Star Spangled Banner Day 3
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| All Star Tribute by Whistler Studios for Windham Fabrics |
We have Jane Cook back with us today. Remember, I told you her mom was a quilter? I asked Jane about that and here's what she said:
You
dedicated America’s Star-Spangled Story, to your mother. Why?
My
mother loved quilts. She made hundreds of quilts in her lifetime, including
many with patriotic themes. After an eight-year battle with Parkinson’s
disease, she died while I was in the final stages of publishing America’s Star-Spangled Story.
Dedicating the book to her was a way to memorialize her and pay tribute to her
influence in my life.
My
mom left a great legacy of character. She loved God and wanted to honor him
with her work, especially teaching economically disadvantaged children. She
also put a premium on family and worked tirelessly to take care of my father,
brother, and I. My life will be successful if I’m able to accomplish even half of
what she did in the areas of loving God and family.
Though
I’m not a quilter or seamstress like my mother, writing and quilting are both
creative processes. Where she used fabric to develop a theme with colors and
pattern, I use words to develop story threads and themes throughout a book. I
express my creativity differently from my mother but the imaginative gene is
unmistakable.
(Debby here) - Quilters! Did you hear that? We have imaginative genes! And all I thought we had were a closet full of mom jeans!
Let's see another of Jane's mom's quilts. Don't you love these little sailboats with the appliqued stars? And those little fingers and top of head peeping over the quilt I think must be one of Jane's young sons. Maybe he'll become a quilter!
(Debby here) - Quilters! Did you hear that? We have imaginative genes! And all I thought we had were a closet full of mom jeans!
Let's see another of Jane's mom's quilts. Don't you love these little sailboats with the appliqued stars? And those little fingers and top of head peeping over the quilt I think must be one of Jane's young sons. Maybe he'll become a quilter!
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| Boats and Flags quilt by Judith Travis Hampton |
Can I share my own boats quilt? So glad you asked!
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| Four little paper pieced boats |
I hope you take a minute to visit Jane's web site to see what her other books are. She has several, one of which is titled: What Does the President Look Like? I mean - how did Americans know what George Washington looked like, hmmm? And do you know the story about his teeth? No? Take a visit to Mt. Vernon sometime. A fantastic place!
Let's see. I seem to have forgotten something. What could it be? Oh, yes. Fabric to give away! Ooooh! Look at those fireworks on that navy background. Gotta have it, right?
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| 6 fat quarters provided by Benartex Fabrics |
1. The contest is over at midnight tonight, September 9, 2014 (EST). I have another contest tomorrow, so come back and bring your friends.
2. Fabric can only be mailed in the United States.
3. If I randomly select someone from outside the United States, you can have ANY of my patterns from my Craftsy site. I will email them to you (obviously, the ones that are for sale).
4. If I don't have your email, I can't notify you! Anonymous bloggers can't win!
Leave me a message telling me if you were inspired to quilt by a relative.
And come back tomorrow for more with Jane Cook, more quilt inspiration, and freebies!
I was inspired to quilt by my grandmother and great-aunt.
ReplyDeleteJust love the boat quilts! My great gran and aunties were a huge influence in my life.
ReplyDeleteYou are truly talented. I know your Mom is very proud of all the quilts you create. A star is perfect for her. Aren't Moms supposed to be the Stars guiding us through our life? What amazing love you show for her.
ReplyDeleteI love the sailboats. I learned to sew from my mother and she learned to quilt from her paternal grandmother. I actually took my first quilting class at a LQS which no longer exists.
ReplyDeleteYes, my aunt used to make simple quilts from left over fabrics she got from a factory that made Aloha shirts. Our quilts were very colorful and cheery.
ReplyDeleteMy Grand mother let my run the treadle while sewed. I still love my treadle machine
ReplyDeleteQuilting is not common where I live. I was inspired to start quilting by looking at the beautiful quilts displayed in the two LQS in my home town, and when the local TV station had a feature about one of the LQSs, I just knew I had to start quilting!
ReplyDeleteNo one in my family was a real quilter, but my husband had a great aunt & uncle that had made many quilts. Seeing, & then years later, receiving some, inspired me to make some heirloom quilts of my own to pass on to my children, & grandchildren.
