Dad's Logs

When my mother passed away, Dad asked me to put all of the quilts away that she had made. He wanted to save them for “us kids” whenever he was gone, too.  Even though I did it, it made me sad to see my dad not sleeping with quilts.  As long as I could remember there were quilts on our beds so the lack of quilts on his bed just didn’t seem right. 

When Dad’s 90^th birthday was approaching, I decided he needed to have a quilt of his own.  His favorite color was red and as he had been a farmer most of his life, I decided that a log cabin quilt in a straight furrow setting would be appropriate Though Mom used red in quilts, it was usually with other colors, so I decided to do a very graphic just reds and white/off white quilt.  There are many red fabrics and many different white and off white prints and solids to give a little more visual texture to the quilt.  The blocks are 10" and there are 9 blocks across and 10 rows of blocks making a 90 block quilt in honor of my dad's 90 years.  He passed away at age 93.  I'm so glad I did this quilt for him so he could enjoy sleeping under it for those 3 years.  The teddy bear on the table was made for me by my dear friend Diane when my mother passed away which was 10 years before dad.  I cherish that bear!

Since this was made as a bed quilt, I decided it would be appropriate for the picture you see to be of his quilt on a bed.

Here is a close up of the quilting in the light logs. 

The red logs were quilted in the ditch to offset the curvy, feathery design quilted in the light logs..  I don't know why I took this picture on the edge of the bed.  The block really isn't curved, it's the edge of the mattress!

As you can see, this was a quilt that was used up until my dad died.  It is on the bed pictured 11 months of the year.  In December a Christmas quilt is on that bed and the log cabin quilt is draped on the back of our family room sofa or on a chair in the family room. 

Since I can't count, I had extra blocks that with just a few more made a twin sized quilt top.  On that top I put a piano key border in just the white/off white fabrics and machine appliqued farm animals around the border.  So far it is still a top.  I should quilt it.  I should quilt all of the quilt tops sitting in the quilt top basket.  This weekend I started putting another quilt on the design board and cut parts for another since I was cutting.  Oh, yes, I really should stop making tops and quilt the ones I already have and I will after I get these two tops finished.

Do any of you make tops and let them sit for maybe even years unquilted?  Do I hear a "guilty".  Thought so!