Eye of the Beholder

My Heartbeat and I try to spend as much time with family as we can. It's not always easy due to being busy with kids schedules and our different work schedules. In 2013, I was working in retail which meant working many weekends. Schedules seldom matched up, but when there was an opportunity we would pack ourselves up into the car and make the 5 hour drive to visit with my Heartbeat's family. Usually, we'd stay a couple nights at his dad's place and dedicate one afternoon to visit with Dad's family.

Grandma Perry was most certainly the matriarch. Whenever we would visit, the aunts would start coming over to say hi. And before we knew it lunch would be served and several of the cousins would arrive too. I'd watch and listen in awe as memories were recounted for us. We heard stories from past and present all about the family. Some of my favorites were the stories of the uncles youthful adventures that would shock grandma at the dangerous tricks they played, and yet not really shocking her because she knew her boys well. Uncle Max, the youngest, would have a twinkle in his eyes as he relived crazy moments. Always giving a quick grin in Grandma's direction and watching for her reaction. And she would shake her head at him in a mock scold, but he was her baby and could do no wrong. I will forever hold in my heart the unconditional love I witnessed between Grandma Perry and Uncle Max. (Both have passed on, may they rest in peace.)

Mind you, the special bond between mother and youngest child does not lessen the bond with any of the other children. The Perrys are a very close knit family. When one is hurt, they all hurt. When one is blessed, they all celebrate. When I married my Heartbeat, I was welcomed into the family like I had always been there. Being on the receiving end of that family bond during our visits was amazing!

So, it happened that this visit in Aug 2013, Aunt Charlie wasn't able to come see us at Grandma's house. Instead, she reached out with a phone call to apologize and let us know she was helping with an estate sale of a SIL's late mother. As it happened, they were actually in the direction we would be travelling back home. So, we went to see Aunt Charlie. 

We arrived at the house, grabbed some seats and a drink and settled down for a short visit. But I don't know anyone that can resist looking at a yardsale, certainly not ME! esp. not when the kids start poking around. The crafter in me zeroed in on the craft filled boxes. I didn't see much I didn't already have, besides, our car was packed to the max. Anything extra would have to sit on my lap during the 5 hours home. 

I resisted very well, until my eyes rested upon a pile of fabric.... 

"I don't need more fabric" I told myself... but I allowed my hands riffle through the pile... (lol, maybe two or three times).. 

And I saw this...

A large quilt top in bright red and that 70's sage green, all hand pieced!!

I fell in love! I dug it out from the pile and hugged it to me. I continued walking around the rest of the sale. I was trying to convince myself I didn't need another project to finish. (I was already 14 months into working on Nancy's '55 Dogwoods). 

I must have looked like a little girl with a kitten she just couldn't put down! Aunt Charlie mentioned to the SIL my quilting passion. The SIL gave the quilt top to me without a second thought!! GAVE it to me, no charge!

And, yes, it rode the whole five hours home in my lap!

I love the story of this quilt and how it came about. Thankfully, I posted updates of the whole process in Facebook. Having the ability to look back at those posts now is awesome. I never considered documenting the process. But it's wonderful to have each stage right there. I'd like to start documenting all my work from now on.

I will be using my FB comments. They will be in quotations and purple lettering, like this next paragraph:

"At home, I draped it on the stair rail. I needed inspiration to decide on a quilting design. As it was hanging there, I noticed that 4 of the blocks down the left side are pieced in mirrored fashion, causing chevron arrows where the blocks come together instead of alternating red stripe and green. I concluded that maybe someone else was helping her piece and did these backwards. Perhaps Mrs. Johnson didn't have the heart to correct their mistake? Lol, I like imagining the story of this top before it came to me."   

"And then closer inspection reveals that 1 of those 4 blocks was all machine pieced and another one was started by machine piecing but finished with hand piecing.... It adds more mystery to the top :). Did Hellen Johnson start with machine piecing and decide she didn't care to piece that way? or was it that someone else picked up her work and was trying to finish what she started?"

This red, green, and white quilt top was hand pieced by the late Hellen Johnson of Newman Lake, WA.
given to me by her daughter in July/Aug 2013. The year this was pieced is unknown.

"I haven't decided how to quilt it yet. when I look at the pictures I see a pinwheel effect going on. I wasn't very thrilled about the blue border and considered replacing it. But I didn't want to change too much of what Hellen Johnson put together.

Lol, funny how things like this have you wondering about what the person was thinking when she worked on this... "Who did she intend it for? Why did she pick blue for the border? Did she pick it for the quilt or did she use it because it was in her stash and didn't want to wait to go shopping?"

Then Barb helped me out after work one day and we came up with trimming the blue border and adding a red. And I was gonna put a green backing but then that makes it feel too Christmassy to me. so I purchased a tone-on-tone cream. Prewashing the backing now :)"

After trimming the border and adding a red border, I still felt that I had to bring that blue into the center of the quilt. The 4" strips I had trimmed off would work perfectly for applique. I had been using the Clover Yo-yo makers in a different project and so circles seemed a perfect choice. 

Yes! this brought the blue in very nicely, but there still seems to be too much negative space. 

I wasn't too fond of covering up the Hellen's seams, I wanted to keep her work as visible as possible, but a green leaf shape seemed appropriate way to fill in the negative space... 

First, I had to find a green that matched. Greens and blues seem to be the most difficult when it comes to finding the perfect match. 

