Trial and Error

Thirty years ago I was making miniature quilts, thinking that by making small quilts, I could try out all kinds of designs faster than making them in standard size.  

Today I am making lap quilts with the same rationale--trying out new ideas while using up fabric scraps, leftovers and stash fabrics.

Several months ago I met a lady who asked if I would help her to make her first quilt.  Happy to start someone on her way to being hooked on quilting, I said "sure".  

During our first meeting, I learned that she does have a sewing background and already owns some of the basic tools.  She showed me the pattern that she wants to make:  "New Shoos" by Jenny Kae Parks, found in the Mar/April 2021 issue of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting magazine.  I could see why she was attracted to it...the model in the magazine was made from Kaffe Fassett fabrics and was bright and cheery. 

I congratulated her for choosing a fairly simple-to-piece design and a quilt that will turn out not too large.  This quilt will be a great one for her to learn some of the basic techniques--rotary cutting in general, construction of half-square triangles, precise piecing, etc.

Her first "job" was to get the necessary fabrics.  The pattern called for a layer cake for the main fabrics in the blocks and I showed her some ideas on Missouri Star's website.

It would take her a few weeks to gather up her fabrics so I decided to try out the pattern with some fabrics I had on hand--beginning with some 10" squares, charm squares and yardage from a friend, plus pieces from my stash.  The pattern makes 9" finished blocks, so 16 of them will make a lap quilt measuring ~36" square.  

Each block requires two pairs of the same 5" squares to make four identical Half Square Triangle squares.  These are trimmed to 4 1/2" square. The center rectangles are cut 1 1/2" x 4 1/2" and the center square is cut 1 1/2" square. 

After my 5" squares were cut, I marked the diagonal on ALL of them...hadn't yet paired them up. Then I paired them up, stitched both sides of the diagonal line, and cut them apart on the line.  Because I'd marked the line on both squares, I had to be careful about the line on which I was cutting--had to make sure it was between my lines of stitching.  My head must have been somewhere else in cutting one of them--I cut on the line, but this line crossed the lines of stitching!  Now what?  

I still had some of that particular fabric, so after taking the "oops" apart, I pieced together enough fabric to make two 5" squares.  (Just like our quilting foremothers did with their scraps!!!)  I then used those to make more HST squares.  That fabric is a busy enough print that it isn't that noticeable.

 

This lap quilt was easy to make and mine turned out bright and cheery too!  After making this, I now know exactly how to guide my new quilting friend in making hers.  :)

 

  

On Safari in Kenya

My trip to Kenya was called "The Ultimate Safari".  It seemed that every day was some kind of adventure with animals!

On the first day we visited the Giraffe Center, outside Nairobi, where the Rothschild giraffe species is being conserved.  We were able to get up close and personal with these beautiful creatures and feed them special treats. 

 

On the second day we headed north to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy where we spent the next 3 days.  We stayed in tents and went on safari drives 2 times each day. 

We had to stay in our jeep during the safari drives, but our guide took us as close to the animals as he could. ( And the zoom feature on my camera helped a bit, too!)

Each day we saw a variety of birds, on the drives and also around the campground.  (Deer and baboons roamed the campground, too! )

One morning we were able to pet a black rhino...Barak is 27 years old and blind.  He's in his own protected environment and doesn't mind the attention.  

Back to Nairobi, a visit to the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage.  Endangered baby elephants are rescued from the wild and brought back to health until they are able to be on their own again.  

And a day trip from Nairobi took us to Lake Naivasha.  We boated near the hippos then walked the grounds to be close to giraffes (Yes, giraffes are my favorites!!!)  :)

This trip had been rescheduled 3 times.  It was definitely worth waiting for, and was truly an amazing adventure!

Cutter Quilts

I have been interested in vintage quilts for a very long time.  Along with the vintage blocks that I have been blogging about, my collection includes vintage quilt tops and vintage quilts.  Some are in good shape; others had outlived their usefulness as quilts, but were purchased for a purpose.  Thirty years ago I got caught up in the trend of using old, worn out vintage quilts for clothing, bears, dolls, and other decorative items. That is when I first heard the term "cutter quilts". 

Cutter quilts have damaged areas--holes, spots or worn places--but have areas that are still in good enough condition to use for smaller items.  As with other aspects of quilting, cutter quilts are once again being talked about. All kinds of ideas for using them can be found online.  Just search for "cutter quilt crafts". 

