More New Quilts!!!!

 

This past month, I've been quite busy... sewing and sewing and sewing!  That might explain this:

 

Just what is this, you might ask?  It's simply a photo of my "trash" -- the trimmings and clippings of a month or more of sewing, trimming, pressing, and stitching some more again.  And that leads to the question:  what have I been sewing?  First things first...  I like to do as much of my prep work as possible when I start a project - starting with selecting the fabrics I will use, and continuing to pre-cutting as much as possible.  It makes life easier because I don't have a ton of starts and stops in the work process.  So the next photo shows cookie sheets full of fabric -- namely, lots of mellow-colored triangles in shades of rust, cheddar, gold, brown, and red.  I love pre-cutting tons of these so that I can "power sew" through a stack of half-square triangle strips.

 



 

 

And next is a cookie sheet full of triangles made from assorted shirting fabrics.  All of these will come together to form half-square triangles.   

  

 
So the next question is:  WHAT are you going to do with so MANY half-square triangles???  That one has several answers.  First of all, two friends and I have agreed to exercise and eat healthier.  We have each set goals.  If we meet our goals, we keep our blocks.  If we don't meet our goals, we "share" our blocks.  It's a simple way to keep us focused on health... with the bonus of keeping our own blocks at the end of each month!  So here is the weekly challenge block:  36 mellow half-square triangles in a single block.
 

 
And WHAT am I going to do with these blocks?  I haven't figured that out yet -- I could sew them all together and just have a quilt full of half-square triangles, but I think that I'd rather have a set of sashed blocks.  You can see here how they form a secondary pattern... and I'll have to play around a bit and decide if this - or another arrangement - makes the prettiest use of these blocks.  There are more to come - lots more!
 

 
But I've also been using these triangles, as well as a box of squares, to make a snowball quilt.  I saw this one at the Internationl Quilt Show in Houston last month, and fell in love with it.  I wish I had a larger photo showing the whole quilt, but this one at least stands as a reminder of what I want to make.
 

 
So here is my take on a snowball quilt -- I just love how little tiny "bow ties" form where the corners of the blocks meet!  This quilt is a great scrap-eater.  I made my snowballs each 2-1/4 inches (finished size).  It is such a happy little quilt (it won't be little by the time I'm done with it, though!).  I am going to put some sort of pieced border around this quilt when I finally finish it.  Do any of you have any ideas?!
 

 
Another quilt I saw at the Houston quilt show was an antique quilt with edge-to-edge broken dishes blocks.  Take a look:
 

 
What made this quilt so appealing to me was 1) all the cheddar broken dishes -- I have a fondness for cheddar fabric -- and 2) the diagonal "stripes" of red broken dishes blocks.  What a novel idea!  So I've already started making my own version of this antique quilt, as shown below.  I have said over and over:  if an antique quilt remains appealing today, it has stood the test of time in terms of design, color, texture, and value.  It will stand the test of time again when it is remade. 
 

 
Another thing I love about going to the Houston quilt show is that I continually run into fellow quilters that I can call friends.  Here's a dissheveled me (on the right) with Jan Krentz and Barb Vlack.  Jan is a wonderful quilt designer and Barb is an expert on Electric Quilt.  I have learned so much by listening to what these ladies have to say. 
 

 
So, were there any other antique quilts that drew me to them?  Well, yes... A friend and I were scouring the antique booths at the Houston Quilt show and came across this lovely quilt made with evening stars set on point.  I loved the red madder fabric (which is pretty close to a dark cheddar in my mind!) and the quilt lay pretty darn flat (which makes it a lot easier to quilt).  To make it even more appealing, the price was reasonable, so I bought the quilt - but it did have a couple of issues.  First of all, look at the third row down, fifth star over from the left -- the one with the six half-square triangles and the brown background fabric.  I'll say more about that in a minute - but it was another thing that drew me to this quilt.  Having a block that is so poorly sewn that you have to chop off the triangle tips on every single triangle in the block... well, who wants to do an exchange with that block-maker?  That's at least what was going through my head.
 

 
So what else was wrong?  You can't see them in the picture above because I fixed them, but there were big, honking mouse holes on two sides of the quilt. 
 

