Wednesday, November 24, 2010

GRANDMA'S PIECED BLOCKS

 Made from Grandma's pieced blocks.
This is one of the blocks that I talk about below.. I had to
put the ribbon to cover up stitches that did not do anything
for the pillow. The button is probably 40 years old.


 This is the three pillows together. For some reason the one with the check would not down load , but you can see it here.  I put navy blue velvet ribbon and the button to make it more feminine,






 This is the one I did that is more for a man. I did not add trim except for an old button.
My Grandma was a quilter.  Not a fancy quilter.  She did her own stuff.  I have seen her take an old blanket and use it for the filling.  I have seen her take old quilts and just put a new quilt top on.  I think maybe all this went back to the years of necessity.  Nothing was available so they used what was on hand.

In my teen years Grandma lived with us.  She  had her own little room that she could close off if she wanted to.  On the floor was a big box of scraps that different people gave her.  She lay in the bed and pieced together quilt tops.  Most of the time crazy quilts.  Just adding a piece until it was big enough for  a quilt then start another one.   Somewhere along the way she saw a pattern and just tried to make it.  I didn't realize this recently.

Last year, when Mom passed away, we had to go through the attic.  We found some blocks that Grandma had pieced together way back in the later 50's.I knew they were hers because she always used #8 quilting thread and sewed them a certain way.  You would never pulled her thread apart.  Even after all those years the thread is still good.

Each one of us got 3 blocks.  I looked at them and thought they were so ugly.  I put them away and thought one day I would get them out and do something with them.  I found them last week.  This week I decided to try my hand at something most people would throw away.

I did the one for a man first.  Then I was hooked~  I just had to finish the other two.  If you could have seen how ugly the squares were ~  Well, I am proud that I took something ugly and made something, in my opinion, very pretty.

That's the way our Lord is.  He will take our lives ~ ugly,warped, scarred, tangled, nothing much to look at, probably ready for the garbage ~ and will make something beautiful out of nothing if we let Him.  I may not be much to look at physically but the Lord has worked on my life and hopefully others see the beauty of Jesus seen in me.  I do desire my life to reflect Him.

I wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving.  As you gather with friends and family ~  stop and count some of your blessings.  They are many!

                              


11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those are beautiful Aliene. What a treasure.
May God bless your Thanksgiving my dear friend!
Hugs,
Deb

Dee said...

Nice pillows...are they gifts? I always thought I would like to quilt but I am the worse sewer ever.:) Have a blessed Thanksgiving. Dee

Angie Ledbetter said...

How lovely. Generations of loved stitched together and enjoyed again. Love that.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving and holiday season! :D

Nikki (Sarah) said...

these are really beautiful. And I like what you said about how God pieces our lives into something good. Happy Thanksgiving to you.....

Barbara said...

Those are such gorgeous pieces, I know your grandma would be proud. Love you and do have a blessed Thanksgiving, Hugs Barbara

Sherri said...

The pillows are great !!!

What did you need my help with?

Sherri said...

When you go to your dashboard you will see the following tabs

* Posting
* Comments
* Settings
* Design
* Monetize
* Stats
* View Blog
UNDER ^^^ those you will see the small links edit posts and edit pages..they will be blue links.

Click on Edit edit pages and it will take you to a page that will give you tabs of all your created tab pages...click on the one you want to post on and you will get a page exactly like you new blog post but it will go to you tab page.
* New Post
* Edit Posts
* Edit Pages


If this does not help shoot me a message back and I will help some more... I will be home all day.

Ella said...

Aliene~
They are just beautiful and so is this post.
Blessings, Ella

Donna~One Simple Country Girl said...

Those pillows are awesome! You did a great job! Thank you so much for the kind words you left on my blog. I have signed on to follow you!
Hugs,
Donna

Karla Cook @ Roads to Everywhere said...

What a great idea! They look really good. I'm glad you were able to preserve Great-grandma's quilt blocks that way.

Go peek at my blog today. ;-) And watch your mailbox!

Love you!

Camila Perkins said...

Thanks, great blog post