The Generations Quilt: March 2025 Project Meeting

Hello Friends and Happy March Break!

While I know not everyone gets to take this whole week off, I hope all of you are able to find a small break to take some time to relax and create!

Mom and I found some of that break time over the weekend when we went to visit Grandma!

The visit wasn't as long as we had originally planned; on the night we had hoped to drive over, there was a flash freeze warning in effect, so we decided to stay safely at home. The next morning, the weather was much better and we got safely to Grandma's house!

Despite the delay, we still found lots of time to help out with chores and errands, and to check up on our Generations Quilt progress!

The Generations Quilt Project

It's been about eight months since I last checked in with this project.

Those of you who have been following along since the project was first introduced will know I've already finished the 60 blocks I committed to, but that Mom and Grandma have still been working on theirs.

For anyone who has joined us along the way; the Generations Quilt is a collaborative project between myself, my Mom, my Grandma, and my Great Grandmother based on a collection of quilt blocks left behind by my Great Grandmother after she passed away.

Though she and I never lived at the same time, this project is a way to connect us, as well as the generations between, and is representative of the love of sewing and fibre arts that has been passed down through my family!

My Block Progress

As mentioned, I've already completed the 60 blocks I committed to making for this project; 30 each of the traditional Dresden Plate and Six Pointed Star block patterns.

However, I don't like being left out, so I decided to prepare pieces for a few extra blocks to bring along to the visit so I could work on the project too!

These will become more of the scrappy-white-piecing-on-a-solid-background blocks that I've made before. They turned out to be my favourite blocks!

After working on them over the weekend, I've finished assembling three Six Pointed Star appliques, which are now waiting to be sewn onto backgrounds!

I also helped out Grandma with some of her blocks, but I'll get back to those a little later.

Mom's Block Progress

Mom made a lot of progress on her blocks last Summer after my update, and has continued piecing since then!

She has now finished all 20 of her Six Pointed Star blocks, as well as 12 Dresden Plates! The remaining 8 Dresdens are pieced, but need to be appliqued onto backgrounds, so she's getting very close to finishing all her blocks!

Unfortunately, I didn't think about taking pictures while we were together, so you'll just have to trust that the blocks combine beautiful, vibrant colours, and cute prints!

Grandma's Block Progress

When we first got started, Mom and I committed to making 20 blocks of each of the two patterns, but Grandma wasn't sure she could do that many; she is in her 80s, her hands are getting unsteady, and her vision isn't as good as it once was, so she decided she wanted to try to make 10 of each.

And, as of our visit, she has completed those blocks!

Her blocks used a lot of remnants from past projects, so I recognize the quilts that a lot of them were used in. Specifically, most of the purple prints were from quilts made for me!

Though her blocks are finished, there are still some basting threads that need to be removed. I've taken all her blocks home with me to check for those threads since I can see them a lot better.

And though she met her goal of 10 blocks of each pattern, we would still like to see Grandma's style represented equally in the finished quilts, so I'll be making some additional blocks in her style!

She's done a little bit of work already to get me started. While making her original set of blocks, Grandma cut a bunch of extra Dresden Plate pieces, which she sorted into bags by colour.

There were a lot more than what's left in the bags now, since I've already gotten started on piecing some Grandma-style blocks!

I took a look at the blocks she had finished for inspiration. Grandma typically included a wide range of colours and prints in each Dresden, with at least one piece coming from each of her colours and no duplicate prints.

With that in mind, I assembled two Dresden Plate appliques!

I think I've done a good job of replicating the feeling of Grandma's blocks so far, and I hope that continues in the blocks I make moving forward! And once I get these stitched onto backgrounds, I'll be sure to mark them with my initials so we know which ones she stitched herself and which are mine. That way we can be sure that each of the quilts has at least one authentic Grandma block when completed!

Laying Out Blocks

With each of us drawing close to completion, I was interested to see how some of the blocks would look when laid out together!

Unfortunately, I don't have any of my Mom's blocks to include, and the only room with enough floor space to layout this many blocks has poor lighting, but I wanted to get an idea of how the Generations Quilt might look!

I tried two layouts, with the only difference being my blocks.

This first layout uses a random assortment of different Dresden Plates that I made. A few of them contrast a lot because they include some very dark colours that contrast with the white backgrounds and pastel tones used by my Grandma and Great Grandmother in their blocks.

Contrast isn't necessarily a bad thing, but in this scenario, it feels a little aggressive, so I wanted to see how it would turn out with a little more intention!

In the next layout, I used only those blocks that are pieced with white on a coloured background, and I'm much happier with the look. I think the white piecing plays off the white backgrounds on the other blocks more cohesively than the previous assortment of blocks did!

I may have to make more of those white pieced blocks, but I've loved making them and don't mind doing some more!

But this is a collaborative project, and I may find that Mom or Grandma prefer the more chaotic, high contrast layout. We'll have to wait and see what their thoughts are the next time we get together!

Friends, it has been so exciting to catch up on this project after so many months! I've missed working on my Generations blocks and am excited to get back to work on some blocks for Grandma, and maybe some new blocks of my own!

And I'd love some input on my pseudo-Grandma blocks! Please let me know if you think I've matched her piecing layout or if there's something you think I should do differently?

I'm excited to hear everyone's thoughts and can't wait until our next Generations Quilt meeting!