Tag Archives: quilting

Eeeeek! An Obituary Quilt?

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Every time I mention I’m making an Obituary quilt people shiver. I love my family and my family’s history. Finding obituaries is finding a treasure trove of information. I get really excited when I find information that tells me what they and their lives were like. This is how I remember them, how my children and grandchildren will get to know them.

Remember Me! This was truly a labor of love and a learning experience! I have a tendency to jump into projects feet first and figure out the details along the way. My sister and I had collected so many wonderful obituaries that one day I said “I know, I will make them into a quilt”. I started entering the information into my lettering software and began embroidering them. Some took over 3 hours to embroider. Then I had to figure out how to connect them into a cohesive top. I’m not sure if I was successful or not. I just started playing with them on the design wall, measured the negative space and figured out how to join them. The star blocks are Rapid Fire Lemoyne Stars (my favorite). I know it looks a little weird, but I kind of like the randomness of the top. I had real trouble with the borders. The embroidery shrank up the fabric, so I had to rip out what I could and add fabric to try to square it up. I got one end of the top square but not the other. I couldn’t take off the whole border as part of the embroidery went into the seam. I did not want to start over so I just went with it.

These obituaries start in 1900. That’s amazing, 113 years ago!!!

Obituary Quilt Remember Me

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More Tales of Hexagon Quilts

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I’m waiting for backing fabric to arrive so I can quilt Soho Sunflowers and I’m almost finished with my Obituary Quilt. I thought I would share some tidbits about Hexagon Quilts. The first hexagon quilt below I named “Koi in a Blender” I made for Alex in 2006, I made the second  “Jumping for Joy” out of the same fabric in 2008. What I found interesting is how different they came out. I made the third  “Route 66” in 2006 and again in 2007 for a friend of mine. Again they came out so different.

I taught a hexagon quilt class where two students with the same fabric worked next to each other and their quilts came out completely different. I guess it depends where your repeat starts and what your vision is.

01 2006 Koi in a blender

02 2008 Jumping for Joy

03 2006 Route 66

04 2007 Route 66 2

Teeny Tiny Hexagon Quilt

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12 Inch OBW

I wanted to see what would happen if I cut my hexagon quilt strips 1 1/2″ wide. Well, I made a 12 inch hexagon quilt. The process stays the same, but by varying the size of the strips you vary the size of the block. If you have a very large print you can cut your strips wider making a larger block. Some of my students don’t want to make a full size quilt. So they can choose a fabric with a smaller print and cut their strips smaller, such as 2 1/2 inch strips makes a great wall hanging.

Its a dogs life 65x82

With the rest of the fabric I made this quilt. I cut the strips the standard 3 3/4 inches wide. This quilt measures 65″ x 82″. Below is the original fabric I started with.

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Did You Say Obituary Quilt?

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Why yes, I did! I started working on this idea 2 years ago but was overtaken by events. My goal this year is to finish the Obituary and Cemetery quilts. My grandmother Bessie was very into family history and geneology. Of course I and my sister took it for granted. When Bessie passed in 1987 all her family knowledge went with her. In the past 3 or 4 years my sister and myself have worked hard to find the secrets of our past. Our hard work has been rewarded. We have many great obituaries, some over 100 years old. So, that is how the idea began. I have typed the obituaries into my lettering software and machine embroidered them. I have 2 more to get done but I ran out of the fabric and black thread today.

In my head I envision the blocks randomly arranged on my design wall. When I get a pleasing design I will measure the negative space and make blocks to fill in and join the obituaries. I’m thinking I will choose one simple block and either enlarge it or reduce it to fit, and stick to a simple color scheme of blue and brown. I’ll keep you informed!

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Inside the Twister Locked and Loaded

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I’m still trying to catch up from teaching all last weekend, but in between embroidering quilt labels, etc. I loaded Inside the Twister on the quilt frame. So I would quilt a row, then run to the embroidery room and check on the embroidery machine. Status: Inside the twister is quilted, waiting for binding, 3 quilt labels are done and half way through a job for my friend Jennifer.

Tomorrow I’m off to teach the Lemoyne star class at Sew E-Z in Portsmouth.