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Monday, November 20, 2006

Nov. Journal Quilt_ From Granny to Rie



My November journal quilt celebrates the passing of traditions, skills, and loves from generation to generation; specifically from Granny to me (Francie Rie, my childhood nickname). I used vintage fabrics and ephemera from Granny's stash to construct this fabric collage, the only non-vintage item is the chicken button, but for Granny I had to include a chicken.

The background fabric is two three pound muslin sugar sacks from the Crystal Sugar Company factory in Rocky Ford, Colorado (my birthplace). Poppa worked at the factory and Daddy raised sugar beets for it on the farm. Granny would bleach out the text on the sacks and use the muslin in her quilts. The last two that I found in her quilting stuff have been very precious to me and I've known that someday I'd find a way to use them meaningfully. I made no effort to remove the age stains from the sacks because I didn't want to fade the labels any more than they already were.

The top border is a remnant of a pieced border that was left over when a quilt was finished. The Log Cabin fabrics were pieces from her stash and frame a four generation photo of Gramma Graham, Granny Corf, Mom Evy, and baby Francie Rie (short for Marie, which my cousin, Deanie couldn't pronounce). Notice that the smile hasn't changed that much through the years. These wonderful women gave me a very good start in life.

The photo and the ephemera are all printed onto prepared cotton sheets and fused to the background and edge stitched by machine. The green label is from a package of red rickrack that still has some of the rickrack on it. (Granny's generation saved and used everything.) The green hexagons are from the unfinished Grandmother's Flower Garden pieces that I've used in several of my journal quilts. I made a yo-yo from a piece of her fabric and attached it to the center of the circle logo with an old red button. The crocheted butterfly is also from Granny's stash and is machine stitched on with an old bakelite button for the body. The left side was bordered by sewing on a part of an actual old tape measure from the collection.

The back has one of Granny's quilt pattern clippings from the Capper's Weekly printed on cotton and fused on along with two old needle packages, which were also printed onto cotton and fused on. These appear to be from the WWII time frame but the Eagle has "made in Germany" printed on it so must be from right after the war when the USA was occupying part of Germany.
I can't quite imagine the Germans making USA patriotic needle packages while they were fighting us.


I've had the pieces and parts of this page in my Journal Quilt project box since the first of the year and am so pleased that I finally figured out a way to use them in this tribute to Granny's impact on my life.

If you click on the picture to enlarge it you will be able to see a note in Granny's handwriting on the clipping.

7 comments:

Rian said...

What a beautiful, meaningful collage and homage to your ancestors. Well done.

QuiltingFitzy said...

Fran, you've really stuck to this project and have put alot of thought into each journal. Job well done.

Sandra said...

Another beautiful tribute, Fran. I hope you can find a way to put all of this years quilts together in some meaningful way. They are wonderful.

Debra Dixon said...

Printing the sewing notions onto fabric is really taking the printing idea to a whole new level. Good for you for discovering how to do that and then doing it! It is a nice contrast to the actual tape measure piece. I believe this may be my favorite page!

Granny Fran said...

I hate the "no reply" addresses on the comment e-mails; it used to be so easy to hit reply and answer each comment.
Rian, Fitzy, Sande, and Debra, Thanks for your comments.
Sande, I am thinking about how to attach these together in book form so that each page can be seen front and back. Not satisfied with methods I have come up with so far.
Debra, I did not want to use the paper originals so glad it worked to print them onto the cotton. I am such a nut about old sewing notions and Granny saved them all.

DebbyMc said...

Wonderful, Fran. I have some letters that my grandma wrote to me, it is so special to have their writing, somehow. I really love this journal, it is so thoughtfully done and I agree with Debra--this may be my favorite. Great job!

jenclair said...

I love this one! Well, I know I've said that before, but it is true every time.