat in her rocking chair beside the kitchen window. 
There she could look out beyond the porch and see what was going on at the barn.  She also saw anyone coming up the pathway, from driveway to the house.  In summer, she rocked on the porch where she got a greater view of goings on at the farm and around the yard.
Nanny stitched quilt patches in her lap, while I sat in a …read more