More "this-n-that:" This is a "Trip Around the World" quilt I made back in the mid-1990's. The batting isn't real thick, so it's more of a coverlet than a warm quilt. Put this in the county fair whatever year it was, and got reserve champion.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Trip Around the World
More "this-n-that:" This is a "Trip Around the World" quilt I made back in the mid-1990's. The batting isn't real thick, so it's more of a coverlet than a warm quilt. Put this in the county fair whatever year it was, and got reserve champion.
This-n-That
I was scouring my photo albums for some old pictures, and came across these that were quilt-related. May have posted some before, but if so, here they are again. ha ha
A baby comforter I made when I was expecting our first son. Got this made and put it in the county fair the summer of 1992. Got a blue on it.
Two sisters I went to college with and roomed with, they gave me a bag of scraps that their mother had had from making their outfits through the years. So I made each of them a quilt from the scraps. One got a 7-star pattern, and one got this 9-patch. Mom helped me quilt this 9-patch, so it was set up out at Mom and Dad's house in the living room, over the dining table. Probably around 1992 or 1993 or so, judging by the crib in the background!
This is an Irish Chain quilt I made for friends who were expecting a baby. Worked on this in 1988 and 1989, and put it in the county fair the summer of 1989, before giving it to my friends later. Got a blue on it. This was my first solo try at making a quilt. (The big white "border" is actually a sheet that the quilt was laying on in the yard. The colored squares go right up to the binding.)
Me on the front porch swing at home, holding the Irish Chain quilt. I was in my late 20's. Hadn't met my husband yet. Had just got moved back home from living and working in another town for about a year.
Closeup of the Irish Chain. I had it laying on a sheet out in the yard for photos.
(Note: Yep, I've posted the baby comforter and the 9-patch before. Blame it on poor memory!)
A baby comforter I made when I was expecting our first son. Got this made and put it in the county fair the summer of 1992. Got a blue on it.
Two sisters I went to college with and roomed with, they gave me a bag of scraps that their mother had had from making their outfits through the years. So I made each of them a quilt from the scraps. One got a 7-star pattern, and one got this 9-patch. Mom helped me quilt this 9-patch, so it was set up out at Mom and Dad's house in the living room, over the dining table. Probably around 1992 or 1993 or so, judging by the crib in the background!
This is an Irish Chain quilt I made for friends who were expecting a baby. Worked on this in 1988 and 1989, and put it in the county fair the summer of 1989, before giving it to my friends later. Got a blue on it. This was my first solo try at making a quilt. (The big white "border" is actually a sheet that the quilt was laying on in the yard. The colored squares go right up to the binding.)
Me on the front porch swing at home, holding the Irish Chain quilt. I was in my late 20's. Hadn't met my husband yet. Had just got moved back home from living and working in another town for about a year.
Closeup of the Irish Chain. I had it laying on a sheet out in the yard for photos.
(Note: Yep, I've posted the baby comforter and the 9-patch before. Blame it on poor memory!)
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Apple Core
A long time back, I had seen a quilt made from the "Apple Core" or "Double Ax Head" pattern. It intrigued me, the way the pieces fit together, and I wanted to try something like that. So I made a template, and cut out enough pieces to perhaps make a pillow cover.
WELL.
I *eventually* got the rows sewn together, and that was a nightmare! Those curves! I had the worst time.
So now they've sat for quite awhile, with the pieces in rows. Who knows when I'll get the nerve to sew the rows together!
So meanwhile, I'll enjoy them as decoration while they hang out on this little hangar I found at the thrift store. Maybe, just maybe, I'll tackle them one of these days.
WELL.
I *eventually* got the rows sewn together, and that was a nightmare! Those curves! I had the worst time.
So now they've sat for quite awhile, with the pieces in rows. Who knows when I'll get the nerve to sew the rows together!
So meanwhile, I'll enjoy them as decoration while they hang out on this little hangar I found at the thrift store. Maybe, just maybe, I'll tackle them one of these days.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Spring and "Jacob's Ladder"
The "Jacob's Ladder" quilt has been a long time coming. I started it way back when we lived in the apartment, probably 5 or 6 years ago. I started making hand-sewn blocks, intending to just do 4 for a wall hanging. Well, somehow through time I decided to make a few more and make it bigger, a small quilt. But before I got all the blocks sewn by hand, we moved into this house. Long story short, I eventually got to sewing with my machine, and finished sewing the blocks by machine. Then I put everything together into a quilt top, and quilted it in a hoop.
There it stopped for awhile. I wasn't in the mood to cut and sew the binding. So I folded it and put it away.
My way of doing binding on a quilt has been a little different - I'd sew 4 seperate strips, one to each side of the quilt. This looks fine, but the corners were tedious because I had to really tack them down and close them up on the back due to the one raw end of strip. Make sense? Anyway, I dreaded the corners, always, when tacking down the binding.
This last fall, a good friend of mine had a quilt project going. Her grandma had made the blocks, she and a friend had put the blocks together into a top, another lady machine quilted it, then she sent it to me for binding. It was a beautiful treasure, and I wanted to do a good job.
I decided I wanted to do a continuous binding, to have the corners be better than I had usually done. Not that the way I'd done them was bad, it was just so tedious. But when I tried to do a continuous binding on a small project awhile back, it DID NOT TURN OUT RIGHT, and I wasn't sure what I'd done.
Well, this quilt sat for quite awhile since fall, with me trying to get the nerve to jump in on this nice quilt. Then I remembered the Jacob's Ladder quilt with no binding on it yet. AHA!! "I'll practice on that."
