One of my favorite things to do when I'm
not writing is embroidery. Another is quilting. I’ve found a way to combine the
two.
First, I made baby quilts for two of my nieces. White on white, I machine
embroidered them with the darning stitch so I had control. They turned out really
nice, but I really love to hand embroider. That’s when I discovered red-work.
During a quilting shop-hop, one of the stores highlighted red-work. For those
of you who don’t know what red-work is – it’s embroidery done in all red floss.
Just the outline of the picture, not filled in like other embroidery patterns.
Anyway, I fell in love with it. Every year I
make something for Christmas (often a Santa) for my six children and give it to
them on Thanksgiving. I found a Santa pattern and did it all in red-work,
framed it and gave it to them.
That's when I decided to make a queen-size quilt for our bed, using
various flowers. I found a book with different flower transfers and proceeded
to iron them onto fabric and embroider them. It took the better part of a
year to finish the quilt and many times I wondered why I started it and was
tempted to quit. I’m glad I persevered. The quilt turned out beautiful and I
use it every spring/summer.
Once I finished that, I decided to make a baby
quilt for each of my
grandchildren – for their first born. I started out looking
in coloring books for designs. I traced the images onto 12x12 squares of
muslin. After I finished embroidering the squares I cut sashing and sewed them
together. For the backing I used various fabrics, not nursery print. None of
the quilts have nursery fabric in them at all. I've used patterns from animals
to Winnie the Pooh to Sunbonnet Sue.
Eventually, I found transfer books and started
using them for designs. I looked everywhere for baby designs. I finally
finished my
14th and last quilt. That’s a lot of baby quilts. Most of them are
done in red work, but I varied some with other colors, too.
It took a couple of years to do all the squares.
Four years ago, I made quilts for my niece’s twins using kitten and bunny
patterns. They’re done in many colors. Since then she had another child,
another boy, so I made one for him using baby animals.
Four years ago, I also gave my first
grandchild’s quilt to my oldest granddaughter, whose baby boy was born in June
– my first great grandchild. That same year, my fourteenth grandchild was born, another boy and I did puppies for him.
April
12th, I gave my second quilt at another granddaughter’s shower. She’s
having a baby girl in May. It’s exciting to see the look on their faces when
they open the quilt. I hope they cherish them and love them as much as I loved
making them.
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I've
marked each quilt with the name of which grandchild they're supposed to go to in
case I’m not around to give it to them. My daughters have been instructed to
pass them out. I hope I'm around to give them all away.
This last quilt I made for another niece's baby. I'd say it's one of my favorites, but honestly I say that about all of them. It's impossible to choose one. They were all fun to work on. Now I have to find something else to keep me busy. I think I've found it, chip carving but that's a topic for another blog.
Check out my books at
Amazon Here's one of my favorites.
Forced to stay in a nursing home while undergoing therapy, seventy-two year old, Mike Powell refuses to get out of bed, won't cooperate with the nurses, and won’t take his medicine. At least not until he meets Elsa. The tiny, spunky little Elsa sparks new life into him.
Seventy year old, Elsa -left in the home while her son takes a family vacation - joins forces with Mike, setting the home on its heels, and later discovers deception and fraud. Can they find happiness together?
Who says life begins at 40? Life is wonderful at any age, as long you're willing to live it. Elsa Logan and Mike Powell prove it. And I want to be just like them when I grow up! One of Roseanne Dowell's best, and my personal favorite!
Elsa Logan bears a striking resemblance to a romance writer I know who shall be nameless but whose initials are R. D. ~ Romantic Suspense Author, Gail Roughton
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