Simple Things are the Best Gifts

So this weekend was a bit of a busy one. Made a round trip to Halifax for my Godson's birthday and did a good  bit of quilting. I did however have one of the worst migraines ever that put me to bed for quite a few hours but I still feel as if I was quite productive. So here are my blocks for my Whispering Lake Quilt.

The one below is my favourite :) I just love the flower prints. These were Fat Quarters that came from the Bargain Lovers club through Sew Sisters.
 

So the progress on that quilt is going quite well. Hopefully after work tomorrow, I'll be able to get the quilt layout done so I can start sewing these gorgeous blocks together :)

This weekend I received one of the best gifts ever. My aunt gave me one of my grandmother's old quilting books. And in that book was a scribbler with pages full of blocks and her writing and colours....it's just so beautiful to have this! I will cherish this forever. She had Alzheimer's Disease and passed away 14 years ago so I never had a chance to talk to her about quilting or sew with her. I did bake with her and will always cherish those memories :)

So I was completely thrilled to go through her old notes and wonder when she had written them. There isn't any dates but if I would have to take a guess, I would say around 20 years ago. Here are some of the pages to show you. I'm just completely in awe.

This is the quilting book called "Prize Country Quilts" by Mary Elizabeth Johnson which this copy was published in 1982.

Here's a page from her notebook recorded as Dutchman's Puzzle with templates!

This one is recorded as Variable Star. I just love seeing her writing :)

There's also some other blocks in there too. I would like to make multiple quilts from all of these blocks. There's one in particular that looks incredible and is a lot of piecing called Morning Star, Evening Star. It's the last pattern in her notebook. I think I will attempt to make that one in the near future. Hoping to make her proud :)

I always feel like she's watching down from Heaven either laughing, smiling, or crying with me as I make quilts. I'm just feeling so grateful to have this. Just incredible to have as a family heirloom. A notebook that she paid 59 cents for, but it's worth the world to me :) Just feeling so full of love and happiness right now.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

Julia