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Wooohooo!! I am SO excited about this new free Wednesday Sew along!! What is better than Grandma’s Kitchen, a sew along with blocks named for the best memories we have of that kitchen! I bet you have great stories to tell, cherished times sitting in that kitchen. I am really looking forward to thinking about each of my grandma’s and great-grandma’s during this project. They were ladies who I cherished and loved deeply.
There is no better place to start this sew along then the heart of the kitchen, the Kitchen table.
Do you remember your grandma’s table? Was it Formica, wood, maybe metal? 
There I am, having breakfast with my Pappy & Granny. They are my dad’s parents. I spent a lot of time at Granny’s table chatting! Here I’m just 2 years old… look at those bangs! ACK! What was mom thinking? I know what she was thinking.. she didn’t want to fight with me to comb them.. ha!
In each pattern I am writing about the theme for the block, sharing some personal memories. I think i have photos of me at my other grandma’s table & my one of my great grandma’s kitchen tables… but I’ll have to deep dive to find them. If I can, I”m going to find old photos to post each week.. we’ll see what I come up with, I’m really looking forward to sharing memories with you for this sew along.
Some of you might not have known your grandparents, or maybe you remember more about Grandpa, or a Aunt, or a very wonderful neighbor or family friend. Those are the people to dig deep and honor while you make these blocks. I’d love to hear your stories, your memories about each block So IN THE COMMENTS tell me about that special kitchen table you remember.
I’m changing up the format a bit this time.. so keep reading!
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I am designing this project ‘as I go’ and that means making the block as I design it. Sometimes I’ll have the block done when I release like today, other times I’ll have to make it afterwards. I’m going to get those 2nd posts up each week, either on Friday or Saturday. Sometimes they might be a tip, or a tool demo, or maybe a review of book or a online workshop.
Today I want to give you TWO tips about the sew and flip units. You’ve done this in the Solstice, so it’s not new.. here is my tip
And a Video to help you trouble shoot!
- TIP 1 – Sew the square from the straight side TOWARDS the point. Don’t start at the point. Why? Because when you start AT the point you have a greater chance of sucking the tip into your feed dogs. This way it works perfectly… And do you see my guide beam? This is a feature on my Baby lock Destiny II! Several Baby lock versions have it, get a demo at your local dealer!
- TIP 2 – When you trim away the triangles for the sew & flip, keep them! use them to start & stop.. Soon I’ll show you a project to use them!
My Triangle book will help you with my projects. There are step by step photos, several ways to do each type of triangle, plus directions for making more than 1 or 2 at a time. And My book has a guide sheet for all the formulas you need!
Strawberry Fizz is a fun option for Grandma’s Kitchen, very fresh and adorable and there are is yardage & kits!
BUY an iron for 15% off with code SAVE15 and I list all it’s super features HERE
- My Books at Amazon with digital option
- My Books with International Shipping
- Check what is in the Discounted Precuts
- Enter your email to get a notice of when each block is posted
- Share your block at the Quilt Show below by clicking the blue box (tutorial here on loading a photos) FYI if your photo is too large Resize it and try again
- Join me Online to share and ask questions!
50 Responses
Wow, who thought a kitchen table could evoke so many memories. Grandma and Grandpa on my mom’s side had a small eating alcove in their kitchen with a trestle table with a yellow formica top and 2 benches. This is where the grand kids ate for all holidays – the dining room was reserved for the ‘adults’. I now have the table and benches on my back porch.
Grandma on my dad’s side lived in an apartment with her mother and 2 aunts. I don’t really remember what the kitchen table looked like, but I do remember watching Great-grandma mop up milk from a saucer with white bread, while the great-great aunts (Lilly and Nellie) consumed an entire 1/2 gallon of ice cream between them! They maintained the ice wouldn’t last in the tiny freezer compartment inside their refrigerator. This was the early ’60’s and Great-grandma and the aunts would have all been in their 80’s. While they ate the ice cream (which I’m sure they shared with me), I was thrilled to have my very own box of animal crackers – with the string handle – a special treat the aunts would get for me when I visited.
