Helen Kelley Patchworks

March 30, 2007 – I did not start my first great-grandson’s quilt until he was a year old. Why so long? Each one of these special quilts has the essence of the child as he has grown. I begin by savoring his or her uniqueness. It grows from there. When it this one was done, my great-grandson stood in front of it and cried “It’s me!”. I had accompomplished my goal.

To see Connor’s quilt and my other Great-Grandma Kelley Quilts click here.

March 27, 2007 – Next week the Minnesota Quilters Guild members will be celebrating their 30th birthday with a lovely, elegant, fattening cake at the monthly meeting. Coincidently, I have an 80th birthday in April. Someone commented that I must have been 50 at the guild’s inception. I don’t know about that. I only do quilting math these days. I stopped doing birthday math years ago.

March 20, 2007 – Not long after I had finished the last of the set of my special quilts for our five grandchildren, I was presented with the first of our greatgrandchildren. More Grandma Kelley quilts, each a portrait of the child!

Putting together the elements for my first greatganddaughter’s quilt I wanted to give the feel of her rich heritage. I based it on this old photograph from my own baby album. I replaced my own image with baby Cassidy. A sepia-colored Irish chain quilt in the background represents her father’s family. Her smocked dress is like the ones my mother embroidered for my children. The Raggedy Ann doll is like the one Cassidy received from another great-grandmother. This is an old portrait of a new baby. To see Cassidy’s quilt and my other Great Grandma Kelley Quilts click here.

March, 2007 – These are some of the quilting friends that I see each week, my Wednesday Needleworkers. Can you spot me? To see a larger view,
click here.

We began as a group of three. Some have joined us. Some have gone. We have grown into a wonderfully diverse community, a bit like a scrap quilt.

Over the years (perhaps 12) we have sewn and gifted more than 500 quilts for hospitals, hospices, and shelters.

Good ideas keep repeating. It’s March again, gray and snowy. Two years ago I wrote that I always seem to want to make a flower quilt in March; it’s probably my impatience for spring to come. But the good idea seems to have repeated itself. I’m planning a Grandma Kelley quilt for my latest great grandson, an Indian quilt. And of course, it will have a border that looks like flowered beadwork.