Heirlooms

We got back from our vacation in Colorado on Sunday but school started today so I've been run off my feet since we got back. I've got lots and lots of fun stuff to post but I'll have to get it on here this weekend. Below are some pictures I took before we left. I couldn't post them then because it would have ruined the surprise for others who were receiving the cedar chests as gifts.
When Mom and Dad came out in August they brought an amazing gift - a custom built cedar chest that matches ones that were made for my brother and two cousins. They were crafted by a woodworker in Carbondale, CO from black walnut my grandfather harvested from his family farm in Kansas many many years ago. It had been sitting in his shop in Grand Junction, CO for a few decades until my mother and aunts inherited it a couple of years ago.

They also brought out the quilt that's visible on the bed. My grandmother and I pieced it during the last year or so of her life and got it onto the quilting frame. She passed away before it was completed and my mom graciously moved the frame to her house, finished the quilting, and even did the binding before bringing it to me completed. To give perspective to that project, the bed it's on in the photo is king-sized.

The cedar was also in his shop. We also now have a brass plaque to mount in the lid that briefly explains the significance of the chest and gives our names and the year the chest was made. The red and white houndstooth was given to me by an aunt who apparently won it in a "make it with wool" contest when she was still a teenager. I'm hoping to get it together and make an awesome retro coat one of these days.

Getting the new quilt out made me want to show off and document the other quilt I have, the first one my mother, grandmother and I made when I asked her to teach me how to quilt, many years ago.
Grandma finished quilting that one and bound it. She gave it to me for Christmas 2000 with the label above attached. When I was just in Colorado I made myself a similar one documenting the story of the new quilt.

And so I get to show off a few of my most treasured possessions. :)
I'll get busy posting this weekend because we've been very busy and I have the pictures to prove it!