I never knew my mothers mom, but my dads mom and his grandmother where my rocks…as a kid into early teen year, I would go to grandmas and then we went to great grandmas, they would hand quilt and I always had a bowl of homemade ice cream.. the kitchen table my grandmother had was my great grandmothers. I remember the story goes it was hand carved back in the day when items where transported my horse and buggy. That is why the 16 person table has a removable leaf and its sides fold down to accommodate two people..it was easy to open up at meals in small houses and it could also be easily moved in a carriage. When my great grandmother died my grandmother got it and when my grandmother died 2 years ago at 99 this table I brought back from California to Tennessee. This table saw all the holiday meals and the local lady gossip I remember lol…always kept in my grandmothers best dining room and no one dare place a cup without a coaster on it…today it is in my kitchen all my kids gather around it and even my teenagers know its story and love it…
Just a note–I bought the same Fat Quarter Bundle that Pat is using-from the Fat Quarter Shop It was a good deal, and I actually split the bundle with a friend who is also participating in Grandma’s Kitchen Quilt a Long. So it may have been alot of fat quarters (40) but it sure is going along way between 2 people! 🙂 🙂 Just an idea for future sew alongs…. 🙂 Thanks.
I love reading these stories.. I never knew any of my grandparents. My father came to the states from Denmark during the way and it wasn’t long after that he lost both his parents. Evem though we didn’t live far from where my mother was raised her people died young.
I’m envious of anyone that had the opportunity to have these great memories. Thanks for sharing.
166 is my favorite block from the sew along…..she did not link her picture so I have to let her know here…..the red and turquoise are terrific together!
Thanks for the sew along Pat, and Happy Sewing everyone
I only knew my grandparents on my mom’s side because my dad’s parents died before I was born. I spent many hours at my grandmother’s table learning to embroider and quilt.I was 6 years old when she taught me to embroider and was about 12 years old when I started to quilt. I am 60 now and have never stopped doing either one. I love doing needlework
Those are!
That does sound perfect!
I cutout my first quilt on my grandma’s kitchen table. I was 15. 40 years later I still have the quilt she helped me cut out. She borrowed the Canada quilt pattern from her sister in law. It seemed fitting in a quilt to celebrate grandma kitchen I make another Canada quilt. Looking forward to the next block.😊
My grandma lived in a little house next to ours. She was my mom’s mom and we spent the night with her many times and she always made pancakes or eggs for breakfast. She taught me to sew on her treadle sewing machine and then she helped me to learn to embroider. We sat outside under the shade trees and sewed. I miss her, she was the most wonderful grandma ever.
I was lucky to grow up very close to both grandmothers. My paternal grandmother taught me to crochet and hand embroider, but I could never get the hand of tatting. Since I was the only girl on that side of the family, I inherited many beautiful pieces of lace made by her and her parents. She had one wood table that served as both kitchen and dining table, that I now use as my desk. My maternal grandmother was a seamstress at CBS studios in LA. She would make me clothes from castaway fabrics from the studio, and give me fabric scraps. She refused to purchase clothes for me. She retired at 70, and then started quilting. I am lucky to have quilts make by her and her mother. I remember many, many family meals at her home at her “formal” dining table. The adults were at the main table, and the kids at a card table nearby. So many wonderful memories at both.
My memory of grandma’s kitchen table is always having to eat any and everything at it when we visited. Then one day I was told about how all 6 of her children were born on that table and I was sent to eat outside because I couldn’t eat where my dad was born. 🤣
I am loving these great stories and beautiful masterpieces!! This is my first quilt along, first flying geese (thank you to the brilliant lady whose tip was sew just inside the fold!). These are my grandmothers, my Guardian Angel Grandmother holding my mom, she passed away when my mom was only 10, and my “Grandma-in-Iowa” for whom I was named and was actually the housekeeper who came to take care of my mom, aunt and uncle…when their dad also died 4 yrs later, she took them in and away from a mean uncle. As a little girl I made her so many aprons, which she always wore when we visited…she had a green 50s style kitchen table where we’d sit to have hot tea and cinnamon toast at night or share coffee-milk in the mornings (lots of milk for me and just a hint of coffee!). They watch over me in my sewing room! Thanks for letting me share!
