Ah-Choo

With all the quilting going on around here lately,

I got thinking about some of the things I never got pictures of.

Now, for some of my earlier efforts...

that's just as well.

But when I was at my parents' house last week,

I snapped a couple of photos of things I've given my mom.

This is the one and only rag quilt I've made.

(Not counting this one, which is not a true ragged edge quilt.)

You see, my mom and her sister had a lot in common.  They both decorated kind of country, very Americana, very red-white-and-blue.  Very vintage.

They horrified their dad by taking the wooden chests he'd made them, painting them, and then "distressing" them.  

He recovered.

And we still laugh about Mom and Aunt Judy

beating their chests.

Being the crafty sort, my aunt bought a pattern and materials to make a flannel rag quilt.  All the materials she chose were red, white and blue.

And they all looked like shirts my grandpa wore. 

I remember her showing me the pattern and the material.

But she never got around to making the quilt.

And then she got breast cancer.

When my cousin went through her things, she gave the quilt kit to me (the only one in the family to possess a sewing machine).  So I made the quilt up for my mom.  We're not overly sentimental, usually, but it reminds me of my grandpa and my aunt.  Good memories :o)

But I think of it as the Sneezy Quilt.  The result was good, the process... not so fun!  You don't prewash the flannel, and little fibers were flying everywhere.  I made the quilt in the summer and the flannel was hot and heavy to work with.  I was constantly sneezing and scratching. 

Glad I did it.  Not in a hurry to make another one!