DK Quilt Guild: A place for quilters to gather, share ideas, projects, and to make the world a better place, one quilt at a time. Join us and share your thoughts, projects, questions, and tips. Quilters here are at many different levels of skill. Beginners and non-quilters are welcome, too!
This is the perfect occasion to honor our mothers and other female relatives (or even the rare male) who have made the quilts in our lives.
Please share stories and photos of these special quilts, and the quilters who made them.
Enjoy Nat King Cole while you read and enjoy the photos:
A Grandmother's Gift
My husband Jim is one of nine children. Each of them received a completed quilt by their grandmother. Some of them were started by her and finished by another relative, but they are all different, all beautiful. This one is his.
The fabrics include some from the 1950s, with the dark red and strong turquoise and pinks. Still, I think they are offset perfectly with the pale lemony background. I haven't seen a name for this setting before, but I believe it's considered a form of Boston Commons.
From an Aunt
The quilt below was made by my sister as a birth present for my son. I didn't know the baby's gender before he was born, so she made it with gender-neutral pastels. She was already an accomplished seamstress before this, but this was one of her first quilts.
From This Mother to My Children
There isn't a lot I can give my children besides my love. They are all fully functional, delightful people, able to take care of themselves. Fortunately, all of them are financially stable (or about to be, in the case of my son-the-new-graduate.) Gifts from the heart are more meaningful than gifts from the wallet right now.
My quilts for them include these two king-sized bed quilts, one for each daughter and her husband, as well as the graduation quilt for Son, which I showed you a few days ago.
I designed and pieced this for Daughter in IA. A professional quilter did the quilting.
This one was for Daughter in MD. The pattern is called "Tennessee Waltz," but my use of fabric prints to create the center on-point design was original to me. The same quilter did the quilting on this one. She is very talented.
Here is Son's graduation quilt, which I designed, pieced, and quilted. It uses a design similar to, but different from, the Tennessee Waltz above.
We gave him his graduation presents yesterday, including the quilt. He loves it, as you can see in this photo:
I've also made special baby quilts for each of my seven grandchildren, as well as bed quilts for the five not in cribs. Other than bed quilts for the two littlest, none of them will get a new quilt until graduating from high school.
Your Quilts?
What quilts have you given or received from family members? Are there stories you can tell about learning to quilt from another family member? Do you have photos to share, of either the quilts or the quilters?
Diarists needed!
5/20 -- Florene
5/27 -- Pam from Calif
6/3 -- OPEN
6/10 -- OPEN
6/17 -- Melanie in IA, unless someone else wants to take it
We NEED diarists! I will be offline 6/3 and 6/10. If no one steps up to cover, there will be no DK Quilt Guild diary those days.
Your diary can be elaborate and full of photos, a simple story of your own quilting history or that of someone you love, a discussion of a current project or a technique you're learning, new adventures... You could post quilt retreat-day recipes (things like crockpot meals, so food appears without much attention from you)...
We could do show and tell or open thread, also, but either way, we need diarists to host. It is EASY if you're willing to take the chance.
Intimidated by the idea of writing and hosting a future diary? Check this great link for the group New Diarists. This particular link has the list of the group's diaries. They include things like writing, formatting, including photos, adding tags, and other helpful hints. Go ahead, TAKE THE PLUNGE!! Writing is fun, and after the first couple of times, actually pretty easy. And groups like this can't exist without new writers. We WANT you to join us!
Please post in comments below if you are willing to take on a week. THANKS.