Growing up in the military, visits to Grandma’s house were few & far between. Instead I was reminded of the many kitchens we had while I was at “home”. (We moved every 18 months) Dad had 1 rule regarding unpacking, Bedrooms first, then the kitchen. Mom always had a “box” of necessary things until the movers came to unload. So this is my take on Grandma’s Table. Unfortunately, my Mom has Alzheimer’s and it’s difficult to share so many things. I shared the block with her today and she doesn’t remember sewing but did tell me how nicely my points met!!
The kitchen table seems such a strange idea to me …..we grew up without a kitchen table…just lots of counters….my memory of my Grandmother starts when she came to live with us when Mom went to work fulltime. So she was home when we got home from school and did our chores and had our afternoon snack. The best memories were every school vacation when the first few days were spent choosing and making to refill all the cookie tins as we used to have teatime at 10am and 3pm every day which was a moment to pause and reconnect…and if need be take Dad’s coffee /tea and cookies into the workshop or garage where he might be working. The English heritage had this genteel air about them that is a precious memory.
This is a great challenge and brings back a lot of good memories. I was lucky enough to know my great grandmother, a quilter who lived a very simple farm life. I also have wonderful memories of my father’s mother who had a dinette and a cheery yellow kitchen. My other grandmother is still with us and her wooden table was always full of stuff as well as food – and although she made her living as a sewist she is not a quilter. She has answered a few emergency calls from me through the years when my machine wasn’t working!
why did people sleep on the kitchen table?
Sadly I have no kitchen table memories of my grandparents
I was one of 7 kids and we were not invited to either grandparents homes’
But I have plenty of happy memories from raising my own kids.
Happy Sewing
Both my grandmother’s quilted. Mom’s mom had 10 kids and they were dirt poor and had to really find ways to fill all those bellies! Chicken and dumplings was a given at most meals along with cornbread and buttermilk. I can make my grandma’s dumplings. They aren’t made the traditional way. She made her dumplings long and thin so they would feed more. She used White Lily flour and hot water only and rolled small hunks of the dough paper thin and then dropped the dumplings into the pot with the boiling chicken. The chicken came from their backyard. My other grandmother was very educated and taught me how to crochet, quilt, and make taffy. I can remember standing in a chair at her table with my niece (only 3 years younger than me)making that taffy. She could play the piano by ear and my youngest son inherited this talent as well. She always had the best advice and I loved staying with her.
Thanks Pat!!! Although I ate many meals at my Grandma’s table the best ones I remember was in the mornings when she would mix what was left in the cereal boxes into my bowl, slice a banana on top, add milk and tell me to ‘Eat up! We eat every crumb in this house!’
I was wondering the same question about using the striped and gingham fabrics. Do we just incorporate them in now in each block or will you specify. I am so excited to be doing this!!
I have lots of memories of my maternal grands, but no of my paternal ones-they had both passed before I was born. But I did hear many stories from my Dad and my Aunts and Uncles, so I know a lot about them. We got lots of good values from them, including thrift, which is probably why I never throw out scraps! Thanks for the new project, Pat! Looking forward to it!
I can still see that old chrome table with the silvery gray Formica top. It was so ugly but was very popular when I was young. I’d sit on my grandpa’s lap and We would have our coffee ( my cup had mostly milk). He even bought me my very own tiny cup and saucer with pink roses on it. I still have it. Such fun memories.
