Besides reading books and writing books, quilt making has been my past time during this long and snow filled winter in Central Iowa. In keeping with my other quilts my comforters have a story put with them for the couple who receives my comforters. The tops were put together last winter and laid back to finish this winter so I was able to tie out three different tops. The first comforter was large blocks with butterflies and the other two were five inch blocks set in a color pattern to make them distinctive. The square and butterfly quilt

HISTORY OF Comforters In American Colonial times most women were busy spinning, weaving and making clothing. Meanwhile women of the wealthier classes prided themselves on their fine quilting of whole cloth quilts with fine needlework which required no piecing. Quilts made during the early 1800s were not constructed of pieced blocks but instead whole cloth quilts and medallion quilts. Pioneer quilts made in North America and through the 1900's had worn-out blankets or older quilts as the internal batting layer, quilted between new layers of fabric and thereby extending the usefulness of old material. A comforter's only difference from the quilt is padding. They were usually filled with feathers, wool, polyester or silk-based material. Comforters were easy to wash and hung on the clothesline to dry maybe once during spring cleaning. Also, large pieces of material cost money and anything that could be used for another use was never thrown away. With all the work a pioneer woman had to do during the day, she didn't have time to piece fancy quilts. Material came from the box of less faded pieces on ragged clothing. Perhaps a good size square in a comforter would have been the back of a man's shirt or a woman's dress skirt. Forget about trying to piece tiny butterflies on a comforter like that which was all hand sewn. To hold the top, middle and bottom together, hand spun yarn from their sheep flock was used to tie the comforter layers. I like the idea of putting a story with a quilt and my name and quilt date on a back lower corner. This is a long enduring piece of bedding that can be handed down through the ages. By the time the third or fourth generation gets a quilt like that they haven't a clue how the quilt or comforter came to be made or who made it. For me, Fay Risner, this was a quick top to sew on the machine. In 2018, I saw a quilt like it on Facebook made by a friend. Seeing her quilt gave me the idea the knit I had saved from my mother's supply of woven rug material would work in such a top. I picked out the earth tones and cut out foot squares. Once I laid a row of blocks on the bed across and length wise I measured from block to block to find out how wide the strips had to be to make the comforter at full size. My friend put stars in the joined corners of the strips, but appliquéing small stars wouldn't have been a fast project since I'd have to sew around every point slowly. So I used butterflies which is one of my favorite objects to use in quilts anyway. That was a way to use small cotton scarps of material to brighten up the comforter's earth tones, and I could appliqué the antennas with black thread as I sewed the body onto the wings. Simple, easy and fast. Knit stretches so quilting it by hand to the backing wasn't as easy as quilting on cotton layers. My stitches weren't all neat and the same size on the back which doesn't make this a ribbon winning quilt. This quilt is definitely a comforter – designed to keep you warm on cold winter nights. One that will be long lasting for many years to come. I consider this handmade comforter a labor of love. While you use this comforter think of me. Now here is the next two comforters which share the history of the comforter story.

Merry Christmas To One and All

The Overly Friendly Holiday Mouse T'was a cold winter's night close to Christmas when we Risners nestled down in our recliners. Harold watching television, and me stitching on my Grandmother's Fan quilt spread in hills and valleys on my lap and cascading over my feet to the floor. Mid evening the quiet was broken when Harold spotted a mouse flash from the dining room into the living room. The furry speed demon ducked under the couch but not for long. For half an hour, Harold insisted on giving me a play by play of the mouse's marathon as he crisscrossed the room, looking for a suitable nest for the long winter night. On the mouse's next sprint, Harold announced the four legged racer dashed under the couch. After that nothing but silence which meant Harold didn't see the mouse anymore or was interested in television or he dozed off. I concentrated on my stitches. It was the dark movement on the quilt above my knee that made me glanced up. The MOUSE peeked over the bunched quilt at me. His beady, glittering, tiny eyes stared into my startled, wide eyes. My thought was now was when Harold should have given me a mouse alert. Remember me. I'm the one that didn't make a sound as the rat, AKA Sweet Potato Thief, propelled himself toward the live trap door, busted the door and catapulted to the basement floor. Mice have the opposite affect on me, especially one in my lap. I screamed at the top of my lungs. The mouse took my not too subtle hint and in the wink of an eye scampered over my feet and down the quilt. Now I had Harold's attention. His recliner came up with a clatter. “Are you having a heart attack?” I shot out of my recliner and frantically shook the quilt while I watched around my feet. “I don't know. I might be. Let me take my pulse, and I'll get back to you on that. The mouse was in my lap, walking all over my quilt with his dirty feet and staring at me.” “I didn't see him,” Harold said as if this was no big deal. “Of course not. You had to be awake to see him. Next time I will shoo him your direction so he can sit in your lap,” I offered. The rest of the evening as I kept a watchful eye, I made sure my quilt was piled high in my lap instead of dragging on the floor. As I quilted my problem solving skills began forming in my mind. Obviously, I didn't have enough sticky traps statically placed. I'd buy more. For a few minutes, I contemplated placing the traps all around my recliner for protection from lap mice. Maybe I could make a small sign with an arrow on it, pointing to Harold's recliner, signifying that way to the mouse's next race track. Nah, extra sticky traps were a bad idea! No way would that work. I'd be the one to get stuck in the sticky traps. Besides, I was hoping that mouse wasn't dumb enough to try scaling Mount Quilt again after the reception I gave him. So I did what I thought was the logical thing by surrounding the couch with sticky traps and hoped we didn't have company. UPDATE: I'm happy to announce in this house not a creature is stirring except the two large ones in their recliners wishing all of you Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy, Varmint Free 2019.

