Happy Thanksgiving!

Yo-Yo's Made from Feedsack Scraps!

This yo-yo pillow was made from vintage cotton and feedsack fabrics and is a lovely keepsake. Many beautiful yo-yo pillows were made over the years and I always look for them when searching for treasures at an antique mall or flea market sale.Yo-yo's are made from circles cut from scraps. The edge of each fabric circle is turned under, stitched around using a running stitch, then pulled tight and knotted. Yo-yo's can be sewn together to make quilts, pillows, or other creative items. This technique was especially popular in the 1940's and 50's and in recent years has had a resurgence. It is frequently used by quilters today!

Scrap Quilts: Mixing Vintage & New Fabrics!

One of my favorite quilting projects is to mix new and old scraps together to make a unique combination of colors and patterns. This particular quilt was especially fun to work on because I already had a number of vintage cotton and feedsack scraps on hand when I also bought a small bag of fabric leftovers from someone else's quilting projects. (You never know what you might find at a garage sale!)

I sat down at my sewing machine, took whatever scrap came next and stitched it to the next piece. When I had pieces of sewn scraps that measured approximately 6" square, I used my 6" square template to cut them into 6" blocks. When I had as many blocks as I needed for the lap-size quilt I had in mind, I stitched them all together for a fun mix of old & new! Waiting to see how it all would turn out was more than half the fun! And it was nice to know I was recyling at the same time!

What kind of scrap quilts have you made?

Simple Squares Make a Stunning Quilt!

This quilt is another of my fantastic finds from our flea market shopping trips to Amish Country in Indiana. This Trip Around the World quilt was made from simple squares but it is a stunning display of color & pattern. A quilt made from squares can be just as exciting as a more complicated design. The beauty is all in the selection of fabrics and placement of pieces. The vintage fabrics mixed with feedsack pieces add a nostalgic touch that turns this quilt into a true treasure.

Vintage Cotton & Feedsack Pinwheel Quilt!

This quilt top was a wonderful find at our annual neighborhood yard sale a few summers ago. The smell of moth balls was so strong I didn't even want to touch this piece but I could see, when the owner held it up, that it had been lovingly hand stitched a long time ago.

"How much?" I asked.

"Oh, 5 bucks I guess; it's not worth anything really."

"Can you put it in a bag for me?" For 5 bucks I could stand to clean the quilt top but I still didn't want to have to smell it while I shopped the rest of the neighborhood sales.

Once cleaned, the fabrics—as I suspected—were pristine and lovely. Once again I reminded myself, don't judge a quilt by it's odor. Get it home, give it a good soaking and it'll be good to go! Even if it's only a partial quilt top, you can always make pillows or purses or other wonderful quilted projects from it.

Vintage Aprons Quilt!

This quilt top was made entirely from 1940's & 50's aprons that were no longer wearable. It seemed a shame to discard these aprons as there were fabric portions that were still colorful, bright and cheerful as when new. Much better to recycle the pretty floral fabrics into a one-of-a-kind quilt.

Yo-Yo Pillows from Feedsack Scraps!

I discovered this vintage yo-yo-pillow in an Amish town in Indiana a few years ago. Known for their resourcefulness, Amish quilters use every bit of fabric available to make their quilts. Leftover scraps from larger projects are never thrown away but rather made into items to sell or use in the household.

This yo-yo pillow was made from vintage cotton and feedsack fabrics and is a lovely keepsake. Many beautiful yo-yo pillows were made over the years and I always look for them when searching for treasures at an antique mall or flea market sale.

Yo-yo's are made from circles cut from scraps. The edge of each fabric circle is turned under, stitched around using a running stitch, then pulled tight and knotted. Yo-yo's can be sewn together to make quilts, pillows, or other creative items. This technique was especially popular in the 1940's and 50's and in recent years has had a resurgence. It is frequently used by quilters today!

Making yo-yo's is a wonderful sewing craft for any age. Children can easily accomplish the steps! When I was a young girl in Brownie Scouts, our leader taught us to make yo-yo's which we turned into flowers by adding pipe cleaners for stems. Our leader poured wax into tiny pots and placed the "stems" into the wax until it set up. These "plants" were given to our mothers for Mothers Day. We were so proud to be able to make such beautiful gifts at age eight years old!

Ojibwa Burial Grounds in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

A few weeks ago I received a postcard from my dear friend Jeanne whom I've known since Kindergarten. We shared the same homerooms throughout our years in grade and high school in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, attended the same church and were active Thespians throughout high school. We attended each others birthday parties when we were kids and corresponded through the years as adults.

The post card I received said to watch for a surprise in the mail and have a camera on hand to take photos. So that is what I did. And what a wonderful & exciting surprise it was to discover a beautiful original oil painting of the Pentoga Park Ojibwa Burial Grounds (located a few miles from where we grew up) by my friend Jeanne. Her note said, "There is only one place this could go...It isn't the exact shot as the picture in your book A Tree Grows in Trout Creek but it's the same spot."

I was deeply touched and thrilled to be the recipient of this memorable oil painting by Jeanne. It's lovely to see every day this wonderful tribute to the area in which we came of age. But more important, it is the friendship of the many years our lives have been entwined that I cherish.

Go to: www.wildwoodpress.org for more information on my books which include cultural information on the Ojibwa/Chippewa Indians: The Wishing Years and A Tree Grows in Trout Creek, both collections of stories of growing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

I See You, Mr. Squirrel!