Recently I pulled out some of my cutter quilt scraps to make Christmas ornaments.  

All were made from simple shapes--"three tiered" snowmen;  angel heads on hearts; stockings.

The snowmen are a single layer of the quilt; the edges finished with the buttonhole stitch all around.  After the faces were embroidered, the shapes were stiffened with a 50/50 mixture of Elmer's glue and water.  Once dry, the scarves were tied around their necks and held in place by stitching on a button.  

Both the hearts and stocking are lined--placed RST on the lining fabric; stitched around leaving an opening for turning.  The angel heads are lined circles, hot-glued in place.  Raffia creates their hair.  A bow is tied under their chins; a small charm is stitched right under the bow knot.

The stocking is topped with vintage crochet edging which was basted in place before stitching the stocking piece to the lining.  A bow is tacked to the upper right corner.  

Because I did not know the makers of the cutter quilts that I bought, it was not difficult to cut them up.  These small vintage quilt pieces have found new life in items that will (hopefully) be cherished!

Fugitive Green or Truly Tan???

 I recently sorted through my collection of vintage/antique blocks to determine which blocks I would like to use for my next project.  One block in particular "spoke to me".  

I do not recall where this block came from...purchased or given to me???  From the bits of thread still along the outer edges of the block, it appears that it had once been part of a larger quilt top.  

I like to really study my vintage blocks before I use them to see how they were made and make sure that they are still in good shape.  This block was neatly hand-pieced, using very tiny, even running stitches.  The seam allowances are ~1/8" wide.  The overall block is a little bit wonky, due to the bias edges on the small checked triangles, but still very workable.  The most interesting thing about the way this block was put together is that each red unit is one piece, not two diamonds pieced together!!!  

Searching through my various books of quilt block designs, I could not come up with an exact name for this block.  The 4 corner sections remind me of flowers found in basket blocks...lilies or tulips?  The closest I could come was Sage Bud or a Turkey Tracks Variation (although the center square was much larger in that design.)  I like the way that the Shoo Fly design stands out in the center of this block! 

I can usually tell the age of a block by the colors and fabrics used in it.  This one has me a bit stumped, however.  The check fabric is printed, not woven.  The bright yellowish solid fabric is the cheddar or chrome orange color typically found in quilts of the 1800s.  The red fabric is a thin woven, and (thankfully) the color does not bleed when wet or pressed with a hot iron.  

The solid tan fabric is interesting.  Because this is a variation of a flower block, did the tan fabric start out as green with the color fading over time?  According to Barbara Brackman in Clues in the Calico, p.61: "Synthetic greens appeared around 1875.  The synthetics were often fugitive; like most synthetics, they did not fade true but took on a distinctly brownish cast when exposed to light and washing...Clues to the original shade lie in the...fabric visible inside seams ...where light has not done as much damage."  I have looked closely at the insides of the seams...I see no indication of another color, only tan. 

 "Some believe the red, white and tan* quilt to be a distinct end-of-the-century fashion, but an intentional red, white and tan quilt is likely to be rarer than those that have faded...Occasionally I do see a red, white and tan quilt that was intentionally designed in the color scheme, but most are copies of older quilts, with the copier unaware that the tan in the model was once green."

With that information, I am guessing that this block was made circa 1900.  Because it doesn't really fit with other antique blocks that I have, this block will be the focus of a medallion wall quilt.  Fabrics have been chosen...now to plan the various borders.  

Stay tuned...one of my upcoming blogs will be a show and tell of the quilt tops I've started over the past few months--finished! 

*Floral applique quilts are the ones to which she is most referring here...

 

In Remembrance

My latest project with vintage fabrics is a little quilt to remember the quilting friend I recently lost to cancer.

It is made from fabrics from the border of a vintage quilt top that she gave me several years ago.  The top was too damaged to keep, but the border was still in good shape.  It had been pieced from circa 1900 fabrics, strips of prints alternating with white.

After the border was removed from the quilt, I took it apart.  I discarded the white pieces, then pressed the print pieces.  Once pressed, they measured ~3" x 6".  Since some of them were not quite 3" wide, I decided to cut them into squares that measured  2 3/4".  When all cut, I had 57 squares with which to work--two from each print, plus one extra.  

