Throwback Thursday - Grandma's Sweet-16 Quilt for me, "Umbrella Girls" (1983)

Sandra has re-started Throwback Thursdays, and just when I found an old favorite of mine that's been missing since we moved in 2012. :)

This is my Sweet 16 quilt that my paternal grandmother made for me in 1983. I loved it then, and I still love it. I've captured close-ups of some of my favorite girls.

This loved quilt is what made it so very fun for me to quilt up the Bo-Peep vintage top that Great-Aunt Helen's grandmother had made for her in the 1930s. 

My grandmother really liked doing up tulip quilts and these umbrella girls, even though she was quilting two generations later than the Bo-Peep ancestor (different family lines).

My Umbrella Girls quilt is 68 x 88 inches and has a soft, puffy poly batt. 

Most of the fabrics are cottons, and that green is almost identical to the Kona Candy Green. I think there are a smattering of polyesters on the girls' dresses, though. 

You might be able to see that she zig-zagged her applique and used a permanent marker for their arms. Time-savers that did their jobs, as they're still holding up. None of the dresses/umbrellas are pulling up anywhere. 

My 20yo daughter's favorite right now.
She's the only one with her arm fully colored.
The Umbrella Girl, not my daughter.  ;D

But then Grandma hand-quilted it. I love that.  :)

My grandmother has been gone for several years. She lived to be 91, and in that time she made quilts for all her many children, grand-children, and great-granchildren. I personally got a baby quilt, a Sweet-16, and a personalized wedding quilt where she quilted the building we were married in and our names/dates/etc. 

Most of us brought as many of our Grandma quilts as we could to her funeral. There were probably 100 there. That's when I my quilting bug got kicked into overdrive. I want a legacy like that.

And I hope some day some of my descendants will love a quilt or two of mine the way I love this one.

Q1 List and WIP Wed

Since I've got so many UFO goals this year, it makes sense to plug into the 2018 Finish-a-Long program as well. Every bit of motivation helps, eh?

First, so you have a tiny bit of eye-candy, here's my current point on my piecing and quilting priority quilts:

Listen With Your Eyes - So close to having the FIVE diamond/NYB star circles completed!!

Sterling's QOV - I've just finished the center work, and this afternoon will start figuring out the details of how I'm doing the borders.

And now, here's my Q1 LIST OF QUILTS for the complete finish by March 31st:

(It's over-generous on purpose, I'd be flabbergasted if all of these were checked off. Also, except for 3, 7, and 9, all are simply waiting for their quilting.)

1. PJan 25  Sapphire Stars Mystery QOV for Sterling - my OMG for January
2. PJan 25  Bohemia - a top finished in Jan 2014, and this month's UFO challenge number
3. PFeb 2  Wildlife Trio kit - purchased last June, it will be a Valentine for Scott, who's been angling for more quilts in his offices
4. PFeb 9  Nicole's Mountains - a mini for my sister's birthday
5. Daisy Days - my own quilt that I want for my reading chair, pieced this month
6. Hearts or Modernology - the first top pieced in May 2010, the second from Dec 2013-August 2014
7. PMarch 28  The February UFO challenge, #1 - Fancy Forest - a large top pieced in the summer of 2016 
8. PFeb 28  Night Watch - my February OMG, Row quilt 1 of 6, requested by Scott for his office
9. Quilted Valance - need something pretty to coordinate with Dancing Hearts Longarm Quilting
10. PMar 29  The March UFO challenge, #8 - Ocean Songs - a top I'd sewn in Dec 2008!
11. Baby quilt for Heather's preceptor - to use some of the hot air balloon fabric
12. PMar 16  March OMG - Elm Street Quilts Postcard Exchange - gotta do something social  :)
13. Raven's Throne - Row quilt 2 of 6 requested by Scott for his office

~*~*~
Linking to:

Marci's Finish-A-Long Q1
Tish's UFO Busting Party
Lorna's Let's Bee Social

BOMs Away - Red Bear & Wind in the Whiskers

Welcome to the link-up for BOMs Away Mondays!

Where we share what we're doing on a BOM-type project 

so they don't stall out in UFO-land!

(Linky at the bottom.)

I can't believe it's already time to post BOMs Away. I also can't believe how insane I am. My first "Ooo! Shiny!" for 2018 has popped up, and I've made the January red bear for Dione's 2018 Beary Colorful BOM, coordinated with Jen Shaffer's Monthly Color Challenge.

~*~ Linking my red bear up at Jen's January Color Linkup

I'm doing these quilt-as-you-go style. Everything came from my scraps, and yardage from stash for the backing. I'm using a light gray minky for the tummies and muzzles. Love it! I fused it the same way I do normal cotton, except for using a pressing cloth over it. Not sure exactly what size I want to cut these to, either (probably 12x15 in.), so this won't get trimmed until a few more are made.

I also worked a lot on Wind in the Whiskers this weekend. Got these three critters made. . .

. . .and a ton of blossoms, flowers, leaves, etc., traced and cut out. The rest of the remaining 24 little frilly center pieces can wait, though. I'm sick of tiny cutting right now!  :)

How about you? Did you get any BOM work done recently?

~*~*~

Kate over at Katie Mae Quilts has joined me in hosting this meet-up,

and linking up from either end puts you on the party at both sides.