Once a year, Amy of Amy’s Creative Side hosts the Blogger’s Quilt Festival (in the spring she hosts the #IGQuiltFest). Bloggers can share two quilts of their choosing by writing a new blog post for each quilt and linking to the festival link party. I always enjoy getting to see what is shared, so thanks to my long time followers for reading about this quilt again, and welcome to any new visitors!
Babsie {Mini Quilt}
I created this mini quilt in loving memory of Babsy, Barbara Nieters Buchen.
The overlapping circles at the bottom represent the connection between generations and the free-floating orange peel at the top is the separation felt in losing Babsie, the last of her generation in our families. During a week spent with family, I began hand quilting the piece in the evenings as we remembered Grandma: her love of food, her horrible massages, and her unyielding curiosity to the end. She graduated with a degree in Chemistry in the 1940s, supported her family during WWII, and she was a pillar in her community and family.
Babsie {Mini Quilt Detail}
The mini quilt finished at 12″ wide by 16″ tall.
The upper orange peel has a double layer of batting (I used Quilter’s Dream Dream Orient batting), and I machine basted the batting to the quilt top in preparation and stabilization prior to hand quilting.
Babsie {Mini Quilt Detail}
I used a combination of Aurifil thread colors and weights for the hand quilting. I used: 28wt 2135 (Yellow), 40wt 2340 (Cafe’ au Lait), and 40 wt 2312 (Ermine). My plans for the quilting evolved as I stitched along, and I especially love the quilting detail in the overlapping circles orange peel where the 2135 and 2340 merge and blend together.
Babsie {Mini Quilt Detail}
The texture of the mini quilt is really like nothing else I have ever done. The final background stitches in the upper right hand corner took me about 8 hours to complete. I purposefully made the quilting more and more dense in that area and less dense in the lower left. Loss can make us feel unmoored, ungrounded, and floating with the weight of the world pressing down on us. I tried to achieve that feeling with the quilting.
Babsie {Mini Quilt Backing}
This is a full view of the back of the mini quilt. The quilt is made using American Made Brand solids, and to add to the finish I graduated the binding fabrics to mimic the piecing in the quilt top.
Please visit the Blogger’s Quilt Festival over at Amy’s Creative Side taking place September 17 – 24, 2018, where you can post two of your quilts (new blog posts written this week) and see the other beautiful quilts entered in the festival.
I am glad you are entering this one as every time I see it it moves me. Well done Yvonne.
Amazing how you see things differently on a second look. I was so focused on your hand quilting details the first time that I missed the color gradation of the binding. Nice to see this one again!
Love the quilt. The festival is going to be filled with some amazing quilts!
I love this one, Yvonne. Probably my favourite work of yours (which is saying a lot!). The meaning behind the design and all the detail and texture you incorporated is just stunning.
I marvel at hand-quilted pieces and wonder why you possibly find the time! A truly lovely memorial creation.
ugh “how” not “why”
Love your quilting – it looks awesome 🙂
That is such a lovely quilt and I think your deep feelings come through. You are brave in the ways you put yourself “out there”, expressing yourself in non-conventional ways. The hand quilting really makes this quilt and puts more of YOU in it. Thank you for sharing it!
This is really beautiful, both visually and knowing and understanding the emotions behind it. I really appreciate how thoughtful you are in expressing the feelings in your quilts and quilting decisions.
Hello Yvonne, This is such a spectacular quilt and as I read your post, every part of this quilt shows you and your time with Barbara. I am so thrilled that you shared this part of your life with us and how much a quilt can help us, show parts of ourselves and the healing begins. I think it is monumental that you are sharing this special work of art with us and anyone new. Have a fabulous day Yvonne!
The textures are amazing, and I’m sure reflect the textures and complexity of your grandma’s personality. Beautifully rendered!
lovely entry!
great entry! nice stitching and color pallet
This is really a pretty and meaningful quilt. So glad that you shared it’s story with us.,
Love your yellow color palette and your awesome hand quilting.
This is beautiful. Such depth in both artistry and meaning. My favorite so far of the BQF Quilts.
This is a special quilt! I love the hand stitching you added…a very personal touch!
Yvonne, this is a great choice for Blogger Fest. Every time I see your quilts, I always see something new that intrigues me.
What a perfect choice of quilt for blogger’s quilt festival – one that means so much and you’ve put so much emotion into. It’s a lovely quilt too. The colours are soft sunshine (early morning or late evening maybe) and the transparency brings to mind dancing dust motes. Anyway, that’s what I see which may be more than was ever intended 😉 Love it!
Such an incredibly symbolic quilt (the best kind IMHO). Love reading about the process, how the quilt and the quilting evolved. Just all kinds of goodness here.
The texture the hand quilting gives this quilt is amazing, such a beautiful piece of art and love.
I love this quilt, the memory aspect, the colors, the hand quilting with these beautiful threads, the binding… such a beauty!
A degree in chemistry in the 1940s? Wow that’s impressive. I bet she had lots of fun stories about working in a lab was like back then. It’s a beautiful and bright mini.
Yep! Still love it! and the story behind it!!
Glad you are sharing this one again. It’s packed with meaning and really really lovely.
How lovely to revisit this quilt,both as a reminder of the story behind it and also to get a second look at the detail of things. Still love it!
A lovely quilt, and a beautiful sentiment behind it.
I still love all that glorious texture. I missed the changes in your binding before. That is really neat.
I really love this little quilt, Yvonne. It is a joy to get to see it again 🙂
your quilt really does cover the subject matter well. The terrible massages made me smile. My favourite aunt used to give me hand massages, and they were awful. I was lucky to have a bone in my hand that wasn’t broken when she was finished.