I also wanted to mention that we designed it, but many elements in the blocks were taken from other people's patterns while many also were not.
The party was a huge success. ViKi arranged for Grandpa and all his children to go in a hot air balloon together. My said it was a way cool experience. Apparently it is something Grandpa always wanted to do.
I also wanted to mention that were were probably 200 people who came to the reception in his honor that evening. It was an incredible gathering of friends and family like you would not believe!
The quilt commemorates the wonderful life he has lived. It was a joy to spend time with Mom thinking up ideas about his life to depict in the quilt.
The temple represents the religious, devoted side of Grandpa. It also serves as a reminder that he and Grandma Josie were sealed there along with their children. Loretta Nielsen, a great friend, allowed me to use her Bernina embroidery machine to do it.
This block represents Grandpa's pride for his naval ship, the U.S.S. Enterprise. The photo is actually of him as a young man (17-18) standing ashore looking out at his ship. The U.S.S. Enterprise was an aircraft carrier and one of the only one in the fleet that was not at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed in World War II. Grandpa was on that ship in the Pacific at the time, but we are so blessed that the Lord made sure he was on the right ship.
Grandpa traveled to many places in the world on this ship including the Panama Canal. He said there were literally inches on each side as it passed through.
Mom did all the hand applique work (the holes) on this block while I did the photocopy onto fabric. It reminds me of the holes on the sides of a battleship.
Mom wanted to depict Grandpa's collections. He had many clocks, pocket knives, unique or old bottle openers (not on the block), and old cars. He even has a nice collection of guns.
I remember appliqueing the car, but I think Mom did the rest of this block.
The boot and sewing machine remind me that he was a boot repairman in his earlier days. He still has an old leather sewing machine and an entire room upstairs for this hobby.
Mom made this block.
This block was in the very center of the quilt. It looks like Bear Lake where Grandma and Grandpa spend a lot of summer time with their family. Loretta again loaned me her machine to do the embroidered tree. Deb Walker, a wonderful family friend, painted/drew the picture of him.
I believe I appliqued the lake and mountains while Mom appliqued Grandpa on it.
Grandpa is an outdoorsman. He loves to fish and hunt. I have very early memories of him fishing at strawberry reservoir (Great Grandma and Grandpa Winkler were even there) and Pelican Lake on a fishing boat. I also know that my dad could tell many hunting story experiences he has had with grandpa - partically ones in Colorado. I recall one time that Dad said he was with Grandpa when they tipped a trailer over full of horses. All the horses came out alright inspite of the fact that they were piled on top of each other.
Mom pieced this block which is interesting because the fish is paper-pieced and she really hates to do that.
Grandpa and Grandma love to travel the world and they truly have. He has traveled by boat (navy), airplane, car, and motorhome.
Mom made this block except for the motorhome which is machine embroidered.
Mom also appliqued and designed this. Grandpa was a coal miner when he was first married to LaRue, Mom's mom. They actually lived up Spring Canyon just above Helper when Mom was born. He was buried in a mining accident and broke his legs. He pretty much had to learn to walk all over again.
Grandpa retired from Thiokol a few years back. It is so neat that he was born and raised in the basin (bluebell area) and went to school on a wagon pulled by a team of horses. He later worked for a company that sent men to the moon. There were so many technological advances during his lifetime.
I want to conclude this post with some other thoughts and memories of Grandpa. ViKi put a couple of books together for his 80th birthday party. One was a geneology of all of his children with photos and personal histories. The other was just memories that we all have of Grandpa. What interested me the most about the memories is that EVERY PERSON seemed to feel that they were Grandpa's special favorite. He truly makes everyone feel that they are extra special to him, and he has an extremely large family.
Grandpa and Grandma took me on several trips when I was young. They took our family to Disneyland while I was in about 6th grade. I went back there with him twice more while I lived in college, and they even helped me pay for a good chunk of my expenses on the trip.
I lived with Grandma and Grandpa for a short time while I was going to college. It was shortly after one of his heart-attacks, and Grandma was still working at Thiokol so I felt like they needed someone who could be with him more during the day. There was a lot of family close by to help, but I wanted to be right there with him. While I lived there he taught me many things and told me many stories about his life. I recall him showing me his recipe book which said when making sour dough starter, to leave it out until it smelled like the inside of a dead, black cat. He also told me about a man named Hosey Lisenbee. I laughed so hard at just the name. Anyway, Hosey was a sheep herder with Grandpa and after they finished eating their evening meal on the trail, Hosey took his socks off and used one of them to wash the dishes. I gagged and laughed. Grandpa swears it's a true story but I just don't know.
Grandpa had another heart attack after Jim and I were married. I was pregnant with Jessi, actually. While visiting with him at Logan Hospital, he and Grandma, and Dana and ViKi insisted that Jim and I take Grandma and Grandpa's red-eye tickets to Vegas for the weekend. They were non-refundable and figured someone else might as well go enjoy themselves. Dana even watched Jolynn for us while we were gone. We were picked up in Vegas at the airport by Keith, Grandpa's brother, who was on a mission down there. We stayed with Great Grandma Winkler in her little mobile trailer in a trailer court. We didn't have a car, but we figured out the bus system and made our way around Vegas.
A couple years ago Grandpa was supposed to have surgery for an anurism he had developed. They decided he was too old and wouldn't survive the surgery so they sent him home. A couple months later he developed the signs that indicated his anurism was about to burst. They were forced to life-flight him to SLC for emergency surgery. He got his anurism fixed and is still doing well.
A year ago I rushed to SLC again to see him after he'd had a stroke. He was discharged from the hospital before I arrived, but I had an enjoyable time in SLC with Jolynn at State Basketball and Marie.
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