Since my last post about Mr. Squirrel, I have been catching sight of him almost daily. He's been so fast though that I've continued to have a hard time identifying him.

However, this past week, I discovered that every day at 4 p.m. he takes a stand at the tippy-top point on our garage roof. There he suns himself for a second before darting away. Now that I know he'll be there at 4 p.m. I don't let the dogs out at that time.

But I do watch and I'm just about positive now that he is a tiny red squirrel, about a quarter the size of the normal squirrels in our neighborhood. Now, if only I could get a picture of him! So, the question remains: where did he come from? There are no others like him around. What do you think?’

A Sheltie for the White House?

So what kind of puppy will the Obama family choose? I keep thinking about it and wondering what breed the new puppy will be. Other presidents and their families have chosen the following:

George W. Bush: Miss Beasley & Barney, Scottish Terriers.

Bill Clinton: Buddy, a Chocolate Lab.

George Bush: Millie & Ranger, Springer Spaniels.

Ronald Reagan: Lucky, a Bouvier des Flandres who was too big & was replaced by Rex, a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel.

Jimmy Carter: Grits a dog given to little Amy by her teacher & had to be returned.

Gerald Ford: Liberty, a Golden Retriever.

Richard Nixon: Vicky, a Poodle & King Timahoe, an Irish Setter.

Lyndon B. Johnson: Him & Her, two Beagles. Blanco, a white Collie & Yuki, a Mongrel Dog.

John F. Kennedy: Charlie, a Welsh Terrier & dogs: Pushinka, Shannon, Wolf, & Clipper.

Dwight d. Eisenhower: Heidi, a Weimaraner.
So what will the Obama family choose? Of course, if I were choosing, it would be a shetland sheep dog (sheltie) but that would certainly mean a lot of barking in the White House. I wonder...I wonder?

Our House of Hope!

My niece Jill and her daughter Maggie help rescue animals through Our House of Hope, a shelter in Ilinois. You can help them win a grant for their animal rescue with the Animal Rescue Site $100k Challenge.

PLEASE! Go to: http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/shelterchallenge.faces?siteId=3

In the purple box in the middle of the page enter:

Shelter name: Our House of Hope

State: IL

City: Gurnee

=>Click on search.

It will bring you to the next page to confirm you have selected the right shelter.

=> Click VOTE

To confirm your vote it will show you a picture of an animal.

Type the animals name in the “your answer” box.

=> Click Confirm Vote

THANK YOU for helping the animals at OUR HOUSE OF HOPE!

Civil War Quilting with Feedsacks!

During the civil war between the states, women rather than government provided soldiers with clothing and bedding. They made quilts for the men on the lines as well as quilts to sell. The quilts they sold provided money to buy more fabric for badly needed quilts.

But quilt fabric, mainly calico, was expensive and had become harder and harder to find. So, in addition to purchased fabric, all kinds of cloth was used for quilt tops. Men’s clothing, old blankets, carpets, drapes and linings from women's dresses were all put to use. Often, even the wardrobes of men who had died in the war were gathered and reused.

The backing for quilt tops was most often made from sturdy grain and feedsacks. Batting was nearly non-existent so old mattresses were taken apart and used for fillers but more often quilts were stuffed with newspaper. When there was no filler batting to be had, the woolen and heavier clothing making up the quilt tops had to provide the warmth needed for the men in action.Civil War Quilt Blocks:
Basic fabrics and simple block patterns were used for the soldiers’ quilts. The faster a quilt could be produced the better as time was of the essence. Sometimes a quilter would stitch words of encouragement on a quilt block to give a soldier hope and inspiration while he was at war.

Frequently soldiers were buried in their quilts and as a result very few original civil war quilts have survived. Since many of the quilts were made in a hurry and not constructed as well as they could have been, many did not survive the war. It is estimated that women created over 250,000 quilts for the soldiers during the civil war.

(I received comments from two different quilters who told me that though the quilt blocks pictured are very old, they may not be civil war era.)

Civil War Quilt Blocks Discovered!

These amazing civil war quilt blocks were discovered at a Quilt Museum in Goshen, Indiana on one of our trips to Amish country. Note the handpiecing stitches on the backside of the quilt blocks.(Although the curator of the museum had documented that these were from the civil war era, I received comments from two different quilters who told me that though the quilt blocks pictured are very old, they may not be civil war era.)

No Cash & Carry For Them!

Back in the good old days, Mom and Dad paid for everything in cold cash money. No credit for them, or as it was known in our town, "cash and carry". "Don't ever buy anything unless you can afford it," Mom and Dad used to say. "And affording it means you can and will pay cash. You've got to learn to save!"

My first job was playing the organ in our church for which I was paid a dollar a day. With those dollars a day paid monthly, it was easy to set aside some money for special things. I saved and then bought my first "straight kick-pleat" skirt and sweater to match. I saved some more and then came a brand new shiny Getzen trumpet for band class and practice. I saved even more and—best of all—came the day I had enough money to buy my own portable Smith-Corona typewriter (which by the way I still have) for Miss Swanson's typing class!

I can still hear Mom and Dad saying, "Don't buy anything unless you can afford it! Save your money! Pay cash!" And that was one of the things my parents told me to do that I actually listened to!