My memories of my Grandmas. My mom’s mom lived with us my aunts, uncles and cousin came every Friday night to see her. I have her kitchen table in my sewing room. My dad’s mom lived with one of his sisters and her family. We would sometimes go visit them. I remember braiding her very long hair and wrapping it around her head.
This is sew fun, Pat. Thank you. One of the things I remember about my grandmkther’s table was that it was round and had a beautiful soda cracker container on it in the middle. It was painted china in sorted muted tones like Robyn Pandoloh’s fabrics. I would sit at the table and she would serve me soups and potted pork loaf and I was the only one of the kids who liked that so we had special times at that table, just the two of us. This is a great memory to think about while sewing.
Pat, I was a late baby, and I never knew any of my grandparents, would have liked to have known them, the closest person to a grandparent was a lady we all called maw Langley. I stayed with her a lot while my parents worked hauling logs,when they would go hunting with maws son, and when my mother was in the hospital for a month having cancer surgery. We sat at her kitchen table, in a trailer, that folded down from the wall, I have warm memories of that time. when I was about 6-7 years old.
Just finished reading all these wonderful stories. So glad you all shared.
My Nana’s kitchen had a wood stove that produced the best baking powder biscuits for meals and strawberry shortcake! Also the absolutely best apple pie and crust ever! She had an icebox with the drip pan underneath. When we would come over to eat, I had two jobs: squeeze the margarine and coloring to equal oleo and the other was to make gravy. LOL
In the dining room she had those wonderful old tapers, like wicks, used to light candles. She also had a large wooden lazy suzan type cake plate with 99 holes drilled around the flange. How I loved it and still wished it had been given to me but not to be. Both she and Grandfather lived into their nineties.
Thanks, Pat, for stirring up these wonderful precious memories.
Great story!
So excited and will probably at least choose my fabric today. Did so much sewing the last couple of days that my leg is tired and aching. Both my Grandmothers had wonderful little kitchens that produced wonderful food and memories. At Grandma Carter’s (Maternal) there was only one table in the house and a wonderful, big, black stove that burned wood for cooking and heat. There were cabinets down one short wall and a sink. The table was rectangle, was across from the stove, under the window and next to the front door. There was a rocker and a book shelf and curio cabinet with a wonderful clock on it and that was the room. The table had sides that hung down and were moved up for meals. It always had a cloth on it. Usually with hand embroidery and crochet edge. My Grandma Yost’s kitchen was a bit bigger. The also rectangle table was between the Range and Frig across from the big sink. With two walls of high cabinets. She usually had gingham or printed table clothes. This table would be pulled out of not too many were around. Otherwise we used the big Round Oak table in the dining room with leaves for Big family dinners. Grandma Yost always had fun pictures and calendars around her kitchen and memos attached to the huge white cabinet doors. Thanks Pat for this new Adventure!!!
Pat, again thanks for the great sew along. My Grandmother taught me to sew and crochet. We moved away when I was 8 but we visited often and so did she. We would sit and watch the “programs” ie- “soaps” and sew crochet or she even knitted bandages for the hospital. Her Kitchen Table was her mothers on the farm in Niskayuna, NY. It was a Dairy farm with a large family and farm hands, my Grandma (Louise Henrietta Fink Boos) helped inside the home instead of outside like her younger sister Lena did. BeBe as her grandkids called her told me that some days there were 17 people around that table for meals, it has 5 leaves and now sits in my kitchen! My mother got the table when my Grandmother moved in with my Aunt, and when my Mom died in 2012, my brother who was supposed to inherit the table let me have it since we celebrate Holidays at my home. I call it my magic table because now when we have a family dinner, instead of everyone (some in the DR, some at the kitchen table, some at the counter) dispersing men to the Family room and women in the kitchen, they stay at the magic table and talk. I now know my brother better in 5 short years then I did in 50. So many memories and wonderful times with family young and old.
This is my first Quilt Along and I’m so excited. My memories of my Grandma’s Kitchen are faded a little now, but I can still smell the lovely aromas that would always be coming from the kitchen. My Nan had 13 children, so there were 2 tables in the kitchen, but there was always room for someone extra. Wonderful times and happy memories.