Well, once again, I'd done whatever I'd done wrong the last time, and it still looked bad. So I'm very thankful for "YouTube." Between that and Google search, I finally figured out what I'd been doing wrong on the corners. I was just folding a certain spot the wrong way. So I ripped the corners and re-folded and re-sewed, and "voila," it worked FINE! YEE-HAAA! This cowgirl quilter was VERY HAPPY.
Then I had all the confidence in the world to tackle my friend's nice big quilt, and it went fine, too. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! I was glad to be able to get the quilt back to her before Valentine's Day, which was my "goal." I will now do bindings no other way. LOVE the continuous binding, and how the corners go.
So after several years of on-and-off doing, the blue-and-yellow "Jacob's Ladder" is now folded and hanging above the cabinet that my Granddad Cline made, giving a nice springy effect. (Yes, I'm having spring fever.) I put the wintery things and colors away, and fixed the top of the cabinet with more spring-y colors. The flowers are fake, but I don't care. They at least give something pretty to look at. :) So ... I'll share some pictures of the finished arrangement - enjoy!
There it stopped for awhile. I wasn't in the mood to cut and sew the binding. So I folded it and put it away.
My way of doing binding on a quilt has been a little different - I'd sew 4 seperate strips, one to each side of the quilt. This looks fine, but the corners were tedious because I had to really tack them down and close them up on the back due to the one raw end of strip. Make sense? Anyway, I dreaded the corners, always, when tacking down the binding.
This last fall, a good friend of mine had a quilt project going. Her grandma had made the blocks, she and a friend had put the blocks together into a top, another lady machine quilted it, then she sent it to me for binding. It was a beautiful treasure, and I wanted to do a good job.
I decided I wanted to do a continuous binding, to have the corners be better than I had usually done. Not that the way I'd done them was bad, it was just so tedious. But when I tried to do a continuous binding on a small project awhile back, it DID NOT TURN OUT RIGHT, and I wasn't sure what I'd done.
Well, this quilt sat for quite awhile since fall, with me trying to get the nerve to jump in on this nice quilt. Then I remembered the Jacob's Ladder quilt with no binding on it yet. AHA!! "I'll practice on that."
Well, once again, I'd done whatever I'd done wrong the last time, and it still looked bad. So I'm very thankful for "YouTube." Between that and Google search, I finally figured out what I'd been doing wrong on the corners. I was just folding a certain spot the wrong way. So I ripped the corners and re-folded and re-sewed, and "voila," it worked FINE! YEE-HAAA! This cowgirl quilter was VERY HAPPY.
Then I had all the confidence in the world to tackle my friend's nice big quilt, and it went fine, too. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! I was glad to be able to get the quilt back to her before Valentine's Day, which was my "goal." I will now do bindings no other way. LOVE the continuous binding, and how the corners go.
So after several years of on-and-off doing, the blue-and-yellow "Jacob's Ladder" is now folded and hanging above the cabinet that my Granddad Cline made, giving a nice springy effect. (Yes, I'm having spring fever.) I put the wintery things and colors away, and fixed the top of the cabinet with more spring-y colors. The flowers are fake, but I don't care. They at least give something pretty to look at. :) So ... I'll share some pictures of the finished arrangement - enjoy!
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Multi-generation Treasure
At the top of this blog, it says, "Beautiful Expressions from Generation to Generation." Well, this quilt certainly fits in that category!
The quilt belongs to my friend. The squares were made by her grandmother. My friend put the squares together into a top with the help of a lady. Another lady machine quilted the top. Then, the quilt took a trip through the mail to me, and I had the honor of binding it. I finally got it done (she was very patient!), and it made the trip back to its home. It's a "Dresden Plate," and features feed sack material from the depression days or thereabouts. A BEAUTIFUL treasure. It was a real joy to be included in the making of it!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Home Quilt
Up where I'm from in my home state, our county has a week-long fair in the summertime. Last year (2011) they started something new. They had a quilt block competition. Kits of material with block guidelines were made, and individuals could then make a pattern of some kind for this class to be judged. Here are the entries in the summer of 2011, I was happy to be able to visit up there at that time and take pictures.
And here are the top 3 winners, with their ribbons attached.
After this, the blocks were sewn together with sashing & border, and quilted and bound. Local ladies did this work. (It turned out beautifully!) It was then raffled off this last summer (2012) to help with fair funds. Then this last summer they had another "quilt block contest."
A friend of mine had made a block and shown pictures, and had let me know that it was "cowboy/western"-print material, oh how I wished! I wished I could take part somehow. I would've loved to anyway with just being quilt blocks, but when I saw the western-themed material, something in me went overboard and I just HAD to see IF ....
I knew I couldn't take part in the actual quilt block contest, living out-of-state and all. But perhaps since I was a former county resident, maybe I could just DONATE a block? Well, with my friend helping me out, she checked on such a thing, and they were gracious to let me do that! So a kit was forthcoming in the mail, and this was the result.
The prints were really fun - blue with "cowboy/Indian" motifs, golden-brown with western/ranch words, tan/white with barbed wire, and red with lassoes. Too cute!
Like last year, the blocks were all some variation of a 9-patch. I was SO HAPPY to be able to contribute! I love my home county, and get very homesick. This was a wonderful, happy way to contribute and not feel so "far away" from everyone and everything. This got sent off in the mail, and I hope to see how this "western" quilt turns out for this next summer's fair. :)
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