Five Generation Flannel Quilts Finished!

Over year ago, at our grandkids Whitney and Jameson's combined birthday party, I was approached by their Grandma Lisa from their dad Jesse's side of the family.  She had a box full of flannel squares that were partially assembled quilt tops.  They had been started by Lisa's Grandmother Mary Kostichka.  Sadly, she never got to finish them before she died 25 years ago, in 1993. 

Lisa asked if the material could be of any use to me.  I have never quilted flannel before, but I was willing to give it a try.  And of course, I decided to finish the quilts in memory of the woman who started them, and return the finished quilts to the family!

These would be quilts for my grandkids Whitney and Jameson, started by their GREAT GREAT GRANDMOTHER MARY.  Wow... mind boggling.  Can you imagine this woman, looking down from Heaven, realizing that someone was going to finish her work and give it to the great great grandchildren she never dreamt of yet?


It took me a while to clear my decks of other projects and tackle these flannel squares. Some were started into panels, some were just cut out, some were seamed in groups of twos. Some were one size and some where another. I noticed right away that flannel from years ago was a LOT thicker and nicer and tightly woven than the newer flannel of nowadays in the stores. 

I sorted and pieced, and arranged the squares. I soon realized that I would be able to get THREE queen sized quilts from this fabric.  That would be great, because besides my grandkids Jameson and Whitney, there is another little cousin named Scarlett that is the daughter of Tyler, my soninlaw Jesse's only sibling.  So now I could make THREE quilts.... and send one back to the grandmother Lisa to decide if Scarlett needs it or just to keep it her house for all of them to share with cuddles and naps. 

Once I had the pieces mostly figured out, now I had to use my coupons, watch the sales, and get three thick cotton quilt battings for the insides.  Most people don't realize that a quality type of cotton queen sized quilt batting runs in the $50 range.  Add to that the backing, fabric, thread (another $100 easily)  and then the time to make them--- that is why handmade quilts cost so much!

That is why I wait for my coupons and buy a few good cotton battings at a time, for whatever the coupon allows.  I don't ever bother with cheap polyester battings anymore. They are not worth the time and never hold up after a while.

Then I needed to buy 6 yards of flannel for the back side of each quilt.  Again, I wait for a sale and use a coupon as well.  I found fairies for Whitney, crazy animals for Jameson, and some lovely little birds on birch trees for the last quilt for Grandma Lisa.

Once I got all the pieces together, 

it was time to load each one onto my quilting frame.

It's called a Quilt Sandwich. 

Top, batting and backing. 

Now the real work begins (but it's fun!)

As I sew the quilts, I love to do a swirly pattern with a freehand motion. It's like drawing on the quilt sandwich with thread.... and I drive the sewing machine over the surface with care and control on the machine handles that rides along on a sliding carriage underneath the quilt. The faster you move, the longer the stitches, the slower you move, the tighter the stitches.  So you try to go as evenly as possible to make a nice quilting stitch.

This is a sketch of my stitching,

I call it Hooks N Swirls

It took me a while, but I finished up all three quilts, and did the binding on the edges as well.   Steve helped me hang them all up on the clothesline before we had too much snow in the yard.  It was a real feeling of accomplishment to get them all done!  

This one is mostly peachy pink, yellow and some turquoise colors'

It has the fairy princess backing fabric

and it's for Whitney who is 3 years old. 

The next quilt is more reds and blues

and I had to add a few more boyish blocks to finish it up.

 It went well with the crazy boyish animal backing fabric.

It is for grandson Jameson

who is 10 years old. 

Although he is "cool", 

it's great to snuggle up with for playing video games! 

The last quilt of the three quilts is more pastel,

softer pinks and blues and lilacs.

I really liked this backing fabric of tiny birds and birch trees.

I made the label more generic for the family provenance,

 in case Lisa wants to keep it at her house.

And I added an extra label to attach over this one,

if she wants to give it to Scarlett later on. 

The leftover scraps of the odd cut blocks 

were enough to make up two little dolly blankets! 

I made up tags for them---

specifically for Whitney and Scarlett to have. 

They can cuddle up the dollies, teddy bears, 

and even Whitney's beloved Super Grover! 

I explained to Jameson and Whitney who their Great Great Grandmother Mary was,

and how she never got around to finishing the quilts. 

But now I did so they can have them and cuddle.

I want to see them used, loved and worn with years of good service.

Jameson agrees! 

When I gave Whitney her quilt, 

she thought I was trying to make her take a nap!  LOL 

Later, our daughter Heather made a video of the kids

and their quilts....  

click on this You Tube link:

Precious. 

So this is for you 

Great Great Grandmother Mary to my grandchildren.  

Five generations later

Your quilts are DONE! 

How Did It Become December Already?

NOTICE- I had to change the comments from allowing Anonymous over to only Blogger or Google ID's. I have been spammed something awful for the last month or so and having a hard time removing all the bad comments and spam. Now all comments are monitored. Sorry!


It seems like last week was just Thanksgiving.  Hmmmmmm????

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend.  We started off with a nice meal and family gathering of the Pfundtner Clan at Steve's brother Pete and wife Cindy's lovely home in Menasha.  Many of the family gathered for the day, and we brought some dishes to pass, including the famous Green Bean Casserole!  It is so nice if everyone pitches in something to share.

