Bonnie Lehman - a humble, but heartfelt, tribute...

I just read on Barbara Brackman's blog about the passing of Bonnie Lehman, who started Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, now Quilter's Newsletter.  It caused a sad and unexpected lump in my throat. 

Even though my grandmother quilted, I didn't start quilting until 1982 when my grandmother was in her last year of life and very sick.  She gave me her last quilt, A Grandmother's Flower garden, hand pieced of scraps from some of my hilarious homemade wardrobe through the seventies (when I was a teenager).  Here's a picture of her treasured last quilt (Weasley is checking it out):

I am a self-taught sewer and quilter who made (and still makes!) embarrassing mistakes on quilts (and clothes!).  Here's my first attempt at making a quilt...a hand pieced Grandmother's Flower Garden (still unfinished...currently one of those dusty U.F.O.'s (or P.I.G.S. - projects in grocery sacks...).  And I had never even heard of English paper piecing!  LOL!

Get a load of all that calico and the bright cotton/poly blue blend that I put the flowers together with (that blue was left over from making my college dorm curtain!)  Back then, there weren't a lot of good "how to" books out there to help floundering quilters like me.  Thank God I found Quilter's Newsletter Magazine!!  It was my first subscription to any kind of magazine in my life, and I was always hungrily looking for the next issue.

I loved the patterns, the articles, but especially editorial articles by Helen Kelly, who also died in the last couple of years.  Reading the magazine made me feel connected to the quilting community, which was great for me as a young college student, busy studying chemistry and music at Auburn University.

It was publications like Bonnie's that brought quilting "out from under the bed" for all of us.  When I first started sewing and quilting, the choice of 100% cotton fabrics was the pits!  Now look where we are, baby!  (Does this mean I can blame her for the hoarded stash in my basement?!?)

I made this Lemoyne Star quilt, unfortunately, before I learned the proper way to piece an 8-pointed star.  I think this dates from 1984.

Just look at all that plain muslin and cute calico prints!  And no one told me that the quilting cross-hatching (or echo quilting) from area to area had to be the same size and scale!!  HILARIOUS!!

Then look at how much hand quilting it took to get the star center to lie flat and not resemble a circus tent!!

I used to use plain muslin on all my backings and fold the back to the front for my lumpy binding.  OMG!

It's a little scary and humbling, showing you the "dreaded Lemoyne Star."  I feel a little like "my knickers are showing..."  I donated that quilt for an unknown baby years ago - I almost wish I still had the quilt (glad I at least have a couple of bad photos), and I know the baby didn't care, or even appreciate, how funny his or her quilt really was...smile).

I am so grateful for all the books, patterns and magazines that we have now.  I feel like Bonnie Lehman started all of it (I may be a little biased...).  I love all the new modern patterns we have now (not to mention the option of machine quilting), but I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the older classics that I learned about from the earlier days of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine and the feel of quilts that are hand quilted.

(The first quilt picture on this post is a hand pieced scrappy bowtie quilt - I got the pattern for the bowtie square from QNM many years ago.  I used to keep little fabric pieces in a baggie in my purse to hand piece when I had a spare moment.  It is one of my U.F.O.'s - I just need to finish hand quilting the corners of the borders.  In Bonnie's honor, I will push myself to finally finish this quilt!)

In stitches (and in memory),

Teresa  :o)

Is it OK to "go rogue" and "get all maverick-y" ?

I used to love the expressions "going rogue" and "getting all maverick-y"...at least until all the American Presidential politics of 2008.  Maybe Sarah Palin/John McCain have ruined all that for me...

I have always looked at "going rogue" as a cute thing, as in choosing to use my Kindergarten crayons to color OUTSIDE the lines or use different colors than the norm...or maybe even turning the schematic, colorless picture over and drawing my own picture on the blank reverse side.

As a quilter, I am constantly thinking about "going rogue."  Every time I start a quilt that has been made by another quilter, or featured in a quilt book, magazine, or purchased pattern, I find I want to change something about it.  This does not mean that I don't have the highest respect for the quilter that put that particular combination of color, shape, and cotton together.  It also doesn't mean that I think I can make it better.  I think my desire comes from an over-developed sense of wanting to make the project my own...have it reflect something of my personality and preferences at this moment in time.

Let's face it...everything we do is a reflection of ourselves.  All of our quilting and craft projects are like a portfolio of out lives.  And that is always changing.  Do you cringe when you look at or think of your first quilting project??  I sure do!

I became a quilter one minute after my grandmother, ill and declining from cancer, gave me the last quilt she was able to make (in the early 80's).  I was 21-22 years old, and she had made me a GRANDMOTHER'S FLOWER GARDEN quilt using some of the flowery scraps I had left over from making summery dresses and shirts.  She had pieced the top and her friends that she quilted with in the community hand-quilted it for me.  Oh my God, you could have knocked me over with a feather!!  I decided there and then that I had to keep this wonderful tradition going in our family.

Well, I rashly decided that in honor of my grandmother, I was going to make a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt as my first quilt!  I looked through my scraps and saw crazy, bright cotton calico and bright royal blue poly/cotton left over from making my college dorm window curtains.  (YIKES!) On your mark, get set, GO and SEW...

Well...I have not finished it.  I still have good intentions.  I mean, it is hand-pieced and the technique was pretty good for a self-taught, first effort...no English paper piecing on that sucker...I did Y-seams!!.  But the fabrics, OH MY GOD!!!  The calico fabric selection of the late 1970's/early 80's...well, it SUCKED!  I remember very few possibilities.  One little ditsy flowered calico, I had it in five, yes FIVE colorways (yellow, blue, brown, green and red).  And all the stripes, dots, and solids were leftovers from making stuffed Christmas ornaments.  That was because there were so few prints and colors to choose from.

Well, I digressed...I guess that first quilt was a reflection of my youth and personality in 1982.  Would I go off in that direction now?  I love traditional patterns, but am also drawn to the bold and whimsical.  I am sorry that I used some cotton/polyester blend fabrics in the flowers and the blue connecting fabric...on that issue, I wish I had a "do over."  When I made that first partial quilt top, my stash fit in a pillowcase...talk about your humble beginnings!  Things are not so sparse now...I think my husband wishes I had my 1982 stash now...  

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)