ReplyDeleteI have sewn for many years and quilting just kind of grew from that -- I saw a pattern in a catalog that I wanted to make and it happened to be a quilt. My MIL quilted and she was a great help in getting me started.
ReplyDeleteMy dear grandmother made several quilts a year.... all hand pieced and hand quilted. I loved to sort through her scrap basket and make doll clothes with leftovers. Thanks again for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteMy mother was a frugal seamstress and quilter and taught me to be skilled and thrifty at the same time. Miss her lots.
ReplyDeleteI learned to sew from my mom. When she first got married she had worked in an office and when I came along there was not much money so she took her clothes and made my clothes. Aren't mothers just wonderful! Thanks for the great giveaway.
ReplyDeleteI was inspired to quilt by a friend. I am the first person in my family to own a sewing machine! Sewing/quilting just isn't something that was done in my family. Thanks for the chance to win!
ReplyDeleteMy sister and a friend have inspired me to quilt. I have made a sailboat quilt. Love the stories about our flag and capitol.
ReplyDeleteNo one in my family quilts, but while browsing a used book store I came upon a quilt book, and thought they looked cute. I bought the book and it sat on my shelf for a while. Then my mother got sick and I thought that maybe I should try and make her a lap quilt to keep her warm. I dug through the book, found a pattern I liked, added a few of my own touches, and a quilter was born.
ReplyDeleteSewing and quilting definitely run in the family... Both grandmas, my mother and even my mother-in-law!
ReplyDeleteI was inspired by my mother and grandmother to quilt. Love the sailboats.
ReplyDeleteMy Mom's grandmother crocheted bedspreads. I started out crocheting and gradually moved into quilting.
ReplyDeleteWhy I'm so glad you asked. Yes, I was inspired by my Grandma (Nellie Mae Cotten). In fact, I'm in the process of writing a quilt book about it, titled "The Quilts in Grandma's Closet". However, I am notorious for make red/white/blue quilts. I can't tell you how many I have! My kids say too many!!
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother was a quilter and I used to help her tie off her quilts. I made my first quilt in Northern NY during the Blizzard of '77 when I was a high school junior and bored because I was stuck at home for a week. I didn't quilt again until 2004 when I took an online Starting to Quilt class, but I haven't stopped since!
ReplyDeleteDon't I wish! My Italian family has no idea about quilts. Mom-Mom sewed and I learned from her. She would have loved them.
ReplyDeleteI don't have any quilters in my family, although my mom did lots of sewing and taught me to sew when I was young. I love to sew and do all types of needlework, so quilting was a natural progression.
ReplyDeleteLove those sailboats!!! The stars are super cute too.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother did many hand projects and my mom was a seamstress. Glad I got those genes!!
I don't remember my grandmother teaching me any sewing or quilting, but I still have the baby quilt she made me (mostly falling apart now). I think I was inspired most by watching my mom make a baby quilt for each of her grandkids who were born before she died. She only had one book on quilting and that was before the days of the internet. She just made them the best way she could figure out. In my opinion, they turned out great and were much loved. I remember thinking I wanted to to do this too.
ReplyDeleteI didn't have any family member to inspire me, but when my daughter was going to have her first baby I did some searched and taught myself to make a simple baby quilt and it took off from there. Thanks for they blog.
ReplyDeleteOh, you are so right -- those fireworks are wonderful! Actually, it is funny, neither of my grandmothers sewed -- they were both born near the turn of the 20th century but neither sewed. My mom sewed but did not quilt. Neither did any of my aunts sew. My passion for sewing is all my own.
ReplyDeleteMy mom is the one who inspired me to quilt. She quilted she before she had us kids, and took it up again when a friend ask her to teach her to quilt. I have one of her early quilts and two that she made later. The double wedding ring is my favorite because it has fabrics spanning forty years. She machine pieced and hand quilted.
ReplyDeleteNo one in my family or anyone I knew quilted.. I started out making a quilted robe for my 4 year old daughter and went from clothing sewing to quilting...
