Getting Settled

7 comments
Now that I'm settled (mostly) in the sewing room I can get some of the rest of my house back in order. I've had to move my sewing area around in the past months to accommodate painting and remodeling. The family room is now back in order and I can look at my favorite corner of my home unobstructed.


This is a painting created from several photographs of the 1890s row home where I grew up in Pennsylvania. I slept in the bedroom on the left side of the home with the bay window until my sisters grew up and moved out. Then I took over the 3rd floor bedroom pictured at the top of the home. It was a lovely home with huge mouldings and high ceilings. It isn't very special anymore and the neighborhood is quite run down. But it was a very nice home in our working class neighborhood in the 60s-70s. I loved living on Church Street. (My parents moved to Utah in the mid 70s just before I graduated from high school.) I have wonderful memories of the happy carefree childhood I experienced in our home. My mother was the center of our home and her sewing room was the heart. When I look at the painting I am filled with peace and fondness for all that my parents and sisters mean to me and the many blessings I have from being reared in that home. Recently my brother-in-law was able to take the painting (with the consent from the artist) and digitally reproduce it on canvas. He worked very hard on it and its difficult to tell the original from the copies. I had them mounted and framed and gave them to my sisters for Christmas. I know they will enjoy this painting as much as I do.

The painting is on one side of the wall in the corner, and this quilt is on the other wall, as the 2 walls meet together. The cute little tea set is from 2 of my daughters. I don't drink tea but I do love tea sets and this one with the dots is totally "me".

This is probably the most favorite quilt I have ever made. Its in the book "Quilting with my Sister" by sisters Barbara and Teri (Teri really needs a blog). I have made several quilts from this book and I love them all. The quilt is special for several reasons. The first is several years ago our Material Girls quilt group used this as a block exchange. So many of the blocks are made with fabric and hands from the great women in our group. It was my favorite exchange so far. Secondly it was so much fun to make! It was just fun to use lots of different fabrics and enjoy how they blended together. Each of us put our own stems and leaves on. And I chose to use brown rick rack and brown braid and I really like how it turned out. The quilt is such a happy cheerful quilt. I had to make a couple more of them to give away later, it was just too much fun not to keep making those blocks. I still (if I had more time) would love to make more of the apple blocks. I think this summer I want to adapt the idea and enlarge the blocks and make one similar with pumpkins. That would be really fun to do. - nanette
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7 comments

antique quilter said...

what a nice story about the painting....
LOVE that apple quilt, so cute!
Kathie

Anonymous said...

A pumpkin version would be wonderful. I can picture it inmy mind..vibrant and so warming for the end of the year.

Purple and Paisley said...

oh, the picture of the house is beautiful(and so are your memories)! and i love the quilt...the pumpkin idea is wonderful...am wondering if you could make a block with 2 smaller apples each, add a couple of stems joined at the top with a leaf and call it a cherry quilt? or in blue for a blueberry quilt? ideas are fun...

Jana Nielson said...

I love that quilt! I love all red and white quilts, but the cherries are extra cute!

Di~ said...

Great post Nanette, thank you for sharing such interesting tidbits. Very cute apple quilt!
~D Spack~

Darlene said...

Love the story about the painting and your childhood home. I can imagine how peaceful you must feel when you look at it. Memories abound! :-)

The apple quilt is adorable and I agree with 'bigbucketgirl' - it would be wonderful as a pumpkin quilt.

Denise (Nour) said...

This is so neat - I made the same quilt with my sister Michelle. Mine's finished and I use it as my web banner for my blog! I love your little valentine quilt - gonna start one today! Thanks!