 
I set about fixing them by first finding a fabric that matched "well enough".  Then, I removed the setting triangles on the corner of the quilt and replaced them with ones cut from the nearly-matching fabrics I had in my stash (I used the one on the left).
 

 

Once I replaced the corner triangles with the fabric above, I used the fabric I removed to "patch" the mouse holes on the side of the fabric.  You can see, below, how the holes virtually disappeared.  Once I appliqued the patch on top, I removed the pins and trimmed off the edge of the quilt, making a straight edge.

 

 
But that wasn't the end of the problems with this quilt.  I hadn't noticed it until I got home, but the fabric on one block had completely "shattered," leaving only a skeleton of what had once been a nice plaid fabric.
 

 
I could have carefully removed the block and replaced it - or sewn a new one on top of the shattered block - but I decided that the best way to approach this problem was to remove the shattered fabric, but leave the muslin background fabric in place.  I placed a substitute fabric behind the shattered fabric, and pinned the muslin pieces to it, from the top.
 

 
Next, I began clipping the stitches holding the shattered remains in place...
 

 
... until all that was left was the muslin and the fabric beneath the block that I had put in place as its substitute.
 

 
After just a few more stitches to applique the muslin to the print fabric, the block was "good as new."
 

 
But wait a minute... I started thinking about that kookie block that was so misshapen - the one with the lopped-off triangles.  Here it is again - the one with the brown print background fabric in it.  Golly - you wouldn't want to trade blocks with this person, would you?!!
 

 
Here's a closer view... but as I looked at it, I started wondering... could this have possibly been the maker's way of covering up yet another shattered block in the quilt?
 

 
So I took a very CLOSE view of the block.  That's when I noticed that it had, indeed, been appliqued on top of another block. Can you see the applique stitches showing?
 

 
So I turned the quilt over and, sure enough, the mystery of this block was solved:  the quiltmaker had covered up a shattered block with another block that was oversized...
 

 
I suppose I could remove the replacement block and fix the second shattered block, but I actually prefer the kooky look of that strange misfit of a block on the front of the quilt.  My intention is to make a twin of this quilt, matching the fabrics... and that will likely include a mis-sized block, appliqued to the face of the quilt as a tidy bit of workmanship.  Woo hoo for unique!
 
Now... back to those cookie sheets full of triangles.  Surely there is more, right?  Yes, there is.  Here is a strip that forms half of a strip of pinwheels.  I use the Draw function in Word to make paper foundations so that I can mindlessly do my form of precision piecing.  Here's one strip...
 

 
But when I make pairs of them, I can make pinwheel strips like this:
 

 



 These strips will be the sashing strips in a quilt that looks like this (see below)...  I fell in love with spiral balls and always wanted to make a quilt where the sashing strips are pinwheels, and those sashing strips extend out into the border.  I saw that done on an old quilt in the Quilts of Virginia book by the Virginia Consortium of Quilters.  That book came about during the process of documenting over 3,000 quilts in Virginia, and is chock full of "eye candy."  Here is my draft layout:
 

 
My decision now is whether I want to make my spirals float like this in a 12-inch block (by the way - the pinwheels look weird because the seam allowance has not been sewn into the block yet)...
 

 
Or should the spiral balls sit a little tighter in a smaller, 10-inch block?
 

 
 
Two months ago I showed you a quilt that I volunteered to quilt because the owner had donated ten quilts to my guild's auction.  This quilt was wild:  quirky bright diamonds, hand pieced... but not what you'd call square by any stretch of the imagination.
 

 
I took on the challenge of quilting this quilt.  I loved the results -- I stitched every seam in the ditch, and then went back and stitched every-other row with a 1/4-inich seam line.  It was AWESOME!
 

 

Knowing that this quilt was anything but flat made quilting it on a longarm problematic, but not insurmountable.  By carefully basting the entire quilt, top to bottom, I was able to ease out all of the lumps and bumps and volcanoes, making the quilt lie flat, with no tucks or wrinkles at all.  Then, once it was quilted, it was just a matter of trimming it and making the quilt sides parallel. 

 

 

 

My friend Jerrianne bound the quilt, using a black fabric with small white polka dots in it - it was the perfect ending for a beautiful quilt!  The owner - a man - was very pleased with the results, which thrilled us.