Seventy Year Old Dresden Plate Quilt Top

Finished a special project. This was a quilt top made by Harold's Aunt Gladys in Arkansas years ago. She put it together when she was first married from the better pieces of clothing in the rag box when every scrap of material was saved for use. Gladys sewed the print pieces on her treadle sewing machine and the white pieces were from feed sack muslin - cut and sewed by hand to fit around the circle called the Dresden Plate. This might have been when Uncle Elmer was in the Korean War fighting with the marines. Gladys was a young bride in her early twenties, milking close to a dozen cows by hand twice a day. I can imagine her on lonely nights sitting under a single light bulb that hung down from the ceiling working to piece this quilt and many others while she worried and waited for her husband to come back from the war. I quilted the top to the back and know the 70 or plus year old quilt to be fragile. Even covered up a couple of mouse holes with some of my own scraps. So this quilt will never be used but will be on display in my living room as soon as I find a quilt rack. So knowing the hard work and sacrifices women make in time of war I felt that Aunt Gladys deserves the credit for this quilt. On the back is her name and the year 1950 which is just a guess to date the quilt. Thank you for your service Elmer Powell and Thank you Aunt Gladys for your strength to keep the home fires burning for two long years.

A bit of history on the Grandmother’s Fan quilt: This pattern first appeared in print in a Ladies Art Company catalog of 1897. Prior to that, fans were common motifs in late nineteenth century crazy quilts. Their popularity likely was due to the fad for decorating in the Japanese style, which was prompted by Americans' exposure to Japanese art at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. By the 1930s, fans were standard favorites for quilt patterns which is understandable. The fan is made from scraps left over from making clothes or less faded pieces cut out of clothes in the rag box before the rest of the garment was turned into dish clothes and dust rags. The 1930s quilts patterns quilting came about during the depression when with brilliant thrift the women used to create useful, beautiful quilts from what they had.  Many of us have seen these quilts on our elderly relatives beds. The Great Depression of the 1930s was the longest and most severe economic crisis in American history. It impacted jobs, standards of living, well-being and many areas of American popular culture. It also created a sense of connectedness among those who experienced the period. Passed on orally in many families, the experience of life in hard times has become part of the common heritage of millions of Americans.

This is my version of the Fan quilt. The piece in the middle is a dresser scarf much older than the quilt top. I got two of these dresser scarves at a yard sale and realized they were some elderly woman's treasures. They had been stored in an wooden dresser and had the distinctive scent of oak permeating through them. The material was muslin from a feed sack or flour sack. In the scarves beginnings they had been used and washed often. I knew this because some of the embroidery thread had washed away. It was amazing to see the pattern still imprinted on the material. I replaced pieces of roses and leaves. The crocheted border was still as neat as the day the woman finished crocheting it. In the beginning of the fan quilt, a fan design was quilted in the white piece of the block. I got my pattern from an old quilting magazine given to me by my aunt. With that pattern was a quilting design of a rose with two leaves. I am planning on using that design so that it matches the roses on the scarf. If all goes well the finished quilt will be my entry at the fair next year.

Stealers of Our Children Need to Be Caught

Please keep an eye out for this young lady at the gas stations around you. She has been kidnapped and missing for two weeks from Brooklyn Iowa. She was last seen last week in a car headed south from Carney, Mo. north of Kansas City. In small towns in the midwest where everyone knows everyone else people feel safe to go jogging alone or not to lock the doors after dark. Mollie was taken in the night. There seems to be a pattern of missing kids in this area. Two months ago a young man was taken near Laport City, Iowa. No clue to where he is. Six years ago there were two young girls, cousins, riding their bikes in July and they were taken. Six months later their bodies was found in a wooded reserve. Over the years I have heard reports of a white van cruising near kids and trying to get their attention. Don't know if it is the same devious people or not, but please watch for Mollie and call the police.

