Changing of the quilt

I changed the quilt in living room this morning.  I purchased this basket quilt many years ago.  It was my second antique quilt purchase.  That made me a collector!  This quilt dates to ca. 1890.  It has a variety of prints including late 19th centry neons.

Doll cradle with nice old homespun linen apron.  The apron waist band is blue and white ticking.

The Slipcover Diaries-the final chapter

Recall last time I had completed the slipcover for my ottoman.  That was my practice piece before attempting to do the wingback chair.  The ottoman came out really well, my confidence was high, so I decided to....


 get the chair reupholstered by a professional instead of making a slipcover!

What I did not tell you before is that the wingback chair is a recliner.  I had planned to wire it closed so it couldn't recline, and slipcover it.  And that's why I bought the ottoman in the first place; who needs a recliner when you have a nice comfy ottoman upon which to rest your feet?

Well, apparently my husband and sons do.  When I revealed the details of my plan, suddenly the chair they hardly ever used, became their favorite spot to relax and it had to recline.  I gave in, thought briefly about learning to reupholster, then made a phone call.  The chair was delivered today and I love it.

Recline or use the ottoman or do both.  We aim to please.  The cat likes it too.

The world travelers return

Not my two sons, my two little quilts. They are back from their trip to France. I am glad to have them home safe and sound.  Both were published by Quiltmania; one appeared in the Special Winter Edition 2010, the other in the Special Summer Edition 2011.   The box also contained copies of the magazines.  Quiltmania and their special editions are always beautiful--lovely quilts and great photography.  Copies are sold in bookstores in the US but not always easy to find.  You can visit www.quiltmania.com to purchase.  The price on these special editions is $19.99, just so you know.

Oops, forgot this pattern link

This was my first quilt published by American Patchwork and Quilting. Shown here is my quilt in the original colors.
http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/projects-ideas/bags-pillows/rolling-stone_1.html
(The on-line photo does not do justice, the colors are very bright in the original)

Another quilt pattern link

Here is a link to another of my little quilt designs that appeared in American Patchwork & Quilting.  Shown is APQ's color option.  Their version is bolder than my original which had 9 diffferent fabrics for the stars in pink, green, light blue, peach, and brown.
http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/projects-ideas/table-toppers-runners/little-sawtooth-stars_1.html

Moving right along...

I finshed my one patch tops.  I really like them because they are like mini-collections of antique fabrics.  Each square is 1 inch.

Here are latest 4 finishes all together.

While on this theme, I cut out pieces for a brick-work scrappy quilt.  For this one I chose fall colors--browns, rusts, cheddar.  It is layed out and ready to stitch.  the finished size of the rectangles will be 1 x 2.25 inches.

I am trying to get a bunch of tops done this month in anticipation of my craft shows in November and December.  I have to start early and pace myself; I can't wait until the last minute.  Here is the list of what I plan to make.  Six quilts down, eight to go.

Link to another quilt pattern

Here is a link to another favorite quilt of mine.  My orignal published quilt was in blue and white, inspired by an antique crib quilt.  The instructions shown on the American Patchwork & Quilting website here http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/projects-ideas/table-toppers-runners/tiny-pieces_1.html are for their color variation.

Link to a free pattern from QUILT Magazine (based on my miniature)

One of my miniatures was published in QUILT Magazine in 2009.  The magazine posted a pattern for a bed- sized version.  It can be found on their website here:  http://www.quiltmag.com/quilt-patterns/quilt103-84-chimney-sweep-quilt/  My original quilt had 9 blocks, obviously much smaller in size than these blocks.  I always liked this quilt and the color combination, so thought I would share the link with  you

Getting there...

I am back to my one patch quilts.  I find it so fun to pick out the fabrics, cut and lay out the squares...but then you have to sew them all together.  Boring!  But I have applied myself to the task and made some progress.  It helps to have the Phillies game on in the background. 

The pink and brown is done, except for a border.  I think it will be one of the following browns.

The other one, which has even more squares, is getting there.

from one patch to four patch

Last post I showed you two 1 patch quilts that I had cut out.  I really didn't feel like sewing all those little patches together just yet, so I set them aside and made two 4 patch quilts this past weekend.  The first came about when I ran across this piece of vintage fabric in my stash. 

I had used this fabric in blocks before, as well as a border in another quilt.  I had only this piece left and wanted to use it to best effect.  I decided to cut two inch pieces to use as setting squares for a four patch quilt.  The size was defined by how many of these squares I could eek out. 

I picked some colors that I thought would work and made several combinations of strip pieces for the 4 patches.

Here is the final result.  I tried a few borders but when I put up the green, I knew that was the one.

 The second four patch was inspired as I was paging through photos of quilts I had made over the last several years.  I made one very similar to this when I first starting using antique fabrics.  It is simple, but there's much to be said for simple.  The smallest squares in this one are 1 inch finished.

Here is a photo of the two quilts together so you can see a size comparison-1 inch vs. 3/4 inch squares.

Finally got the cat to move...

I have been wanting to do a scrappy one-patch for a while, so I dug into one of many ziplock scrap bags and started cutting 1.5 inch squares.  I was going for "bright".  I think I got it.

While cutting I starting thinking about Kathie's brown and pink nine-patch she recently posted, so I pulled out a few more pinks and browns and came up with this.

Yes, that aqua color is a 19th century color.  It was made around 1876, the centennial year.  My husband calls this a wabi-sabi quilt.  From Wikipedia: Wabi-sabi (侘寂^?) represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete".^[1] It is a concept derived from the Buddhist assertion of the Three marks of existence (三法印 sanbōin^?), specifically impermanence (無常 mujō^?).

Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity (roughness or irregularity), simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes.

After reading that complete description, how about we call this wabi-sabi lite?

Close-ups of some of the antique fabrics:

What a life...

Just getting ready to start cutting my next quilting project...maybe later.

Look at the grid on the cutting mat; you can see just how big this cat is.

And the layout is...

Thank you all for your comments on my last post.  Most everyone favored layouts A and 1, the versions I liked also.  Well...I was making those two layouts, but something happened along the way...and I am not exactly sure what happened.  Maybe it was subconscious as I was sewing the blocks together but here is what I ended up with.  I didn't even realize it until I sat down to write this blog entry.  I am happy with both but just am a bit concerned with my apparent rapid loss of brain cells.

Original layout A

Final version below.  I guess I started off with first block facing the opposite direction vs. what I intended.  Overall it is the "same" arrangement, just a different section of the overall design.  I added two borders--very Pennsylvania--bright colors, multiple borders.

As for the blue and white, look what happened here.
Original layout 1

Final version below.

What the heck????
I decided not to put a border on this one but it will have a surprise binding.  Hmmm...

Blocks done, here are the layout choices

I finished 16 blocks for each of the new quilts, the blue and white and the PA German variation.  I layed the blocks out is several ways.  Taking photos and comparing them side-by-side helps me to pick the one I like the best.  Which setting do you like for each quilt?

A

B

C

1

2

3



Playing around with blocks and some pretty quilts

I was playing around with my blue and white and PA German blocks tonight.

 these two are the same setting

 these two are the same setting

I picked up the 2011 calendar from the Packwood Museum on our trip earlier this summer.  Here are some pretty quilts from the calendar.