Our Memorial Day weekend included a trip to eastern Nebraska for a family reunion. It was wonderfully fun. We got to see two aunts, one uncle, both of my husband’s siblings, one nephew and a ton of cousins, their children and grandchildren. Four of our children were there with three of our daughters-in-law and four of our grandchildren. It was delightful. Our hosts for the reunion were one of my husband’s cousins and his wife. I was standing in the cornfield when I took a photo of their home.
One of the cousins requested that I bring a quilt that I made a couple of years ago. I call it Onie’s Hankies. I inherited the contents of my mother-in-law’s sewing room and some of the treasures I found were lots of lace and a whole stack of lovely hankies. Some of the hankies were worn but they were still very, very pretty. I wanted them to be on display so everyone could enjoy them. My solution was to make them into a crazy quilt. That way I could use the good parts of a hanky and throw the rest away.
The trip is about 300 miles one way. I rode and watched the scenery all the way there and most of the way home. It seemed that everywhere I looked I saw ideas for quilts. The lakes and trees beside the interstate would make a peaceful scene. The colors in the flower pot at Dave and Gina’s would make a bright and cheery quilt.
This weekend we also planted two new apple trees and the last two tomato plants. The tomatoes were heirlooms and a gift from a friend at work. I can hardly wait to see how they do. That started me thinking of another colorful quilt with the greens and reds and golds of all the different varieties of apples or tomatoes.
And the storm clouds hovering over the interstate on our drive home gave me another idea. The gray and blue quilt would have just a bit of white with swirling quilting to give it that sense of movement. Hmmm … I can just picture it.
If you haven’t liked us on Facebook yet, please do so. We are getting really close to that 12,000 fan mark. And spend some time on our website. www.quiltersnewsletter.com You’ll find all sorts of wonderful ideas there.
I use the quilters facebook pages to get new ideas and to send to other quilters I know so that they too can be a part of the largest growing group I have seen in a long time. I am an intermediate beginner in quilting and I try to soak up every little thing about quilting that I can. The people who are linked to these sites are so helpful with my questions, instructions are very clear on patterns and there are so many good tips and gadgets to help us newer quilters. I love it and try to connect with as many people and quilting sites as I can. Thanks for all you do to help us newbies!