Scammer Alert

I received this email this morning. Usually if I don't know the name of the sender I click it scam and go on but the fact that this person was using an old password of mine from eight years ago made me curious. What I found in the message is a person that is not me. I have nothing to hide and would never do the things this person claims. She may have watched these videos herself and is using them blackmail others. Am I sending her money if it is a her? No!! I'm assuming I have enough of a following on all my blog accounts to alert others not to fall for such a scheme as this. fayrisner - blue08pen From Marlee ArtusoAdd contact To fayrisner@netins.netAdd contact Date Today 2:36 pm Contact photo Message Body Lets get directly to the purpose. No person has compensated me to check you. You may not know me and you are probably thinking why you are getting this email? In fact, I placed a software on the X video clips (pornography) site and you know what, you visited this web site to have fun (you know what I mean). While you were viewing video clips, your browser started working as a Remote control Desktop having a key logger which provided me access to your screen as well as web cam. Immediately after that, my software program collected all your contacts from your Messenger, Facebook, as well as emailaccount. Next I created a video. 1st part shows the video you were watching (you've got a fine taste haha), and second part shows the recording of your web camera, and its u. You get not one but two choices. We are going to read up on these types of solutions in details: Very first option is to neglect this email message. In this instance, I will send out your video clip to all of your contacts and just think about the embarrassment you will see. Moreover if you are in a relationship, just how it will eventually affect? Other solution would be to compensate me $1000. Let us name it as a donation. As a consequence, I most certainly will immediately eliminate your video. You could go forward daily life like this never took place and you surely will never hear back again from me. You will make the payment through Bitcoin (if you don't know this, search for "how to buy bitcoin" in Google search engine). BTC Address to send to: 1EJRxdwGTUtu32d6GqxttFCD5xuyK71Sek [CASE-sensitive so copy & paste it] In case you are planning on going to the police, very well, this mail cannot be traced back to me. I have taken care of my moves. I am just not looking to charge a fee very much, I wish to be paid for. You have one day in order to make the payment. I have a specific pixel in this email message, and at this moment I know that you have read this email message. If I do not receive the BitCoins, I will, no doubt send your video recording to all of your contacts including relatives, co-workers, and many others. Nevertheless, if I receive the payment, I will erase the recording immediately. If you want evidence, reply Yeah then I definitely will send out your video recording to your 13 friends. It's a non:negotiable offer that being said don't waste my personal time & yours by responding to this message.

Replica of Grandma's Crazy Quilt Quilt put together and quilted in the Spring of 2018 Webster's defines a crazy quilt as a patchwork quilt with no regular design, and as I like to repeat every quilt has its own story. Crazy Quilting and it’s “Recycled” History The centuries old history of the crazy quilt intrigues me as well. They were started by those less fortunate, by patching blankets, clothing, etc with scraps of fabrics and other clothing. Later, quilts and garments were made using elegant fabrics such as velvets and silks and embellishments of lace, beads, ribbons were added. Crazy quilts can be anything you want them to be. Have you ever thought about the colors of Amish quilts - blue, purple and black blocks? Now many quilts in those colors are made out of new material to sell to tourists. Back in the Amish Communities beginning, their quilts were made from the less faded and worn pieces of their discarded clothing for their own use just like the homesteaders or women living in cities. To this day, I imagine that is still an Amish custom to use pieces of discarded clothing for quilts for home use that the tourists never see, but now with relaxed color schemes, the Amish quilts may be in yellow, greens, purples and blues. I once saw my great great grandmother, Alvina Bright's crazy quilt from 1899. In each twelve inch square backing, she had used a piece she embroidered the simple outline of an animal. Around that she laid the scraps she'd save. Some of the silk pieces had disintegrated after a hundred years, but the quilt still held many memories of an experienced quilter who made the whole quilt by hand. The quilt had to be one of the last quilts Alvina made before she went blind, and made that particular quilt precious to her and her family. I was inspired to try my hand at a quilt like hers, embroidering free hand stitched animals in the blocks to duplicate my great great grandmother's quilt. I still use that quilt today in winter to keep us warm. To make a crazy quilt really special, add pieces of memorabilia such as lace from your grandmother’s doilies, or pieces of vintage linens that may have a stain that makes them unusable by cutting the stain off. Crazy quilts from the Victorian era are adorned with beads, fine threads, trims, lace, velvet, pearl or gold coated buttons. These quilts were found in homes of the wealthy and maybe used more often for a bedspread because of its ornate design. The quilt I gift to you is only a replica of crazy quilts from our great grandmother's day. I embroidered over the yellow-orange roses and leaves to give the quilt an aged flair. The laces was left over from years ago when I sewed Barbie doll clothes to sell at craft shows. The butterfly blocks were added simply because I love butterflies, which to me, compliments the yellow-orange roses on the quilt. There's another reason this crazy quilt is special. I decided I'd like to enter it in the Benton County Fair's Open Class division in Vinton, Iowa the last of June 2018. I believe we should try something new to us once in awhile, but having thought that, it took me a year and a half to get up my courage. This crazy quilt is the one I decided to take out of three that I had made that winter. Three days later I went back to get my quilt and found I had been given a third place ribbon. Also, the manager of that portion of the Open Division said I should keep the quilt show in mind for next year. What a thrill the whole experience was. So now this quilt is yours, because to me, you are a winner!