A share-n-tell type of show-n-tell ;)

This Lone Star Quilt was hand pieced and hand quilted by my Grandmother, Momma Newt. She gave it to my parents as a wedding gift in 1954. It was her tradition to give couples a quilt of this pattern when they married and she did so for all of her children and 17 of her 18 grandchildren.

Momma Newt passed away in 1995 two years before my wedding so since I was the only one in the family who didn't receive a Lone Star made my Momma Newt my mother gifted me with the one she and Daddy received some 40+ years before. ;)


I'm so lucky to have such a special and meaningful treasure. I love all of my "Momma Newt Quilts" especially this one! So last year when it was time to hit the road runnin' to evacuate for Hurricane Ike, I couldn't take EVERY quilt... but y I grabbed up this one along with a few others and loaded em up in the passenger's side around the computer. They made for good padding and I knew I just couldn't live with out them if our home flodded.

This share, show-n-tell post was prompted by the give-away takeing place over at Connie's webpage http://www.quiltqua.com/ you have until May 31st to enter and share a quilt with her for her big show and tell and for doing so you will be entered to win one of 3 Moda Jelly Rolls. ;)

This is the link to where you enter your quilt and give a description of it along with the details on who designed, made, and quilted it. ;)

Love from Texas!

Closer look at my quilting frame

Someone emailed and asked for a closer look at my quilting frame set up. Here is a photo I took of it. See, nothing fancy. Just plain and simple... I describe it as a saw horse design because that is what the two end pieces remind me of.I don't think he has a lot invested in it... under $100 easily and it would be easy to make for anyone who has a handy husband. My dad used pine b/c it is soft and you want that for tacking the ends to the poles. And this time he made me two sets of poles. One for bed size quilts that I think he said are 90" and another set that are for lap or crib size quilts that measure 60" which are stored in the garage right now.

It isn't hard to put together. We spread everything out on my floor in the den and mom and dad use to use a bed in the basement to put the quilt on the polls. Just remember to roll one side over and the other side over so the quilter doesn't have to have their arm over a hump as they hand quilt. ;)

This is the second frame my daddy has made. The first frame like this before I was born some 30+ years ago for my mother and she used it for years and years. When she died in 1999 there had been the same quilt in the frame for almost 10 years!!! YES 10 years!!! See when she stopped smoking, she also stopped quilting. B/C every time she sat down to quilt she craved a cigarette! Plus the fact that the quilt in the frame was only a pretty bed sheet with a quilt looking design on it - I guess it wasn't really worth it to finish up... no big loss right?

Well, it sat there in the laundry room of the basement for several years after she died... with all sorts of stuff piled up on top of it... takin up the room... and it never dawned on me that I would want it until last summer when Daddy and Clara were planning a trip down to TX... and asked if there was anything I wanted... and I spoke up about momma's quilt frame. Only I spoke up too late! They had cleared it out and given it away... quilt and all. (again, no big loss as far as the quilt goes..) but I wanted that frame. Oh well, it was my fault for not asking for it years earlier.

So I was surprised when Daddy brought it on his recent trip here earlier this month!!! I quickly moved around some things in the den so it would have a home behind the sofa. I had to piece together a backing for my Round Robin Texas Treasures while the day we put it in the frame as I wasn't prepared! Lucky for me I had enough scraps to use!

It's ok that I don't have the exact frame Momma used...I have the next best thing - one just like it! However I only wish Momma had kept a journal of her quilt making and often wonder how many quilts she made over the years?!?! She could have taken a Polaroid of each of them and filled a album easily! She gave every one she ever quilted away except for the 3 Grandmother Fan Quilts for my brothers and I. These were the first 3 momma ever made from start to finish all by herself. Barry's corners were black, Brian's were brown and mine were that fabulous 70's gold! :P

Sadly, that very first one she made for my oldest brother Barry, he doesn't have. His EXwife still to this day has it and she has been married 3 more times since Barry and it is on her bed! I have no clue as to the story there... perhaps Barry never asked for it, I don't know... I was just a junior in High School when they divorced... but I saw it on her bed the last time I was visiting my nephew at her newest husband's home just a few years ago.

Currently there are three quilts quilted by my mother still at my parent's home. One is a apple green and red Christmas quilt that my Momma Newt hand pieced and mom quilted... and b/c of it's bold fabrics, my grandmother refused it back b/c she was sick of looking at it! LOL

In November when we were at Dad's last, I noticed Clara had it spread out over the back of the sofa in the den and using it as part of the Christmas decorations. :) It made me feel good to see it out and being used again!

