Blue & Yellow Quilt from Grandma

I received a quilt last week, via one of my aunts, which was made by my grandma. She hand-pieced it, then my mom quilted it on her long-arm machine. Mine is mostly blue, with a lot of yellow, and is dated from this year (2009). Piecing techniques vary, but include quite a few set-in seams, template-cut shapes, etc. This really is all handmade (other than the sashing) - I think she even hand-cuts each piece (no rotary cutter for her). I'll have to look at it in more depth at some point to see if I can identify any of the patterns (some of which are traditional, I'm sure).

Apparently there's a quilt for every grandchild. I'm not sure who all has been given theirs yet, so I hope I'm not spoiling the surprise by blogging about this. Our assignment, after writing a thank you note (of course!) is to take a photo of us with our quilts and send them so my aunt can make an album for grandma.

I played with my camera's self-timer this morning trying to take a self-portrait (while Matt was still sleeping). I may need to enlist his help, I think, to re-do the photos later (you can see them here).

There's a quilt in the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center (or at least it was there on my last visit many years ago) which was made by my great-grandma (and I think one of her siblings, too?). My grandma quilts. My mom quilts. I quilt. At least 2 of my aunts and 1 of my cousins quilts (a few more have made a few things, but I'm not sure to the level of being called "quilters" yet). There are even some quilters in Matt's family line, I think. I have some doll quilts my grandma made for me when I was a kid (my dolls always had to have quilts on their beds!). It's nice to add another family piece to the collection.