My daughter and I both were involved in the care of my mom when she had Alzheimer’s.  Beth also made a lap quilt for Mother as a Christmas gift.   Mother would rub her hands over it and remark about the “pretty colors.” 

Quiltmaking had been part of Mother’s life from her childhood, and she encouraged me in this art.  Because of her, Beth and I are part of the line of Trails End Quilters…the generations who made quilts in our family.

Entering carnivals (collections of articles about particular topics hosted at one blog) proves to be very enjoyable, I’ve found.  Perhaps you have a story to share relating to Alzheimer’s, whether it involves quilting or not.

If you’ve never entered a carnival, simply follow the directions by clicking on the link above.  I’ve also posted some suggestions for carnivals at my Home Biz Notes blog.  You might want to take a look at these.

Tweak Your Topic for Carnivals

Home Biz Owners – Join the Carnival!

Participating in Showcases and Carnivals

Entering Your Home Business Post in a Showcase

Another enjoyable aspect of carnivals is reading the numerous entries.  So if you don’t enter (and if you do), check out Liz’s post at Alzheimer’s Notes on January 19, when she’ll publish all the entries.

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Post from: Blisstree

For Interest to Quilters with Caregiving Tasks…Another All About Alzheimer’s Carnival

Why not start writing down these memories and memories-in-the making?  These are part of your family legacy and should be saved!

If there is interest, I’ll make this a regular feature, where I share quilting memories and tell you about research I’m doing as I develop my Trails End Quilters legacy.   I’ll ask you to start your own memory journal and share your progress here in the comments.  You’re welcome to share memories, too.

Post from: Blisstree

Recording Your Quilting & Family Legacy

What about an Acrostic Quilting Poem?  This can rhyme, be unrhymed, tell a story, give random facts, relate a family’s quilting history. You can use a word, phrases or complete sentences.  That’s why they’re so much fun…you can set your own rules.

 Mine is sort of a random list of acrostic facts.  But it has me thinking about one that tells a story or relates my Trails End Quilting heritage.

Q- Quiltmaking forms a bond among quilters of any age.

U – Use up those scraps with family memories for a unique quilt.

I – Into each quilter’s life must fall…quilt patterns, fabric and quilting bees.

L - Look for fabric stores and quilt shows wherever you travel.

T – Time passes too quickly when you’re involved in a quilting project and housework doesn’t get done.

M – Memories find their way into our quiltmaking.

A - Always stay ready to try something new in the world of quilting and fabric art.

K – Keep adding to that fabric stash!

I- I’m under the spell of the patchwork fairy who sprinkles quilting dust into our lives. 

N – Never refuse a gift of fabric, fat quarters, or quilting squares, no matter how worn or old.

G – Grandma taught me to quilt as I sat by her side in the farmhouse kitchen, carrying on the tradition of the Trails End Quilters.

Post from: Blisstree

Acrostic Quiltmaking? Sharing Poetry? Try Yours!

 I was unaware of this home’s history [located in Cedarville, VA] until I began researching some of the antique textiles that I purchased at the estate auction. Who would know that a bag of threads, unfinished textiles, and a few antique quilts would give me the clues to research local history?

(In preceeding blog entries, you can see detailed photos of this antique crazy quilt.)

Since I enjoy researching history and particularly find it fascinating to learn about those who made quilts I have.  Sometimes it’s not possible to discover this information, so then I try to research the fabrics.

I have been doing more research about the Trails End Quilters of my ancestry, where my quilting roots began.  Trails End was the farm where they lived and quilted and where that crazy quilt of my childhood was located.

Do you have quilts in your heritage you’d like to tell us about?

More Crazy Quilt posts at Quilting & Patchwork:

The Fascination of the American Crazy Quilt

Crazy Quilts from Yard Sale Fabrics

Sharon B’s List of Crazy Quilt Resources

Post from: Blisstree

An Enchanting Crazy Quilt & It’s History

My maternal grandmother, Nanny, taught me the first rudiments about sewing and quilting when I was 6-8 years old.  Our first sewing sessions together consisted of making clothes for my dolls.  Nanny even made a cloth leg for one of my dolls who lost hers.

Then Nanny let me help her make quilts for us four children.  I recall sitting at her kitchen table, cutting pieces, then sewing them together by hand.  This went on for many days whenever I’d visit Nanny and Auntie at their Trails End farm. 

Often while Nanny and I worked on quilts, Auntie cooked and baked.  The memory of freshly made bread lingers.  I can almost taste a warm end piece spread with homemade butter.  (Perhaps that’s where my desire for crusty bread rather than cake or cookies developed.)

Later, after all four quilt tops were finished, Nanny, Auntie and a neighbor lady, Susie, spread backing, flannel sheet filling, and pieced top on the large table in the dining room.  I’d call this a quilting bee, even though the ladies tied the quilts rather than hand quilting them.  I was thrilled, and felt so grown up, that they allowed me to help.

I still have that quilt Nanny made for me, with my intials embroidered in the corner.  Even though it’s well worn, I treasure it.

Why don’t you share your memories about quilts and Grandma.  Even though you may not have made quilts with her, perhaps you have one she stitched for you.  Or have you been making quilts for your grandchildren?

Post from: Blisstree

Quilting With Grandmother

I have photos of family gatherings.  Somehow the background for many was the flowers that grew in their gardens. 

