little quilt on the prairie

Most of you know that we spent our vacation this summer in South Dakota. The image below was taken very near where my mother's side of the family settled.





You might also know that in an effort to channel my inner homeschooler/earth mother, we read several of the Little House books in preparation for the trip. That project is still going on. (The Long Winter is the next one in the series waiting for us.) Combine reading about life on the prairie with all the doll quilts floating around craftblogland this summer and I had a recipe for a new obsession. Prairie Children and Their Quilts pretty much jumped off the shelves at me while I was shopping in June and I've spent a fair amount of time coming up with reasons to make them all.



Mom and I were shopping at a quilt shop in Mitchell, SD and I saw a sample of the book's signature quilt. It hit me there that I could make this one into a keepsake for my mother, her dad and her uncle (who's birthday we were all there to celebrate). Unfortunately, that meant three of the same quilt, three times the labor, etc. In other words, it wasn't getting made anytime near his actual birthday. I did get them done in September though and two of them are below. My mother's got wrapped up and given away before I could take a picture of it.

The three men listed are brothers (one of them being my grandfather) along with their nicknames and birthdates.

Next on the list from this book - the schoolhouse quilt for a dear little friend's birthday at the end of the month.

p.s. Looks like I have more stuff to post than I thought I would. Not sure what days will work best, but I'll probably be posting a few days a week for a bit. And yes, I figured out the whole picture thing (with a LOT of help from a lovely clerk at the local camera shop)! You can also click on any image to make it larger.