I showed this quilt the other day but this is a better picture and now I have the whole story, too! Thank you, Diane O!
Background story of my Challenge Quilt.
I participated in a Grab Bag Challenge at one of the local quilt shops. You purchased a bag with 3) 1/2 yd pieces of fabric, sight unseen. The challenge rules were quite simple. Create a quilt that was at least 36″ x 42″ and the quilt must use each of the 3 purchased fabrics. The fabrics were so not my style, but I was determined. I decided to start with a basket in the center and build the quilt Medallion style. I built each row around the quilt as I went. There was so much trial and error, more error than I wished. The fabric that I decided to use in alternating borders was 1 5/8″, it was so hard to make the pieced rows fit. My quilt ended up being 54′ x 54″. There are 986 pieces in the front and 362 pieces in the back. I put all the leftover and test blocks on the back. This was the last quilt I longarmed before my quilting machine was upgraded to a Statler computerized longarm. I loved doing custom work, but my hands just couldn’t take it anymore.
I loved the story of Diane’s quilt.
Reader photos
The next group of quilts are from Marcia Livingston.
What a quilt show! Enjoy!
P.S. November 3, 1991 – the third day was a repeat of the previous day – go to town with my gallon jugs to get water, shower at Mom’s, feed cats inside , goats, chickens and geese in the barn. I just had no idea how much water they drank until I was bringing it from town in milk jugs. Next was hauling firewood to the house in the pink plastic sled – which didn’t hold much so I made many many trips to the woodshed, around the north side of the house and back again so I’d have enough wood to last till morning. Thanks to Tony’s rigged up light, I could read a bit in the evening – mostly by lamplight. such a long evening with Red and the cats.
Nope, no phone call. Two more days to go.
“………………………………
Great quilt show today. Really enjoyed Diane’s story about her medallion quilt.
Thanks Mary for featuring Diane’s quilt. Truly spectacular, she can be very proud! I enjoy seeing the skill and talent of your readers. I don’t know which i enjoy most ….the quilts or the animals! I especially love Mortie !
Marcia, what is the name of the quilt in the 4th picture – muted pumpkins with greys and tans for the setting block? I love the strong fall colors, but, the muted tones are beginning to grow on me. Thanks!
Jan
I can’t wait for the next installment of your storm back in 1991. I won’t say what I think of your ex.
Dee I agree!!
Great inspiration today! Strange that today the pictures didn’t show up in the email. However, they did when I clicked on Read the Blog. Go figure! At least I can see it all with one more click. No worries, Mary. 🙂
Jan
Jan – but isn’t that bizarre?
GREAT photos – such beautiful work! Inspiration for me – when I get some other things crossed off that silly list I have…
Diane O’s story about her medallion quilt was fun to read, and so were the stories in the comments. I am enjoying your story of the storm of ’91! (I have my own stories of the snow storms in ’74, ’77, ’78, ’96… those of us who live or have lived in the snowbelt have a few, don’t we!)
I’ll find out this afternoon if I should mow again – it’s supposed to be 60 degrees here in east central OH for part of this week. I know I’ll be picking up and carting leaves pretty soon – and I’ll be mindful to use many as mulch. I have an oak that takes its good old time dropping leaves and a red maple that has huge leaves; if I don’t get them cleaned up from the lawn, they’ll smother the grass.
Gail – we have so many trees, too, but we try to mow them up several times – just so they don’t smother the grass. The motion of raking really bothers my neck and shoulder so I try not to do it. Same motion as snow shoveling. Ugh – and so many leaves.
Loved the Fall Quilt Show. So many beautiful pieces and fall colors. My storm story happened in the Blizzard of 77 in Buffalo, NY. I was expecting my 1st child, Becky, any day when it hit. In those days we got very little warning so I was at home in the country & my husband was caught in the city. My friends at the local Fire Dept. said they would snowmobile in a doctor if necessary after the blizzard calmed down so I was basically on my own except for my male cousin who lived next door. Before taking maternity leave at the hospital, they sent me home with a home delivery kit “just in case”. That was the week “Roots” premiered so I stayed calm by watching TV & working on my 1st baby quilt. I also slowly sipped on some creamed sherry we had gotten for a Christmas present because my grandma had told me that’s what they did in the “old country” to slow down contractions if they started too soon. It worked & they were able to get me into my parents house several days later which was near the hospital. Thank God because it turns out I had a curved tail bone jutting into the birth canal blocking delivery. With every contraction, Becky’s head hit it so they ended up breaking the bone so she could slide out. She was born with a big hematoma on her skull but otherwise we both survived the ordeal. Remember, in those days they didn’t have MRI’S etc. that could have picked up the situation with my spinal bone and C-sections were rare to do & very complicated for both mother & child. You didn’t even know the sex of your child until birth! If I had gone into labor at home, most likely we both would have died. Obviously God wanted us both on this earth for a purpose and I truly believe that. I have never forgotten that experience and try to help others whenever possible because I’m not really sure what HIS plan for me is/was.
Barbara – oh, that could have been a tragic story!!! Yes, things were different then – and your husband checked on you? That’s what began to really make me mad – when mine, not Rick, didn’t even call to see if we were ok. Glad Becky made it unscathed by your very difficult condition – yes, HE needed you here for something – maybe helping those flood victims!!
