Merry Christmas!

Yikes! How did we go from Happy 4th of July to Merry Christmas? I for one, got totally sidetracked after the 4th with preparing for back surgery. The surgery was in September and then had to deal with the healing process. I had planned on using my recovery time to work on the blog, do some quilting, etc; but it didn't work that way. I had no idea I would be dealing with the kind of pain I was having. But enough of that! I'm well on the way to recovery. I'm trying to get sister Susan to either upload a picture of the quilt she made for her grandson and his new wife and also one of the crotcheted hats she is making. She was describing them to me today and they sound adorable. Crotcheting isn't one of the things I have ever mastered. My sister Denise is expert at it and makes the most beautiful things. At Quilting Cousins, we like to brag about any of your sewing or crafting accomplishments. In our album of quilts we have made, sister Susan (country quilter) put pictures of the quilt top that was made by our grandmother and Aunt Dorothy. There were only two that survived that we are aware of and sister Barbara had one that she recently gave to me. I am going to do some repair work on it and then hand quilt it. The entire quilt top is pieced by hand with the tiniest of stitches. I remember Aunt Dorothy telling me how she and her sisters and mother made their clothes by hand. A treasure such as this quilt top made of pieces of my grandmother, Aunt and grandfather's clothing, can only be hand quilted into a quilt. If you looked at each individual piece of fabric, by today's standard, they are not beautiful, but some really plain while others really loud and old fashioned. When you think of how each piece was cut by hand with precision,without the benefit of our sharp cutting tools we use today and then pieced together by hand with tiny stitches and as my mind can envision, done so while sitting in the front parlour by the radio while listening to music or their favorite radio show. The tradition of quilting was not passed down to us by grandma or any of our aunts as far as I can remember. That is to say, they didn't sit us down and show us how to do it. I will say that I remember Aunt Dorothy talking about sewing and things like that. I appreciate the treasures they left us in the wonderful memories we have of them and obviously the ability to sew and create. In conclusion, for this Christmas holiday, I am making doll clothes for my granddaughter Madison, and a few other things. Hopefully next year, I will get ambitious enough to start early and make some quilts for my kids or start on the quilts I want to make for my siblings, or finally make the wall hanging for Christmas I have been wanting to make for a few years but just never started on it. For Christmas I would like for Santa to help me understand finding my way around the blogspot so I can add patterns and things like that. This has certainly been a challenge for me. Have a great Christmas and quilting cousins, keep those wonderful pictures coming of the things you create so we can share them with whomever comes across our blog. By the way, the adorable picture inserted is of my grandchildren ( Natalie, Noah and Evan helping grandma recreate the nativity scene about 12 years ago. Quilting Cousin Debbie

Happy 4th of July

Last year for the 4th of July, fireworks were banned because of the drought we were having. This year they were allowed everywhere except the Schaberg household. The 4th this year was also the 2 year anniversary of our house fire caused by fireworks! My son took his kids to see a display in a nearby town instead. I was home visiting the last week in June and got to see Susan's sewing table up close. So impressed I was that I came home and bought my own cabinet bases at Home Depot. I'm so excited and plan to start working on it today. If anyone wants to make one, I'm sure Susan and I can help you. Susan has an awesome sewing room. It's really big. Alot bigger than mine but the sewing table does not take up alot of room. Right now I'm using a 6 ft table and a 4 foot table set in an L shape. The only problem with that is that it is not really wide for spreading out a quilt when you are sewing. At first I was using 2 6 ft tables together but that really took up too much room. The room I use for sewing is a 11x10ft room. We all have to create our work areas on what will work best for us. What is good for one isn't always good for another. I found that Susan's is perfect for me. I hope you all find what works best for you. On to another topic. I decided awhile ago that I wanted to make quilts for all my siblings. When you have 9 living siblings, that quite a job. I wanted each one to be special and have special meaning to each sibling. I already have made a quilt for Susan and made a quilt for Barbara that Susan and I worked on. Right now I'm planning on making all the quilt tops and then quilting them afterwards. I've got one in the making at the present time and also want to start another one. Before our sister Steffie passed away, she spent nearly a year cross stitching a beautiful poem for each of her siblings. She died before she completed the last one and I finished it for her. It means so much to all of us that she did this.Before I close, make sure you click on the link to "AllPeopleQuilt". They have an awesome video on a quick way to make pillowcases. All kids love these pillowcases. I've made them for my grandkids. They especially love the ones made of flannel. Until next time ladies, happy quilting!

Sewing / cutting table

This has been my project for several weeks.  My largest carpentry endeavor thus far...The surface is 44"x51" a great size for cutting and handling bulky sewing projects. The open back is a great sewing space.  Storage is galore & the cabinet space is for sewing machine storage. I bought 2 inexpensive 24" kitchen units, joined them together, veneered the sides & back, topped it with an extending top and finished the back as a table.  I reenforced the bottoms for weight of old machines, stained & finished.  It's a nice piece, built to last.  I debated on the height.  I wanted a comfortable cutting height, but needed to keep it accessible for reaching my sewing peddle. it is 32" tall and my sewing chair is 24", so it works well.   Now I have no excuse for the mess....right?

History of the Apron

The principle use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a holder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken-coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that "old-time apron" that served so many purposes. REMEMBER THIS! Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron. I don’t think I ever caught anything from an apron…… But Love !! Until next time cousins......

Cool New Stuff

I did add some cool stuff today. One is another website to follow. All People Quilt is an exicitng website full of free patterns and videos on "How to Do" stuff. I also added inspirational daily prayer. I thought we could all use that from time to time. The creator of allpeoplequilt.com is Better Homes and Garden, a name we have all known for years. I received a free magazine and decided to buy a subscription after visiting their website. You can never get enough inspiration and tips on quilting. I've been searching for a project and decided on a picture quilt of my grandchildren. This is where you take a picture and duplicate it with fabric. First I have to gather the kids together for a group picture. I want to take them all out in the country for a picture in a Texas bluebonnet field. Our wild flowers (thanks to Lady Bird Johnson) are something else and you havent' seen anything until you see a field of bluebonnets. What a beautiful wall hanging that would make! I will be home in late May or early June and I thought it would be nice if the "quiltingcousins" got together for lunch and quilting. We could also get our picture taken for the blog. Let me know what you think of that idea. Until next time ladies, keep on quilting! Your quilting cousin Debbie

a modern baby quilt

I wanted to share my latest creation, a baby quilt that I made with my dear friend, Molly. She is due in April with her first baby, a boy, named Carl Champ. Molly designed her nursery using a fabric collection by Moda, called "wee woodlands." She and I designed the quilt, and I machine quilted the piece. It was a wonderful collaboration, we worked together several days, in between nap times and lunches, to create this beautiful baby quilt. I will add pictures of her nursery soon, so that you can see the quilt in its "natural environment."

Look mom, I'm blogging!!

Well Sisters, I am blogging....Debbie is talking me through this. She is definitely the computer guru in the family and I might add a creative quilter.  I am in the process of setting up my new/old sewing room and committed to getting at least three prayer blankets done before mass this Sunday.  Some of you may know that we have a prayer blanket ministry in our parish, St Joachim in Old Mines.  Myself and another woman in the parish started it after receiving prayer blankets/shawls when a family member died.  Steffie's death was my inspiration and Monica's son, Austin, killed in Afghanistan, inspired her action.  To date our ministry has made and given more than 200 blankets.  I will post more information about the ministry, after Debbie shows me how.