Old & New Fabrics & a Woolly Monkey

A few weeks ago we visited my husband's aunt who lives a few hours away.  We stayed the night at her place, and she pulled out some quilts that were my husband's great-grandmother's quilts.  

These quilts were ever so carefully pieced together & were so lovely!!

These quilts were sewn with remnant fabrics and were, of course, all sewn by hand.

Quilt #1

A close-up of the quilting & some detail embroidery.

Quilt #2

I received my winning fabrics in the mail.

Here's the bundle of fabric (5 yards total) that I won from Toads U Sew.

Isn't this fabric just lovely??!!

Included with the 5 yards of fabric was also a small pattern booklet.  

I recently have been doing crocheting or knitting in the evenings while sitting beside my husband, and chatting or watching tv.

One of my evening projects: A crocheted sock monkey.

I played around with a few blocks of the black & white fabric...

Nine-patch with white/light in the corners, black in between and red in the middle.

Nine-patch with black in the corners, white/light in between and red in the middle

Disappearing 9 Patch #1

D9P #2

I'm not sure how I'll piece these blocks together: sew them together as 1 large quilt or place sashing in between the quilt blocks.

I also received my 2nd winning fabric pack: 

A Layer Cake, "Modern Workshop" by Liesl Gibson for Oliver + S which I won from Moose on the Porch Quilts 

I have many other projects to finish, so that will give me time to decide how I will use these fabrics.  

The May quilt block for Freckles Scrappy Star quilt-along.

Quilting Inspirations from Other Women in my Life...

My mother-in-law Delphine is an amazing woman. Not only does she passionately love the Lord, she also is a great quilter. She has been inspiration for me in my quest to start quilting. However, she lives in Saskatchewan - a 7 hour drive from Calgary.

We received this beautiful Christmas table runner from Delphine in December 2008.

September 2009. When my son was born, my mother-in-law gave us 2 quilted blankets. I just love them both.

Delphine also gave us this crochetted blanket for our son

My Mom is probably the biggest influence in my life. She also is an amazing woman who loves God and is very devoted to my Dad & our family as a whole.

Growing up, my mother did a lot of sewing. With 6 girls in the family, there was always something to fix, repair, alter or hem. Mom is best known for knitting & crochetting, and each of her now-14 grandchildren has received a baby blanket, hat, jacket & booties from her.

Sadly (I'm embarrassed to admit) I did not take any photos specifically of the blanket or the clothing that my Mom made for my son last September. I guess I was having too much fun having my parents visit us & see their new grandson!

Here is the blanket that Mom made for Nathan:

My grand-aunt in Edmonton also made us a beautiful crochetted baby blanket. Tante Iempkje (Aunt Irene) is about 90 years old, yet she loves to keep busy.

My husband's maternal grandmother quilted this beautiful baby blanket for Nathan last year.

One of my baby shower gifts was a Quillow: a quilt tucked into a pillow, made by Barbara A. from our church. She quilts a baby blanket for each baby boy or girl born into our church family. She's amazing! (Everyone loves to watch what kind of quillow Barbara is going to make for the newest baby!)

Barbara sews a little bag & adds that to the quillow gift

The quillow un-folded:

This April 2010, we drove to Saskatchewan for Grandma's 90th birthday. In the church annex (where the birthday party was held) there were tables featuring some of Grandma's handiworks (quilts) that she has made over the years. Grandma might be 90 but there is no stopping her quilting!!

This was Grandma's latest quilting project:

August 2008: My husband's cousin Carolyn was married. She had cut out all these blocks of material. At the wedding reception, we all were asked to writing something on a block of material & one day Carolyn would add these pieces into a wedding quilt. I'll have to ask her if she ever finished it!! :)

This is our attempt at adding to the quilt. (I can barely draw a stick person!)