The Full Sized Quilt

A few months ago, Shelly, my best friend from high school, send me a beautiful quilt block that featured a horse. 

Shelly hand stitched and hand quilted the entire block, and it is beautiful.

The horse and its tack is appliquéd (again, by hand) to the quilt block. Makes my hands hurt just to look at all those details and teeny tiny stitches.

The original quilt that was the inspiration for Shelly's quilt was done by a woman named Rachel Meyer in the mid 1800s. That quilt is in the collection of the Museum of the Maryland Center for History and Culture. (Photo from their web site.)

  Shelly recently completed her Rachel Meyer quilt and posted a photo of it on Instagram.

She made herself a second quilt block like the one she made me and placed it in the upper left hand corner.

My quilt block is going to be on display and used as a customer draw/business sign for me when I take Jolis Chevaux on the road. When I do, I will share some photos of it here.

A Gift from a Dear Friend

Earlier this week I got a text from my high school best friend, Shelly, saying to look for a package that she'd sent me. I couldn't imagine why she'd done that, so I was very curious when it arrived on Saturday. I opened the package and literally gasped.

A Rachel Meyer quilt block of a horse that she'd hand appliquéd and hand quilted for me! (I wish I had ironed it instead of taking photos of it straight from the package.)

Shelly had included a note explaining that when I'd had my spinal fusion last April she had started it for me as a get well gift, but she had only just finished it. (I'd say it was worth the wait!)

A Rachel Meyer quilt that Shelly made for herself - all hand stitched.

I've done hand appliqué and it can be hard. It amazes me that Shelly could do those tiny bridle rosettes without the raw edges popping open and showing. And look at those tiny, even quilting stitches along the tack!

More even, perfectly straight hand quilting stitches. 

Shelly thoughtfully put casing on the back in case I wanted to hang the quilt block. (I may.)

I began sewing in high school and never took any lessons or anything - I taught myself. But when I had questions, Shelly was always willing to be a resource and help me figure things out. 

We both did 4-H, but she was in Clothing Design and Construction and got to dress elegantly and model her creations onstage in the large pavilion at the fairgrounds. Meanwhile, I was in Horse and Pony, wearing dusty jeans and boots, and shoveling manure in the livestock barns!

A sewist since age 8, Shelly taught Clothing Construction and Design until she retired and only started quilting in 2015.

She has been productive ever since - take a gander at some of the quilts she has made. (All quilt photos by Shelly.)

I look at those sharp, finely pointed stars and shake my head in amazement at her talent.

I would love to either put this on my bed or use it as a wall hanging in the Fall. 

This one took third place at a quilt show in Pennsylvania. (If this was third, I can't imagine what first and second looked like!)

I am still stunned to have a piece of Shelly's work, and the fact that she made it special for me and reflected my horsey love on it, touches me deeply.

Thank you, Shelly. I will always treasure this beautiful quilt block.

Questions I Get Asked: Part 2 & a Recipe

 I get asked a lot of questions from blog readers. In October, I did a blog post  where I answered some and and then said that I would revisit the topic later. Today is the day!

Blogging is not as popular as it once was and many bloggers no longer write much, if at all. Will you quit writing?

You know that Breyer shirt that says, "I'll quit collecting when I'm dead"? Sub in "blogging" for "collecting" and that is how I feel! 

I began blogging in 2008 when I created my first blog, Teachinmama. It functioned as a journal for me and allowed me to share my life with my children, family, and friends. (My mother especially liked it. Every Christmas until she died, I gifted her with that year's blog done in book form.) 

In 2012, I got Abby and since she sort of "took over" Teachinmama, I started Horsiemama for the horsey aspect of my life. I have always loved to write, and those two blogs soon became three, and then four, until now I have a whopping fifteen blogs! Pepper has her own blog where she writes letters to the woman she guided, and I have a family history blog, one of teaching memories, and more. 

So, in answer to the question, I plan to keep blogging until I'm dead. (Which hopefully won't be for quite a while.)

How did you learn to sew?

I taught myself! Although my mother was a master sewist, she preferred not to teach. She was available for help and questions, though, as was my best friend in high school, Shelly, who started sewing in 4-H when she was nine.

Shelly and me in high school - we had the same last name, were both tall and slender, and people often thought we were twins. So, we fostered that as a joke by dressing alike! 

Shelly is a quilter and sometimes she stitches horsey quilt blocks. (Everything she does is hand pieced and stitched - she did not use a sewing machine on these designs.)