Mary, yes, my husband was checking in all the time. He was also able to get to my parents house and was with me for everything. My dad also stayed with us at the hospital etc while my mom stayed home and sent in food etc and got ready for our home coming. The broken back bone made recovery longer and harder so we stayed at their house for a few weeks. All my family chipped in and helped.
I love all the quilts today and Diane’s medallion challenge quilt is spectacular. Can’t wait for tomorrow’s installment of Mary’s 1991 Great Adventure!
Lovely quilt parade today. Medallion quilts are beautiful but one has to admire the perseverance it takes to make one. Loved the table runner; does anyone have pattern info on it? I did a reverse look up to no avail.
Gosh, Mary, your ice storm story is as riveting as the book “The Children Who Stayed Alone”. One of my favorites from childhood. Can’t wait to see how your story ends!
DebMac – I posted that info
Diane O, beautiful story of your medallion quilt. Really turned out nice.
Marcia, thank you for the quilt show of your fall quilts!! Such an amazing collection. Your love of Halloween comes through.
And happy to hear that your hen was found, Linda.
I’m just now realizing that my dog Buster is losing his hearing. He is about 12 years old. He’s been barking more lately, especially at anything that moves outside. He also barks when I go to the mailbox. Unfortunately, I have raised the blinds in living room and kitchen because the cat likes to play with them. Lose/lose there.
Thanks for the blog, Mary. I love your final picture of the farm after mowing.
Loved the quilt show. Especially loved the last 2 or 3 scrap quilts. Can someone share the name of the pattern?
Mary-so sorry to hear that you are getting no power yet. Hopefully the power will be restored soon. You are doing great but working so hard to keep the farm going.
Lorraine – if you read carefully you’ll notice that storm was in 1991 – I am reliving that time day by day.
Sorry Mary about not reading your blog more carefully. I just had a few free minutes and read the blog so fast. I need to be more careful.
What a wonderful fall quilt show. Thank you, Diane, for the quilt story. Your quilt is beautiful!
I was reading comments. Lindah, I’m glad your girls found your hen and she was safe. I know losing animals is part of farm life so I loved this hen’s happy ending.
Looking at the parade of fall quilts was so lovely! I only made one medallion quilt that I can remember, and it was tough, but the one pictured seems as though it would be a nightmare! It was worth the work, however!
Love all the quilts shown today, Fall is my favorite! Diane O your quilt is spectacular! Loved reading about your story on how it got made!
Mary, really like reading about your story, so much work to keep up the farm alone without power! It had to be so hard not to hear from Rick and know he was ok, anxious to read more!!!
Carmen – oh in 1991 I was not married to Rick – it was a previous husband.
Beautiful fall quilts! Loved them all!
Fantastic quilt show today! Loved Diane’s quilt story – quite a project Halloween is a favorite holiday for me and all the fall quilts were beautiful. Beautiful autumn weather here in Illinois so perfect for cleaning up the flower gardens. Still need rain before I can plant tulip bulbs. The ground is rock hard.
Love this post, as always. Love all the stories! The quilts are beautiful and inspiring. I would love to have every one of them. Thanks for my lovely morning read!
Love Diane’s quilt challenge story. Her quilt is gorgeous. I loved to see the first quilts that have been posted and read everyone’s comments. We all seem to love our little piece of the world.
Thanks Mary for all your patience while we figured out how I could send better photos to you of my challenge quilt. Marcia – I LOVED your quilt show! Halloween is my favorite and the quilts with pumpkins and fall colors are stunning! There are only a few blogs that I read daily and Mary’s is one of them. Thanks for all your time Mary in preparing these wonderful little chapters of your life and sharing some of others.
Diane, I’m grateful to you and to Mary for sharing this marvelous quilt with us. While I admire so much about quilting in general and many different kinds of quilts, I’ve always had very simple taste for the quilting done to hold the flimsy to the backing. That changed when I examined your photos. The back of your quilt is absolutely exquisite because of your patient, skillful quilting, and as much as I love the front side, I’d probably always display the back side if it were hanging on my wall. Highest compliments for a challenge so well met!
Wanda – I agree 100% about Diane’s quilt!!
Diane, your quilt is beautiful. Thank you for sharing it with us. Mary, can’t wait for the next installment of the story!
Beautiful quilts! Thanks to all who sent in photos and to you, Mary, for loading and presenting them to us.
And then, to end the show with the gorgeous photo of your blue sky home and the neatly cut grass.
Oh, I almost forgot. I have a chicken story for y’all. Awhile back, I mentioned that one of the farm hens was missing and it was assumed that a hawk got her. Wrong! The girls went out this morning to prepare the oldest and most seldom used farm truck for a project tomorrow. Guess what they found hidden away between the bottom of the tool box and the floor of the truck bed? Yep, there was the missing hen, sitting on a nest full of eggs, smart as could be, far back from the edge where the hawks and coyotes and lions could not get to her. The girls carefully put together a new nest box for her in her own little corner of the chicken pen. Hopefully, she will be happy with that set-up. All is well that ends well in the hen house. 8)
Lindah – what a lovely heart warming story! Finally, a story with a happy ending!!