02 February 2010

A labor of love..How many years ago?!!!!

A box was found! What could be in it...hmmm, I remember a project from a long, long, time ago!

Twelve blocks, green leaves, colored thread, and a hoop

Tulip flowers! A favorite thing to see in the spring!!

Yes sirree, one finished quilt block, 11 to go. The whole thing done by hand by me. No wonder I never finished it! I think that I even thought of cheating, and doing the work by machine. I probably would have had it done by now. How long ago was this you ask? As I hang my head in shame, sigh, I worked on this over 20 years ago!!

All of this was a labor of love. My grandmother wrote down all the directions for me, and cut all of it out. It was a gift placed in my hands to one day remind me of her, and her love of sewing. She also has a love of gardening too! The sewing and painting are done when she can't be outside with her first love!

So as I look upon this I can say it is a reminder of love. It would definitely give me a lot of patience if I finished the rest of it by hand!!! Well, yes or no? By machine it would be done, and I would have at least one block done by hand. We shall see, we shall see.

10 comments:

Julie Marie said...

Oh Ulrike, that is beautiful! How sweet of your grandma to give you that to stitch... I think you will be happier if you do it by hand... the way your grandma would... no need to hurry with it, it would be relaxing to sit and stitch... xoxo Julie Marie

Madelief said...

Hi Ulrike,

What a beautiful quilt! You'll have to finish it. Isn't that the most important thing?! Does it matter if it is done by hand or machine :-)

I would love to see the final result!!

Lieve groet, Madelief

Roses and Lilacs said...

What a lovely reminder of your grandmother. I feel that is is the memory that is special. I would finish it by machine and use it:)
Manrie

Anonymous said...

Hi Ulrike,
So sweet! I have a handwritten letter from my Grandmother saved away. I only wish I had saved them all.
I also have a finished quilt top that I made stored away in a box - and I'm also saying, we shall see, we shall see. :)
Hugs,
Zuzu

Akaleia said...

What wounderful remebers, Ulrike.
I wish you a lot of patience and joy for this embroidery.
LG
Birgit

Comfrey Cottages said...

oh ulrike this is so sweet! what a lovely memory of your grandmother:) you know, as a grandmother myself, i would tell my granddaughter that there is neither any shame in having an unfinished project nor in using any labor saving/time saving convenience you might have, such as a sewing machine! either way it is still going to be so special to you:) thank you for sharing. and believe me dear, you are not the only one with unfinished projects in boxes. only mine are not as precious as this one;-) big hugs to you and thanks for sharing

stadtgarten said...

What a lovely memory! I hope you will find the time and the patience to finish this quilt!
Monika

The Pink Birdhouse said...

What a beautifully written post about a lovely quilt block, and the note from your grandmother written in her own handwriting! You will finish that quilt some day, I can hear it in the way you talk of your grandmother! I don't think that it would matter if by hand or machine, the important thing is that it is made, and how much your grandma would LOVE that! I was not surprised to read that it had been lying in the closet for 20 years. I have recently found 3 needlepoint and cross stitch projects that I started many years ago, packed away and never finished. One of them came over to Germany with me when I moved almost 30 years ago! Now that is an old unfinished project! But I kept it, and say to myself, "some day".

Ulrike, I was thrilled to read about your german roots, how you can speak both languages and the little troubles with writing it. It is the same for me. I have lived here a long time, am fluent in speaking german, but when it comes to writing it, oy! And my kids are bi-lingual, and of course learn englísh in school, but they still have a hard time writing english. Their first language is german of course and english comes in a close second. They understand it all, but mostly just speak german to me here in the home, although the older ones speak more and more english. My oldest at 25 speaks almost all english to me since he was the one that spent the most time in the states with me over the years and has the most influence from there. thanks so much for sharing your story with me!! hugs, Debby

Hopeful Homemaker said...

What a treasure, to have the instructions written by your grandmother! Amazing!

Barbara said...

I too have long standing projects that I hope to finish one day! It's lovely.

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