Life Goes On

"Awake, thou wintry earth-

Fling off thy sadness!

Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth

Your ancient gladness!"

   ~Thomas Blackburn, An Easter Hymn

It's supposedly Spring here in the Midwest but you could have fooled me. When I was walking the dog earlier I spotted some fresh growth in the front garden. Encouraging, but I'd still like to see the sun soon . . .

"The sun was warm but the wind was chill. You know how it is with an April day."

~Robert Frost

"Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again." ~Sarah Ban Breathnach

If there's one quilty thing that reminds me of Spring it's a basket quilt. Baskets have always evoked the simple life and remind me of the past. For some of us, baskets are a great way to decorate our homes in a primitive or Country style. Long ago, there were so many uses for baskets, and they were especially such a part of nineteenth century life, that it’s really no surprise that they found their way into quilting patterns as well.

In earlier times, every home had numerous baskets and every basket had a role – there were egg baskets and berry baskets, laundry baskets and sewing baskets. Quilters in the nineteenth century had sewing baskets that had to be large enough to hold needles, thread, scissors, buttons and perhaps a small project or scraps of fabric. Along with baskets, everyone needs a basket quilt or two.

The Pinwheels were really making me crazy and I've had a hard time concentrating on one single project -  my brain is still flitting all over. So, I thought, today I'll just make a basket quilt to make myself feel better, LOL. Who cares if everything else goes unfinished and nothing gets done? Like the season, I'm just moving on and creating as I go along.

I already had these scrappy little pink and blue basket blocks that were made years ago and just never put them together into a quilt.

Originally, they were intended to be for the little Prairie Baskets quilt in Prairie Children and Their Quilts but somewhere along the line I changed my mind and went with indigo and yellow for that one.

Out from my hoarding drawer came the lovely blue wavy fabric again . . . I have gotten many e-mails from fans asking about this Marcus/Judie Rothermel fabric that I used in the cover quilt for Remembering Adelia. I'm so sorry to those of you who cannot find thise fabric ANYWHERE and have requested my remnants, but I only have a little bit left and am hanging onto it just for quilts like this. You'll surely see it again. It seems to really go with everything I make.

I think someday I'll quilt a nice little flower motif in the plain blocks.

 

There will be more talk about Basket quilts as I show you how to make those curved handles from bias strips for the little Civil War Baskets quilt in my book Remembering Adelia on Wednesday, April 6 when I am guest blogging again on Madame Samm's blog Sew We Quilt. There will also be a nice giveaway of Remembering Adelia, so be sure take a look and post a comment if you don't have this book. Think Spring!

"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."

~Anne Bradstreet

Life goes on . . .