I auditioned many layouts to see which I liked best. I posted pics on Sept 7, 2013 to get help and ideas from my friends.

My Sweetling picked this one as her favorite. 

First I sewed on all the blue circles. It looked pretty good, I was tempted to leave it just like this...

Sept 19, 2013

Oct 2, 2013. all the leaves appliqued. I decided to wait until after the quilting was done to attach the center yo-yos.

"Let the basting begin!! Much easier on the tables at work than on my carpeted floor at home :-)" Oct 4, 2013

"Simple stitching 1/4" from seams. I'm ok with it so far, but might go back and quilt a smaller square in the squares, maybe 1/2" from quilt line." Dec 2013

"I love walking into the room and this is the first thing I see :) Wish I could really capture the beauty with my phone camera." Dec 2, 2013

Around this time, we decided to move from Washington state to Mississippi! With getting the house ready to sell, packing for the move, AND getting a stubborn senior boy graduated from high school, I didn't have much time for quilting. 

Once we were settled in MS there was very little progress on this quilt. I got distracted with machine quilting. I machine pieced and quilted several other quilts. Occasionally hand quilting on this one. I remember being so pleased to have finally reached the first corner :).

Both Sweetie and Prince love snuggling when I'm working, but somehow it's Prince that I photograph :).

"I only worked on it a few minutes every so often over the last couple years. well, seems I haven't had the heart to sit at the sewing machine for a couple months. I only care to hand quilt in the living room a couple hrs every night. Now, I'm seeing some progress and closer to done!! I decided not to put the yo-yos in the center of the applique blocks. I'm liking the quilting a lot :)"  May 5, 2016

I find it amazing how things work out. I became immersed in hand quilting again...

"I've been quilting 2 - 3 hrs every day, And because I haven't managed  to learn to use a thimble, I've worn a hole through my thumb nail...But I don't dare take a break now that the progress is going so well.. It'll take days for the nail to grow out!

... soooo, I've super glued a piece of plastic straw to the back of my nail! So far so good, it's working! *giggle*"  May 9, 2016.

after a few minutes the plastic fell off. But the super glue filled in hole and I was able to continue, lol.

Some one in the Celebrating Hand Quilting FB group pointed me in the direction of a thumbnail thimble. I love it!!

"I found a sweet thumbnail thimble. I love it and would wear it as jewelry! Hearts are my favorite :) <3.
And the company Small Wonders that makes these is located in my Heartbeat's hometown!! Perfect!" June 2016

(Edit: it's actually called the Fingernail Stitcher's tool from Small Wonders. They also make regular thimbles, thimble cages, charms, and things.)

I hit a wall when the outline quilting was done. I had no idea how I was going to quilt the borders. I was really struggling. I've been wanting to try out a Baptist Fan quilting pattern for a long time, but when I started marking it on the border it felt flat. I then considered a double trellis pattern, but again it didn't appeal to me as much as I thought. 

Looking at my work from the back side of the quilt is what inspired me. I traced the stitching of the motif onto parchment paper and placed it on the border and was pleasantly surprised that it was the perfect size! I didn't even have to enlarge or shrink at all!

As added motivation to continue my quilting pace, the guild I'm in, Possum Town Quilters, was hosting the MQA Fall Gathering meeting this year. And we were asked to provide quilts to hang over the balcony of the convention center. 

This year the MQA motto is: 

Circle quilt by Lawana Shultz of Columbus, MS.

To me, this red, green, and white quilt was perfect. It's traditional and I'm integrating my own personality to it. 

"I've set a deadline to have this finished for our Fall Gathering quilt show in Oct. It takes about 2 hours to stitch one motif... 36 motifs all around the border... I have 32 more to stitch..
I'm feeling a time crunch to get this done :). But I do best with deadlines!!" Aug 30, 2016

"The quilting part is done! Finished with my signature hidden heart :). I'm thinking I'll name it "Beholder's Beauty" or "Quilter's Treasure"... what do  you think? I still have to trim and attach binding and hand turn binding... so another 10 hrs or so... I better get busy!!" Oct 18, 2016

Beholder's Beauty! Hand-pieced by the late Hellen Johnson of Newman Lake, WA.
Embellished with applique and quilted by Naomi Hernandez Perry.
completed Oct. 2016

Beholder's Beauty displayed at the MQA Fall Gathering
Oct 21 and 22, 2016

And for the cherry on top....
I got one of the best compliments ever. It was so unexpected.
"Your quilt is awesome. My favorite of all hanging."
And her next comment is a picture of my quilt to prove her compliment." 
FB comment Oct. 23, 2016

Marilyn was interested in the pattern. I haven't found any like it on the internet. I might try drafting one up in the near future and add it to my pattern files. 

And that is the whole story of how Beholder's Beauty came to be. My mother didn't quilt much and as far as I know, neither of my grandmother's quilted. They did sew, but there aren't quilts that have been passed down from generation to generation... as far as I know.... I think being able to say: "my husband's aunt's sister-in-law's mother, Hellen Johnson..." gives me a bit of a sense of a family connection. It's that connection and the fact that all the imperfections tell it's story and that's what makes this quilt beautiful. Imagine my pleasure when a stranger picked it out among hundreds of quilts displayed as her favorite! Perhaps it's not only in the eye of this Beholder's Beauty...