Even Aunt Nancy made it from Milwaukee with the help of the Hrlevich kids who transported her to and from the event.  All of her children are spread to three far corners of the USA and she would have been all alone.  How nice to share with her.

We visited with Steve's siblings, nieces and nephews all afternoon.  It was so sunshiney warm and nice. The roads were good for travelling and the traffic was light for the ones who had to come from far away around Wisconsin.

It was a good time of family togetherness and thankfulness. The day turned into evening and we toddled on home to our two waiting anxious doggies.  They don't like it when we are gone that long.

~~~~~~~~

On Friday, Steve and I are NOT Black Friday shoppers to say the least.  Instead we stayed home and Steve hauled in the bags containing the five parts of our artificial tree.

During the last few years, the prices of real live Christmas trees went up over $40-50 around here!  We retired folks on our meager budget bought an artificial one that was really nice. Pretty lifelike, plus it can be put up earlier in the season and stay up longer without danger of drying out.  We got it from a fellow knitter in Shawano during the middle of summer. It was too tall for her condo that she recently moved to, and she sold it to us for a song.  It went up quick as a wink, and we were soon adding his fun LED lights.  He gets quite precise on placing each one where he thinks it will shine outwards to it's best advantage.  A bit OCD I guess?

He loves these LED lights because they are remote controlled, and he can play with the look of tree all of the time.  He can make them go all white, or all colored, or various flashing patterns.  Ahhhhh keeps him happy!   I got on the ornaments and garland.  All set.

We got some decorations up on the outside of the house. The outside stuff goes on quick, because I leave it all assembled, complete with the bows tied on the right places in the scallops of garland.  I have nice little white hooks I keep on the house year round to make it even easier.

 We even got a little snow! 

We decorate the inside of the front porch too, 

and sometimes it is warm enough to set out there a bit during the daytime. 

 This is the little tree we used to set up in the motorhome.

It's called "Our Family Tree"

with each members name on an ornament.

We set the timers for the right on and off times to have them work through the evening, but shut off at bedtime. Ahhh so festive!

Inside of the house, we did a bit of this and that, here and there.  Then I started to put up my village.

As I set up the lights that go into each building, I noticed that the lights were very, very hot to the touch and flickered a bit.  The string is about 35 years old now, so it was time for new village lights.  We headed on out to Walmart and found nice cool LED lights with a warm yellowish glow (not that glaring greenish or blinding blue of some LED lights).  Now I feel much safer.

This year I put it in the big hutch we have in the family room. This hutch is original to the home and was built in 1913.  I think it's pretty cool to set the village up inside, so the grandkids can look at it but kinda keep it safe from tiny hands.

Many years ago, I painted each and every building and even some of the little people.  Soon the rest of the village was set up, with added new people and some fences and trees from my neighbor Diane's rummage sale this past summer.

There... all done! 

The Christmas music has been playing almost non-stop on the sound system, and we are really getting into the spirit! Most of the decor is done and we can now relax to enjoy the season.

~~~~~~~~

Saturday after Thanksgiving was our time to spend with OUR kids and grandkids.  We set aside a separate day for our own close family gathering, so each of our kids can spend the actual Thanksgiving with their own little families and spouses's families.... setting traditions to remember.  We do the same with Christmas too. It's not about the actual date on the calendar, but about being together and making memories.

Our daughter Erin and her husband Waylen hosted at their home in Oconto.  Waylen's parents were visiting from Oklahoma and we really enjoy seeing them.  They fit right in as "our kind of people".  Our nephew and niece in law also came to join in.  It was so great to have all seven of our little grandkids together.  It's kinda hard to get them all to sit still long enough to take a photo with all seven faces smiling and looking at Grandma's Camera!

They all sat around the "Kid's Table" which Erin adorned with a Thanksgiving coloring tablecloth.  The crayons were shared and they kept busy until the mounds of great food was loaded onto each of their plates. The moms watched over the wee ones while eating to make sure we didn't have a spontaneous food fight or anything. The grownups ate in the other room and the kitchen was chock full of great smells and laughter echoed throughout the house. 

 I made a little You Tube video clip of the fun, 

and each one saying what they were thankful for: 

(plus I had a chance to deliver a few special quilts, that I will write about in my next blog) 

It was great to get in some snuggles,

 and watch the little cousins interact with each other.  

Chelsea and Allegra doing something on a tablet. 

Whitney was showing us her mothering skills with a stuffed monkey.

 Chelsea was showing us her first crochet project, a little hat for her sisters stuffed animal.

Silly Mason had to get in a snuggle and pull some goofy antics.

Littlest Claire wanted to see all the "family" charms on my necklace

and snuggle for a few stories, 

then a few more stories, 

and then a few more stories! 

Yes, it's family.... and grandkids... that I am most thankful for.  With all of the crazy bad things that go on in the outside world, it's so wonderful to cuddle up to these bundles of innocence, love and good family sharing on Thanksgiving.

And soon it will be my MOST FAVORITE DAY of the year... Erin brings ALL SEVEN grandkids to my house to decorate Christmas Cookies!!!!!   Boy oh boy oh boy oh boy!