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother Gaddis quilted all the time. I lost her when I was only 12 so I didn't get to learn from her. But her quilt tops she left to us kids made me want to learn so I could quilt them.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I didn't have any family members that quilted... :(
ReplyDeleteI wasn't inspired by a family member when I started quilting. However, now my mother and my sister-in-law are both quilters.
ReplyDeleteSadly, no, no one in my family quilted. But I did learn, later in my quilting life, that my great, great grandmother was a quilter, and even had the pleasure to layer and hand quilt one from her trunk of UFOs.
ReplyDeleteMy great grandmother quilted. While I never knew her, I did inherit several of her quilts. Unfortunately no one really inspired me to quilt...it was a free class at my LQS that hooked me!!!
ReplyDeleteMy mother is my inspiration for quilting. At 81 she is an addicted quilter and I am right there with her. We share books patterns templates.
ReplyDeleteDrhodes9@cox.net
I inherited some quilts that inspired me, but I don't know who made them. I do know that my one grandmother was known for her tatting and a great grandmother was a hatmaker. So there were some creative genes in the pool somewhere.
ReplyDeleteNobody in my family made quilts. I took a local quilting class and after I finished the class, two of my sisters started quilting too.
ReplyDeleteMy maternal grandmother, who I never met, left a pile of hand-pieced Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks. I recently learned to do English paper piecing so I could try to finish her quilt.
ReplyDeleteI was inspired to sew by my grandmother and used her treadle machine as much as I was allowed. I gravitated towards quilting on my own. However, I did just find a group of basket blocks she had hand sewn and I hope to make a hanging for my sister and I to remember her by.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally adicted to quilting, but I'm the first in my family.
ReplyDeleteMy father's mother quilted, so I guess I inherited my love of quilting from her. I love your boat quilt. Thanks for the history lessons.
ReplyDeleteBoth of my grandmothers sewed and/or quilted, so I definitely inherited some of their creativity genes. I learned to crochet from my mom at a very young age, but she couldn't read patterns so I had to teach myself. I was told that my ability where crocheting was concerned also came from my great-great grandmother on mom's side of the family. I'm so thankful to have had creative women in my ancestry. I couldn't imagine life without a project of some sort to keep me occupied.
ReplyDeleteMy Mom was my inspiration. We both did garments and saved scraps. She died before I ever actually quilted, but I'm still working on her stash, and mine...wonder why the piles of fabric never go down? Her hand quilting is amazing. Shame on me for foregoing the old ways...
ReplyDeleteMy inspiration came from my grandma. She had the greatest scrap quilts on the upstairs beds and I wanted to learn how to make them. Although, I didn't make my first quilt until long after grandma passed.
ReplyDeleteLove your star and sailboats! My mother started quilting in her late 50's and made beautiful quilts. I never thought she had inspired me, but I use her quilts now and I am more interested in quilting than I used to be. But my first inspiration was a crazy quilt purse I bought at a flea market when I was a girl. I loved the mix of velvets and homestpun and the colorful embroidery.
ReplyDeleteMy Mom inspired me to quilt. She made quilts for the church bazaar raffles but never one for herself.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother taught me to quilt, but my mother inspired me to learn more.
ReplyDeleteSandy A
I was inspired to sew by my mom, and grandmothers, but no one ever quilted. They made clothes and curtains, and slipcovers. I've done all of that, plus wedding gowns, and lots of quilts. It's so much fun to quilt! My aunt did start around the same time as I did, in the 80s, but I don't think we realized we both loved quilting until recently.
ReplyDeleteMy babies inspired me to quilt, so I guess it was a relative!
ReplyDeleteGiffordjoan@gmail.com
Both my older sisters dabbled in quilting, but it was a coworker who got me started when she invited me to join a shoebox shuffle group 5 years ago.
ReplyDeletedezertsuz at gmail - I always forget! I love the quilts and the interview. Thanks for that and the chance to win. I was not inspired to quilt by relatives, though I later found out my mother did make quilts, and I even have one. She died when I was 9, so I was happy to have even a tied one. I ran across quilting first in the person who babysat my older sister's children!
ReplyDeleteI'm working on a patriotic quilt and this fabric would be wonderful addition. Thanks for the chance to win
ReplyDeleteABreading4fun [at] gmail [dot] com