 

He had several other quilts, so I ended up with this one for myself; I loved this quilt because it is also so totally quirky! 

 



 
  Look at those wild colors - including the crazy cheddar.
 

 
And now, after a bit more basting, my own quilt is done.  It is definitely a utility quilt - but I love, love, love it!

 
 
Back to more spiral ball blocks, now.  I bought a set of about 30 of these spiral ball blocks on eBay a few years back.  They have been my inspiration for making more spiral ball blocks. 
 

 
And they are what started me thinking about my own spiral ball quilt.  Now, I've finally
I finished my "Happy Daze" quilt.  I love the use of 30s reproduction fabrics - they are all so "happy."

I'm in the midst of quilting Happy Daze.  I was stumped as to what I wanted to do in the background of those spiral blocks and finally settled for 1/2-inch cross-hatching.  I have a 45-degree angle ruler that I can use on my longarm that is a tremendous lifesaver.  It is made and sold by Quilter's Rule and can actually adjust to make lots of different angles, but I only use the 45 degree angle.
 

 
Here's another shot of the quilting.  I hope to finish this quilt in the next week or so, along with the pattern.  This quilt will be a 6-month block-of-the-month.  I know that many of us really do not want to wait a whole year to get the last block on a block-of-the-month, so I decided to change the lineup on this pattern.  It should be available in another 6-8 weeks.
 

 
Now... remember that border quilt I was making in Winnie Fleming's class?  She's an outstanding teacher and lecturer -- one of the best I've ever seen.  This was the first block she had us make... and then we added border after border, after border.
 

 
I changed her design a bit... and made 72 four-inch evening star blocks.  Ugh!  But time flies when you're having fun, so I stitched away, block after block.
 

And here is the final quilt.  I wanted to use a gradation of color in the outer borders, so I chose to make a double row of evening star blocks, along with small lone stars in the corners.  And can you guess what I love the most about this quilt?  The mustard floral print!  It is so warm and sunny.

 
Here's a close-up of one of the small lone stars.  I love how these nestle right in the corners.

 
Dear friends, that is all for now... I'll post again in a month, but until then, I wish you all joy and happiness as we exit one year and head into a new one.  Until then -- happy stitching!

Sue
(c)2012 Susan H. Garman



I Was Just Thinkin'....

This month, I started thinking about how many quilts we see "come and go" across time. We spot one at a quilt show whose beauty and creativity knocks our socks off... and then we are on to spot the next one. Sometimes it pays to take a look backwards and remind ourselves of what we've seen that inspired us -- and why! I decided to take a walk down memory lane by showing you some photos of old quilts. These quilts have stood the test of time -- but I want to look at them through the lens of what made them great... and keeps them great. Join me!

Probably the most unusual thing about this quilt (from today's perspective) is that it is basically brown and blue with a touch of pink. There's nothing odd about a brown and blue quilt - but the intricacy of the designs, all jumbled together, dazzles the eye.

Here's a close-up of the interior border -- you can see the colors a bit better here, along with the repetitive motifs: 6-pointed stars and hexagons, flowers and butterflies, hearts and flowerpots... And, again, it's not the colors or the motifs; it's the dazzling array of all the motifs and contrasting colors, together in the same quilt. It's amazing!

In the red and white quilt, below, the piecing is phenomenal. Think about it: quiltmakers of a hundred or more years ago were working with simple tools; they had cardboard templates for the piecing, which was often done entirely by hand. It's a wonder that a block of this complexity could be made so well. This quiltmaker added a unique floral border which softens the hard edges of the geometric blocks. How many of us would have the patience to tackle a quilt like this without a rotary cutter and ruler? Similarly, here's another quilt that was made before the advent of rotary cutters. The Carolina Lily is seen in many early quilts - but today's quilt makers often avoid this block because of the many set-in seams. It is a block that deserves to be tried, though -- it offers many different setting opportunities to quilters.
The Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt below was made entirely of silk. It is so fragile today that it was displayed on a wedge-shaped platform surface. Age could not steal its beauty -- it was made in 1860 and was entirely hand-pieced and hand-quilted.

