Helen Kelley Patchworks

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.

February, 2007 – As I looked at this new web page format, I asked my daughter “Tell me again why we picked blue?” Sometimes I lose track of the “why” when there is a gap in the time between my idea and the final product. This blue doesn’t seem to have the zip I must have imagined when I first thought about it and I’m tempted to rethink it now. But there is wisdom in waiting a bit to see if I still feel restless about this blue tomorrow. Perhaps the idea will come back to me. Maybe a simple touch of an accent color will give it the touch of energy I was looking for. Colors are always such happy things to play with.

You might know how it is. While I am searching high and low for something I’ve misplaced, I may discover something else, entirely different and wonderful. That is how I come to have a new Guest Book. I found it while looking for my missing web-page pieces. Now you can Read my Guest Book or Sign my Guest Book to let me know you were here.

Serendipity is lovely.

February, 2007: Dear friends, after a long time away, I’m returning to my weblog.  We’ve dusted it off and changed a color or two.  But, I am afraid we’ve misplaced some of our links and pictures.  Surely, they are here somewhere.  Please bear with us while we find them and piece them back together.

June, 2005:  I am sitting here quietly stitching while the madness of children and grandchildren rages around me. It is lovely to watch the excitement, but I am grateful for the quietness that comes from my sewing. It helps me maintain an inner calm.

May, 2005:  I’ve been having mouse trouble. Not the kitchen cupboard kind but the computer kind. I finally got tired of its balky temperament and unscrewed the back. The insides looked just like the feed dogs on my sewing machine, packed with lint. I thought, “I can do this” and got out my sewing machine tools. With my mini brush and needle-nosed tweezers, I pulled out the trash and dusted it out. Now my mouse is behaving itself beautifully.

The moral of the story: if you can run a sewing machine, you can do anything. 

My granddaughter, Else, asked me if I knew about the Chaos Theory.

It says (for you technical people) that any seemingly disordered system actually has an underlying order in its apparently random data.

Or (for us ordinary people), if it looks like chaos, you just haven’t figured out its pattern yet. Sounds right to me!

May, 2005 – A lovely Danish lady found lengths of exquisite Hardanger lace in an antique shop in Denmark and gave them to me.  She felt they should be made into “something” for a church, and I was the person to do it. I am working it into a cross banner.  The job has proven to be far more difficult than I ever imagined.  Sewing new fabric onto antique lace is like putting new wine into old wine skins.  It’s taken me months. I feel like I have been sewing on it forever and ever. Amen.