Friday, May 7, 2010

Red Work Quilt for Empty Bowls

Happy Mother's Day to All the Mothers in Blogland!

Once upon a time, some months ago, (and I never got around to posting about it - blushing here!!!!)
Wee embroiderer's and quilter's made a quilt.  Now, it was not any ordinary quilt.  (Of course nothing wee do is ordinary.....)

Oh, the joys of showing quilts - it's the wee, old two feet and wee, two hand tips method late one night in my wee kitchen.

Amid wee giggles and trying to be quiet... for all the house was asleep.  (Yes, wee embroiderers/quilters of the late night kind, who live a block away from each other.... get excited when a finish is in hand.)  There was a light tap on the window of my (yes, lite up kitchen-blinds were closed). I carefully peeked and who should appear with a smile on her face but another wee late night person.  With a huge red and white bundle in her arms!  (I was trying to get the person in the picture to show her face to honor her.  Slowly she unveiled her smiling eyes...)




Ta-Dah!  It's Marie Nelson!  
Creator of the idea to make a quilt for the Empty Bowl Fund Raiser. 
 She presented the idea at our Q Book Club in December (first Friday evening in December), and a number of us decided to make the quilt. It was a hard choice because it was during the holidays and a number of us had heavy calendars already.


Judy had been working on the Red Work blocks during the fall book club meetings, had them with her in her carrying bag and said, "Here you can use these if you want.  I was just making them and not sure how I was going to put them together."  The idea for the quilt was born and off it went.  Those of us who wanted took an unstitched block/blocks to embroider and we committed to get them back to Marie by the beginning of January 2010.  Seems to me we stretched it out a little longer to get them all done. Yes, making it tight for Marie and her friend.


Wee Marie found the fabrics and did the piecing, then sent it off to a friend of hers in Utah (a long arm quilter) to be quilted (her friend donated her time also!).  It got back here to California pronto, Marie bound it, and it was off to the auction for Empty Bowls.  Lickity Split. The Event was on March 9th, 2010.


And they (the wee people) all lived happily ever after, knowing that they had shared a wee bit of their talents to help a sister/brother in need.

Wee Embroiderers - Judy, Carol, Gran
Wee Piecer and Finisher - Marie
Wee Long Arm Quilter-  Marie's friend in Utah (Name forthcoming)

14 comments:

Eileen C said...

Beautiful!

paulette said...

Wow!! Gorgeous...and did you notice that your kitchen is the same lovely red as the quilt!! I think you are going to have to make one for yourself!! ;o)
Paulette

Anonymous said...

It's absolutely wonderful...love red and white!

PunkiePie (Jen) said...

It's beautiful! Happy Mother's Day to you too, Gran!

Cyndi loves to stitch said...

There's nothing "wee" about that quilt, that's a whole lot of WOW!! good job ladies and HAPPY HAPPY mothers day! Cyndi

Orcsmom said...

It turned out so-o-o cute, and what a great cause! You have all earned another set of angel wings!

Hugs!

Pam

PS-Where are you storing all of you pairs of wings??

Brenda said...

This quilt was gorgeous! Someone must be very happy with their prize!

StitchinByTheLake said...

This quilt is stunning! I wonder if you would share what the pattern is for the redwork? blessings, marlene

quiltmom anna said...

It is gorgeous Gran- I love the way the fabrics frame the beautiful handwork - someone is going to be a very lucky owner of this beauty. The red fabrics are really fun too.
I hope you have a fabulous Mother's Day. The boy and his girl are taking me to dinner. My beloved is off doing some public astronomy this evening. We have a nice date planned tomorrow evening.
Thanks for sharing this lovely work.
Regards,
Anna

Ulla said...

Happy Mothers day.
and what a wonderful quilt and a wonderful idea you have had.
Ulla

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

Wow that is a gorgeous quilt. Happy Mother's Day.

Heckety said...

This is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! The redwork is lovely and the way its put altogether is lovely! I'm not surprised she came rushing over to show you- congrats to all those involved!

Jan said...

Ohhhhh Gran! You "Wee Gals" done good ... really, really good cuz that's one gorgeous quilt :) Love that pretty red kitchen too :) Hope you're feeling better and that you enjoyed a Happy Mother's Day :)

Abby and Stephanie said...

Really very pretty.