I have SO enjoyed reading these stories. My favorite gramda was grandma Tilly. She had a hard life, delivering 10 babies and had a husband that was very abusive. She had a strong back bone and ended up getting up the courage to leave and start a new life for herself. She was a wonderful cook, so became a cook at a restraint for years. Then she bought a large house and took in “elderly” people so they didn’t have to go the the nursing home. (She was older than all of them. I had a quilt she made, but gave it to my sister. It wasn’t fancy, but precious. She always had a large table and would have a metal stand where she kept a container of homemade donuts. She told funny stories and was so fun. I miss her to this day. She eloped on July 4th when she was 80!
My father’s mother came to America to follow her husband after he had a job and a home ready, with 5 young children aboard a ship made by the White Star Ship Lines. This was one year before the Titanic! This grandmother passed away when I was a small baby. My maternal grandmother worked as a designer and seamstress in N.Y., was divorced and had her own apartment in a high rise! She would take my sister and I on the weekends to visit her. She had a small table in her dining area, where she had ladies over to play cards and Mahjong. She also cut fabrics and designed on that table. Her small table was always in use. I think she must have originated her own version of Smores, as Grammy made toasted chocolate bar and banana sandwiches for my sister and I. She made them in the oven and they were delicious. One Saturday when we were visiting her, and she was sewing on her machine, I wanted to sew too. Grammy gave me some fabric and a needle and thread. I put strings of fabric on two triangles, and also some strings on two silver dollar size pieces. I made a “bathing suit” for myself. I remember my grandmother taking it back home with us saying to my mother … “look, your daughter made a bathing suit for herself!” That was my first attempt at sewing. I have since made clothes, ballet tutu’s and costumes, and here I am at this point making quilted items. Thank you Grammy for influencing me and giving me my start towards creating and sewing. I so loved you, and I wish I had your special little table where magic occurred. <3
My mom’s widowed mother is the first grandma I think of when the kitchen table is mentioned. She babysat us a lot and fed us a lot. But her table was also where we played board and card games with her. There were always cookies and, of course, milk to go with them. Often her table would be stacked with cookies she made to take to her church for the Sunday school kids. She took them every week. As my sisters, cousins, and I got older we helped with the baking. I don’t know what magic she used, but it took me 50 years to get my cookies to turn out as good as hers! My dad’s dad and step-mom lived on a boat, so the galley table was used. My favorite meal there was corned beef and cabbage. Dad’s mom and step-dad had a restaurant. What stands out in my memory of them is eating pancakes at the counter. I hope my grandkids and great-grandkids remember me with as much love as I had for all my grandparents.
One of my fondest memories at my Grandma Gray’s was Saturday nights. After all of us kids spent an hour being very quiet while Grandpa and Grandma and our parents watched Lawrence Welk, Grandma would head to the kitchen for treats. She had a stove that had a deep well and it had a thing that stirred at the bottom. This is where the worlds best popcorn came from! Our grape koolaid was served in aluminum glasses that got so cold when filled with ice. This was heaven as a child!
I only knew my maternal grandmother and we called her Mammy (pronounced more like Memmy). I was born on her birthday so We shared that day along with a set of twin cousins till she passed away in 1973. Best birthdays ever! She was an awesome cook and since we lived next door till I was 5 was my babysitter. This brings back a lot of memories!
We called our gramma “Baba”, they were from Russia & could not talk English. She had a big wood table in her kitchen and would tell us to sit & eat….I think that was the only thing she ever spoke to us ….but it always came out “shit”, Eat….we were so young & just laughed & laughed about it…lol
Both of my grandmother’s kitchen tables hold lots of memories for me. My maternal grandmother had a small Kitchen table where we would have breakfast and lunch. We would also sit there in the evening to visit. My mother, my grandmother, me and often one or two aunts would sit there and have a Coke while everyone caught up with each other’s lives. For breakfast, Granddaddy drank boiled coffee with lots of sugar & milk. He poured it into the saucer and drank from that. If our parents weren’t there, he just might share it with my brother & me.
