A Nod to My Dad and Grandpa

One of the things I placed on my quilty bucket-list was a quilt using my Grandpa's ties (and the two, yes, the only two, ties that my Dad owned).

The plan was to do a quilt like the one below...

But when I pulled the ties out of the closet and started to lay them out I quickly realized that I did not have enough ties to make a circle... or even half of a circle... or even a quarter!

I gathered them up and had to develop a "Plan B"...

I pulled out a pattern for "lollipops"... 




I then watched a few youtube videos on making Dresden plates...

and then I asked my sweet hubby to make a template for me using the pattern... while batting my eye lashes and looking all cute, I might add.  I added that if he could make it a little longer than the pattern showed, it would be great... He obliged and even scored the template for the original length.  What a guy!  He is definitely a keeper!

I began to remove all of the stitching in the ties to press them open... what a tedious job, by the way!  I did however enjoy several episodes of Chopped and Chopped Junior as I performed the task.  


Once all opened, since the ties were silk or wool, and on the bias I used fusible interfacing to stabilize them...  

Using the template I cut the pieces out.  

This particular pattern has 15 blades to make up the circle...

Folding the wide portion of the blade in half you stitch 1/4"- 








and then turn to form the point...

I just love how it looks like an itty-bitty tie!

I did a bit of fussy cutting with a few of the ties to capture the insignia or a focal point of the tie.  (The two ties with the arrows are my Dad's ties...) The rest of them were just however the template fit since they were all stabilized with the interfacing.

As I prepared each of the plates I recalled the memories of vacations with my parents and grand-parents... 

Our "extreme weather" trip that included:  

     The high temperatures and desert like terrain in Arches National Park (the hike that we failed to take water with us and we came upon a hiker going back down the trail with an aluminum water container with ice jiggling it) 

     The "follow the leader" in our trucks/campers in Salt Lake City because we got lost (Grandpa and Grandma made U-turns, and we were right behind them, lol!)

     The very wet and soggy stops in Idaho (and the excitement of my Grandpa when the toilets at the campground were once again flushing [the campground was on a septic system and the ground was saturated], lol!) 

     And getting snowed in while camping in Yellowstone (and the breakfast prepared on the tailgate of a parking lot, and the enticing smells of bacon and eggs that all the others in the lot wanted as well) {{I think they felt as we did in Arches and the guy with the water}} 

     I will never forget these memories! Yep, all in one trip! And sooooo many more memories!

I recalled spending a few weeks in the summer with them in Tucson... how I was so homesick the first few days of my first visit... getting up early so that we could work in the yard or do whatever chores needed to be done while it was still cool... taking naps or going swimming in the heat of the day... and enjoying ice cream every evening... 




(<<==this picture is a recent picture that I took while in Tucson in February)

I easily recalled the routine of getting ready for church each Sunday... Dad would be the first ready with his tie and cowboy hat in place would go get the car so that it was strategically placed at the end of the sidewalk so that we wouldn't have to cross the muddy or rutted driveway...  

And the smell of roasted chicken or ham and baked potatoes as we returned home.... Mmmmm!

Okay, that is enough time down memory lane... But what a special project this has become... I'm not yet sure how many plates I will get from all the ties or what I will do with them when I have them done, but I sure am having fun making them!  Thanks for joining me as I get all nostalgic.

What memories would you recall if you had your Dad's or Grandpa's ties?  

Please share in the comments below... I love to hear what my readers think.

Happy Father's Day!

Melva