After a long and hard working weekend...I wish it was me!! But I'll settle for quilts, and lots of them!! And since Bonnie Hunter is asking...I'm showing, and I'm also telling!
By all appearances, I believe if something is worth doing, it's really worth doing ...and not just the best that you can, and as much as you can, but with as much flair as you can muster! So, I sleep under not one, not two, not three...but FOUR quilts! And if this was a cold winter's night...it'd be five (and a wool blanket and a cat) !
I may have grown up in Alaska, with 100 mph Taku winds and 3' of snow that I walked to school in every day ..wearing a dress, since pants weren't allowed in the dark ages...but I like my creature comforts now and I really, really like using a LOT of quilts.
In the land of the far north....A 'one dog night' is when it's just a bit cold, 'two dog night' a bit colder, a 'three dog night'..quite cold and you're singing a song from the 60's or 70's, but a five quilt night is..... socks and quilts and bunches of cats!
And to prove that there really are four quilts on this bed. Here's the quilt count by layers:
Top to Bottom:
1. Whole cloth, one color, machine quilted by a professional
2. Trip Around the World, 2" squares, hand quilted
3. Whole cloth, one color with embroidered flowers here and there, machine quilted
4. Scrappy Strings, hand tied
And the best part of all? Everything is homemade, handmade, garage sale finds like my $5 chairs, and $60 quilt chest, $15 art posters, and hand me down furniture. You don't have to be rich to have comfort! The chair to the far right...was made by a patient at the state mental hospital. Cracks me up that he wrote 'genuine Chippendale' in pencil underneath the State metal plate...$5!
And yes, I made the dust ruffles, valances, table cloths, and chair covers, too! It's all old, a bit faded by lots of good use, and time, but I love all of it!
Check out the other submissions and play along if you like with Bonnie Hunter and her
"What's On Your Bed?" links.
And of all of these quilts which is my favorite...my string quilt! Easiest to make, used up a ton of scraps, and is so toasty warm that the sheer weight of it makes me feel good. Clare Worthy just posted in our libquilters yahoo group posted the news that Gwen Marston's Liberated String Quilting bookwas listed as available for $300...at least in Amazon France....say what? $300...that's a major investment! Glad, I already own a copy of that and more! It looks like over here in 'America' its only 166.22 for a new copy? Yep, reuse, recycle and reduce costs!
Gwen does have a new book out, published on March 28th, but Amazon is claiming it's already out of stock...temporarily. But AQS still has in their for sale page..hmmm. So any of you with books by Gwen..hand on to them unless you need to send a kid to college in another 10 years. And you might sell one on ebay and pay for their schooling by then!
Climb under a pile of quilts, add a cat or maybe three dogs and read a really good quilting book ;)
Oh, and did I mention? My little 9 inch by 12 inch art quilt just earned $175 in the April Auction for AAQI! $175 for Alzheimer's research funding! Yeah, baby...I'm a happy quilter!
Time to jump on that bed, and relax with a good book. Oh wait...I have FOUR quilts in progress in the sewing nook!
Michele Bilyeu blogs With Heart and Hands as she shares a quilting journey through her life in Salem, Oregon and Douglas, Alaska. Sharing thousands of links to Free Quilt and Quilt Block Patterns and encouraging others to join in her Liberated Quilting Challenge for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) Help us change the world, one little quilt at a time!
10 comments:
Your quilts are lovely, reminds me of the fairytale of the Princess and the Pea. You must have an original Chippendale with a State Mental tag. You can tell the maker was proud of his work, as he should be.
Everything you do is so special. Thank you for being so sharing with all of us.
Really lovely. You have the knack.
WONDERFUL!
Tomorrow morning I'll be piling my bed with a stack of art quilts. Some quilting friends, including one from Tunesia, are coming to lunch after which they'll get a showing in my bedroom.
I still can't quite believe I own two books with a combined value of about $500! I think I'd better get them insured and then lock them away just in case DH carries out his threat of selling them!
Lovely sharing Michele! Thank you!
Four quilts?!?!? Really??? How on earth do you MOVE once you get into bed?!?! All of your quilts are beautiful ... Thank you for sharing!
Now I don't feel so bad for sleeping under two quilts regularly! My poor husband can't take the heat - I tell him I only use two when he's not there to help keep me warm. ;- )
I've just discovered the fun of foundation piecing string blocks. Mine are looking a little dull at the moment. I think I need to make some strings out of brighter prints!
It is a beautiful bedroom, and all the more special when each of the pieces have a story more interesting than, "I bought it at a store." The books certainly give a different meaning to frugality! Love your AAQI quilt
Your bed looks fabulous. You certainly don't do housekeeping casually! I'm a relatively new quilter but I'm still ashamed to say my bed is covered by a commercial continental quilt - otherwise known here as a "doona" - which we only use as decoration; it's too heavy and hot to sleep under! I must get around to making a quilt for myself ... one day!
Congratulations on a great price for another beautiful art quilt.
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