My Oldest UFO

I have been enjoying reading your blogs about your oldest UFO's and the story behind them. Sometimes the story is so good you really don't want to finish the project. Here is my oldest UFO which dates back to 1950 - the year I was born. My grandmother started this and made two blocks before she died. She started it right after I was born and died 9 months later. She had a love of quilting, and although I have never seen any of her quilts, I have heard of her work and the fun they had making them. Daddy talks a lot about her butterfly applique quilts and my mom has made a quilt (which I proudly own) using the butterfly pattern that my Grandmother used.

My cousin, Ellen, gave me these blocks when I told her how much I missed knowing my Grandmother and seeing her quilts. Only one of the blocks that Grandmother made was with the kits, and I have 10 other kits that I can make blocks with. Each kit has the wedges cut and the fabric looks new, colors bright and they look like they could have come right off the Aunt Grace fabric shelf at the LQS. My picture does not do them justice, as their colors are much more vivid. The kit also has two muslin blocks, one with the ring pattern printed on the block and one plain block. I am not sure if the one with the pattern printed is for quilting the pattern on alternate blocks or for foundation piecing of the rings. The muslin blocks are stained with age, and I will probably need to replace them. I plan to finish this quilt that my grandmother started and for the missing block, I will make a memory block of her, including a picture.

And here is an update on my Christmas Beauty quilt which I finished quilting last night. The clam shell pattern in the body of the quilt turned out really nice and I added a Baptist fan border which I think looks nice too. I have not washed out the markings yet, so if you see some blue shining through that is why. I have the binding cut and ready to sew on, need to make the sleeve and label and this one will be done - hopefully by this weekend

I guess my oldest UFO that I started and still have in process would be my Dear Jane which I posted in an earlier blog. That one I have put away for another day - who knows, maybe someday my granddaughter will finish it for me!