She, too, helped me in high school and college (we roomed together at Purdue) when I had sewing questions. I haven't asked her a sewing question in decades, but she's still there if I need her! 

Isn't the phrase, "stay tuned" and not "stay 'tooned"? 

Yes, it is."Stay tuned" is an old phrase from the early days of television which was often spoken when the show you were watching cut to a commercial break. 

"Stay 'tooned" is a play off of those words and was first found in the 1988 movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Most of the main characters are "Toons" (cartoons) working in a human world and returning to Toontown in the evening. There's more, but that's it in a nutshell.

Will you please share more recipes?

You bet! Try this one - it's a favorite of Local Son Curt. I first made it for Christmas in 1991 and he's been requesting it ever since. (I just made it two weeks ago for Sunday dinner.)

Curt's Pumpkin Bars

Bars: Beat 4 eggs with 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup cooking oil. Blend in 2 cups of pumpkin (or one can.) Add 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons soda, and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Pour into a greased 13 x 9 pan and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. 

Frosting:  Blend together 3 oz. cream cheese, 4 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and 1 & 1/2 cups powdered sugar until smooth. Spread over cooled cake.

Curt and I both prefer these bars without the frosting. I sprinkle a little powdered sugar over the top of them and that's how we like them! Also, this recipe is easily cut in half.

The Second Appliqued Horse

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about Shelly, my best friend from high school, who has taken up quilting after retiring. Since she has always been an accomplished seamstress, I was not surprised that even her first quilts were beautiful.

In January, she began doing a Rachel Meyer quilt, an early American style of appliquéd quilt that incorporated horse and rider figures. Shelly told me that there was another horse that she would be making for the quilt, and I asked her to send me a photo of it when it was completed.

 Not only did I get that, but I got a photo of the entire center quilt block, too!

It's not finished yet (you can see her basting stitches that mark the center and edge boundaries) but it sure is beautiful even in its incomplete state.

While I do not have an interest in quilting, I do like to sew. And I always make something for the entrants to my Happy Trails show. Here is a sneak peek of the fabric that I think I will be using for this year's show.

Of course, as I shop for fabrics for other sewing projects, I may find something that causes me to change my mind. (Just as an artist can never have enough paints, a sewist can never have enough fabrics!) But whatever I end up sewing for Happy Trails, it will be horsey-themed; that's a given.

Quilting a Horse

I love to sew. I find it relaxing and I enjoy seeing the finished product, whether it is a quiet book, an outfit, or something else.

 A blessing gown that I made for Cowpoke Susie.

You might think that since I like to sew, I would enjoy quilting, but I don't. I do not have the patience to cut and piece all those bits of fabrics, or the talent to put colors together that work. Nor do I want to hand quilt the pieced top to its batting and then bind it.

My best friend from high school, Shelly, is another story.

One of Shelly's quilts, all hand stitched.

 She actually made a career out of teaching clothing construction to high school students. And when I began sewing in high school, she was a resource to me. We both did 4-H, she in Clothing Design and Construction while I was in Horse and Pony. (Shelly got to dress elegantly and model her creations onstage in the large pavilion at the fairgrounds while I was wearing dusty jeans and boots and shoveling manure!)

Shelly (on the right) and me in 1974 at The Brown County Covered Bridge Festival. We both had the same last name (Martin) although we were not related, and people often thought we were twins. So, we used to dress alike for fun!

 A few of Shelly's recent quilt blocks ready to be assembled into a quilt.

Like me, Shelly has retired from teaching. She now spends her time making beautiful quilts. Yesterday she posted a photo of a new quilt block she was working on - George Washington astride his horse. 

She began by selecting fabrics that would bring the horse alive. (Notice how she tucked the tail behind the horse's hock to give it an even more realistic appearance.)

 Then she began assembling George Washington.

Almost done. Shelly told me that she had no pattern for this block and that she was just making it up as she went along. 

I had to comment on her lovely work when she posted photos on Instagram.

I was excited to read that she was making another horse and rider! (Which makes me wonder what the theme of this quilt is - presidents? Early American historical figures?)

I see a lot of parallels to the model horse hobby. I am a good solid sewist, but I am not an artistic sewist. Shelly most definitely is. But, we both find joy in our respective niches. 

In the model horse hobby, we have a similar thing - those who paint horses and are good solid painters, and then those artists whose work takes our breath away. (Kylee Parks comes to mind.) 

The most important thing, whatever our hobby or passion, is to find the joy in what we are doing.