Aunt Patsy

Aunt Patsy

We all have those relatives that we adore. Aunt Patsy was my favorite Aunt on my father’s side. She was a sweet southern woman who had the gift of gab and could cook anything and make it amazing, and loved to tend to her flowers. She would meet you at the door in her muumuu, so excited you had come to visit and hug you soundly and give you a big kiss. She welcomed you in, asked if you were hungry or thirsty. She was an amazing woman who exuded love. Now don’t get me wrong, she was a sweet southern lady, but she also didn’t suffer fools and wasn’t afraid to call a spade a spade. She could have the Holmes temper (Holmes was her madien name and while I never saw may aunt show her temper, I had seen my father and I can image it was a family trait….something I fear was passed down to me 😀 )


Some of my fondest memories would be staying at my aunt’s house. While it was great to visit, staying overnight meant you got to get up the next morning to one of aunt Patsy’s amazing breakfasts. In the middle of her large kitchen sat a big dining table and it would be full of freshly cooked items prepared with love. Buttermilk biscuits, sausage, bacon, eggs, pancakes. She would fill the dining table full of these amazing eats and we would walk around and fix a plate. It was the place where everyone converged, visiting and eating, while my aunt would be cooking or making sure everyone had enough.

Aunt Patsy House with her gardens.

My aunt passed away on March 26, 2017. While visiting after the funeral I thought about all of her muumuus. She LOVED her a muumuu, and she had many. I gathered them up and took them home. My aunt and her grand daughter had a very special relationship. I decided to take them and make them into a memory quilt for her. It was a long process, many of the muumuus were well loved and almost threadbare. I had to stabilize them and enforce them with fusible fabric. Below is what I came up with. I added the sashing and border fabrics to bring it all together.

I hope her grand daughter loves it. It goes on the frame tomorrow and will be quilted. Then we’ll take the 2 hour trip north to drop it off.

I still have so many fond memories of my visits to my aunt in Fort Atkinson, Iowa. My aunt’s southern voice that would rise and fall in a melodic way as she spoke (Think Susan Sugarbaker 🙂 ). My uncle Jim with his deep resonating voice, in his rocking chair, smoking his pipe. The ticking of their mantle clock in the living room. It’s funny the things you remember, and others you don’t. But you remember the feeling you had when you were there, and it was a feeling of love and family.

Quarantine & Quilting

Well we’ve all been experiencing quarantine. My situation is, I work for a hospital in a role that I can thankfully do from home. However we’ve also had to take some mandatory time off to help with budgeting etc. That has given me a lot of time to focus on quilting.

I was able to get my Innova setup and it’s working WONDERFULLY after form TLC from Country Loft Quilt & Design in Minnesota. I’ve been able to get 3 quilts quilted with the help of my Innova and my Qbot.

My Innova working with the Qbot

So while the COVID 19 epidemic has been horrible, there’s no other way to put it. I have been able to find some joy and some zen quilting. I’ve start another Postcards From Sweden quilt. I absolutely loved that quilt, and decided I had some many leftover half square triangles that I should make another one. It’s a free pattern online and can be found HERE.

Postcards From Sweden

Another project I was able to come back to was making a quilt for my cousin out of my Aunt Patsy’s MuuMuus. She LOVED a muumuu and wore them all the time. So I thought it would be a fitting way to remember here. I close to having all of those blocks done and will share more on this later.

Below is a 30’s quilt kit I had gotten from Craftsy, I LOVED the 30’s fabrics and finally got this one quilted as well. So things have been productive while I’ve been hunkering down.