My 14-year-old granddaughter is very artistic and a few years ago we'd made a small quilt together.  I asked her to arrange the squares into a little quilt--perhaps 9 squares x 6 squares.  My granddaughter thought 7 x 8 would be better. 😊

It was interesting to watch her lay out the squares (without my coaching).  She went for "balance",  just as I would have done, laying out the two halves of the quilt so that they would be identical if turned around!  I only tweaked her layout a little bit, so that the colors would be a bit more scattered.

The squares are now sewn together. Flannel will be used for the batting and the little quilt will be tied. 

My friend was to be my travel partner this November, going to Kenya with Craftours.  I will be traveling alone, but she will be with me in spirit.  This quilt will go with me and it will be my "Flat Stanley".  It will be photographed in many of the places that we visit.  💖

In Mourning

Those who study fabrics in quilts made in the late 1800s recognize black and white fabrics as "mourning prints".  Perhaps the name came from the Victorian Era, when Queen Victoria wore black to mourn the passing of her husband, Albert?  In Clues in the Calico, Barbara Brackman indicates that these cottons, with fine black lines or tiny figures on a white ground, making them read as gray, were very popular with quilters in the 1890-1925 era.  Around that time, mourning print cottons were advertised for sale in the Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs and could be purchased for very little. 

Here's a photo of such fabric for sale on Etsy: 

I am currently working with vintage blocks that were made from mourning print cottons. 

I have only 4 vintage blocks.  Using reproduction fabrics from my stash,  I am making more blocks to add to the vintage ones.  This 9-patch design is simple enough to recreate.  Because the squares in the vintage blocks measure 3.5" finished,  I am cutting the center square 4" and those for the half-square triangle blocks, 4.5". 
 

Curious to know the name of this pattern, I searched through my quilt books and online.  The closest I could come to a name was either "Cats Cradle" or "Old Maid's Puzzle".  These blocks are a variation of those, however, with half-square triangle blocks at all four corners.  

I discovered more mourning print fabric as I was searching through my bag of vintage fabric scraps.  I found these (obviously) 60° diamonds all tacked together.

As "wonky" as these are, I cannot imagine a quilter piecing them together and having them lie flat!  

In one of my quilt pattern books I found the perfect size 60° diamond and made a plastic template.  This will be traced on the wrong side of each wonky diamond so that I can hand piece them. Then what???  I am not yet sure.  I will ponder this as I am piecing them.

I titled this blog post "In Mourning", not just because of the particular vintage pieces that I am now working with.  I AM in mourning!  I recently lost a special quilting friend to cancer...much too soon!  Michelle was so creative and inspirational to many.  She is already missed!    If there is a quilters' room in heaven, I know that she will be there! 

Short Strips

While sorting my vintage fabrics, I came across a bag of 20 short fabric strips--all the same fabric and all measuring approximately* 2 1/4" x 6".   I really like the print of the fabric so I looked for ideas of what could be done with them.

 

I decided to cut more strips of that same size from other vintage fabric scraps in my collection, and piece them to muslin.  The muslin pieces were cut 4 1/2" x 6" ; each strip was stitched to a muslin piece along one 6" side.  The pieced blocks were trimmed up to 6" square, raw, to finish 5 1/2" square. I made a total of 36 blocks. 

 I chose to set the blocks so that the strips would be on alternate sides of the block--on rows 1, 3, and 5, the strip is on the left side of the block.  On rows 2, 4 and 6, the strip is on the right side of the block.  (I am imagining some quilting meandering down between the colored fabric strips.)

Now that the rows were together, the small quilt top seemed to need a border.  I had extra of the  original print strips--those that were cut wonky or not quite wide enough.  I designed a way to incorporate these wonky strips in the border. 

Strips, three inches wide, were cut from muslin.  Between those I made a very narrow border from three 1 1/8"x 6" (cut size) print strips, two 1 1/8" x 6" muslin strips, and two 1 1/8" x 3 1/2" muslin strips for the ends.  

I liked the way these borders framed the small quilt top, but I now had to figure out what to do for the border corners.  The leftover pieces of the original print strips were no longer the same 1 1/8" width.  I experimented with several ideas before coming up with a design that I liked.  I was able to use chunks of the trial corners in my final corner design.  :)

The finished quilt top measures ~45" square.  After being quilted, it will be bound with muslin (I have just enough left to make the binding!)  

 

*Today, we can cut very exact pieces for our quilts, using our rulers and rotary cutters.  I have no idea how these strips were cut--they did not all measure exactly 2 1/4" x 6"!  The challenges of working with leftovers from our quilting fore-mothers!  :)