My paternal grandmother had the same thing, but I remember suppers at her table more than breakfasts. She was a nurse who periodically worked the night shift. My brother, my cousin & I often had supper with Pap when Grandmother was at work.
Both had Big tables in the Dining room for the main meals with everyone present, however the “kids” still had to eat at the kitchen table.
Pat, for me it was my Grandfather and Grandmother’s kitchen. My Grandfather was the cook in the house and a very good one. He always had a stein on the table with teaspoons in it. He always had dinner ready to sit on the table when we arrived for a visit. We had a six hour drive to their house but he was always prepared. Thank you for this QAL.
This is my first sew along. Will the directions say specifically when to use the gingham, stripe and white? In this first block are all fabrics just part of the 40 fat quarter set?
I have my mother’s great-aunt’s round wooden mission style table. I just love the fact that it is an heirloom. I have fond memories of my mom loving to cook and bringing friends and family together to the table. Unfortunately I never knew my grandmothers.
When I was young, I got to spend a glorious week every summer at my grandparents’ farm. I remember sitting at the breakfast table drinking some PDQ malted milk that my great-grandfather had made for me. I remember asking him if that meant pretty darn quick. Everyone just burst out laughing and laughing!
My grandma worked as a housekeeper for a wealthy family in the 50’s. Her quarters were in a separate building and included a little kitchenette. When the children in the family came home from school, they came to her quarters for peanut butter sandwiches before their evening meal. I was never allowed to go into the big house, but as a little girl, I thought my grandma’s quarters were the most elegant place to live and I hoped someday I’d have such a grand apartment. I have no specific memory of the table itself but I imagine it was formica. Grandma had placemats, and that seemed very ritzy because our family used placemats or a tablecloth only on special occasions.
Love memories of my Mom’s mom Grandma Brown. Funniest memory of grandma’s kitchen table my cousin and I always wanted to help so we begged to cut the okra for supper. They said be sure to wash it so we did after we sliced it all up. Yes we covered it in water sliced in the bowl we had the slimiest mess we had to put out and dry it. We all still laugh about it now we were only 7 or 8 year old at the time.
Good morning Pat!
Thanks for this new Wednesday SAL!
I will be waiting with lots of novelty
I won’t be sewing along this time but I will be watching along, to see the blocks offered(and so far love this first one so will save the file) and seeing folks interpretations in fabric. I need to finish up a few so I will be in eye candy mode this time.
YAY – it’s Wednesday! It’s here, it’s here. Thank you, Pat, for this QAL. I am so excited to start on block one. ~smile~ Roseanne P.S. I’m going to try to get people from my blog to participate as well.
Mom’s kitchen table was formica. We had a wooden table in the dining room that we ate at mainly when Dad had car motors and car parts on the kitchen table. Honest. Dad was a mechanic and worked on our cars and his friends cars along with working full time as a machanic for a local bus company. I was amazed that Mom never complained about the car motors or parts on our kitchen table. Only the dining room table donned table cloths. If Mom & Dad were alive now, they’d both be 101 this year, which tells you that I’m up in my 70’s myself.
awww.. so cool Janet!
I love the memory Sheila!
I’m excited for this series of blocks, but as it’s my grandmas table that now sits in my house with my grandchildren eating breakfast. This block will have to wait until my darlings have to go home. It’s made of wood and one person from every generation has slept on it!
Thanks for the new sew along! I remember my Grandma, on my Mothers side, best. Her table was Formica and metal with the vinyl padded chairs. Her kitchen cabinets were white metal and she had an aluminum grease can next to the stove, where she saved the bacon grease. Lots of talks were had at that table where it was mostly us women in the family gathered. The men would gather on the back porch. Good times!