Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Quilts in their native habitat

During the first year that I took up quilting (AQ 1, or anno quilting-i I, for you Latin scholars), I made quilts for my mother and both my daughters. I just spent a very happy Mother's Day with all three of them, and over the course of the weekend I photographed each of them with their respective quilts. Wish I had remembered to take a photo of my mother-in-law with her quilt a week ago, but next trip ...
This is my mother, who keeps her quilt on her living room couch. It's the second quilt I made (you can see the full quilt here), in a class where we learned to make pinwheels. We were supposed to work with quilting cottons but I fell in love with a loosely woven Guatemalan fabric (below, shown between the binding and the inner border) and just had to use it. If I were making that quilt now, I would change a lot of things, but NOT this fabric! I love it.
Here's Valerie with her quilt.
Val and her quilt live in a dorm, and the quilt shares honors with some amazing polka-dot bed linens. I have been asked how I could give Val a quilt to take to school, but I have no problem with it. Quilts should be used, and I hope it reminds her of home -- and any stray stains will just bring added memories. I can always make her another quilt when she graduates. Here's a photo of the full quilt.

This is Jocelyn with her African Coins quilt. She wasn't sure her bedroom was up to a photo session, so we relocated to the stairs.
I never got a photo of the back of this quilt, which is made of pieced batik flannels, so Jocelyn obligingly held the quilt open for the camera.

18 comments:

Tracey in CT said...

I love seeing the quilts in their natural habitats! Such fun.
I'm especially interested in your Mom's quilt. I have a similar blanket that I purchased in Ecuador and I have often thought of making it into a quilt, but have hesitated because of the weave. Maybe now that i have seen yours I'll take the plunge at some point!

Anonymous said...

Lovely quilts and lovely family members :)

Cathi said...

Wonderful quilts! Oooh -- batik flannels? Yummy!

I can see why you wanted to use that fabric in your mother's quilt -- it's quite pretty. It's obviously stood up pretty well.

jillytacy said...

The quilts are beautiful!!!! This is so neat to have the quilts with their owners. You should to start a scrapbook with your quilts and include these pictures. You could tell how you made them and any other special details & stories about each quilt. Future generations will be able to look back and see the history of each quilt. Very cool!

Readersraisinghell said...

The quilts are lovely! And yes, I agree, they should be used. I feel that way about my "good" china, also... And whenever my grandchildren come to visit, they insist on hot chocolate with "Great-Great-Grandma's Chocolate Set." I'm not sure they love the hot chocolate, but they certainly love the ritual, and it's fun to use the old, nice china. I feel like each use is adding a layer of memories. And I'm sure it's the same with quilts!

Toni said...

such beautiful quilts and girls!! What a beautiful family you have Cheri!!

Quiltdivajulie said...

Fabulous post! You already know how I love to see quilts being used and NOT flat on a wall...

Do you have a pattern for the African coins (not the strippy part but the yellow on black segments)?

Priceless photos!

Rebel said...

Oh wow... I can see why you fell in love with that Guatamalan fabric! It's perfect in that quilt.

I think African Coins is my favorite though - it's the batiks... I love batiks!

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

It is great to see the quilts with the people who recieved them. I don't have enough pictures like that.

Tonya Ricucci said...

what beautiful family and quilts. I love that first pinwheel quilt, very striking and awesome guatemalan fabric. great pics.

meggie said...

Those quilts are just fabulous, & it seems the recipients think so too! I love them all, & you are quite right, that fabric in your mother's quilt is just wonderful.
Excellent for fist quilts, excellent for advanced quilts!!

Thankyou so much for sharing. Please thank the models!

Unknown said...

The quilts are almost as beautiful as your daughters - I love that fabric in your mum's quilt too

Clare said...

The quilts fit right in with their surroundings in all the photos, even the one of Jocelyn. I know it's not where the quilt should be, but the colours just go together. I love those stairs!

Michael5000 said...

Aw, super. The quilts look like they are doing very well in the wild.

I love what you did with the Guatamalan fabric! Another good reminder that although using all "proper" quilting fabrics is often a great way to go, there are lots of other options out there too!

Belvie said...

I like this post!! Lovely ladies with lovely quilts. Thanks for sharing.

jillytacy said...

I tagged you for a meme. You can check out my blog for more details. If you're too busy, no worries. I thought it sounded fun.

Rosalyn Manesse said...

Absolutely smashing, and amazing for first quilts. Lovely family, too.

Gene Black said...

Oh, thank you so much. I am totally inspired.
I found your blog when organizing my Quilt bookmarks into a folder. LUCKY ME!

I will now photo everyone with the quilts or quilted items I give them. What a wonderfully creative idea. Plus later I can see who got what.