Before You Vote . . . Read On

For some reason not all of the text I submitted to McCalls was entered.  So before you vote, please read the full story of my inspiration for the quilt Daisy Makes Do:

The colors of the fat quarters we were given were not necessarily what I would have chosen nor would I have chosen to put them together in the same quilt.  But when I realized those problems were the point of this Challenge, I stopped whimpering, and said, "I'll just have to make do."  As soon as I said "make do", I had my moment of inspiration.

Three women in my family had great influence on my desire to sew.  They were my grandmother (affectionately called Daisy) whose crazy quilt I inherited, my mother (who gave me her name) who sewed many of our clothes and found great pleasure in that activity, and my sister Barbara who taught me (and her daughters) how to use the sewing machine she cherished and guarded zealously.  Two of those women lived through the Great Depression, and none of them had stashes or access to quilt shops as we do today.  They knew how to make do by swapping scraps with friends, re-using old fabrics, or buying a lot of a sale fabric and using it for everything and everyone.  Remembering these three frugal and creative women who made-do and in doing so gave their family things of beauty, I have designed a quasi-folk art quilt.  Placed in a fictional setting in the 1930's, these women are shown doing what people then and now frequently have to do: waste not and make do. 

In my quilt, Barbara is hanging the wash (which includes a quilt) on the line.  Daisy sits on the front porch quilting.  Helping Daisy with the quilt is Barbara's oldest daughter, Linda [Those of you who knew Barbara and/or know my nieces will recognize that I have "changed their names to protect the innocent"].  Helen, Barb's middle daughter, is feeding the chickens (the egg money is important to their budget) and will return to the porch to help sort scraps or set her own quilting stitches.   Baby Nancy sits on a quilt too old to be put on a bed but still useful.  My mother isn't visible, but I'm sure she's in the house teaching me to hand stitch.   As an added touch, the traditional quilt blocks on the left side of the center panel are "Economy" and those on the right are "Waste Not".  Both can be found in the book  Farmer's Wife. 

Now that you have read the story, I hope you will cast your vote for my quilt top.  Remember, you can vote once per computer every day.  Thank you!