Here's a doozy, below. There is nothing terribly unusual about it... except that it's hard to figure out how the quiltmaker made it: there are 9-patches, there are lots of half-squre triangles... but did the quiltmaker assemble this in block sets? Where are the dividing lines between them? Did she have some unusual combinations of squares and half-square triangles? Or did she assemble this row by row, picking up the next piece, as required, in each row. Hmmm. Sometimes it's really difficult to figure out how things were done a long time ago!

These old Log Cabin quilts that use stripes and solids in pair relationships always seem to catch my eye. I've not seen but a handful of these quilts that have been made in the last 50 years -- but I've got such a quilt on my "someday, I'll make this" list!
This photo gives you a better view of those color-matched strips in each block. I should also note that today's quilters don't usually use solids as much as quilters of yesteryear did -- but we should just think about it once a while. Maybe someday we'll surprise ourselves with our creative use of them!

The following red and green quilt is fun because the princess feather blocks are so angular, and have flowers between four of the feathers -- and added to this are the quirky birds in the border.


Here's a close-up of those birds. They are absolutely delightful! You can catch glimpses of the cheddar which was popular during a portion of the 1800s.
Talk about a challenge... could you dare to begin making the quilt below without paper foundations? Oh my goodness - I cringe at the thought! But think about this: this quilter did not have a fabric store or an internet or a book of quilt patterns that she could use to make her pattern. She likely drew out the pieces by herself and hand-pieced and hand-quilted the entire quilt. Such effort makes my quilts seem like such paltry offerings!

And here are some cherries -- but notice the coxcomb flowers in the border. You'll see more of those motifs in another photo. This quilt is just lovely -- and someday, I'll probably be making one much like it, full of red and green cherries.

You can see the coxcomb flowers better in this close-up. Keep an eye out for another quilt with coxcomb flowers in it....

Patriotism was ever-present in the early years of our nation. Eagles were everywhere, along with flag and star motifs. Here's a favorite old quilt -- I love the glorious eagles in this quilt, along with the single vase on each side that spreads flowers across the length of each border. This quilter had such imagination!

And here's a close-up of the eagle -- and the roses with their fluted interiors.


The grandeur of the above quilt is quite a contrast with this next quilt -- with its very simple but lovely rose trees. I'm working on my own rose tree quilt and should have it done soon.

Here is another quite different block - it resembles the rose tree, but it is actually a tree of flowers set in a blue vase. It is unusal - and attractive.

And here is yet another red and green quilt with berries, flowers, vines, and vases. The coxcomb flowers in the blocks are very reminiscent of the coxcomb flowers in the border of the Cherry quilt, above.

And here is yet one more red and green quilt. What is unusual about it is that the vases and flowers on three of the borders face inward -- while the vases and flowers on the top border face left and right. What do you think the quilter was thinking? Was it made that way to accommodate pillows... or what? We may never know.

Now here is what you might really call a quirky quilt! Filled with stars, there is barely a spot for your eye to rest! But oh my, the colors and the arrangement of designs makes your eye dance across the face of the quilt! I believe that quilts like this are hard to make today because too often we are trained to create resting spots for the eye, and to certainly match our fabrics more carefully! But it is clear that the delight in this quiltmaker's eye abounds. Compare the last quilt to this one, now. There are plenty of places for the eye to rest... and the mind! The Princess Feather is a lovely block - and the only thing that keeps me from finishing the Princess Feather quilt I started 7 or 8 years ago is the fact that I cannot decide on the "right" border treatment for the blocks. That obviously didn't stop this quilter!


Can you figure out the difference between the last two quilts and this one? The small-star border on this one amuses me - since the other borders all have medium-sized stars. Go figure! But there is plenty of space for the eye to rest, for sure. And of the three quilts, none suffer from lack of interest.
This quilt takes the prize, though, for no resting spot for the eye. It just goes to show... every rule is made to be broken! I love the bright colors in these blocks -- and the fact that every block has a different center block. Wow!
That's all for this month. I didn't include anything that I've been working on this month because everything that my hands have been into are just a little further along, but not finished. Next month, hopefully you'll see something FINISHED!

Until we meet again, happy quilting!

Sue Garman

(c) 2011 Susan H. Garman