(The Dresden Flower Graden book above also brings to mind the lovely dinnerware Nanny brought out for special meals we enjoyed around her dining table, the same table where she, my aunt, and a neighbor lady spread out quilts for tying.)

My daughter, Beth, has a tendency to create flower themes in her quilts and fabric art work.  Below is a piece of fabric she painted using some new techniques.  Of course, the resulting design resembled flowers and is one of my favorite pieces.

During this month of May, with flowers gathering into bloom, it seems appropriate that our theme at the Arts and Design channel is flowers, with Grandmother’s flowers and gardens coming to mind. 

(See more of Beth’s work at Meandering Threads.)

Post from: Blisstree

Flower Garden Inspired Quilts Remind Me of Grandmother

 Until then I didn’t even know I had a muse or was supposed to!  However, as I put pencil to paper, a whimsical lady appeared, who seemed to be floating in air above a desk with my work.  Now when I’m asked if I have a muse she comes to mind. 

         Does this apply to my quilting, too.? Could you say that someone or something inspires you…one person or feeling more than others? 

 My thoughts of quilting so often go back to my grandmother sitting in her rocking chair beside the kitchen woodstove on winter evenings when I was ill with anemia and spent much time with her and my aunt at their Trails End Farm.  There Nanny taught me to stitch quilt pieces together from the flowered sacks the chicken feed came in. 

Nanny’s mother-in-law was a quilter, too, although she had died before I was born.  However, these ladies, along with stories my mother told about quilting on the farm when she was small, linger in my mind as I ponder my Trails End qulting heritage. 

So, if I were to say I had a muse, it might be the lingering aura of the Trails End quilting ladies.

Do you have someone or something that inspires you with your quilting?

Post from: Blisstree

Do You Have a Quilting Muse?

My daughter has a sketch book, about 8 1/2 x 11-inches in which she sketches ideas for quilts.  Perhaps she sees a flower that strikes her fancy.  Or she may have some interesting fabric, so she plays with ideas in the sketch book.  Perhaps she acquires some embellishments.  What should I do with these? might be answered through sketching.

I have a Trails End Quilters notebook where I jot down ideas for my quilting heritage series.  I don’t know yet just what I’m going to do with this information, yet I find my ancestors fascinating, whether they’re involved in quilting or their daily lives.  I’m trying to discover the stories behind them. (I also have a blog where explore these ideas: http://trailsendquilters.blogspot.com/ )

Perhaps you keep a journal in which you record the quilts you own and/or those you’ve made. You might have a travel journal in which you tell about quilts you’ve discovered in your travels.  You could keep a notebook of the quilters you meet and how they influence your quilting life.

There are so many possibilities for quilter’s notebooks and journals.  What will yours be?

These are a couple of quilt journal ideas you can choose from.  Or you can use a plain sketchbook or notebook.  Perhaps design/decorate the cover of one with your own ideas. 

Post from: Blisstree

Keep Your Quilter’s Notebook Handy

My grandmother, Emma Tipple, who taught me quiltmaking when I was 8 years old, married Burton Coon in the early 1900s and lived the rest of her life on the farm.  As my daughter and granddaughter have taken up quiltmaking and fabric art, I began to realize we came from a family of quilters...if they didn’t quilt, they encouraged us to quilt and enjoy quilt history.

My grandfather wrote about his mother quilting with her friends.  My mother saved a letter from a cousin who wrote about quiltmaking when she was 6 years old.

Stories are evolving, patterns are coming to light, and my quilting ancestors have become more real to me.  On my family blog, I share some of the “Tales of the Trails End Quilters” (http://trailsendquilters.blogspot.com ).  So now I’m putting together an album about these ladies and their lives.

Do you have quilting stories to share….with your family and other quilters? They don’t have to be about ancestors, although they can be.  Simply start writing about your quilting experiences, as my daughter does on her blog (http://meanderingthreads.blogspot.com) or in a notebook or album.  And you’ll start own heritage for future generations.

Post from: Blisstree

My Trails End Quilters Album

My mother didn’t make quilts, except perhaps when she was very young and sewed beside her mother and grandmother.  Nevertheless, she inspired me to take up quiltmaking again during our country’s Bicentennial Years of 1975-76. 

Mother operated a general store in a small village and sold may items besides groceries.  Some of these were quilts.  I operated a dressmaking business in our home in another state.

When the quiltmaker furnishing Mother’s store with quilts couldn’t keep up with the orders, Mother suggested I take some of my dressmaking scraps and stitch some quilts.  Thus my venture into the quilting world and revived art of quiltmaking began.

Since then, at various times, I’ve operated a quiltmaking business from my own making quilts for Mother’s customers plus others, sold quilts and other patchwork items via mail order, taught quiltmaking classes, and began to write about quilting.

My daughter and granddaughter have become involved in quiltmaking and fabric art, carrying on the tradition of the Trails End quilters, those ladies descending from the quilters at my grandmother’s home, and her mother-in-law before her, at Trails End Farm, in Dutchess County, NY.

Find out more about my daughter’s quiltmaking at: http://www.meanderingthreads.blogspot.com and the Trails End Quilters at: http://trailsendquilters.blogspot.com .

Post from: Blisstree

Thoughts of Mother & Quilting on Mother’s Day