I .... Am.... a procrastinator.... yep - that's me!
And this - this is the Story of the Betty Quilt.
Betty is my Great Aunt - I loved her, but I loved her husband more - Capt. Doug. Capt. Doug was just about as cool of a guy as you could find back when I was a kid - and quite frankly - Betty was about as cool of a girl as you could find!
They had this house off of Pontiac Lake in MI - that had everything! I mean EVERYTHING - there was boat oars off of a rescue boat from WWII, there were propellers from planes that flew in WWII., there were these most awesome trunks full of everything cool....
And they had a house in Birmingham MI - that is now on the historical society list. It was WAY cool.... but the coolest part - hanging out with them! Betty gave my Mom a Quilt for me.... okay - it may have been for her, but , well, I'm taller - I took it. Betty and her sister made it in 1940.
When my Mom pulled that quilt out the both of us were quite taken, and I started doing a little research. Come to find out there were a lot of quilts that her family had made - and all of them had been donated to the Michigan State Quilt Museum.... and there were pictures of them Online!!!
I fell in love with one particular one and set about recreating it...
This is her quilt - as seen on the website - and I love it!
I loved everything about it - and for those of you who wonder where my love of plaid came from.... I think this may be it!!
I headed to the fabric shop ( Because YES! I started this long before plaid miraculously appeared on my Doorstep)
and started in
Here were my first few blocks
And then I wanted to see them all - so I overtook the window curtain.
My man has since gotten smarter - he made me a design wall.
He saw how the quilting thing was going to take over the whole front room.....
And then..... I wanted to add the in between pieces - I am sure they have a technical name - but lets just go with "In Betweens"
I LOVED how it was coming together.... and I kept working, and plodding....
And now.....
It is a top
AND!! sit down for this....
It has a back AND!!!! It is loaded on the machine - so that hopefully on Monday I can show you a quilted Betty Quilt.......
please do not ask when Betty was started - I will plead the 5th!!!
linking to:
TGIFF Confessions of a fabric Addict fabric frenzy friday
WIPs be gone
15 comments:
It's lovely, and what a charming story!
Some quilts just take a bit longer than others. :)
Looking forward to seeing how you quilt it!
Great story, thank you for sharing. "Betty" quilt is lovely and catches the flavor of the original. The museum looks interesting, it would be fun to schedule a behind the scenes tour and visit some of Betty's quilts. Looking forward to seeing your finish.
I love the story and history behind quilts and yours is a treasure! What fun to have such a special family connection between Aunt Betty's quilt and yours. Don't worry about how long it took you to make it - you made 100 others in between.
That is a very fun story and LOVE your re-creation. Beautiful!!
That's a wonderful story Alycia! It must have been so much fun to go and visit them. It's really awesome that you found your family quilts online and even cooler that you are recreating your Aunt Betty's!
Cool quilt, but I have to say when I first looked at your blocks it reminded me of Rosie's head from the Jetsons. And,I didn't thinks the date you started a quilt is important, just whether it was completed that mattered! so YEAH! for you!
Well..... today is the 8th!
AWESOME reconstruction!! I'll be looking forward to seeing it quilted.
Great quilt with an awesome story!!! Can't wait to see it quilted and bound!!!
This was one very special story that made me smile. I love your pink background. One of my favourite combos for colour at the moment is pink, grey and cream or white. I can't wait to come back and visit to see your finish. I am visiting from confessions of a quilt addict and have also linked up, would love you to come and see what I have managed to do in my week for a whoop whoop! Anyway thanks for sharing, Wendy
It's very lovely as well as the wonderful story behind it! :)
What a wonderful story! I belong to that procrastinater's club too but this post might just nudge me back to the sewing room.
What a lovely way you have chosen to honor Betty. It's a glorious quilt. And thanks for linking to WIPs Be Gone, Alycia, so we could learn this touching story. Blessings,
How fun to recreate a family quilt. It doesn't matter how long it's been sitting, the important part is that it's getting done now. I'm a full fledged believer in UFO forgiveness.
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