Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Art Time with Granddaughter

My 19yo granddaughter has been staying with me this summer.   Kind of.  She's really visiting her father, but because his house is full, she's been sleeping over here and her stuff has been here.   Sort of an unusual arrangement, but it's worked for us.    Our houses are just a few miles apart.  



During this last week, Natalie and I  bonded over art activities.   She's planning her dorm suite and made these paintings for the living area.   They are about 10 by 30.        She really had fun with them, using acrylic paints and scrubbing between layers with alcohol.    Messy but fun.    The colors are so much better in person;  IPhone cameras aren't that great.  




Meanwhile, I decorated clothespins.   Very mundane, but cute. 



I also did a painting of a heron, inspired by a photograph I saw somewhere recently.     There are a lot of layers of paint, as I had a lot of false starts, but I think he turned out pretty darn good.


Natalie made a little piece for her Mom. 


And a portrait of her best friend, Mary.

I hope she'll make time for Art in college and keep her creative/logical sides balanced.

Saturday, August 4, 2018

Quilt Rescue

My paternal grandmother, Leonie Baumann,  died a few years before I was born.  She left behind a number of quilt tops and projects, as quilters are wont to do.    And of course, back then, fabric was costly and precious, not something one could pop out and buy on a whim.

My mother, Louise Baumann, was busy at the time raising my sister.   My father worked long hours due to the war effort and she worked hard.  Her parents were older and needed her help, too.   Then I was born, which didn't make life easier, I'm sure.

At any rate, when Mother got older, she took Oma's quilt tops and projects and finished them into keepsake quilts for her five grandchildren.   One Christmas, she brought them to the celebration.  Each had a number assigned.   The grands drew a number from a box and that was the quilt they got.   Of course, there was some swapping afterwards. 


















My daughter's quilt was a Lone Star, although the fabrics were not arranged in the usual fashion.   Instead of concentric rings, the fabrics repeated along the edges of the figure.



At some point, my grandson started using that quilt.   He used it and used it.   Loved it to death, in fact.   As he was packing for college, my daughter realized that many of the fabrics were just gone and the batting was showing through.   She was mortified.   But gave it to me anyhow, with apologies and remorse. 



Actually, I was pleased to know that it was well used.   I arrogantly assumed that I could repair it.  But the damage was too much.    So I did the next best thing (in my opinion).   I found fabrics in my collection and created a new star, using the same pattern.   When I finished, I realized that my star was larger, but I decided to use it anyway.   I pin-basted it to the quilt base and machine quilted it all the way out to the last seam.  Then I tucked under the edges and machine-appliqued that final edge down.   I'm hoping that I kept the quilt's spirit of using what was available and making do.





I hope that it continues to be appreciated and loved.