Heirloom Quilt Project

These are the blocks that are already sewn together.

I'm so excited about my latest project!  A couple of months ago my Aunt Coez gave me an "UFO" that she had been given when she was about 15 years old, in the mid 1940's.  (UFO = un-finished object)  Her grandmother (my great grandmother, Little Granny) had started this quilt and given it to her to finish.  Coez had planned to finish it for her first daughter, which she never had...she gave birth to 5 boys!  So she set it aside and never completed it.  When she called and told me about it, she said I could have it IF I would finish it.   

These are the blocks left to be sewn into the quilt - 32 of them!

I have never made a quilt before...well, not a full size quilt.  I pieced and quilted a simple 9-block lap quilt once to give to a nursing home resident.  I pieced and quilted a small log cabin table runner when we first moved to MW and I got bit by the quilting bug.  (My cousin, Anita, had a quilt put up in her frames and we worked on it one day a week for awhile.)  I have helped quilt on other people's quilts.  However, I have never found the courage to do a full scale quilting project on my own...which is why I let this wonderful heirloom sit idly for the past couple of months.  I finally decided last night to just jump in and get started!

I added 13 hexagon pieces to this block last night.

I have always been in love with quilts!  My Granny was a quilter and I always loved sleeping under her handmade creations.  I love to look at quilts at fairs, craft shows, quilting shops, online...wherever I find them.  I've read books and magazines about quilting and quilters.  It has always been my dream to take up this time honored tradition...which is kind of strange since I really don't like to sew.  I do love to do handwork though.  And this quilt is definitely handwork!  It will be a work in progress for a LONG time to come.  There are forty blocks in all, and only eight are sewn together so far.  Each block is connected to the next using small hexagons.  The finished seams are only 1-inch long.  My goal is to complete the quilt top and then handquilt it for one of my future granddaughters.  She will then have a quilt started by her great-great-great grandmother.  I hope that I am up for the task!