Family Ties

When I first saw a quilt made with men’s ties featured in a quilt magazine, I loved the idea.  I didn’t have any ties to work with, so I put out the word to the men in my family to never give their ties away, but to pass them on to me instead.  Fortunately, my brother Scott  has to wear a tie to work every day so he has lots of ties, and he passes his older ones on to  me.  I saw him this weekend, and he gave me this new batch:

I have made Grandmother’s Fan blocks from some of the silk tie fabrics.  Here are a few that I have currently completed:


Of course, since we quilters can not bring ourselves to throw away anything that might possibly be useful, ever, even if it might not be for years and years, even if it’s the next generation that has to figure out what to use them for, I also have these:

I’m open to suggestions as to what to do with these labels if you have any….

As a “Thank You” to my brother for his supply of ties, I made him a pillow from some of them.  The picture is grainy, but you can get the idea:


Since I can’t end this blog post with such a poor quality photo, I’m going to throw in this picture of Toby at no extra charge.  This is the face that greets me in the morning: