Diary Block Quilt

 

Warning: Long post of pictures and words!

 

 

Today is the final day of my Diary Quilt Block Tuesday. The last block is made and the quilt is together at long last. The block shown is filled with lots of symbolism. I finally decided to have my name on it instead of initials. The "K" is for my first name, next to it is a pin that has my maiden name on it. That was important to me because I just realized all my interest in sewing did come from family members.

 

 

 

 

The first person was my great grandmother, Grandma Dolly who sat me on her knee at the age of 4 to embroider a tea towel, the next person was my Grandma Aggie, who made a tied quilt when my mom was in the hospital giving birth to my youngest sister. I was 7 and thought this was amazing that some one would do this! Next was my mom who taught me in the most painful way possible how to make coulottes in the 1970's.....I knew there had to be an easier way.... the last person was my cousin Mary Beth who came for a visit and whipped up some things on the sewing machine for me and my sisters. She was 6 years older and very cool, after all she had a blue princess phone in her BEDROOM, unheard of at the time.

 

 

 

A shamrock because I am Irish, a clock because there is never enough time to sew, scissors just because what is sewing with out scissors? a postage stamp basket pin that a friend who died gave me a long time ago, an antique button from my grandmother's button box, the pin with the little red cross on it is an antique pin that says "perfect attendance" because each block was completed on time!

 

 

 

 

 

The music pin because it is the truth, I grew up with the best music ever, I feel sorry for kids today. My Mary medal because she is my favorite. Two patches from my Girl Scout sash, the sewing badge...... the stitches that I used to sew this on my sash will make you laugh! The wings are for how freeing this quilt made me feel.

 

 

Pretty bad!

 

 

 

 

This is the entire quilt which is a little difficult to see. It is a gloomy day here so it is hard to find a spot to take a picture.

 

 

 

When I went back to look at my original post I found that I did keep to my rules

I only messed up on the size of one block and added some strips to get it right.

I kept it pretty light and fun, nothing too serious.

 

 

 



The one thing I did not do was use a lot of new techniques, I stayed with what was familiat to me.
The colors were pretty much what I wanted with the exception of 2 blocks, but they stayed because that was the rule. The bottom right block was the only block I really did not like. It is supposed to be a redbud branch....hummm.

They are all quilted differently and not all heavily.
I did not use any paint and I thought I would but I used a lot of Barbie accessories!.

Each block was made on time except for the 2 times I was sick. It was the can't get out of bed kind of sick.....
I loved including the blocks that the grandkids made, it got me off the hook those weeks.

Only one was made on Tuesday, afternoon, nothing like waiting until the last minute, and I had no idea what I was going to do....

Overall I really enjoyed this project. The blog helped keep me honest and on track. I am the type person that does not want to disappoint. Many people were waiting each week to see what was next. By the last 5 blocks I was getting burned out. I wanted to move on.

The following are my favorite blocks

 

 

This one took 5 minutes to make and is one of the best ones!

I really like this one because it is the last one and I wanted it to be symbolic of the whole idea behind this quilt. For days I was rolling ideas around in my head and was starting to panic I would not be able to come up with something good enough. It sums the quilt up perfectly.

I was asked if I would do it again?? Maybe in distant future, I want to do some other things now. It was such a good learning project, I could meet a deadline, come up with some creativity every week (well some days) but most importantly I look at everything differently now. Every day I would look to see if  this or that would work in the Diary Quilt, I am still doing it!
Thanks for tagging along, your lovely comments made it all worth while!

Kelly