Another quilt is of a cross stitch pattern. Oh how I remember daddy and I having a time separating all of that floss for her!!! Looking back, I am not sure how much I helped, but at the time I sure thought I was..... I don't think Daddy particularly liked the quilt or the colors, but he claimed it b/c he knew how much work went into it and didn't want her to give it away!

and the third quilt still at my parents that my mother hand quilted is A Trip Around the World that my Momma Newt hand pieced for my father as a Birthday gift to him... so naturally he still has it... but I so hope that one day it gets to come home with me! As it is my most favorite of all quilts Momma Newt ever made. I don't know why it is, but it is. I was about 10-11 when it was made and I remember visiting her and her showing me how many "trips" she had made around the world as she made progress... then I clearly remember the quilt being at our home while in my mother's frame and she stitched 1/4" around each and every block. The backing is all white and is sooo beautiful!!!!

Sorry, no photo of that one. Maybe this summer when I am home I will remember to get it out and take a picture of it.....and maybe, just maybe Daddy will say I can take it home! :P

But, about my quilt frame.....The only thing I would change and may have him work on the next time he visits if it is in the next couple months... is SAND the wood on the bottom of the saw horses! It is rough and I can't imagine how bad it would be for one of the twins to craw up on it and get stuck! Perhaps if I can find a hand stapler I can add some batting and scrap fabric to cover?

Well.....hey, lookie here... with all the kids asleep, I actually got to write a long post and share lots of photos! yeahhh!!! ;c) See... I told you I was gonna try and be a better poster. :)

Love from Texas!!! ~Bonnie

10/11/1905 - Happy Birthday Momma Newt

Growing up I only had one living grandparent. My Daddy's mother - Nettie Mae Page was her maiden name before she married my grandfather Walter Louis Newton (who passed away when my Daddy was only 23)

All day I have been thinking of her and thought I would share some memories of her here on my blog. On this day, 101 years ago my grandmother was born.

"Momma Newt" is what everyone called her. The oldest of the 18 grandchildren gave her that name and for decades that is what she went by. Even church friends and people from our small town in Kentucky all called her "Momma Newt". :C)

When I came along, the youngest of the 18 grandchildren, Momma Newt was always so worried that she would die before I was old enough to remember her. She was 69 at the time I was born. I guess that is why she took to spoiling me pretty good ;) and even gave my mother this Sunbonnet Sue twin size quilt when I was born.



She had made it growing up long before the days of electricity. So she had to use candlelight at nighttime. The blocks are made using flower sacks and she told my mom that she made it when she was a girl. I am guessing she was 9-12 at the time? She wanted me to be the one to have it since I was the youngest grandchild - the one before me was already 16 when I was born.. So my mom took the precious gift and we kept the secret all of my life so that no one else in the family would know I had such a special treasure. It was one of 2 quilts that my mom rotated on my twin size bed when I was growing up. I use to love to get Momma Newt to come look at my room when she visited and she would smile and say how happy it made her to see it on my bed and that she made it and had it on her bed too when she was a little girl like me! :c) (the SBS's are in each direction so that when the quilt is on the bed they are not upside down on one side of the bed)

Lucky for both of us she lived to be nearly 90 years old and I grew up having her in my life with hundreds of wonderful memories! I only regret that she could have seen me get married, but she died 2 years before. I was engaged already though, so she did know David before she passed away. :)

I wish I had a photo of her to share with you but don't at this time. My favorite photo was taken at Christmas time when I was 18 years old - and I was sitting in her lap! I gasp now thinking that I sat on a 87 year old woman's lap but at the time it was what she wanted for the photo.

You see, she had this tradition - b/c there were 18 of us grandkids... she had a thing with the number 18. With 23 great grand kids coming up and more on the way - she decided that 18 would be our cut off year for Christmas gifts so that she could keep up with the younger ones. So for our last year to get a gift = or rather our special 18th Christmas we got a hand pieced quilt top made by Momma Newt.

She called this pattern Birds in flight, although it doesn't look like any Birds in flight pattern I've seen while googeling it and looking for more information.... I have yet to find out it's official name. Do you know what it's called?? The blocks are put together with 4 trapezoids and a center square sorta like a "Spool" block would be made.

Anyway, what ever it's called... Cheers to you Momma Newt - Happy Birthday! - I love you and am so grateful I had you as my grandmother! I cherish all the wonderful memories you gave us!!!